Throughout history, great powers have fallen because they failed to anticipate new threats to their security. Now, strategy and policy expert Andrew Krepinevich reveals the most horrifying dangers facing America-and what the country can do to prevent them. Based on extensive research, interviews, and the latest intelligence coming out of Washington's top agencies, 7 DEADLY SCENARIOS provides readers with what they must know to anticipate threats in a rapidly changing world. Some of these, such as a disastrous retreat from Iraq or a nuclear Iran, have been the source of heated public debate. Yet other, even more formidable challenges remain in the shadows, scenarios that America remains ill-equipped to handle. From a global pandemic that begins on our doorstep to an attack on the global underwater information grid, Krepinevich lays out a clear vision of possible future hostilities and helps us understand a world where dangers threaten to overwhelm even the mightiest of countries. Andrew Krepinevich is executive director of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, an independent policy research institute. He has served as a consultant on military affairs for many senior government officials, including several secretaries of defense, the CIA's National Intelligence Council, as well as all four military services. A West Point graduate, Krepinevich served in the U.S. Army and holds a MPA and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has lectured before a wide range of professional and academic audiences, including those at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, the U.S. Military Academy, the Air Force Academy, the Army and Naval War Colleges, Europe's Marshall Center, and France's École Militaire. His work has appeared everywhere from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Time, The Economist, and Foreign Affairs.

Bantam is honored to launch the first ever series of yearly anthologies featuring writing that is solely by and about African-Americans. BEST AFRICAN AMERICAN FICTION, Volume I will be published alongside BEST AFRICAN AMERICAN ESSAYS, Volume I at a time of renewed national discussion about race in America. Gathered in the fiction anthology are short pieces as well as excerpts from novels from fifteen to twenty of the leading names and new voices in African-American letters. Literary names like ZZ Packer, Caryl Philipps and Junot Diaz, commercial writers like Stephen Carter, hip young writers like Michael Thomas and Matt Johnson, and even a couple of selections from YA novels by Walter Dean Myers and Elaine Helen Lee are presented. Simultaneous publication in hardcover and trade will help reach library and institutional markets as well as a popular readership. Series Editor Gerald Early is a noted essayist and American culture critic. A professor of English, African and African-American studies, and American Culture Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, Early is the author of several books. He served as a consultant on Ken Burns' documentary series on baseball and jazz. Guest Editor E. Lynn Harris is a best-selling novelist. In 1996 and 2002, respectively, his novels Just As I Am and Any Way the Wind Blows were named Novel of the Year by the Blackboard African American Bestsellers, Inc. If This World Were Mine won the James Baldwin Award for Literary Excellence. In 2000 and 2001 Harris was named one of the fifty-five "Most Intriguing African Americans" by Ebony and was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame. In 2002, Harris was included in Savoy magazine's "100 Leaders and Heroes in Black America." Harris divides his time between New York City and Atlanta, Georgia.

Kay Hooper thrills fans with her riveting crime fiction featuring Noah Bishop's extraordinary agents. Now, in this chilling follow-up to Blood Dreams, New York Times bestseller Kay Hooper brings the elite FBI Special Crimes Unit back to fight a serial killer with a thirst for more than just blood. All clues to the recent rash of murders in a small Southern town point to the enigmatic Church of the Everlasting Sin and its charismatic leader, the Reverend Adam Deacon Samuel. But getting to the man known as "Father" will be no easy task for Bishop and his team, for he is insulated within his flock - closely guarded by those who would gladly give their lives for his. Now, with the support of Haven, the civilian agency Bishop co-founded, the SCU must go deep into the world of a puppetmaster whose power reigns over more than they could ever have imagined. BLOOD SINS combines edge-of-your seat action with paranormal powered crime solving and delivers an extraordinary, extra-chilling read. Every year with every novel, Kay's books consistently appear on national bestseller lists, including those of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Kay Hooper is the award-winning author of Sleeping with Fear, Stealing Shadows and more than ten other novels of suspense and intrigue. She lives in North Carolina, and is working on the third book in her "Blood" trilogy.

"Think Diane Mott Davidson with a tool belt instead of recipes." -The Denver Post

With half a million copies in print, and still growing, Sarah Graves' "Home Repair is Homicide" series sells far above and beyond most cozy mysteries. Now, in her twelfth entry in the series, A FACE AT THE WINDOW, Sarah Graves presents the further adventures of Jake Tiptree. As a toddler, in a room illuminated only by the flames of a fallen candle, Jacobia "Jake" Tiptree watched a man kill her mother. Jake once believed that man to be her father. Now, thirty-five years after the murder, as the real killer's long-delayed trial is about to begin, the defendant has vanished. Jake tries to distract herself from the murder with the everyday duties of her 1823 Federal-style fixer-upper. But when her friend Ellie's daughter suddenly goes missing, too, Jake feels her dark past wrapping itself around her... and, needless to say, it's nowhere near as charming as her rickety old house. Sarah Graves is the author of The Book of Old Houses, Trap Door, and nine previous books in the "Home Repair is Homicide" series. She lives with her husband in Eastport, Maine, in the 1823 Federal-style house that inspires her books. She is currently at work on the thirteenth "Home Repair is Homicide" mystery, which Bantam will publish in 2010.

