To tell the tale of my birth, I must start not from the beginning, but from the end to my beginning." Brothers (Shaye Areheart Books, September 2006) by Da Chen. Fifth book, first novel. Agent: Alex Glass. Editor: Shaye Areheart. Publicist: Christine Aronson.
"I shall begin with the chests of drowned men, bound with ropes and diesel-slicked." On Looking (Sarabande Books, August 2006) by Lia Purpura. Fourth book, second essay collection. Agent: None. Editor: Sarah Gorham. Publicist: Nickole Brown.
"Uh, uh, no way, I don't want it." The Exquisite (Coffee House Press, September 2006) by Laird Hunt. Fourth book, third novel. Agent: None. Editor: Chris Fischbach. Publicist: Lauren Snyder.
"Great-Uncle Eddie / Came to see us in the country." The Executive Director of the Fallen World (University of Chicago Press, September 2006) by Liam Rector. Third book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Randy Petilos. Publicist: Stephanie Hlywak.
"The Master was a little crazy; he had spent too many years reading books overseas, talked to himself in his office, did not always return greetings, and had too much hair." Half of a Yellow Sun (Knopf, September 2006) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Second book, novel. Agent: Sarah Chalfant. Editor: Robin Desser. Publicist: Sarah Robinson.
"It was Joseph Brodsky, the one person who had never caused any trouble, who did not want his daughter to marry David Bloom." Golden Country (Scribner, September 2006) by Jennifer Gilmore. First book, novel. Agent: Harriet Wasserman. Editor: Alexis Gargagliano. Publicist: Katherine Monaghan.
"The sun poked out briefly, evidence of a universe above them, of watchful things—planets and stars and vast galaxies of infinite knowledge—and just as suddenly it retreated behind the clouds." The Last Town on Earth (Random House, August 2006) by Thomas Mullen. First book, novel. Agent: Susan Golomb. Editor: Jennifer Hershey. Publicists: Sally Marvin, Jennifer Jones.
"I read today the account of my attempt at suicide." Mary (MacAdam/Cage, September 2006) by Janis Cooke Newman. Second book, first novel. Agent: Amy Rennert. Editor: Kate Nitze. Publicist: Julie Burton.
"I was not meant to be a dissident." The Dissident (Ecco, August 2006) by Nell Freudenberger. Second book, first novel. Agent: Amanda Urban. Editor: Dan Halpern. Publicist: Michael McKenzie.
"This is the one thing that stays the same: my husband got hurt." A Three Dog Life (Harcourt, September 2006) by Abigail Thomas. Fifth book, second memoir. Agent: Chuck Verrill. Editor: Ann Patty. Publicist: Tricia van Dockum.
"Young Brandon has some problems, but they will be going away shortly." Trouble (Vintage Books, September 2006) by Patrick Somerville. First book, story collection. Agent: Brettne Bloom. Editor: Jennifer Jackson. Publicist: Martin Wilson.
"Sunset in Appalachia, bituminous bulwark / Against the western skydrop." Scar Tissue (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, August 2006) by Charles Wright. Sixteenth book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Jonathan Galassi. Publicist: Audrey Harris.
