AKASHIC/PUNK PLANET
The Boy Detective Fails (Sept., $14.95) by Joe Meno. A former boy detective, now 30, leaves a mental hospital to confront the mystery of his sister’s suicide. 20,000 first printing. Ad/promo. Author tour.
ALGONQUIN BOOKS
Hot and Bothered (Sept., $12.95) by Annie Downey updates the Cinderella story for single moms.
ALLEN & UNWIN (dist. by IPG)
The Marsh Birds (Oct., $14.95) by Eva Sallis revolves around a boy orphaned when his family tries to flee Baghdad.
ANCHOR
The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction (Oct., $15.95), edited by Denys Johnson-Davies, anthologizes contemporary tales.
APHRODISIA
Sins and Secrets (Oct., $12.95) by P.F. Kozak. A guardian promises to teach his ward about the delights of sin.
Wolf Tales III (Jan., $12.95) by Kate Douglas recounts erotic tales of shape-shifting people known as the Chanku.
ARTE PÚBLICO
Do Not Pass Go (Sept., $14.95) by Beatriz Rivera. A suicidal former child prodigy perks up when he falls in love.
ATRIA
Love Is Never Painless (Nov., $15) by Zane et al. gathers three novellas into one volume.
Little Ghetto Girl (Jan., $14) by Danielle Santiago. A Harlem girl’s struggle to escape the gangsta life grows complicated when she falls for a drug dealer.
AVON
It’s Not Over ’till the Phat Chick Sings (Jan., $13.95) by Meg Cabot brings back pop-star-turned-girl-detective Heather Wells. 150,000 first printing.
BALLANTINE/ONE WORLD
Thug-a-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale (Sept., $13.95) by Noire spins a street lit story of a rapper/NBA rookie with too many women and too many dirty dealings.
HarlemGirl Lost (Oct., $12.95) by Treasure E. Blue. Gorgeous Silver Jones must outsmart vicious drug dealers to save her childhood love. Ad/promo. Author tour.
BANTAM
Testing Kate (Nov., $12) by Whitney Gaskell. After enrolling in law school at 29, Kate Bennett realizes playing it safe is dangerous. 40,000 first printing.
The Sunday List of Dreams (Feb., $11) by Kris Radish. A happily divorced, recently retired mom makes unexpected discoveries about her daughter. 95,000 first printing. Ad/promo.
BARBOUR
A Merry Heart (Sept., $9.97) by Wanda E. Brunstetter tells of bitterness that smothers a woman’s faith and Amish loyalty.
BENBELLA BOOKS (dist. by IPG)
This Is Chick-Lit (Sept., $14.95), edited by Lauren Baratz-Logsted, defends the genre and collects exemplary stories. Ad/promo.
BERKLEY
Skeleton Coast: A Novel of the Oregon Files (Oct., $16) by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul. What begins as a snake hunt leads Juan Cabrillo onto the trail of a far more lethal quarry.
The Road from Chapel Hill (Nov., $14) by Joanna Catherine Scott. In this Civil War story, three young Southerners worlds apart are joined in a quest for something greater than themselves.
BERKLEY HEAT
Open Invitation (Dec., $14) by Jasmine Haynes. Three best friends choose a hot destination—the Sex Clubm.
BERKLEY JAM
Prom Night: Making Out (Oct., $9.99) by Megan Stine. The sexiest moments and the wildest parties are what make prom night special.
Secrets of a South Beach Princess (Nov., $9.99) by Mary Kennedy. Miami’s newest “it” girl learns that privacy isn’t easy when you’re rich, blonde and hot.
BERKLEY PRIME CRIME
Slay Bells (Nov., $13) by Kate Kingsbury. Father Christmas and one of his helpers are found dead at Cecily Sinclair Baxter’s holiday party.
BERKLEY SENSATION
Captive Dreams (Sept., $14) by Angela Knight and Diane Whiteside. Two fictitious heroes cook up plots of their own for their sexy female creators.
Bit the Jackpot (Dec., $14) by Erin McCarthy. Is falling for a Las Vegas vampire a long shot?
BETHANY HOUSE
The Brethren (Oct.; $13.99, cloth $19.99) by Beverly Lewis. This conclusion to the Annie’s People series ponders whether Annie will return to her art or rejoin the church. 300,000 first printing. $200,000 ad/promo.
Whispers of Winter (Nov.; $13.99, cloth $19.99) by Tracie Peterson. Two women form a bond when the men they love are trapped in the Arctic. 75,000 first printing.
BOREALIS BOOKS
Sweet Land: New and Selected Stories (Nov., $16.95) by Will Weaver adds seven new stories to several favorites, including “A Gravestone Made of Wheat,” filmed as the forthcoming Sweet Land.
