Landis's Story

Embattled 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has signed with Tricia Boczkowski at Simon Spotlight to tell his life story in Positively False; Mel Berger at William Morris sold world rights. Landis will describe growing up in a strict Pennsylvania Mennonite family, riding alongside Lance Armstrong for three of Armstrong's seven Tour wins and the inner workings of the cycling world, while also taking on his accusers in the doping scandal that surfaced after his controversial Tour victory. The book is scheduled for publication in late June, just before the 2007 race.

Dog Days

Ellen Archer and Pamela Dorman have acquired North American rights to Judith Summers's My Life with George for Hyperion's Voice imprint, via Clare Alexander at Gillon Aitken. Based on a series of popular columns written by Summers in the (London) Daily Mail, this is her account of life with an unruly and neurotic Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named George, who is now known as "the most costly dog in Britain." Voice will publish in fall 2007.

Holt's David Patterson has acquired world rights to Michael Schaffer's One Nation Under Dog via agent Larry Weissman. In this exploration of consumerism today, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Schaffer turns his eye toward our enormous pet care industry, from doggy spas, gyms and bakeries to pet cemeteries and bereavement groups. Scheduled pub date is winter 2009.

Doubleday Duo

Luke Epplin at Doubleday/Nan Talese has acquired world English rights to Mark Lamster's The Reluctant Diplomat: Peter Paul Rubens and His Secret Mission to Save Europe from Itself from Sarah Burnes at the Gernert Company. This is an account not only of Rubens's rise to artistic stardom but his clandestine shift to statesmanship when he accepts a secret mission on behalf of the Spanish crown to help end the Eighty Years War between Spain and Holland. Lamster is an editor at Princeton Architectural Press and the author of Spalding's World Tour; projected pub date is spring 2009.

Doubleday's Deb Futter acquired world rights to Mr. Fooster: Traveling on a Whim by Mostly Bob author Tom Corwin and illustrated by Craig Frazier. The story of Mr. Fooster is described as a cross between The Little Prince and Harold and the Purple Crayon for adults. Doubleday's Flying Dolphin imprint will publish in spring 2008; the deal was negotiated by Robert Stricker of Kul'cha (Corwin) and Charlotte Sheedy (Frazier).

Viking Trio

In her first acquisition at Viking, Ellen Garrison bought world rights to Myles Gregory Osborne's The Bodies on the Mountain: The Story of May 2006 on Mt. Everest; Sydelle Kramer at the Susan Rabiner Agency made the six-figure deal. Osborne, a young mountaineer and Harvard Ph.D. candidate, will describe his team's rescue of a sick climber at 28,500 feet while on the way to the summit, just days after other teams left another sick climber for dead. Pub date undetermined.

Wendy Wolf bought world rights to an untitled work of nonfiction by Ronald Florence via agent Wendy Strothman. The book will tell the story of Joel Brand, who was invited by Himmler and Eichmann to barter for the lives of one million Hungarian Jews, and the story of their attempts to use him to open peace negotiations with the Allies in 1944. Viking is publishing Florence's Lawrence and Aaronsohn in 2007.

John Siciliano has acquired WangGang's English, the story of the friendship between a 12-year-old boy and his school's new English teacher, and how the boy's dream of speaking English helps him to imagine a world outside of remote northwest China. Agent Joanne Wang sold world rights, excluding China, Korea and France. The novel is the first work of fiction to be voted best of the year in China by both critics and the general public.