FLIGHT INTO DARKNESS: Book 2 of The Alchymist's Legacy by Sarah Ash
First Serial, British, Translation, Audio, and Performance: Writers House, Inc., 212-685-2400 (P); 212-685-1781 (F)

Publishers Weekly praises Tracing the Shadows, the first novel in this two-book series as "a compelling saga." Booklist's starred review says it "introduces myriad characters and plot lines that Ash skillfully weaves into an enticing tapestry of a world reminiscent of eighteenth-century Europe, full of political machinations and rich with music…This challenging, complex fantasy will appeal to readers of George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series and Lois McMaster Bujold's Chalion books." Now, here is the latest novel in a fantasy masterpiece of truly epic proportions. In a clash of kingdoms and rebels, of magicians and inquisitors, a bold quest has begun into a realm where dragons dwell and a terrifying power awaits whoever is courageous and cunning enough to seize it… It was on the Inquisition's pyre that Celestine's father perished like so many other great mages. Now renowned for her gift as a singer, secretly guided by her own aethyric spirit, she is traveling in the company of the devout warrior-priest Jagu to retrieve a relic of great magical power. This is a mission that will lead them to unexpected danger. For in a glittering court rife with pretenders and assassins, a king harbors the outlaw mage whose betrayal left Celestine an orphan… and who would now claim her life. As Celestine struggles to conceal her power from the Inquisition and master it for the magical war to come, a survivor of a past battle begins his own dreadful journey, from near-death to a place even worse than death. As the last crystal mage, Rieuk Mordiern, grievously scarred in body and spirit, may alone be able to keep the Rift from closing and magic from fading forever from the world. But to do so, he must first pass through the Serpent Gate... and into the very center of the dark storm of destruction about to break over the world. Sarah Ash trained as a musician and each novel she writes has a "secret soundtrack." She is the author of the "Tears of Artamon" series (Lord of Snow and Shadows, Prisoner of the Iron Tower, and Children of the Serpent Gate) published by Bantam, and three fantasy novels, Moths to a Flame, Songspinners and The Lost Child. Sarah lives with her husband and two sons in Beckenham, Kentucky, where she runs the library in a local primary school.

"Impressive and highly promising." -Kirkus on Thunderer

In this stunning follow-up to his acclaimed steampunk fantasy debut, Thunderer, Felix Gilman's brave hero returns from a thrilling and dangerous quest only to confront another. Set against a magical landscape where time is meaningless, reality precarious, one man must seek a city's truth, and rediscover his own... In the last days of the once great city of Ararat, Arjun is just another ghost lost in the shadows of The Mountain. To some, The Mountain is a myth; to others, a weapon. Above all, it is a dark presence above the city below. Rescued by two sisters from the mindless Know-Nothings who erode what's left of the city, Arjun volunteers to return their long lost third sister from a ghost like himself: Brace-Bel, another man out of time. It will require a perilous trek through ruins to a decadent mansion-one surrounded by traps and devices that could not possibly exist yet. And what awaits Arjun inside is something he could not possibly have imagined. As he struggles to recover the lost girl and piece the fragments of his life back together, Arjun knows he must finally return to the beast to hear the rest of its prophecy. A spellbinding novel of imagination and intrigue, GEARS OF THE CITY will propel you into an adventure like no other, in a world like no other. Felix Gilman was born in London in 1974. He currently lives with his wife in New York, where he works as a lawyer-until recently, as a clerk for the federal courts in Manhattan. He is a graduate of Oxford University and Harvard Law School and has published on various legal and constitutional topics.

