THE WAXMAN LITERARY AGENCY COMPLETE RIGHTS LIST,FALL 2008: 80 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1101 [email protected] New York, NY 10011 [email protected] 212-675-5556 [email protected] 212-675-1381(f) [email protected] www.waxmanagency.com History/Biography/Narrative Nonfiction: A.J. Baime GO LIKE HELL: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans(Houghton Mifflin) NA: Houghton Mifflin, UK: Transworld, Translation: WLA (Platano/Portugal) EMS is available, tentative pub: June 2009 In the 1960's Enzo Ferrari was known as “the Assassin” for the high death rate of the drivers who perished in his cars, the fastest of the European rivals like Maserati, Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz, and Jaguar. Meanwhile in America, Ford Motor Company was discovering that young Americans wanted speed over comfort, style over safety, so Henry Ford II decided to build a car faster than a Ferrari, and win the most prestigious and brutal race in the world, Le Mans. Baime, a reporter for Playboy magazine, takes readers behind the remarkable and hair-raising races that pitted these two titans, their cars, and their fleet of fearless “pilots” against one another.
Neal Bascomb HUNTING EICHMANN: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World’s Most Notorious Nazi (Houghton Mifflin) NA: Houghton Mifflin, UK: Quercus, Translation: WLA (Editions Perrin/France - Uniboek/Holland - Schibsted/Norway - Schibsted/Sweden - Objetiva/Brazil - Debate/Spain, JP-Politikens/Denmark, Miskal/Israel) EMS is available, tentative pub March 11, 2009 HUNTING EICHMANN chronicles the fifteen year manhunt for the engineer of The Final Solution, who lived alone in the forests of Germany for five years before finding safe passage to Argentina via the Nazi "rat lines" in 1950. He was eventually seized by a team of Mossad agents in one of their very first missions in 1960. It features newly declassified documents and first-person accounts. Formerly titled: Angels of Justice, The Man from Bus 203
Matthew Brzezinski THE MOVEMENT: A Seven Year Underground Odyssey with the Jewish Resistance in Nazi and Soviet Occupied Poland (Bantam) WE: Bantam, Translation: WLA Proposal is available, EMS is due: March 2009, tentative pub: Winter 2010 A sweeping and stirring saga of survival, THE MOVEMENT follows the Jewish resistance in Poland during World War II. This underground war spanned seven years, from the earliest Nazi invasion in 1939 through the Soviet takeover in 1946, and tells of an unknown story of Jewish heroes, unlikely alliances with the Polish resistance and the founding of Eretz Israel. Brzezinski will live in Warsaw for the next two years, researching and writing the book. He is fluent in Polish, Russian, French and English.
David Herlihy THE LOST CYCLIST: The Untold Story of Frank Lenz's Ill-Fated Around the World Journey (Houghton Mifflin) NA: Houghton Mifflin, UK: Mainstream, Translation: WLA (Editions Lattes/France) Proposal is available, EMS is due February 2009, tentative pub: Winter 2010 In 1892, German-American Frank Lenz set forth to circle the globe atop a new “safety” bicycle, featuring a controversial innovation: inflatable tires. He brought along a large wooden camera and arranged to send regular reports to his sponsor, Outing magazine, which ushered in the great bicycle boom that was about to explode with stunning social and industrial repercussions. Two years, 14,000 miles, and many adventures later; after crossing the United States, Japan, China, Burma, India and Persia, Lenz vanished. In echoes of the famous Stanley & Livingstone
1 ordeal only 13 years prior, another cyclist would embark on a trip to Turkey-where Lenz had last been seen-to find the lost cyclist. The book includes Lenz's photos from his journey. Herlihy is fluent in French and Italian.
David Herlihy BICYCLE: THE HISTORY (Yale University Press) NA + UK: Yale University Press, Translation: WLA Books are available. Published in 2004, the beautifully illustrated book has sold over 20,000 copies and been translated into Korean (Alma) and Russian (NLO).
Jason Kersten THE ART OF MAKING MONEY: Art Williams, the Last Great Counterfeiter (Gotham) NA: Gotham, UK & Translation: (Rizzoli/Italy, Luitingh/Holland, China Times/Taiwan) EMS is available, tentative pub: June 2009 Art Williams is one of the most talented counter-fitters of our time, and this book chronicles his spectacular rise and fall. In 1996 the new and supposedly counterfeit-proof $100 note was released. Art worked at it and cracked the code, eventually making perfect replicas and up to $10 million of the new currency. His background, training and eventual capture was first featured in Rolling Stone in 2005, which was subsequently optioned by Dreamworks. A screenplay is currently in development. Rights to co-writer Kersten’s first book THE JOURNAL OF THE DEAD (HarperCollins, 2003) were sold in the UK, Holland, France, and Sweden.
