I. Start with the Roman numeral I with an authoritative period trailing just after it." Neck Deep and Other Predicaments (Graywolf Press, February 2007) by Ander Monson. Third book, first essay collection. Agent: Matt McGowan. Editor: Fiona McCrae. Publicist: Mary Matze.
"Under a low sun, pursued by fish and mounted by crows and veiled in a loud languid swarm of bluebottle flies, the body comes down the river like a deadfall stripped clean." Finn (Random House, February 2007) by Jon Clinch. First book, novel. Agent: Jeff Kleinman. Editor: Will Murphy. Publicist: Jynne Martin.
"They call at all hours with a thousand problems, and our satellites fix their locations to the square foot while our operators try to help them or put them in touch with specialists who can." The Unbinding (Anchor Books, February 2007) by Walter Kirn. Sixth book, fifth novel. Agent: Cynthia Connell. Editor: Jennifer Jackson. Publicist: Sloane Crosley.
"They spent their lives in search of sweetness, these bees: blue morning glories climbing the trellis outside the bakery window, a half-empty packet of sugar, the shallow bowls of lemonade that Joseph set on each table." Falling Boy (Picador, March 2007) by Alison McGhee. Fourth book, novel. Agent: Doug Stewart. Editor: Frances Coady. Publicist: James Meader.
"Not the smoothness, not the insane clocks on the square, / the scent of manure in the municipal parterre, / not the fabrics, the sullen mockery of Tweety Bird, / not the fresh troops that needed freshening up." A Worldly Country (Ecco, February 2007) by John Ashbery. Thirtieth book, twenty-sixth poetry collection. Agent: Georges Borchardt. Editor: Dan Halpern. Publicist: Michael McKenzie.
"It is one of my father's most firmly held beliefs that American interest in spaceflight ended all at once and for no good reason in 1972." The Time it Takes to Fall (Simon & Schuster, February 2007) by Margaret Lazarus Dean. First book, novel. Agent: Julie Barer. Editor: MarySue Rucci. Publicist: Rebecca Davis.
"About the accident itself I can say very little." Remainder (Vintage Books, February 2007) by Tom McCarthy. Second book, first novel. Agent: Jonny Pegg. Editor: Marty Asher. Publicist: Sloane Crosley.
"I had a blueprint / of history / in my head—" Space Walk (Houghton Mifflin, March 2007) by Tom Sleigh. Eighth book, seventh poetry collection. Agent: Lane Zachary. Editor: Janet Silver. Publicist: Michael Webb.
"June 2000: I step outside the Detroit airport terminal and see it, a small cardboard sign in a shuttle bus window: Cave Canem." The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South (University of Georgia Press, March 2007) by Nikky Finney, editor. Fifth book, first edited collection. Agent: None. Editor: Andrew Berzanskis. Publicist: Stacey Sharer.
"Driving through this part of Louisiana you can pass four prisons in less than an hour." One Big Self (Copper Canyon Press, March 2007) by C. D. Wright. Fourteenth book, thirteenth poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Michael Wiegers. Publicist: Angela Garbes.
"It was well into the morning when the darkness began to fade." The Gentle Axe (Penguin Press, March 2007) by R. N. Morris. First book, novel. Agent: Camilla Smallwood. Editor: Scott Moyers. Publicist: Maggie Sivon.
"Who will return lamps to the smelted sky?" Raven Eye (University of Arizona Press, March 2007) by Margo Tamez. Third book, second poetry collection. Agent: None. Editor: Patti Hartmann. Publicist: Holly Dolan.