You've read the articles about how young women are "choosing" to opt out of the workplace to spend more time with their families, about how a child's emotional and intellectual development hinges on a mother's involvement during the early years, about behavioral problems among kids in daycare. Now read the truth. In GETTING TO 50/50, authors Sharon Meers and Joanna Strober show how women are not, in fact, opting out of the workplace in droves, why women can work once motherhood begins, and how it benefits them, their marriages, and their children. Most importantly, they detail how it can be done. GETTING TO 50/50 is not a manifesto on why women must work. Rather, it offers a very positive and well-reasoned discussion of the advantages of working motherhood, based on the longest running and most comprehensive study on childcare to date, conducted by the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, as well as on the results of the authors' own original survey of more than 1,100 working mothers and their extensive interviews with a large cross-section of dual-career couples from across the country. The authors go beyond analysis of the problem to offer an action plan for how working motherhood can be accomplished happily: through the support and equal participation of the husband. They show how women can engage their husbands to see the advantages in sharing family and household responsibilities (even when the man is the primary breadwinner), and how women need to learn to relinquish some of their traditional "baby authority" to their husbands in order to create happy families and genuinely balanced marriages. When fathers are engaged at home as equally as their wives, the workplace becomes a friendlier environment for mothers, who no longer need to dread returning home to a "second shift" of managing kids' activities, dinner preparations, and endless chores by themselves. Meers and Strober demonstrate that women really do want to work; armed with a 50/50 approach, parents can free themselves from the overwhelming and unhealthy workplace cult of 24/7 andface the challenges of home and work together as true partners. Sharon Meers is a former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where she worked for 16 years and was the co-chair of the Women's Network in the Investment Management Division. She and her husband founded Partners for Parity at Stanford Business School and she serves on the boards of the National Women's Law Center and Stanford's Clayman Institute for Research on Gender. Joanna Strober is Managing Director at Sterling Stamos, an investment firm in Silicon Valley. As one of the few women in private equity in Silicon Valley, she has been featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal for launching several well-known companies.

HANDS OF MY FATHER: A Hearing Boy, His Deaf Parents, and The Language of Love
by Myron Uhlberg
Performance: Susan Schulman Literary Agency,
212-713-1633 (P); 212-581-8830 (F)

"A slick military thriller...Fast and frightening." -Kirkus Reviews

"Australian Rollins introduces a tough, wise-cracking hero in his U.S. debut... Readers will look forward to more of Vin's exploits in his next outing." -Publishers Weekly

Following the success of his U.S. debut, The Death Trust (Bantam 2007), "a white-knuckle read on a par with anything that James Patterson or Nelson DeMille might offer" (Orlando Sentinel), David Rollins is back with his next high-flying Vin Cooper novel, A KNIFE EDGE, a military thriller destined to enthrall devotees of W.E.B. Griffin. Working in the freezing waters off Japan on a top-secret research program for the U.S. Department of Defense, a scientist is killed, eaten by a monster shark. Shortly thereafter, Major Vin Cooper is pulled off the case to look into the death of a military buddy killed while making a routine parachute jump. Both cases collide when Copper finds himself parachuting into Pakistan. The mission: to recover deadly biological technology. The stakes: the highest-to prevent a nuclear holocaust. With razor-sharp action and gut-wrenching immediacy, A KNIFE EDGE takes us on a terrifyingly plausible military thrill-ride through a world gone horribly awry. The Death Trust was a smash bestseller in Australia, and won the Crime Writers Association of Australia's prestigious Ned Kelly award for Best Novel of the Year. David Rollins is a former advertising creative director who lives in Sydney. His next Vin Cooper thriller, Hard Rain, will be published by Bantam in 2010.

This is the book cancer patients have been waiting for: one that integrates the most beneficial aspects of traditional cancer care, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, with an individualized program of mind/body approaches, diet, and nutritional supplements that reduce treatment side effects and support the body's own powerful ability to heal. Until now, most patients have had to cobble together their own programs, surfing the internet for suggestions, downing untold supplements in a scattershot fashion, and often concealing from their oncologist their visits to the acupuncturist or nutritionist. Now, patients battling all types of cancer across the entire spectrum of severity will have the guidance of a leader in integrative medicine whose patients have demonstrated survival rates far beyond the averages reported. The guiding philosophy at the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment rests on two core principles: (1) Before developing a strategic plan for a patient, it is first important to understand each patient's unique biological features, and to target them; and (2) to make the body (the terrain) as inhospitable to cancer as possible. Among Dr. Block's successful study results are:

•The Block Prostate Cancer Study: Block patients lived twice as long as other patients getting the best standard treatment alone.
•The Block Breast Cancer Study: Block patients lived roughly twice as long as those patients getting the best standard treatment alone. Block patients enrolled in the Life Over Cancer program had far better 3 and 5 year survival rates.
•The Block Colorectal Cancer Study: Promising results from this unique pilot study show that patients who receive "chrono-chemotherapy" (which means giving chemotherapy at certain times of the day based on a person's unique circadian rhythms) lived 2-3 times as long as the median survival of patients receiving standard chemotherapy.

Dr. Block's Life Over Cancer comprehensive plan covers every aspect of care, from how to work with healing imagery, to specific ways to reduce or eliminate the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation, prevent metastases, prolong remissions, and increase the immune system's ability to fight the cancer from within. Filled with inspiring case histories of patients whose prognoses have been turned from death to life under Dr. Block's care, this long awaited book will revolutionize cancer treatment in the very same way that Dr. Ornish's books offered a new paradigm to living with heart disease. A leader in the field of mind/body medicine and nutritional oncology, Keith I. Block, M.D., is the founder and medical and scientific director of the non-profit Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment in Evanston, IL. Among other appointments, he is Clinical Assistant Professor, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago and Editor-in-Chief, Integrative Cancer Therapies. He also serves as medical consultant on nutritional-oncology research for the U.S. Office of Technology.