Buddy Levy RIVER OF DARKNESS: Francisco Orellana’s Historic Descent of the Amazon (Bantam) NA + UK: Bantam, Proposal is available, EMS is due October 2009, tentative pub: Summer 2010 In 1540, Gonzalo Pizarro and Francisco Orellana led 280 Spaniards and 260 horses into the South American jungle on an expedition to find a city of riches and a rumored man of gold, El Dorado. Before long, disease and jungle conditions nearly left the expedition a catastrophe, but sensing it was they’re only hope to safety Orellana and a small group of men built a boat and floated down what became a mighty river. From here, the rescue mission becomes one of discovery as they encounter an incredible variety of species and people, among them tall and ferocious fighting women who gave the mighty Amazon River its name.
Buddy Levy CONQUISTADOR: Hernán Cortés, King Montezuma, and the Conquest of the Aztec Nation (Bantam) NA + UK: Bantam, Translation: WLA, (Objetiva/Brazil, Debate/Spain, Rebis/Poland) Books are available, publishing: July 2008 Conquistador is the riveting account of the daring and devastating military campaign which altered the course of history in the New World. Conquistador reads like a Hispanic GLADIATOR and blends the appeal of such bestsellers as Lawrence Bergreen's Over the Edge of the World, Jared Diamond's Collapse. “Conveys with ghastly power the relentlessness of Cortés, the tragedy of Montezuma, the brutality of battle and the utter bewilderment of one culture in the face of the other.” KIRKUS [A] fascinating account … Mr. Levy has an eye for vivid detail and manages to build a compelling narrative out of this almost unbelievable story of missionary zeal, greed, cruelty and courage.” WALL ST. JOURNAL
Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill MERCURY RISING: The Truth Behind Our Global Mental Health Emergency (Thomas Dunne) NA: Thomas Dunne, ANZ: Scribe, UK + Translation: WLA Proposal is available, EMS due July 2009, tentative pub Spring 2010 This is the first historical survey of the effects of exposure to environmental mercury which reveals previously unacknowledged links between mercury and the incidence of various neurological disorders; from crippling bouts of syphilis which left sufferers raving mad, to the first children diagnosed with autism in the 1930s. Olmsted and Blaxill, an epidemiological Woodward and Bernstein, take a riveting new look at everything from Freud’s patients, feral
2 children in 19th century London, and today’s increased rate of autism to provide an astonishing perspective on the most toxic non-nuclear substance known to man. In the tradition of Silent Spring or An Inconvenient Truth.
Stephan Talty THE FLIGHT OF THE GOD-KING: China’s Invasion of Tibet and the Dalai Lama’s Perilous Escape to Freedom (Crown) NA: Crown, UK & Translation: WLA Proposal is available, EMS due Fall 2009, tentative pub: Fall 2010 NY Times bestselling author Stephan Talty chronicles one of the most famous escapes of the 20th Century: the then- 24 year old Dalai Lama’s 14-day journey in 1959 from his ancient Tibetan kingdom to India. The daring feat created the Tibetan government in exile and made the Dalai Lama into a worldwide symbol and celebrity. Dressed as a common soldier with a gun slung across his back he completed a dash for freedom unlike any other in modern times. Accompanied by CIA-trained freedom fighters he walked through incredibly rugged terrain and survived a mountaintop blizzard, all while ducking Chinese patrols, machine-gun nests, and dysentery – which nearly killed him. The journey chronicles the Lama’s transformation from a sheltered young man to a toughened leader all the more committed to his Buddhist faith, against the backdrop of The Great Leap Forward and the Cold War.
