I was trying to get my mind off drinking by pouring hot coffee on my arm when I got a letter out of the blue from an old girlfriend, Eileen." I Dream of Microwaves (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, April 2004) by Imad Rahman. First book, short story collection. Agent: Nat Sobel. Editor: Becky Saletan.
"The author has eaten a piece of candy every single day of his entire life." Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America (Algonquin Books, May 2004) by Steve Almond. Second book, first essay collection. Agent: None. Editor: Kathy Pories.
"It's easy to mock sarcophagi for their wish to impress us, / But not the modest tablets with their brief inscriptions: / 'Beloved wife,' 'beloved husband,' parent or child / Or friend." New and Selected Poems 1974-2004 (Penguin, April 2004) by Carl Dennis. Tenth book, ninth poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Paul Slovak.
"If an expatriate is, as I believe, someone / who never forgets for an instant / being one, / then, no." A Table of Content (Graywolf Press, June 2004) by Dorothea Tanning. Second book, first poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Jeffrey Shotts.
"Stopping under the speaking tree // tracing the lines of my own face / with well lubricated fingertips // I am not now / nor ever have I been // free with myself, / and you know why that is." Figment (Norton, April 2004) by Rebecca Wolff. Second book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Jill Bialosky.
"There were once two little girls who saw, or believed they saw, a thing in a forest." Little Black Book of Stories (Knopf, May 2004) by A.S. Byatt. Twentieth book, fifth short story collection. Agent: Peter Matson. Editor: Robin Desser.
"'Jerry McGuinty was my husband for fifteen years.'" Some Great Thing (Harcourt, April 2004) by Colin McAdam. First book, novel. Agent: Bill Clegg. Editor: Drenka Willen.
"The searchlight of a February moon / at the end of the street" Crossing the Equator: New and Selected Poems 1972-2004 (Harcourt, April 2004) by Nicholas Christopher. Thirteenth book, eighth poetry collection. Agent: Tina Bennet. Editor: André Bernard.
"On the drifted snow of a lake in the tundra a wolf lies dying." Ordinary Wolves (Milkweed Editions, May 2004) by Seth Kantner. First book, novel. Agent: Sydelle Kramer. Editor: H. Emerson Blake.
"I have written before about my earliest memory, but since it involves Nantucket, I'll do it again." Time & Tide: A Walk Through Nantucket (Crown, April 2004) by Frank Conroy. Fifth book, second essay collection. Agent: Neil Olson. Editor: Annik La Farge.
"Jonah was dead for a brief time before the paramedics brought him back to life." You Remind Me of Me (Ballantine Books, June 2004) by Dan Chaon. Third book, first novel. Agent: Noah Lukeman. Editor: Elisabeth Dyssegaard.