Kelley Armstrong-Spectra's newest New York Times bestselling author-returns with a perfect Valentine's gift for her loyal fans: the long-awaited stories about the sexy men strong enough to stand up to the Women of the Otherworld. Originally published as free online novellas for Kelley's readers but since removed from her website, the best of Kelley's short fiction about the men of the Otherworld has been re-edited for the page to create the perfect companion volume to her bestselling series. With the added delight of an all-new tale specifically written for this volume, the book delves into the pasts of two of her most beloved-and mysterious-male characters: werewolves Clay and Jeremy. No longer are the men of the Otherworld secondary characters. Here they reveal their own histories, tales, and secrets-to our delight. Kelley Armstrong is under a multibook contract with Bantam. Look for her second hot Nadia Stafford novel, Made To Be Broken, in March 2009, a further novel about the Women of the Otherworld in Summer 2009, and another book on the Men of the Otherworld in 2010. She lives in Ontario with her family. She is the author of Bitten and Stolen (Viking US), as well as the Bantam novels Dime Store Magic, Industrial Magic, Haunted, Broken, No Humans Involved, Exit Strategy, and Personal Demon. Visit her website at www.kelleyarmstrong.com.

"An irresistible invitation to share the healthiest diet in the world… this book makes an overwhelming argument that the things that taste the best are good for you" -Alice Waters

A huge hit when it was first published 15 years ago and a steady seller ever since, this "superbly written examination of Mediterranean food and life," as Paula Wolfert called it, has been revised to provide readers with 92 new recipes, and the latest information about fats, phytochemicals, antioxidants, and the nutrition and health benefits now attributed to the Mediterranean diet. This wondrously seductive collection of recipes from all the countries of the Mediterranean, from Spain to Italy and Greece with side trips to Lebanon, Cyprus and North Africa, provides readers with new ideas about food, new techniques, new information, and, best of all, a newly simplified approach to cooking-because simplicity is what the Mediterranean way of eating is all about. Bursting with good health and great flavors, here are over 250 recipes for the kind of food that Americans want to eat right now-foods that are easy to prepare and sure to please everyone at your table. Nancy Harmon Jenkins is a food writer with a passionate interest in Mediterranean cultures and cuisines and sustainable agriculture. The author of half a dozen highly acclaimed cookbooks, she writes for The New York Times, Saveur, and Food & Wine magazine and divides her time between her farmhouse outside Cortona, Italy, and the coast of Maine.

From #1 New York Times bestseller Sandra Brown, who's amassed over fifty-five New York Times bestsellers in her career, and is published in over 35 countries, comes classic romance at its best. TEXAS! LUCKY, the first book in the Bantam's hardcover reissue of the "Texas! Trilogy," features a hot-tempered heroine, a crime-solving cowboy and a blistering romance. Lucky Tyler attracted trouble-and women-like a lightning rod. But the night he stepped in to rescue a mysterious redhead in a seedy bar, he got more than he bargained for. The lady, Devon, excited him, challenged him, drove him wild with desire-then vanished without a trace. Lucky was desperate to find her, to claim her-and when the police begin to investigate a suspicious fire, secure his freedom with her alibi. Torn between anguish and ecstasy, Devon Haines tries to refuse Lucky's pleas for help, but the reckless, blue-eyed devil won't take no as an answer. Framed by old enemies, Lucky knows his only hope to clear himself rests on solving the crime; Devon fears when his innocence is proven, she will lose the handsome cowboy who possesses her heart and soul. Sandra Brown has over seventy million copies of her books in print. She is the recipient of numerous awards including a 1998 RWA Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2007 Texas Medal of Arts Award for Literature, the American Business Women's Association's Distinguished Circle of Success, and the B'nai B'rith's Distinguished Literary Achievement Award. Sandra Brown and her family divide their time between South Carolina and Texas.

With her novels Queen of Dragons and The Dream Thief, Shana Abe has created a unique and vividly imagined world that exists side-by-side with our own-a realm populated by a race of super sensual men and women whose power to change shape permits them unlimited acts of pleasure-and ever-present danger. Praised by Jane Feather as a writer with "a rare magic," in THE TREASURE KEEPER award-winning author Shana Abé draws readers for the fourth time into "the wondrous world of the Drákon" (Romantic Times), delivering a thrilling adventure of unseen dangers and undiscovered powers. Now the survival of the drákon rests in the hands of a young woman with untried and unexpected powers-and with the powerful Alpha male she must break every drákon law to save… In the secluded eighteenth-century English village of Darkfrith the drákon hide, an ancient tribe of shape-shifters. Though they possess great powers, their isolation and complacency leave them unaware that a secret group plans their demise. The sanf inimicus are determined to hunt down the drákon. Zoe Lane, a beautiful, head-strong young drákon, senses this danger more keenly than the Council. For although she can't Turn, she has other gifts: she can feel the thoughts and emotions of others, and she can become invisible. Zoe must hunt the hunters and find two lost members of her tribe, including the brash young Lord Rhys. Shana's "Drákon" series has met a dazzling reception from readers and critics alike. The Smoke Thief won Best Historical Romance from RT Book Club, The Dream Thief was named the #1 Romance of 2006 by Amazon.com, and Shana was nominated for a 2006 RT Book Club Career Achievement Award. She lives in Denver, where she is at work on her next novel for Bantam.

