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Publisher’s Marketplace December 4, 2006

Cory Doctorow's LITTLE BROTHER, a near-future YA/adult science fiction/mainstream crossover about tech-savvy teenagers who use the Internet to defeat a government attempt to suspend constitutional rights, to Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Tor, in a very nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace November 30, 2006

Lydia Denworth’s HOUSE OF THE BUTTERFLIES: THE STORY OF A SCIENTIST AND A DOCTOR WHO WON THE WAR AGAINST LEAD, the story of Herbert Needleman and Clair Patterson, who devoted their lives to investigating the effect of lead in the environment , to Brian Halley at Beacon Press, in a nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace November 29, 2006

Benson Bobrick's THE BATTLE OF NASHVILLE: THE CONFEDERATE WATERLOO, about a dramatic battle which changed the outcome of the American Civil War, to Michelle Frey at Knopf Children's, in a nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace November 28, 2006

Whitley Strieber's 2012, a new novel of alien invasion, sold to Bob Gleason at Forge, in a very nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace November 14, 2006

James Brady, who’s frequently called the poet laureate of the Marine Corps, now seeks answers to the ultimate question WHY MARINES FIGHT by asking those who’ve actually participated in battle, representing ranks from the highest to the lowest, to Pete Wolverton at Thomas Dunne Books, in a very nice deal, by Jack Scovil at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace November 10, 2006

Wall Street Journal writer David Kesmodel’s THE DOMAIN CRAZE describes the explosive evolution of the Internet domain name marketplace, chronicles the colorful exploits and strategies of the world’s leading domain owners, and shows how even the ordinary investor can play the game, to Brian Hampton at Nelson Books, in a nice deal, by Jack Scovil at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace November 9, 2006

Jack Challem’s THE PREDIABETES RECOVERY PLAN is the definitive guide to preventing and reversing those combination of conditions including overweight that often lead to diabetes, to Tom Miller at Wiley, in a very nice deal, by Jack Scovil at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace September 26, 2006                   

Alvin Townley's LEGACY OF HONOR, portraits of Eagle Scouts such as Neil Armstrong, Bill Bradley, Michael Bloomberg, and Ross Perot, whose values and accomplishments have shaped our history and who are molding our future, to Peter Wolverton, with Peter Joseph editing, for Thomas Dunne Books, in a nice deal, by Jack Scovil at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace August 22, 2006

Sara Ann Freed Memorial Award winner Karen E. Olson's WATERLOGGED, the next Annie Seymour mystery, moving to Kristen Weber at NAL, in a two-book deal, by Jack Scovil at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace July 25, 2006

Harry Turtledove's THE BATTLE OF TEUTOBERG FOREST, about one of the most important battles in history, in which German tribes repelled the Roman legions; it was Rome's Vietnam and marked the limits of their expansion, to Marc Resnick at St. Martin's, in a nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace July 10, 2006

Michelle Moran's debut historical novel NEFERTITI, to Allison McCabe at Crown, in a pre-empt, by Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace June 22, 2006

Courtney Humphries's SUPERDOVE: THE MAKING OF THE PIGEON, the story of a maverick scientist who, by studying the common pigeon, has revealed new insights into "synanthropy": the phenomenon of creatures living intertwined with man while remaining wild, to T. J. Kelleher at Smithsonian Books, in a nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace June 1, 2006

Jules Watson's THE SWAN MAIDEN, about Deirdre, the "Irish Helen of Troy," whose beauty ignited a bloody war between two ancient Irish kingdoms, to Anne Groell at Bantam Spectra, in a very nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace June 1, 2006

Ed Lam's DRAGONFLIES OF NORTH AMERICA, all 350+ species of North American dragonfly, combined with text on their natural history and identification, to Lisa White at Houghton Mifflin, in a very nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace May 25, 2006

Jeanne Kalogridis's THE BLOODIEST QUEEN, the story of Catherine de Medici, the Italian princess who became Queen of France during an era of brutal religious wars, to Charles Spicer at St. Martin's, in a good deal, in a two-book deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace May 2, 2006

Madhusree Mukerjee's CHURCHILL'S CHOICE: EMPIRE, WAR AND THE GREAT BENGAL FAMINE, the story of the deliberate sacrifice of millions of innocent lives, subjects of the British Empire, in the effort to defeat Hitler, to Chris Greenberg and Lara Heimert at Basic, in a very nice deal, by Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace April 26, 2006

