Crown Biz Lands ‘Advantage'
Roger Scholl at Crown Business took world rights to The Two-Second Advantage: How Humans and Machines Win by Seeing the Future... Just Enough. Written by USA Today tech columnist Kevin Maney and Vivek Ranadive, founder of TIBCO Software, the book shows how entrepreneurs (as well as other successful folk) use a model of looking into the very near future, whether consciously or not, to stay ahead of the competition. The authors use recent brain science to provide the basis for how this all works. Agent Sandra Dijkstra brokered the deal.

HMH Signs Pulitzer Poet, Stegner Fellow
Closing two deals this week, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt acquired a poetry collection by Pulitzer–winner Natasha Trethewey and a novel by Stegner fellow Justin Torres. Michael Collier bought world rights to Thrall, Trethewey's newest collection after winning the Pulitzer for poetry in 2007 for Native Guard, which HMH also published; Rob McQuilkin at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin represented Trethewey. Jenna Johnson bought Torres's debut, Breeding, in a two-book deal for North American rights, brokered by Jin Auh at the Wylie Agency. Torres, who graduated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, delivers a tale about a family in conflict. Thrall is scheduled for fall 2012, and Breeding for fall 2011.

Colin Fox Closes Memoir Triple-Header
Colin Fox is putting down some money for memoirs in his first three acquisitions as executive editor at Hyperion. He bought world rights to a memoir by Rick Harrison, star of the History Channel's popular reality TV show, Pawn Stars. Richard Abate at 3 Arts brokered the deal (in conjunction with UTA and the Jefferies Company) for Harrison who, in the book, lays out how he overcame his wild youth to found his family-run business. The currently untitled book is scheduled for June 2011.

In the second deal, Fox nabbed U.S., Canadian, and open market rights to the life story of Nascar driver Michael Waltrip. Waltrip most memorably won the Daytona 500 in 2001, a victory overshadowed by the death, in that same race, of his close friend and mentor, Dale Earnhardt. Waltrip's book, sold by Peter McGuigan at Foundry Literary + Media and Alex McDonald of McDonald-Murray, is scheduled for February 2011.

In the last deal, Fox bought world rights to Playing Dumb, by Stephen "Steve-O" Glover. Glover, who shot to fame on the MTV reality stunt show Jackass, became notorious off-camera for his battles with addiction. In the book, which Laura Nolan at Defiore and Co. sold, he chronicles his path to recovery; Playing Dumb is scheduled for June 2011.

Dorman Grabs U.K. Journo's Debut
For her eponymous imprint at Viking, Pamela Dorman bought North American rights to Daily Telegraph journalist Ceri Radford's debut novel, A Surrey State of Affairs. Grainne Fox at Fletcher & Co. brokered the deal, on behalf of Peter Robinson at RCW in the U.K. The book is a comic novel about a middle-aged woman who gets a new lease on life after becoming a blogger. Viking said book's heroine recalls "Bridget Jones's insanely daffy mother." Dorman is planning a winter 2012 publication.

Briefs
Bob Pigeon at Da Capo bought world rights to Brian X. Chen's How the iPhone Unlocked the "Anything-Anytime-Anywhere" Future—and Locked Us In. The publisher described the book as an analysis of the current "all in one revolution" as exemplified by devices like Apple's iPhone. David Fugate at LaunchBooks Literary brokered the deal.