Stephan Talty THE ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD: The Terrifying Story of How Typhus Killed Napolean’s Greatest Army (Crown) NA: Crown, UK & Translation: WLA EMS is available, tentative pub: June 2009 NY Times bestselling author Stephan Talty chronicles two parallel forces in 1812 Europe. One was Napoleon's undefeated army, ruler of Europe; and the other was typhus, the murderer of millions. By the time Napoleon began marching towards Moscow he was acknowledged as a brilliant and ruthless military commander, someone who achieved inner calm amidst the chaos of battle, and a seemingly invincible man. But not to the tiny microbe called Rickettsia prowazekii, the pathogen that causes epidemic typhus. Like bestsellers such as The Great Influenza, this will look at the epidemic that defeated Napoleon and his magnificent army, mixing conquest and megalomania with a medical detective story. Formerly titled the THE EMPEROR & THE MICROBE
Memoir and Humor: Matthew Biberman BIG SID’S VINCATI: The Story of a Father, a Son, and the Bike of a Lifetime (Hudson Street Press) NA: Hudson Street, UK + Translation: WLA (Myung Jin Publications/Korea) Proposal Available, EMS due October 2008, publishing Spring 2009 After a lifetime spent working on motorcycles, Sidney “Big Sid” Biberman moved to be near his estranged son, a University English professor. Not long after moving, he suffered a massive heart attack. His son, desperate to give his father motivation to recover, ran across a picture of a Vincati, a legendary melding of two great bikes, the Vincent and the Ducati, into one. At his father's hospital bed he proposed that they build one together, a conversation that would transform their lives. Together they build this bike in their garage that became part of motorcycling history and in doing so discovered the wisdom to look past life’s disappointments and connect with each other in a way they no longer thought possible. In the vein of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Peter Birkenhead GONVILLE, a Memoir (Free Press) NA: Free Press, UK: United Agents, Translation: WLA Proposal is available, EMS due January 2009, tentative pub: March 2010 GONVILLE is a riveting, darkly funny memoir about Peter’s tumultuous relationship with his wildly eccentric, charismatic, and sometimes violent father. Like Another Bullshit Night in Suck City or Oh the Glory of it All it conveys in beautiful and vivid language the powerful survival mechanisms required to cope with a profoundly complicated parent, and, more importantly, how necessary and it is to abandon them. Peter is a regular contributor to Salon.com, Marie Claire, GQ, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and others. He is an actor with extensive experience in
3 theater and television, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, and numerous TV dramas like Grey’s Anatomy, House, ER, and Six Feet Under.
Amit Chatwani DAMN IT FEELS GOOOD TO BE A BANKER: And Other Baller Things You Only Get to Say if You Work on Wall Street (Hyperion) NA: Hyperion Translation: WLA Books are available, Publishing August 2008 A satirical guide to the world of Finance, grouped into four major themes: The Business, The People, The Culture, and The Nightlife, and written in the voice of the “consummate banker caricature.” Amit Chatwani created a massive following with his website, www.leveagedsellout.com and was labeled “The Borat of Wall Street” by BusinessWeek magazine. His book captures perfectly that voice of the young financial elite and their obsessions power, money, status, sex, alcohol, and flat screen televisions.
Steve Dublanica WAITER RANT: Thanks for the Tip – Confessions of a Cynical Waiter (ECCO) NA: Ecco, UK: John Murray, Translation: WLA (Nova Fronteira/Brazil, CTW/Taiwan, Droemer/Germany, RCS Libri/Italy) Books are available, publishing August 2008. A NY Times Bestseller For Six Weeks. Based on the incredibly popular and anonymous blog, www.waiterrant.net, winner of the 2007 Bloggies for best weblog and which was anthologized in the Best Creative Nonfiction of 2006. Featured on The Today Show, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, PEOPLE magazine and the USA TODAY. *The front of the house version of Kitchen Confidential, a painfully funny, excrutiatingly true account of the waiter’s life. You will never look at your waiter the same way again.” Anthony Bourdain. * “This amusing and informative book is as delightful as it is irreverent” Jonathan Yardley, WASHINGTON POST *”The main attraction is his acerbic, biting, and often hilarious accounts of life behind the scenes at the front of the house.” THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Thomas Kohnstamm DO TRAVEL WRITERS GO TO HELL? A Swashbuckling Tale of High Adventure, Questionable Ethics, & Professional Hedonism (Three Rivers) NA: Three Rivers, UK and Australia: Murdoch Books, Translation: WLA (China Times/Taiwan, Piper/Germany, Panda/Brazil) Books are available, Publishing April 2008 Kohnstamm left Wall St. for his dream job as a writer for Lonely Planet four years ago. After the success of his first book, Lonely Planet Brazil, he became one of the company’s most sought-after and highly contracted writers. Do Travel Writers Go to Hell is an unvarnished account of life as a professional travel writer, far different from his expectations, which follows his escape from Manhattan to Brazil for his first assignment and the misadventures that occurred along the way.