Carolly Erickson's BIRD OF PARADISE: A NOVEL OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, about the Caribbean seductress whose sexually adventurous life and bold personality led her to the heights as Napoleon's wife and ultimately to the depths of imprisonment, to Charles Spicer at St. Martin's, in a significant deal, in a two-book deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace April 6, 2006

Will Stolzenburg's WHERE THE WILD THINGS WERE: LIFE, DEATH, AND ECOLOGICAL MAYHEM IN A LAND OF VANISHING PREDATORS, the story of a group of wildlife biologists who have made a discovery about the role of predators in evolution, and what that means to the environment now that the creatures at the top of the food chain are largely missing from the natural world, to Colin Dickerman at Bloomsbury, in a nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace March 31, 2006

Pete Dunne's PRAIRIE SPRING and ARCTIC AUTUMN, the first two in a proposed tetralogy about the human, animal, and plant dramas that characterize the seasons in specific locations in North America, to Lisa White at Houghton Mifflin, in a significant deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace March 24, 2006

James Rollins's SIGMA FORCE IV, V, and VI, about the men and women of the Sigma Force, to Lyssa Keusch at William Morrow, in major deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace February 28, 2006

Marcia Kurapovna's DRAZA'S MOUNTAIN, about the largest World War II rescue of Allied airmen from behind enemy lines by the Yugoslav Nazi resister Draza Mikhailovich, and his abandonment a few years later by the Americans and British to a Communist execution, to Hana Lane at Wiley, by Jack Scovil at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace November 30, 2005

Ornithologist Dr. Donald Kroodsma's BIRDSONG FOR ALL SEASONS, about his research into bird song, examining the role of the changing seasons in the behavior of birds, to Lisa White at Houghton Mifflin, in a very nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency

Publisher’s Marketplace July 22, 2005

Chin-Ning Chu's WORKING WOMAN'S ART OF STRATEGY, a practical interpretation of the Chinese master Sun Tzu for women today, to Roger Scholl at Doubleday, in a pre-empt, by Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.           

Publisher’s Marketplace June 29, 2005

Marcia Bartusiak's COSMOS FIRMA: The Day We Found the Universe, about a group of scientists at the beginning of the 20th century who explored and debated the scale of the universe, climaxing with Edward Hubble's discoveries that the universe is vastly larger than just the Milky Way and is expanding, to Edward Kastenmeier at Pantheon, in a very nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace June 27, 2005       

Karen Abbott's GETTING EVERLEIGHED: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS BROTHEL, the colorful, dramatic, and often outrageous true story of how two sisters, Minna and Ada Everleigh, (whose last name may have originated the expression "to get laid"), came to run the red light district of Chicago at the turn of the century, to Julia Cheiffetz at Random House, in a pre-empt, by Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace June 27, 2005

Daniel Mathews and James Jackson's A FIELD GUIDE TO AIR TRAVEL OVER THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES, an illustrated guide to what one can see out an airplane window in trips around the U.S., with geological and other features keyed to text descriptions on the facing page, to Lisa White at Houghton Mifflin, in a very nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace May 31, 2005

Harry Turtledove's FORT PILLOW, about one of the most harrowing of all Civil War battles, in which the Confederates sought to annihilate freed slaves who had been armed by the Union, to Marc Resnick at St. Martin's, in a nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace April 20, 2005

Dr. Chris Impy's THE LIVING COSMOS, showing how technological advancements have brought the search for life from the realm of science-fiction to a plausible reality, arguing that not only is life a natural occurrence in the cosmos, we are on the brink of discovering evidence for it, to Chris Schluep at Random House, by Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace April 20, 2005

Dr. Shari Lieberman's IS IT SOMETHING I ATE?: The Surprising Foods That May Be Sabotaging Your Weight and Your Health, focusing on gluten (to which anywhere from 35 and 50 percent of the US population may have a sensitivity), linked to weight gain, fatigue, join pain, depression, infertility and digestive distress and more, to Susan Berg at Rodale, in a good deal, by Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace March 23, 2005

