You have to understand how bad things were for me back then." How I Became a Famous Novelist (Black Cat, July 2009) by Steve Hely. Second book, first novel. Agent: Jay Mandel. Editor: Lauren Wein. Publicists: Martin Wilson and Deb Seager.
"I am harnessed in a canvas papoose strapped to my dad's back." Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival (Ecco, June 2009) by Norman Ollestad. First book, memoir. Agent: Rob Weisbach. Editor: Daniel Halpern. Publicist: Michael McKenzie.
"At the kitchen table he'd turned a page of Time Out and there was her face." Glover's Mistake (Viking, July 2009) by Nick Laird. Fourth book, second novel. Agent: Natasha Fairweather. Editor: Paul Slovak. Publicist: Kate Lloyd.
"Those who saw him hushed." Let the Great World Spin (Random House, June 2009) by Colum McCann. Seventh book, fifth novel. Agents: Sarah Chalfant and Scott Moyers. Editor: Jennifer Hershey. Publicist: Jynne Martin.
"Neighbor is a long page / about the neighbor // why it is called ‘Confession' / or if it's called ‘My Neighbor' // or what, if anything, I am." Neighbor (Ugly Duckling Presse, June 2009) by Rachel Levitsky. Second book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Anna Moschovakis. Publicist: Anna Moschovakis.
"Around eight each weeknight, I left work and took the El north to a small club called Whirly Gigs." Captive Audience (Ig Publishing, June 2009) by Dave Reidy. First book, story collection. Agent: None. Editor: Robert Lasner. Publicist: Robert Lasner.
"Everything is drawn / With excruciating precision: / The grape arbor sheltering the children / Who are playing with a pig bladder, / The thatched roof of the cottage, / The boat pulled up on dry / Land, a curving jetty." As Is (Copper Canyon Press, July 2009) by James Galvin. Ninth book, seventh poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Michael Wiegers. Publicist: Denise Banker.
"I am the ill-starred fruit of a hysterical pregnancy, and surprisingly, odd though I might be, I am not hysterical myself." I Am Not Sidney Poitier (Graywolf Press, June 2009) by Percival Everett. Twentieth book, seventeenth novel. Agent: Melanie Jackson. Editor: Fiona McCrae. Publicist: Mary Matze.
"On June 15, 1985, at 3:42 p.m., a six-point-seven-magnitude earthquake hit Puebla, Mexico, destroying two hundred and ninety churches, three hundred schools, and four thousand houses, leaving fourteen people dead and over fifteen thousand homeless." The Convalescent (McSweeney's Books, June 2009) by Jessica Anthony. First book, novel. Agent: Jim Rutman. Editor: Eli Horowitz. Publicist: Angela Petrella.
"So on a Thursday night Walter finds himself on a strange porch with his new friend Nadia under a moon the size of a grapefruit, making out." Live From Fresno y Los (Bear Star Press, June 2009) by Stephen D. Gutierrez. Second book, story collection. Agent: None. Editor: Beth Spencer. Publicist: None.
"Today, I'm assimilating like margarine / into hotcakes." Mixology (Penguin, June 2009) by Adrian Matejka. Second book, poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Paul Slovak. Publicist: Abigail Dalton.
"When the thing was over, Braxton sat down at the kitchen table of his apartment and tried to figure out what they had done with the money." Where the Money Went (Doubleday, July 2009) by Kevin Canty. Sixth book, third story collection. Agent: Denise Shannon. Editor: Nan A. Talese. Publicist: Lauren Lavelle.