David Lovelace SCATTERSHOT, A Memoir (Dutton) NA: Dutton, UK: HarperUK , Translation: WLA (Ediouro/Brazil) Books are available, Publishing October 2008 In the tradition of Running with Scissors and The Glass Castle, a striking memoir about growing up in a fundamentalist Christian family of five, four of whom suffer from bipolar disorder (including both parents and David himself), and his adventures learning to deal with the extreme highs and bottomless lows brought on by the madness. But this is a book about much more than pain. It also strips away the shame to show the profound creative gifts that the bipolar disease brings with it, and by the end of David’s remarkable story he has come full circle. He cares for his father at the psych ward, his mother at the hospital, and shows his own two children what it fully means to embrace the unique spiritual chemistry of his family's mental illness and then reach for a kind of mercurial peace.
4 Michelle Maisto EATING TOGETHER: The Gastronomy of a Marriage (Random House) NA: Random House, Australia/Murdoch Books, UK & Translation: WLA Proposal is available, EMS Due: August 2008, publishing April 2009 In the spirit of M. F. K. Fisher, Columbia University MFA graduate Michelle Maisto renders a year of her engagement as seen through the meals she and her fiancé sat down to together. It is a story about her first-generation Italian parents; his first-generation Chinese parents; a vegetarian feminist cooking for a carnivore fiancé who has an aversion to meals that involve using too many bowls; and about having nothing to eat when the cupboard is bare and nothing to eat when it’s full. Everyone who has every moved in with someone can relate to this daily conversation about the evening's meal.
Kevin Pappas GODFATHER OF NIGHT: A Greek Mafia Father, a Drug Runner Son, and an Unexpected Shot at Redemption (Random House) NA + Spanish: Random House, UK + Translation: WLA EMS is available, tentative publication: May 2009 Growing up in Tarpon Springs, Florida—the seaside headquarters of the Greek mafia—Kevin Cunningham fell in love with Greek culture and hoped to become part of it. But when he was seventeen the man he’d always called dad told him that he was the illegitimate son of the local crimeboss, Lukie Pappas. Kevin appealed to his real father for recognition, but Lukie showed no interest. In desperation, Kevin entered into a life of crime. He adopted the Pappas name and quickly moved from swindlng tourists to moving cocaine, gun running, and racketeering, squaring off against the FBI, ATF, and the DEA. In the end, his crew was dead and he was locked up on two consecutive life terms in a federal penitentiary. But that’s only the beginning of Kevin’s story, and the rest—helping authorities capture major criminals, outwitting the system, finding redemption—will leave true crime buffs shaking their heads. Written with STEPHAN TALTY, the author of Empire of Blue Water and The Illustrious Dead.
Rosie Schaap DRINKING WITH MEN (Riverhead) NA: Riverhead, UK + Translation: WLA Proposal is available, Ms. due: March 2008, tentative pub: Fall 2009 Rosie has always loved bars. It is where she forged an identity, primarily amongst men: artists and ironworkers, tugboat captains and taxi drivers, poets and businessmen, lawyers and soccer hooligans. To Rosie, "bar culture is uniquely civilizing, a source of community that is welcoming and comforting, and full of great and surprising stories. Rosie's book is structured chronologically around the bars she has favored during different periods in her life. These take her from New York City to Dublin, Ireland to Bennington, VT to the West Coast, to Montreal. In addition to the ten bars that form the current outline, Rosie will visit additional bars during the course of her writing, as well as revisit some from her past. Rosie read the first story in her collection, The Bar Car, last month on This American Life and received an overwhelming response, both for the strong material and her engaging delivery.
Ben Thompson BADASS: The Ultimate Guide to Forty of the Toughest Warlords, Vikings, Samurai, Pirates, Gunfighters and Military Commanders to Ever Live (Collins) NA: Collins, UK + Translation: WLA Proposal is available, EMS Due: March 2009, tentative pub: Fall 2009 Based on the incredibly popular website, www.badassoftheweek.com, BADASS salutes the exploits of asskickers throughout history and from all over the globe. From El Cid to Saladin, Julius Caeser to Yi Soon Shin the book will be uniquely funny, innovatively designed, historically accurate and just might get you so pumped up that you will want to quit your shitty job, smash your office desk into splinters with your forehead.