BRAVA
The Southern Devil (Sept., $14) by Diane Whiteside. A woman who once held a Confederate soldier hostage now needs his help.
TexasBad Boys (Sept., $14) by Rosemary Laurey et al. With their spurs off, Texas bad boys show gals an extra good time.
BROADMAN & HOLMAN
A Threat to Justice (Sept., $15.99) by Chuck Norris et al. Make way for the second book in the Justice Riders western series starring Ezra Justice. Author tour.
BROADWAY BOOKS
Swimming Upstream, Slowly (Sept., $12.95) by Melissa Clark. A TV producer finds herself pregnant even though she hasn’t been intimate with anyone for more than two years.
CARROLL & GRAF
Clouds and Eclipses: The Collected Short Stories (Sept., $13.95) by Gore Vidal brings together Vidal’s short fiction, including the previously unpublished title story.
The House Beautiful: A Novel of High Ideals, Low Morals and Lower Rent (Oct., $14.95) by Allison Burnett follows up on the author’s debut novel, Christopher, with more misadventures of gay curmudgeon B.K. Troop.
CLEIS PRESS
My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats Me Up (Oct., $13.95) by Stephen Elliott paints a portrait of sexual excess by blending autobiography and fiction. Author tour.
COFFEE HOUSE PRESS
The Exquisite (Sept., $14.95) by Laird Hunt. After 9/11, a New Yorker is caught up in mystery, art and madness.
COUNTERPOINT
Summer of My Amazing Luck (Sept., $15) by Miriam Toews. Two young mothers set off on an adventure, relying on luck, pluck and friendship.
DAFINA
Shattered Trust (Sept., $15) by Leslie Esdaile Banks. Financial genius Laura Caldwell and her husband are again in danger in this sequel to Blind Trust.
Denzel’s Lips (Oct., $14) by Anita Diggs. Four successful black women struggle with life, love and temptation.
DALKEY ARCHIVE
Dark Paradise (Feb., $12.50) by Rosa Liksom collects stories set amid snow-covered landscapes populated by obsessive characters.
DELTA
Confidential Sources (Nov., $12) by Barbara Fischkin. Art imitates life in this tale of a modern-day Nick and Nora Charles—like couple named Barbara Fischkin and Jim Mulvaney. (Hint: Fischkin’s real-life husband is journalist Jim Mulvaney.) 25,000 first printing.
DOWNTOWN PRESS
Invisible Lives (Sept., $13) by Anjali Banerjee. A perfect Indo-American daughter has the mystical power to see people’s deepest longings.
Sex and the South Beach Chicas (Sept., $13) by Caridad Piñeiro. Four feisty Latinas hoist their mojitos while vowing never to become boring housewives.
EUROPA EDITIONS
Troubling Love (Sept., $14.95) by Elena Ferrante. When her mother dies mysteriously, Delia takes to the streets of Naples.
FREDERICK FELL
In Search of Dorothy (Sept., $14.95) by David Anthony. It’s 20 years later, and what if Dorothy’s trip over the rainbow was real?
GLAS (dist. by Northwestern Univ. Press)
War & Peace: Contemporary Russian Prose (Sept., $15.95), edited by Natasha Perova, presents stories that depict post-post-perestroika Russia.
DAVID R. GODINE/VERBA MUNDI
Aftershocks: Seven Stories (Feb., $16.95) by Greta Weil, trans. by John S. Barrett. This collection focuses on the effects of WWII on Germans who fled their homeland.
HARCOURT/HARVEST
The End of Mr. Y (Oct., $14) by Scarlett Thomas. A potion transports a woman into the Troposphere—a wonderland where she can travel through time and space.
HARLEM MOON
Is the Bitch Dead, or What? The Ritz Harper Chronicles Book 2 (Jan., $11.95) by Wendy Williams discloses what happens after Book 1, when the shock jock and gossip queen was close to death.
HARPER PAPERBACKS
Darcy’s Story (Sept., $13.95) by Janet Aylmer retells Pride and Prejudice from a new point of view. 75,000 first printing.
Alphabet Weekends (Feb., $14.95) by Elizabeth Noble. Tom attempts to convince Natalie that moving from friendship to love is as easy as A, B, C. 100,000 first printing.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
The Best American Short Stories 2006 (Oct.; $14, cloth $28), edited by Ann Patchett, counts Tobias Wolff, Donna Tartt and Thomas McGuane among this year’s contributors. 100,000 first printing.
The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006 (Oct.; $14, cloth $28), edited by Dave Eggers, mixes fiction, nonfiction, TV writing and alternative comics. 60,000 first printing.
