Blog to Book
Blogger Robert Rummel-Hudson's life was transformed when his daughter, Schuyler, was diagnosed with an extremely rare neurological disorder called Congenital Bilateral Perisylvian Syndrome (only several hundred cases have been identified worldwide). He began writing about his experiences in an online journal (belovedmonsterandme.blogspot.com) and will now publish his memoir, Schuyler's Monster, with St. Martin's Press; Sheila Curry Oakes acquired world rights from agent Sarah Jane Freymann. Schuyler, now seven, is nonverbal but communicates with the assistance of an electronic device. Rummel-Hudson will ruminate on the struggle with a child's disability while touching on larger issues of family, love and fatherhood. St. Martin's plans a winter 2008 publication.
Formerly Fat
Da Capo's Marnie Cochran has acquired the tentatively titled Desperately Seeking Skinny by Allen Zadoff, which is a brief inspirational weight loss book based on the real-life experiences of a formerly fat man. Agent Stuart Krichevsky sold world rights. With a healthy appetite for both life and food, Zadoff always thought he'd be happy if only he could shed a few pounds, but after ballooning up to 360 pounds, he learned he had an addiction to food and needed to find a new set of tools for staying "on the wagon." He'll share his quirky strategies as well as what he learned on his way up and down the scale. Da Capo plans a fall 2007 publication.
Formerly Secular
Cynthia DiTiberio at Harper San Francisco has acquired Antony Flew's There Is a God: How the World's Most Famous Atheist Changed His Mind in a world rights deal with agent Steve Laube. This is the personal story of the intellectual evolution of British philosopher and prominent atheist Flew, who presented his "Theology and Falsification" at a 1950 meeting of the Oxford Socratic Club chaired by C.S. Lewis and more recently announced that he now believes in the existence of God. The book will be written with Roy Abraham Varghese and published in fall 2007.
The Briefing
Atria's Emily Bestler has acquired two new thrillers by Brad Thor (Blowback, Takedown) in a world English rights deal with Sanford Greenburger's Heide Lange, Pocket will be the paperback publisher for both books, and no titles or pub dates have been announced.... Houghton's Kate O'Sullivan has acquired North American rights to James Rumford's middle-grade Beowulf from Jeff Dwyer of Dwyer & O'Grady; Sibert Honor winner Rumford will illustrate the book himself, and Houghton plans an August 2007 publication.... Daniel Slager at Milkweed has picked up U.S. rights to Anosh Irani's novel The Song of Kahunsha, about an orphan caught up in the 1993 communal riots in Bombay, for publication in spring 2007, from agent Denise Bukowski, Doubleday Canada published the work this past spring.... Random's Laura Ford has signed up the next two novels by PEN/Faulkner finalist Karen Fisher, the first of the two is titled The Bearing Tree and is set in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1800s; agent Christina Ward sold world rights.... Geoff Shandler at Little, Brown acquired Boston Globe reporter Charlie Savage's Takeover, which will reveal how the Bush-Cheney administration has seized unprecedented power from Congress and the courts and he asserts that this will be the administration's most far-reaching legacy; ICM's Amanda Urban sold world rights.