Charlie Todd and Alex Scordelis CAUSING A SCENE: Extraordinary Pranks in Ordinary Places (HarperEntertainment) NA: HarperEntertainment, ANZ: Murdoch Books, UK & Translation: WLA
5 Proposal is available, EMS due October 2008, tentative pub: Spring 2009 The NY-based comedy group Improv Everywhere has staged some of the most outrageous and creative public stunts in recent memory. From the no-pants subway ride, the Anton Chekhov book reading, to the fake U2 concert on the roof of an apartment building, they specialize in ingenious ways of making people stop and re-consider their surroundings. Featured on The Today Show, the NY Times and many others, their video of freezing in place in Grand Central station has been viewed on YouTube over 13 million times. This will be a beautifully designed manual for mischief that will allow their fans across the world to do just what they do. www.improveverywhere.com
Fiction: Kay Cassidy THE CINDERELLA SOCIETY (Egmont USA) YOUNG ADULT NA: Egmont USA, UK/Translation: WLA EMS is available, tentative pub: Winter 2010 When the Homecoming Queen becomes your fairy godmother...be careful what you wish for. Sixteen year old Jess Parker gets the chance of a lifetime: an invitation to join The Cinderella Society, a secret club of the most popular girls in school, where makeovers are the first order of official business. But there’s more to being a Cindy than just reinventing yourself from the outside. When the Wickeds--led by Jess’s archenemy--begin targeting innocent girls in their war against the Cindys, Jess discovers her new sisterhood is about much more than who rules Mt. Sterling High School. The Cindys are the front line in a centuries-old battle of good vs. evil, and they need Jess on special assignment. A smart new series sure to appeal to fans of Meg Cabot. The first of a two-book deal.
Rachel Hawkins DEMONGLASS (Hyperion Books for Children) YOUNG ADULT NA: Hyperion, UK & Translation: WLA (Editions Albin Michel Jeunesse/Shaïne Cassim/France, Record/Brazil, Edições Gailivro/Portugal) EMS available, tentative pub: January 2010 This debut young adult novel was preempted in a significant three-book deal. Combining the appeal of Ally Carter’s I’D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU, BUT THEN I’D HAVE TO KILL YOU with the paranormal elements that have made Stephenie Meyer a worldwide phenomenon, DEMONGLASS is the story of sixteen-year-old Sophie Mercer and Prentiss Academy, a boarding school for witches, shapeshifters, fairies (and one sulky vampire). When witches in Sophie's year are attacked, she finds herself tangled up in the mystery, which might be more connected to Sophie than she ever could have guessed. Rachel Hawkins is a former high school teacher who lives in Alabama.
Mary Kennedy DEATH IS BAD KARMA (NAL Obsidian) NA: NAL Obsidian, UK & Translation: WLA EMS is due November 2008, tentative pub: Fall 2009 Murder She Wrote meets Frasier in Mary Kennedy’s DEATH IS BAD KARMA. Maggie Walsh is host of Southern Florida’s On the Couch. She’s a New York City transplant, she’s single, loves her pet Pug, and she’s got phone lines full of Cypress Grove’s looniest residents just waiting for her advice. When her special celebrity guest, a self- improvement guru as greasy as he is self-righteous, is found dead after appearing on her show, Maggie’s more than a little curious about who’d want the smarmy but seemingly harmless guru dead. When her roommate Lark becomes the #1 suspect, Maggie knows it’s up to her to prove Lark innocent by finding out who really gave the Guru that headstart on his “transition into the cosmos.” This is the first of a three-book deal.
Maureen Lipinski WAS IT PLANNED? (Thomas Dunne) NA: Thomas Dunne, UK & Translation: WLA EMS available, tentative pub: Summer 2009 A debut novel reads like the (unplanned) love child of the film "Knocked Up" and BITTER IS THE NEW BLACK. Twenty-seven-year-old Clare Finnegan returns from a booze-soaked weekend with her husband in Vegas, where neither of them bet on getting pregnant somewhere between the blackjack and the buffets. Clare grows to accept the
6 changes, though always worrying: “What if I accidentally leave the baby somewhere inappropriate, like a Victoria’s Secret dressing room?”; “Why do most maternity clothes look like they were molested by a Bedazzler?”; and “How can I possibly have a child when all of my furniture is made of cardboard and from IKEA?” Maureen Lipinski lives in Chicago with her husband and newborn son. This is the first of a two book deal.