HOWARD BOOKS
Fury (Sept., $12.99) by Bill Bright and Jack Cavanaugh brings to a close the Great Awakenings series, about a young man who witnessed a murder.
HQN BOOKS
Deadly Gamble (Nov., $13.95) by Linda Lael Miller. As Mojo Sheepshank is wondering how she’ll get on with her life, a wealthy man claims to be her long-lost uncle.
INTERLINK
Homes of the Heart: A Book About Ramallah (Nov., $12.95) by Farouq Wadi, trans. by Dina Bosio and Christopher Tingley, is an autobiographical novel by a noted Palestinian writer.
KENSINGTON
Francesca’s Kitchen (Sept., $14) by Peter Pezzelli. Widowed Francesca finds a family in need of her special care as a nanny.
LITTLE, BROWN/BACK BAY
Breadfruit (Sept., $12.99) by Célestine Vaite. Materena Mahi, Tahiti’s best listener, receives a proposal of marriage in the series begun with Frangipani. Ad/promo. 6-city author tour.
Everybody Loves Somebody (Dec., $13.99) by Joanna Scott. PEN/Faulkner Award—finalist Scott shares new stories of love lost and regained.
LOUISIANA STATE UNIV. PRESS
Uke Rivers Delivers: Stories (Oct., $16.95) by R.T. Smith. The latest in the Yellow Show Fiction series collects tales of Southerners trying to come to grips with their inherited pasts.
MACMILLAN CARIBBEAN (dist. by Interlink)
Chutney Power: and Other Stories (Sept., $9.95) by Willi Chen portrays poor and rural East India lives in this darkly comic collection.
MIRA
So Much for My Happy Ending (Nov., $13.95) by Kyra Davis. After being engaged to Tad for six month, April begins to ponder the “in sickness and in health” part.
MTV BOOKS/G-UNIT
Death Before Dishonor (Jan., $12) by Nikki Turner carries the tough message that betrayal is inevitable.
NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY
Singing with the Top Down (Sept., $12.95) by Debrah Williamson. With 1950s innocence as backdrop, two children and their flamboyant aunt head toward California in a Buick Skylark convertible.
A Dangerous Love (Oct., $14) by Bertrice Small. The first entry in a historical romance series centers on Adair Radcliffe, daughter of the womanizing King Edward IV.
NAL ACCENT
A Summer All Her Own (Sept., $12.95) by Rosanne Keller. A young widow visits Crete.
NAL HEAT
Naughty Housewives (Jan., $14) by Elizabeth Scott presents three tales of uninhibited women who won’t let marriage put an end to their sex lives.
NAL JAM
All You Need Is Love: The Principles of Love (Sept., $9.99) by Emily Franklin. In this fourth entry in the series, surprises aplenty await Love Bukowski during her sophomore year at Hadley Hall.
NYRB CLASSICS
Love in a Fallen City (Oct., $14.95) by Eileen Chang is the first English-language publication to present a full selection of Chang’s novellas.
OHIO UNIV./SWALLOW PRESS
The Quick-Change Artist (Oct.; $16.95, cloth $28.95) by Cary Holladay contains stories that center around a hotel in rural Virginia.
OTHER PRESS
Conjugal Love (Jan., $14) by Alberto Moravia, trans. by Marina Harss. The story of an imperiled relationship arrives in a new English translation.
OVERLOOK
Twentysomething: The Quarter-Life Crisis of Jack Lancaster (Nov., $13.95) by Iain Hollingshead concerns a young professional whose midlife crisis arrives early.
PENGUIN
Dearest Dorothy, Merry Everything! (Nov., $13) by Charlene Ann Baumbich. This fifth Partonville novel opens with the townsfolk pitching in to help a family rocked by tragedy. 5-city author tour.
PERENNIAL
Haweswater (Oct., $13.95) by Sarah Hall. Industrialization and scandalous love threaten a remote English hamlet. 35,000 first printing.
RANDOM HOUSE
This Is Not Chick Lit: Original Stories by America’s Best Women Writers (Sept., $13.95), edited by Elizabeth Merrick, claims to be serious literary fiction by serious literary females—Francine Prose, Curtis Sittenfeld, Mary Gordon et al.
Hush, Little Baby (Dec., $12.95) by Katharine Davies. Involved with a married man, 36-year-old Eira yearns to be a mother until she must grapple with her past.
SCRIBNER
The Devil in Amber: A Lucifer Box Adventure (Nov., $13) by Mark Gatiss. Box returns for another round of louche sleuthing in the sequel to The Vesuvius Club. 20,000 first printing.
SERPENT’S TAIL
Mortality (Feb., $14.95) by Nicholas Royle collects stories that show us that our world is never what it seems.