GREAT RACES, INCREDIBLE PLACES:
100+ Fantastic Runs Around the World
by Kimi Puntillo
British, Translation, and Performance:
Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc., 212-794-1082 (P)

Kimi Puntillo is the only woman ever to have finished a marathon on every continent! Now she combines her "wild" running expertise and her skill as a journalist to introduce us to the world of adventure runs, from the pristine glaciers of Antarctica to a South African game reserve, to an epicurean race through Bordeaux and everything in between. Here is a fascinating journey to over fifty thrilling marathons, races, and other running destinations around the world. A "100 Places to See Before You Die" for runners, this is a must-have book for runners who want to take their sport to a new level, as well as for armchair adventure lovers. Filled with practical information for all levels of runners and great tips for friends and family on things to do and see around each destination, GREAT RACES, INCREDIBLE PLACES also shares Puntillo's first-hand recollections, experiences, and engaging anecdotes that highlight the people and the culture of marathon runners, and the heady exhilaration participants get from these runs. More than just a runner's guide, this book provides an in-depth look at the exotic world surrounding these thrilling events. Kimi Puntillo began running in her late 30s and continues to run marathons today at age 50. She is a two-time Guinness Book World Record holder, and a journalist and lecturer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, on NPR, and more. When not running across the lava fields of Hawaii, she lives in New York City with her yellow Lab, Beethoven.

THE MAP OF MOMENTS: A Novel of the Hidden Cities
by Tim Lebbon and Christopher Golden
First Serial, British, Translation, Audio, and Performance: Howard Morhaim Literary Agency, Inc.,
212-222-8400 (P); 212-222-5056 (F)

Two award-winning masters of dark fantasy team up to explore the hidden heart of one of the world's greatest cities in a poignant tale of loss and redemption set in post-Katrina New Orleans. With Mind the Gap, Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon took us into the heart of a haunted London, an Oliver Twist-like underground kingdom of rogues and thieves. But now they outdo themselves with a personal and wrenching story of one of America's most recent tragedies, told through the eyes of a man struggling to redeem his lost love. Max Corbett, once a professor at Tulane, broke the cardinal rule-he fell in love with his nineteen-year-old student, Gabrielle. When she ended the affair, he ran all the way back to Boston to escape the pain. And then Katrina hit. Now, Max finds himself back in New Orleans, attending the funeral of the girl he loved so fiercely-and knew so little. But Max may yet have a chance to undo the past. With the aid of a tourist map and an old gris-gris man, Max is offered a brief portal to the past-and the chance to redeem not only himself and Gabrielle, but maybe the heart of a wounded city as well. Poignant and stunningly beautiful, THE MAP OF MOMENTS is a break-out novel for this talented duo. Christopher Golden is the Bram Stoker Award-winning, Los Angeles Times bestselling author of numerous novels, including Baltimore: or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire with Mike Mignola. He lives in Massachusetts. Tim Lebbon has won two British Fantasy Awards, a Bram Stoker Award, and a Tombstone Award, and has been a finalist for International Horror Guild and World Fantasy Awards. His recent two dark fantasy novels with Spectra, Dusk and Dawn, have received critical acclaim.

PALIMPSEST by Catherynne M. Valente
Audio and Performance:
Writer's House, Inc., 212-685-2400 (P); 212-685-1781 (F)

"A fairy tale lover's wildest dream come true...Valente has created a thought-provoking storytelling tour de force" -Publishers Weekly

"Extraordinary...no summary can do justice to the bedazzling intricacies on bountiful display here." -Kirkus Reviews

"A masterpiece of imagery and sensual detail while evoking an entire world through the medium of mythmaking. As with its predecessor, this Arabian Nights-like fantasy belongs in every library." -Library Journal