John Parker ONCE A RUNNER (Scribner) NA: Scribner, UK: Conville & Walsh, Australia/Murdoch Books, Translation: WLA (Der Arbeiderspers/Holland) EMS is available, tentative pub is April 2009 In 1978, aspiring novelist and long distance runner John Parker self-published his first novel ONCE A RUNNER of which he’s sold over 100,000 copies. The story of Quenton Cassidy - a senior at the fictional Southeastern University who gives up everything in his life and submits to a brutal training regimen in a quest to become a world champion - has become a cultural phenomenon. Called “the best novel about running ever written” by Runner’s World, this classic will soon run again. **By far the most accurate fictional portrayal of the world of the serious runner… a marvelous description of the way it really is. – Sports Illustrated **Part training manual, part religious tract, part love story, and all about running, Once a Runner is so inspiring it could be banned as a performance-enhancing drug. – Benjamin Cheever
Roger Alan Skipper THE BAPTISM OF BILLY BEAN (Counterpoint) NA: Counterpoint, UK & Translation: WLA EMS is available, tentative pub: January 2009 In the tradition of Cormac McCarthy or Richard Russo, this fast-paced literary novel brings to life the powerful dynamics of small town life. Lane Hollar long ago stopped caring what the local townspeople thought of him. Lane’s main source of happiness is teaching his grandson Toby how to fish. So when Lane thinks he’s witnessed the murder of a neighbor, re-establishing his credibility with the police, the town, and with Toby’s mother becomes fraught with overcoming old jealousies and suspicion. And when Lane becomes convinced the killers are after his grandson and him, he’s forced to take matters into his own hands, bringing about dangers and a chance for reconciliation that Lane long ago thought he’d never see again. Skipper is a lifelong resident of the mountain towns in which his work is set. He is an expert luthier (a carver of acoustic instruments), a veteran banjo player, raccoon hunter.
Lori Devoti AMAZON INK (Juno) NA & UK: Juno, Translation: WLA EMS is due September 2008, pub: May 2009 This fast-paced urban fantasy mystery is the story of four generations of Amazon women who have left their tribe and now live incognito among humans, running a tattoo parlor outside of Madison, Wisconsin. But when someone begins killing young teenage Amazons—and leaving them on the family’s doorstep—they’re forced to realize that their identities may not be as well-kept as they believed. To stop the killing they must do the one thing they swore never to do: make contact with the Amazon tribes once more.
How-to and Prescriptive: Leo Babauta THE POWER OF LESS: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential (Hyperion) NA + UK: Hyperion, Translation: WLA (Platano/Portugal, Norma/Spain, Sextante/Brazil, Matar/Israel, Random House Riemann/Germany) EMS is available: June 2008, tentative pub: January 2009 THE POWER OF LESS is a blueprint for taking back our lives from the clutter, noise, and unnecessary work that fills a modern day. Babauta lays out simple, concise steps for personal growth through increased productivity and
7 teaches readers the art of living simply. His lessons on productivity are enjoyed by readers of his website, www.zenhabits.net, a Top 100 blog on Technorati (currently #43) with over 1.3 million page views a month. *"Leo Babauta's Zen Habits is a powerhouse of online productivity for good reason: its mantra works. Limit your life to the essential and eliminate everything else. In this age of complex overload, the race goes to neither the swift nor the strong... but to those who can cut out all the noise and find the gems." *Timothy Ferriss, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek
Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna CHERRY BOMB: The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Better Flirt, a Tougher Chick, a Hotter Girlfriend, and Living Life Like a Rock Star (Simon Spotlight Entertainment) NA & UK: Simon Spotlight, UK & Translation: WLA Books are available, EMS due: March, 2008, publishing August 2008 CHERRY BOMB is the must-have manual for any woman on how to be a better flirt, outsmart the Queen Bitch, dress like a chart-topper, be a more entertaining drunk or a kick-ass hostess. Borzillo-Vrenna has written for Billboard, Spin, RollingStone.com, People, Us Weekly, and Teen People. She has appeared as a music and/or relationship expert on MTV, VH1, E!, CNN, and MSNBC among others. She is married to an original member of NINE INCH NAILS who plays with Marilyn Manson and whose solo band is called TWEAKER.
Keith Malley and Chemda Khalili WHAT DO WE DO NOW? Smart Answers to Your Stupid Relationship Questions (Three Rivers Press) NA: Three Rivers Press, UK + Translation: WLA Proposal is available, Ms. due: April 2009, tentative pub: Fall 2009 Keith and Chemda are more familiarly known as Keith and The Girl, hosts of a wildly popular podcast that has garnered the attention of CNN, New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal and which receives in excess of half a million downloads every month. They receive hundreds of questions a day from listeners about relationships and the two take turns offering advice on subjects that range between revenge sex, socially awkward husbands, and what to do when your spouse has too many internet friends. The book will read as if Howard Stern, Oprah, Dr. Ruth, and John Gray wrote a book that was The Five Love Languages meets Why Do Men Have Nipples?
