Big Manuscript, Big Advance
McMansions. SUVs. Fries.... With everything else getting bigger, perhaps it was only a matter of time before manuscripts jumped on the supersize bandwagon. Following closely behind Bantam's seven-figure deal for Gordon Dahlquist's 1,300-page doorstopper, The Glass Books of the Dream Eater, Janklow & Nesbit's Eric Simonoff weighs in with an untitled 1,200-page manuscript by Red Earth and Pouring Rain author Vikram Chandra. Chandra's novel follows a Sikh police detective who pursues the most wanted gangster in India and encounters a web of film stars, prostitutes and their sordid clients. Chandra requested that publishers refrain from making preemptive bids, leading to three $1-million offers from Scribner, Little, Brown and HarperCollins; Chandra ultimately went with Harper editors Jonathan Burnham and Terry Karten for a fall 2006 pub date. —J.A.
A Natural Selection
In one of the first big pre-Frankfurt deals, Hyperion publisher Ellen Archer and editor Leslie Wells have bought Natural Selection, a "Jaws-meets-Jurassic Park" thriller by first-time novelist Dave Freedman, from agent Marly Rusoff in a preempt.
The "major six-figure deal" includes world rights, and publication is expected in summer 2006. The novel describes the evolution of a predatory species that, following a series of cataclysmic environmental disasters, is forced out of its deep ocean habitat into a violent and terrifying encounter with man.
Freedman holds a science and engineering degree from Princeton and a master's degree from Harvard. According to Rusoff, he's already working on several other novels with a similarly scientific inclination. —M.T.
Hart's War
Times Books editorial director Paul Golob has acquired world rights for a still-untitled book from former senator Gary Hart, who represented Colorado from 1975 to 1987. Hart's book (his 15th) grew out of a recent Washington Post editorial; in it, he bluntly criticizes Democrats for not standing up to the Bush administration and offers his vision to bring the party out of the political wilderness. It is sure to create some controversy among Democratic power brokers, but Hart has earned his cred as a prescient thinker: he co-chaired the U.S. Commission on National Security, which issued repeated pre-9/11 warnings of America's vulnerability to a terrorist attack. —J.A.
Philadelphia Story
Hollywood has long trawled publishing for source material, so it's nice to see the film industry return the favor. Disney is currently in production with the Mark Wahlberg—Greg Kinnear project Invincible, based on the life of Vince Papale, the oldest player to join the NFL. Perhaps sensing a surefire hit, publishing is getting in on the action. Hyperion's Gretchen Young paid six figures for Papale's memoir, also titled Invincible, which reads like a real-life Rocky. Both book and film arrive for football season, September 2006. Sports manager Steve Canter of the Canter Edge and ICM's Richard Abate handle Papale. —J.A.
Two Takes on Schiavo
The Terri Schiavo case may have receded somewhat in the public memory, but publishers continue to see opportunities there. In July, agent David Vigliano sold a book by Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, to Brian Tart at Dutton, to be co-written with Michael Hirsch. Titled Terri, it will be published in March 2006, the anniversary of Terri's death. Now Terri's parents and siblings, Mary and Robert Schindler and Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo and Bobby Schindler, have jumped into the fray with a memoir of their own, also due next March. Warner publisher Jamie Raab acquired North American rights from William Morris's Joni Evans. —M.T.