From the author of The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden and The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice comes a unique and intoxicating stand-alone tale about four lost souls who must trace their way to each other using maps tattooed on their skins. Catherynne Valente's mythmaking two volume masterpiece, known collectively as the Orphan's Tales, was published to wide acclaim, receiving starred reviews from Kirkus, Library Journal, and Booklist. The first novel in the series was also shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award, appeared on the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age List, and won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. Now, in PALIMPSEST, she weaves a lyrically erotic spell of a place where the grotesque and the beautiful reside and the passport to our most secret fantasies begins with a stranger's kiss… Between life and death, dreaming and waking, at the train stop beyond the End of the World is the city of Palimpsest. To get there is a miracle, a mystery, a gift, and a curse-a voyage permitted only those who've always believed there's another world than the one that meets the eye. Those fit to make the passage recognize each other on sight and are marked forever by a map of that wondrous city tattooed on their flesh after a single orgasmic night. To this kingdom of ghost trains, lion-priests, living kanji, and cream-filled canals come four travelers: Oleg, a locksmith from a vanished Manhattan; the beekeeper November; Ludovico, a binder of rare books; and a young Japanese woman named Sei. They've each lost something important-a wife, a lover, a sister, a direction in life-and what they will find in Palimpsest is more than they could ever imagine exists. Catherynne M. Valente lives in Ohio.

SARA SNOW'S FRESH LIVING:
The Essential Room-by-Room Guide to a Greener, Healthier Family and Home by Sara Snow
First Serial, British, Translation, Audio, and Performance:
InkWell Management, 212-922-3500 (P);
212-922-0535 (F)

Saris and cosmos in Delhi and Mumbai... A new voice in women's fiction from a delightfully unexpected source, Advaita Kala spins a contemporary romantic, exotic romp certain to conquer the bestseller lists. A bestseller in India (Indian Express calls it "an endearing mix of Bridget Jones and 'Sex and the City'"), ALMOST SINGLE is the story of the new Indian woman in the cities-single, with a career and willing to have fun, take risks and find a man her way, and not necessarily her family's way. Aisha Bhatia is twenty-nine years old and single. She works as a Guest Relations Manager at the Grand Orchid Hotel, dines at luxury hotels and stays in five-star resorts during her travels. Aisha tolerates her job, hates her boss, and bonds big-time with friends, while routinely suffering from what she calls "umbilical cord whiplash." Aisha and her friends won't compromise their freedom or give in to family pressure to accept an arranged marriage, but they go to imaginative lengths in search of the perfect mate. Will Aisha find love-or at least that special man? Wickedly irreverent and laugh-aloud funny, ALMOST SINGLE is a delicious romp through the world of champagne brunches, gay soirées, and the dilemmas of hip, young girls on the lookout for love and matrimony. Advaita Kala may best be described as rebellious (a result of her years spent at Welhams Girls School), confused (after four years of liberal arts education at Berry College in Georgia), and multi-faceted (having held jobs that range from librarian to Tepanyaki chef). After calling three countries and numerous cities home, she has finally dropped anchor in New Delhi.

In this frank, unflinching, often hilarious, original collection, twenty-seven acclaimed writers, including Susan Cheever, Hope Edelman, Julie Powell, Lauren Slater, and others, go BEHIND THE BEDROOM DOOR to explore the unspoken sexual territory of women in every stage of life. By sharing their own experiences and personal stories, the contributors to this collection of all new essays open a fascinating window into the real-life erotic experiences and longings of women today. "In Praise of One-Night Stands" charts Susan Cheever's adventures in erotica as she celebrates the liberating and spiritual joys of sex for sex's sake… Sex is the last thing on Lauren Slater's mind when the bestselling author and psychologist reveals a few surprising truths about her virtually sexless marriage in "Over/Come"… Julie Powell serves up a searing chronicle of an illicit affair in "The Law of Marital Inertia," while sex columnist Stephanie Dolgoff gets down and dirty in "Kiss Poker" with a fascinating new variation on the game… Whether you're twenty, sixty, or eighty, the frank conversations in BEHIND THE BEDROOM DOOR provide a deeply illuminating, no-holds-barred look at our sexual selves. Editor Paula Derrow is the Articles Director at Self magazine, and teaches writing workshops for MediaBistro.com. She lives in New York.

The internationally acclaimed author of "stylish, literate entertainment" (Richmond Times-Dispatch), brings Roman detective Nic Costa to the shores of the U.S. for the first time, as he unravels a tableau of chilling clues ranging from Dante's deadly circles to the shattering revelations of Alfred Hitchock's Vertigo. On a warm, golden evening in Rome, celebrities and paparazzi gather at the Villa Borghes, as a legendary director premieres his long-anticipated film version of Dante's Inferno. But minutes later the scene is chaos-a man lies dead, the film's star is missing-and a priceless relic has vanished. Now, in David Hewson's enthralling new novel of suspense, Nic Costa, grieving over the recent death of his wife, finds himself and his fellow detectives swept into a strange and terrifying case. Their journey will take them from Rome to San Francisco and beyond, to the first of Dante's nine circles of hell and the seminal scenes of one of the world's most acclaimed movies. As a cunning plot closes around them, they are guided by a poet's ancient vision of sin and punishment and a filmmaker's genius for terror. David Hewson's Nic Costa thrillers have been called "a superb mix of history, mystery, and humanity" (Booklist), "rich, complex and thoroughly bewitching" (The Denver Post), and "unputdownable" (Chicago Tribune). David Hewson is the author of seven novels, including The Garden of Evil (Delacorte August 2008). A journalist, he lives in Kent, England, where he is at work on his next Nic Costa thriller, Bitter Mountain, which Delacorte will publish in 2009.