Sports: Michael Phelps BUILT TO SUCCEED (Free Press) NA: Free Press, UK: S&S UK; Translation: WLA (Forum/Holland, Yilin Press/China, Heliopolis Culture Group/Taiwan, Thomas Nelson/Brazil, Mondadori/Italy, Planeta/Spain) Proposal is available, EMS due November 2008, publication December 2008. Michael Phelps’ performance in the 2008 Beijing Olympics creates a new definition of competition and success. Winner of more gold medals than any other Olympian, BUILT TO SUCCEED will be an inspirational memoir not only for fans of great, dramatic moments in sports but also for a wider audience of fans who will take inspiration from a man and his determination to succeed. Structured around the eight Gold Medal swims of the 2008 Olympics, the book will include insights from the games, the pool and the team giving readers an up close view of world- breaking competition. Phelps will also tell anecdotes about his family, his coach, his passion for the sport, and lessons learned from unexpected challenges and obstacles. Marketed in collaboration with Octagon, Michael Phelps’ exclusive world-wide agent.
L. Jon Wertheim BLOOD IN THE CAGE: The Gory and Glorious World of Mixed Martial Arts and the Journey of the Croatian Sensation NA: Houghton Mifflin, UK & Translation: WLA EMS is available, tentative pub: January 2009 Based on unlimited access to the Ultimate Fighting Championship and its rival leagues, Wertheim focuses his lens on Pat Miletich (The Croatian Sensation), a mixed martial arts pioneer and six-time UFC champion, who currently runs the most famous MMA training school in the world. BLOOD IN THE CAGE takes readers behind the scenes right
8 down to the mat, from a punch in the kidney to the ping of the cash register, and brilliantly exposes the no- holds- barred reality of this blood sport for a new generation.
L. Jon Wertheim STROKES OF GENIUS: Federer, Nadal and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played (Houghton Mifflin) NA: Houghton Mifflin, UK & Translation: WLA Outline is available, EMS is due: January 2009, tentative pub: June 2009 Dubbed “The Greatest Match Ever Played” by John McEnroe - the 2008 Men’s Wimbledon finals saw the clash of two titans. But more than one match, the 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7 Nadal victory was the signature moment in a classic rivalry that his been building and developing for years; righty versus lefty, Swiss versus Spanish, artist versus laborer, white collar versus blue collar, sleek versus inelegant, cardigans versus clamdiggers, quiet versus oomph, improv vs. deliberate. Federer favors Prada and Hugo Boss; Nadal sweats and sandals. Federer endorses Mercedes; Nadal has a deal with Kia. Both Federer and Nadal have agreed to cooperate with the author. Wertheim has covered tennis for Sports Illustrated for ten years, and is a monthly for Tennis Magazine and is USA Network’s in-studio expert during the U.S. Open coverage.
THE WAXMAN LITERARY AGENCY BACKLIST: Neal Bascomb RED MUTINY: Eleven Fateful Days on the Battleship Potemkin (Houghton Mifflin) NA: Houghton Mifflin, UK: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Translation: WLA (Mondadori/Italy - Debate/Spain - Objetiva/Brazil – Schibsted/Norway) www.nealbascomb.com Books are available, publishing May 2007, By the Author of the NY Times Bestseller The Perfect Mile and Higher. *“Beautifully researched …Bascomb has written a remarkable book about an episode that, once historians get it right, will rank next to Spartacus’ uprising against Rome and George Washington rallying his troops at Valley Forge.” – Los Angeles Times. * “Bascomb presents the gripping events of June 1905 with sharply focused immediacy and a flair for high drama...History at its best: readable, dramatic, and propelled by unforgettable principals” – Kirkus (Starred review) *”A wonderful subject for a book … Bascomb has restored the extraordinary story of the Potemkin to its rightful place in Russian History” – The Telegraph
Bitner, Richard CONFESSIONS OF A SUBPRIME LENDER: An Insider’s Tale of Greed, Fraud & Ignorance (Wiley) US and UK: Wiley, Translation: WLA (Diamond/Japan, Citic/China) Books are available, publishing May 2008 Written by a subprime mortgage lender who watched greed and fraud take over his industry, Bitner pulls back the curtain on the players who created the subprime disaster, including brokers, lenders, Wall St. investment firms, and rating agencies who worked the system to their advantage. From his unique perspective he reveals why so many mortgages were misleading or fraudulent; how unscrupulous brokers tricked lenders and gullible borrowers; how brokers and lenders turned unqualified applicants into “qualified borrowers”; why Wall St. and the rating agencies are largely to blame for this collapse. Interwoven with dramatic personal anecdotes this book explains how the industry blew up and offers a comprehensive solution for rebuilding it by forcing changes on key players.