SHOEMAKER & HOARD
The Lazy Boys (Oct., $15) by Carl Shuker. Sex, violence and drugs fuel the despair of a band of aimless young men in New Zealand.
SIGNET ECLIPSE
The Slightest Provocation (Sept., $14) by Pam Rosenthal puts an erotic slant on this Britain-set historical romance.
Love, Lust and Pixie Dust (Oct., $14) by LuAnn McLane. Three erotic stories with a country twang kick off when the Barone family from Brooklyn hits Nashville.
SOFT SKULL PRESS
American Genius (Oct., $15) by Lynne Tillman details life inside a scholarly colony that functions like Melville’s Pequod. Author tour.
SPICE BOOKS
Dirty (Jan., $13.95) by Megan Hart. Elle embarks upon a passionate affair with Dan, but rejects any feeling beyond sexual desire.
S&S/TOUCHSTONE
Duty and Desire: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman (Oct., $14) by Pamela Aiden. The second work in a trilogy revolves around Jane Austen’s enigmatic hero.
ST. MARTIN’S/GRIFFIN
I, Mona Lisa (Nov., $14.95) by Jeanne Kalogridis addresses the mysteries behind the famous painting. 100,000 first printing.
The Black Door (Feb., $14.95) by Velvet introduces a members-only club that houses three floors of carnal delight for the city’s richest women.
STEEPLE HILL
Grave Risk (Jan., $13.95) by Hannah Alexander. Nurse Jill Cooper questions her faith and her sanity when tragedy strikes a small town.
If the Shoe Fits (Jan., $13.95) by Marilynn Griffith. When three different men pursue shoe designer Rochelle, she seeks support from the Sassy Sistahood.
STEERFORTH/PLAYBOY PRESS
The New Bedside Playboy: A Half Century of Amusement, Diversion and Entertainment (Sept., $19.95), edited by Hugh M. Hefner, anthologizes a diverse selection of stories, journalism, humor and cartoons from the magazine.
STREBOR BOOKS
Take Two and Pass (Nov., $13) by Nane Quartay follows street hustler Tokus Stone and affluent businessman Way Jalon as they move toward their inevitable collision.
The Enchantress (Nov., $15) by Allison Hobbs. A fallen goddess in the guise of a Southern slave is tortured to death, then seeks vengeance 200 years later.
SUNSTONE PRESS
The Honorable Cody (Oct., $22.95) by Richard S. Wheeler imagines the aftermath of Buffalo Bill Cody’s death.
UNBRIDLED BOOKS
Golem Song (Nov., $15.95) by Marc Estrin. The misguided protagonist sets out to save Jewish America from anti-Semitism. Author tour.
UNIV. OF ALABAMA/FICTION COLLECTIVE TWO
The Complete Tales of Merry Gold (Sept., $19.95) by Kate Bernheimer offers contemporary fairy tales about the oldest and meanest of the Gold sisters.
UNIV. OF GEORGIA PRESS
Short Stories of the Civil Rights Movement: An Anthology (Nov.; $24.95, cloth $59.95), edited by Margaret Earley Whitt, depicts some of the era’s seminal events.
UNIV. OF NEW MEXICO PRESS
The Vote (Oct., $19.95) by Sybil Downing. In 1918, after being mistakenly arrested with suffragists, Kate Brennan becomes a zealous supporter of the National Woman’s Party.
UNIV. OF NOTRE DAME PRESS
The Road to Cosmos: The Faces of an American Town (Nov., $22) by Bill Meissner gathers stories centering on the residents of Cosmos, U.S.A.
UNIV. OF WISCONSIN/TERRACE BOOKS
The Tree of Life: A Trilogy of Life in the Lodz Ghetto, Book Three—The Cattle Cars Are Waiting, 1942—1944 (Sept., $21.95) by Chava Rosenfarb depicts the struggle to retain a sense of humanity while enduring ghetto life.
UNIV. PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI
20 over 40 (Sept., $20), edited by David Galef and Beth Weinhouse, assembles 20 stories written by authors over 40 that confront issues of middle age.
VERTICAL
The Crimson Labyrinth (Oct., $14.95) by Yusuke Ksihi. Nine people show up for a job interview and wake up in the Australian outback with only a global positioning system.
WARNER
Knitting Under the Influence (Sept., $12.99) by Claire Lazebnik. Three close friends meet weekly to knit, share a bottle of wine and make tough choices.
WESTBOW PRESS
Fire Dancer (Oct., $14.99) by Colleen Coble. A serial arsonist called the Fire Dancer strikes in Arizona.
ZEBRA
Reason to Believe (Oct., $13) by Jessica Inclán. In this second title in a trilogy, Rufus Valasay is drawn to a beautiful stranger.