Eve. The first woman. The first wife. The first mother. Her story is known to all but understood by few... Elissa Elliot's EVE is a dazzling debut novel that brilliantly reimagines the world's oldest tale, weaving together biblical tradition and ancient history into a novel sure to resonate not only with fans of The Red Tent and other fresh interpretations of biblical narratives, but with devotees of thought-provoking historical and women's fiction, as well. Inspired by the Genesis account and Mesopotamian history and drawing from an array of sources both academic and popular-Harold Bloom's Book of J included-Elissa Elliott has created a world in which Eve comes to life in a way religion and myth have never allowed-in a novel that explores the very essence of humanity, motherhood, love and faith… Here is Eve in the garden, thirsting for knowledge as she grapples with questions of faith and feelings of longing and lust for her lover, Adam. Here is Eve wife and mother, fretting over her children-sensual, questioning Naava, crippled, ever-faithful Aya, innocent Dara, and troubled Cain, whose rivalry with his brother Abel would end in unspeakable violence. And here is Eve nearing the end of her days, attempting to make her peace with her estranged eldest daughter… A novel that has it all--lust, violence, romantic love, cruelty, heroism, envy, sacrifice, murder--EVE is a tour de force of astonishing literary invention by a dazzling new voice in fiction. Elissa Elliot is a former high school teacher. She has written for Books & Culture and Paste magazines and has optioned her first screenplay. She lives in Minnesota with her husband.

THE FROZEN THAMES by Helen Humphreys
Translation and Performance:
Acacia House Publishing Services Ltd., 519-752-0978 (P)

"A small, beautiful and highly original book… one that is both eccentric and exquisite. It's a lovely gift for thoughtful readers." -Edmonton Journal

In its long history, the Thames has frozen solid forty times. In THE FROZEN THAMES, Helen Humphreys deftly draws from the historical record to create 40 fictional vignettes based on events that actually took place each time the river froze between 1142 and 1895. Whether it's Queen Matilda trying to escape her besieged castle in a snowstorm, or lovers meeting on the frozen river during the plague years; whether it's a simple farmer persuading his oxen the ice is safe, or Queen Bess discovering the rare privacy afforded by the ice-covered Thames, the moments are fleeting and transformative for the characters-and for us, as well. The result is a splendid book of vivid imagery, a bestseller in the author's native Canada, that had Publishers Weekly declare, "Humphreys has an impeccable command of imagery, and her prose finds strength in its subtlety" and The San Francisco Chronicle state, "Delicate and incandescent… [Humphreys'] descriptions bristle with nuance, and scenes are pared down to their bare essence." Stunningly designed and illustrated throughout with full-color period art, THE FROZEN THAMES is a literary and visual triumph. Helen Humphreys is the author of Leaving Earth, a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the City of Toronto Book Award and Wild Dogs, which won the 2005 Lambda Award for fiction and was one of NOW magazine's Top 10 Books of 2004, and has been optioned for film. Humphreys lives in Kingston, Ontario.

"Rodes Fishburne is a marksman hunting down first novel fame, and he never misses." -Tom Wolfe

"Rodes Fishburne is onto something here. If you've ever been young you'll recognize the wide-eyed innocence he serves up, if you've ever lived in a city you'll recognize the funhouse he mirrors…The closer you get to Going to See the Elephant the more we all see ourselves." -Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snickett.

"Going to See the Elephant will delight anybody who has ever written a first novel, wanted to write a first novel, and especially those who cherish reading unforgettable first novels. It is both funny and wise." -James Patterson

Rodes Fishburne's fantastically romantic, spirited debut introduces one of the most engaging literary characters in recent years. Slater Brown, whose dream to be "the greatest writer in the world" leads him to discover the spirit of the city by the bay, and in turn, himself… Brown aims to lay siege to San Francisco like Achilles Troy-until he crashes headlong into reality. Out of money and prospects, he applies for a job at a moribund weekly newspaper called The Morning Trumpet-and, as if by chance, discovers a gift unique unto him. It isn't writing. It's hearing. He hears everything and trumpets it to the world. With his uncanny knack for sniffing out the news, Slater is bringing the Trumpet back to life, infuriating a corrupt mayor, meeting the most brilliant man in the world, and falling in love with a woman who will become his muse. And soon Slater will become at once a pawn, a savior, and the last best hope for a city that needs him-and his knack for the truth-more than ever before… Rodes Fishburne is a member of the literary collective The Grotto and has written for magazines and newspapers, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, Forbes ASAP. He lives with this wife and two sons in San Francisco.