Matthew Brzezinski RED MOON RISING: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries that Ignited the Space Age (Times Books) NA: Times Books, UK: Bloomsbury, Translation: WLA (El Ateneo/Spain - Bruna/Holland - TV2/Denmark, NHK/Japan, ZNAK/Poland) Books are available, publishing: October 2007 Former Wall Street Journal Moscow Bureau and New York Times Magazine contributor offers the definitive story of the surprise launch of Sputnik published on the 50th anniversary of the launch *“Vividly realized,” a “fast-paced and crisp … account of the early days of the space race between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. …Yet even more than his absorbing narrative, Brzezinski’s final analysis has staying power: although the
9 U.S. caught up to the U.S.S.R. , it was the Russian’s early dominance in space that established the Soviet Union as a super-power equal to America.” – Publisher’s Weekly (Starred review)
Brenda Della Casa CINDERELLA WAS A LIAR: The Real Reason You Can’t Find (or Keep) a Prince (McGraw-Hill) NA: McGraw-Hill, UK + Translation: WLA (McGraw-Hill/Taiwan, ITC Co./Korea, Hachette Livre Polska/Poland, Artemis Yayinlari/Turkey, Fytraki Publications/Greece) Books are available, publishing February 2007 Cinderella Was a Liar explodes the fairy-tale myths that make you miserable--while offering real-world insights that actually make sense. Author Brenda Della Casa interviewed close to 1,000 guys to get the real facts behind the fairy tale and find out what works, what doesn’t, and what will send a man running to Never-Never Land. Armed with that knowledge, you will finally discover why your supposed Prince Charming isn’t into you and how to find the love you deserve.
Drs. Eric Heiden and Max Testa FASTER, BETTER, STRONGER: 10 Scientific Secrets to a Healthier Body in 12 Weeks (HarperCollins) NA: (HarperCollins), UK & Translation: WLA (Pendo/Germany, Der Arbeiderspers/Holland) EMS is available, Publishing August 2008 Co-founders of the UC Davis Sports Performance Center, five-time Olympic gold medalist Dr. Eric Heiden and Dr. Max Testa offer the same philosophy, secrets, and medical expertise that they have shared with world-class athletes. From correcting common misconceptions about training to straight talk about Nutrition, Hydration, and Rest, the Drs. will offer readers the latest information on how exercise actually works. The Drs. are now team physicians for the US Olympic speed skating, track and field, and cycling teams, as well as the Sacramento Kings and Monarchs, Apollo Anton Ohno and formerly of Lance Armstrong and Chris Carmichael. With DeAnne Musolf.
Michael Prince and Ed Strosser: STUPID WARS: A Citizen’s Handbook of Botched Putsches, Failed Coups, Inane Invasions and Ridiculous Revolutions (Collins) NA: Collins, UK: Lucy Luck Agency, Translation: WLA (Record/Brazil, Ediciones B/ Spain, Triton/Czech Republic, Wydawnictwo MG/Poland) Books are available, publishing May 2008 Since history is traditionally written by the winners of military conflicts, the authors posit that "perhaps the secret to knowing about warfare can be learned from the losers." Thus, Stupid Wars, a humorous chronicle of conspicuous as well as forgotten military blunders, from the 1918 US invasion of Russia to the 1883 Bolivian invasion of Peru as well as conflicts across America, Europe, and Central and South America.
Pete Sampras A CHAMPION’S MIND: The Art of Winning in Tennis and in Life (Crown) NA: Crown, UK: Aurum Press, Translation: WLA (Bruna/Holland) Books are available, publishing June 2008 In A Champion’s Mind, one of the most revered, successful, and intensely private players in the history of tennis offers an intimate look at the life of an elite athlete. Sampras had an unprecedented #1 World ranking for 286 consecutive weeks, and a record 14 Grand Slam titles, and here, for the first time, he speaks about reckoning with his natural ability, what he calls “The Gift.” Written with Pete Bodo, a senior editor and chief columnist at Tennis magazine
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