Because I’m wearing all my clothes, and because the bay is choppy, I pretend I’m trapped in a giant washing machine.” With or Without You (Akashic Books, March 2005) by Lauren Sanders. Second book, novel. Agent: None. Editor: Johnny Temple.
“A squat black telephone, I mean an octopus, the god of our Signal Corps, owns a recess in Berlin (more probably Moscow, which one German general has named the core of the enemy’s whole being).” Europe Central (Viking, April 2005) by William T. Vollmann. Fourteenth book, fourth short story collection. Agent: Susan Golomb. Editor: Paul Slovak.
“Some hours before dawn Henry Perowne, a neurosurgeon, wakes to find himself already in motion, pushing back the covers from a sitting position, and then rising to his feet.” Saturday (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, March 2005) by Ian McEwan. Twelfth book, tenth novel. Agent: Georges Borchardt. Editor: Nan A. Talese.
“Hard to believe there were actual years / when I planned to have you cut from my face— / hard to imagine what the world would have looked like / if not seen through your pink shadow.” Luck Is Luck (Random House, March 2005) by Lucia Perillo. Fourth book, poetry collection. Agent: Bill Klegg. Editor: Daniel Menaker.
“I guess it must’ve been the summer before my third grade year when I realized I would never really be Jenny.” And I’m Not Jenny (Slope Editions, March 2005) by Tara Rebele. First book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Ethan Paquin.
“Snake oil sales / were slow.” Black Maria (Knopf, February 2005) by Kevin Young. Fourth book, poetry collection. Agent: Eileen Cope. Editor: Deborah Garrison.
“The madwoman in the attic was standing at the window.” Pinkerton’s Sister (MacAdam/Cage, March 2005) by Peter Rushforth. Second book, novel. Agent: Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson. Editor: Anika Streitfeld.
“The house next door was rented for the summer to a couple who swore at missed croquet shots.” The Dog of Marriage (Scribner, April 2005) by Amy Hempel. Fourth book, short story collection. Agent: Liz Darhansoff. Editor: Nan Graham.
“For a long time I used to love the word now.” Overlord (Ecco, March 2005) by Jorie Graham. Tenth book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Daniel Halpern.
“This morning the peso is free-floating / above the unstable world of Borges.” The Incentive of the Maggot (Mariner Books, April 2005) by Ron Slate. First book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Michael Collier.
“I believe in a hardheaded art, an unremitting, unrepentant practice of one’s own faith in the word in one’s own obstinate terms.” Cooling Time: An American Poetry Vigil (Copper Canyon Press, February 2005) by C.D. Wright. Thirteenth book, first essay collection. Agent: None. Editor: Michael Wiegers.