From an Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and Agatha Award-nominated author, ROANOKE is a lyrical, literary thriller, a magnificent work of fiction in which Margaret Lawrence brilliantly illuminates one of history's most famous unsolved mysteries: the fate of the lost colony of Roanoke… In the Spring of 1585 in Hampton Court, Queen Elizabeth is under siege-surrounded by sycophants, spies, and assassins. Among those charged with protecting her is a tall, charismatic spy named Gabriel North… and when the Queen's advisers persuade her to send ships to the Americas, North is given a job for which he is perfectly suited: to seduce Roanoke's Secota princess and gain information about a fabled trove of gold hidden in the wilderness. In Princess Naia, North meets a woman who bewitches him utterly-and he soon sees the folly of the mission and the dangerous deceptions from which it was born. As war and calamity crash down on Roanoke Island, as Naia endures the horrors of England's greed and zealotry, Gabriel North becomes a wanted man in a hunt that will lead back across the Atlantic-into a trap set by his enemies, into streets teaming with collaborators, and into a shocking act of treachery… At once a rich historical mystery, a love story, and a searing human drama, ROANOKE is filled with breathtaking images and emotion-from Elizabeth's secret passions to Naia's bitter awakening. With the grace of a master storyteller, Margaret Lawrence brings to life a cast of brave hearts and blackguards, petty criminals and grand schemers who play their roles in a tragic drama of conquest, rule and rebellion. Margaret Lawrence is the author of Hearts and Bones and two other novels.

"As long as there are writers like Sean Doolittle out there, American crime fiction has got a sterling future ahead of it." -Dennis Lehane

"[The Cleanup] could well be the best-thrills-for-the-buck reading bargain of the year." -Chicago Tribune

"A superb, suspenseful tale." -The Wall Street Journal

"A cult writer for the masses-hip, smart and so mordantly funny that the casual reader might be laughing too hard to realize just how thoughtful Doolittle's work is. Get on the bandwagon now." -Laura Lippman

From Dirt to The Cleanup, Sean Doolittle has dazzled critics, garnering bolder critical raves with each new novel. "Stylishly written" hailed The New York Times Book Review. Now Doolittle fulfills all that promise-and more-in his latest novel, his first in hardcover, a powerhouse of suspense that will catch you off guard at every turn… In SAFER, a young couple moves into an idyllic little cul de sac-and ignites a harrowing journey into darkness, as a shocking accusation is made, a family is shattered, and the mystery of a long-ago crime begins to unravel. Paul and Sara Callaway have moved from Boston to the small university town of Clark Falls, Iowa, where they settle into a happy, quiet life. But not for long. Their lives are shattered when Paul is arrested for sexual misconduct with the 13-year-old girl next door. These shocking accusations are the work of Roger Mallory, the dedicated president of the neighborhood watch group and a retired local police officer. But is he taking safety to an extreme by distorting the truth to support his obsessive philosophy? As Paul suffers the consequences of being identified as a threat to the community cherished by Roger Mallory-a man whose own son Brandon was abducted and murdered ten years earlier-he discovers disturbing secrets about his neighbors. His salvation just may lie in the shallow grave of Brandon Mallory, located deep in the woods of a nearby nature preserve. Digging up this poisoned soil may mean digging up buried secrets from the past, and perhaps uncovering the puzzling answers to Paul's problems. Sean Doolittle lives in Omaha, Nebraska where he is at work on his next novel for Dell. Visit him at www.seandoolittle.com.

"Bradley's excellent prose and clear shifts in point of view create well-rounded stories that are sure to satisfy." -Romantic Times

One of the genre's hottest erotica novelists, Eden Bradley has garnered prestige in the erotica world with her exploration of the forbidden. In her newest erotic offering, THE 21st CENTURY COURTESAN, she takes taboo to titillating new heights. I have a dirty little secret-a taboo among professionals of my world. It doesn't matter what you call us. The fact is, I get paid for sex… and it's the only kind of sex I can get off on. Valentine Day is a high class call girl in love with her work. The protégée of a wealthy Italian filmmaker, Valentine is a true renaissance woman who caters to only the most powerful of men. Skilled in the arts of epicure, language, and business-as well as seduction-she is undoubtedly the best in the business. Lavish vacations, designer clothes, and mind-blowing passion… Valentine thinks she has it all… until a drink at the opera with an unforgettable stranger turns into more than innocent flirtation, and Valentine is forced to question her so-called perfect life. Can one man be worth surrendering her freedom? And would he still want her if he knew the truth? Eden Bradley is the author of Forbidden Fruit, Exotica, The Darker Side of Pleasure and The Dark Garden (nominated for the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice award for Best Erotic Fiction). Look for Eden's next erotic romp coming from Dell in Fall 2009. Please visit her on the web at www.edenbradley.com.