Author of SACRED COWS Karen E. Olson's second book, featuring the same character, police reporter Annie Seymour, to Kristen Weber at Mysterious Press, in a nice deal, by Jack Scovil at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publishers Marketplace February 16, 2005

New York Times bestselling author Terry Goodkind's untitled twelfth and final volume of the Sword of Truth series (which has sold 50 million copies worldwide), [sold] to Tom Doherty and Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Tor, in a major deal for seven figures, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publishers Marketplace February 7, 2005

Prominent evolutionary biologist Dr. Sean Carroll's THE MAKING OF THE FITTEST, discussing the latest science regarding DNA and how natural selection actually works on the molecular level, [sold] to Jack Repcheck at Norton, in a significant deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publishers Marketplace January 31, 2005

Carolly Erickson's THE LAST WIFE OF HENRY VIII, a novel about the tumultuous life and death of Catherine Parr, the last wife of Henry VIII, [sold] to Charles Spicer at St. Martin's, in a good deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publisher’s Marketplace January 27, 2005

Glenn Wallis's BUDDHIST TAPESTRY: READING THE SUTTAS, an effort to compile and translate the "heartwood" of Buddhism -- the core teachings in Buddha's own words -- as well as provide a way for contemporary readers to engage with the text and find relevance, to Judy Sternlight and Will Murphy at Modern Library, by Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publishers Marketplace January 22, 2005

Lawrence Sutin's DIVINE INVASIONS: A LIFE OF PHILIP K. DICK, a biography of the widely-republished science fiction writer who loosed the bonds of the genre, ultimately making his reputation as a literary writer who happened to write speculative fiction, [which] is being reissued to coincide with the release of "A Scanner Darkly," a film based on Dick's novel of the same name, [sold] to Philip Turner at Carroll & Graf, for publication in fall 2005, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publishers Marketplace January 14, 2005

Cardiologists Stephen Sinatra, M.D. and James Roberts, M.D.'s book on the newest findings about the deadly role of plaque in cardiovascular disease, presenting a complete approach using the best of complementary and conventional medicine for reversing and preventing it, [sold] to Tom Miller at Wiley, by Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publishers Marketplace January 14, 2005

Kathleen Cox's SPACE MATTERS, a design book that draws on the ancient Indian science of Vastu to demystify the subject of interior design by explaining why spaces work or don't work, and that will show, step-by-step, how to create an appealing home, [sold] to Marisa Bulzone at Stewart Tabori and Chang, by Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publishers Weekly January 11, 2005

A book examining the significance in Darwin’s evolutionary theories of his long fascination with orchids and how they are pollinated, was pre-empted for Harvard University Press.

The deal, for a high five figures, was signed by the press’s Ann Downer- Hazell with agent Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen, for world rights.

The author, Canadian biologist Dr. Robert Tuckerman, calls his book DARWIN'S ORCHIDS: HOW DARWIN’S RESEARCH ON ORCHIDS AND THEIR INSECT VISITORS SHAPED EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, and describes this little-known aspect of Darwin’s work, accompanied by Tuckerman's own colored drawings of some of the exotic flowers and insects the great scientist studied.

Publishers Weekly November 30, 2004

A book called KING OF BOLLYWOOD: SHAH RUKH KHAN AND THE SEDUCTIVE WORLD OF INDIAN CINEMA by Anupama Chopra was bought for Warner by Devi Pillai.

Khan is the biggest movie star in the world if rated by the many millions who watch his movies, products of the world's largest film industry, and the book is at once his story and that of the glamorous and melodramatic movie world centered in Mumbai (former Bombay).

The world English rights deal was made with agent Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak &Galen. Author Chopra is a film journalist married to a big Bollywood director.

Publishers Marketplace November 18, 2004

Mark Harris’s GRAVE MATTERS: A GUIDE TO A NATURAL BURIAL, a look at the environmentally-friendly funeral movement, with a how to/reference section explaining how to arrange such a funeral, to Beth Wareham at Scribner, in a nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency (world English).

Publishers Marketplace November 10, 2004

Sera Joan Beak's THE RED BOOK: THE MODERN YOUNG WOMAN'S ANTI-GUIDE TO PRAYING CREATIVELY, a hip, sensual, modern-day mysticism delivered through non-traditional, empowering and easily digestible information that asks young women, ages 21-35, to become more spiritually conscious, creative and responsible, right now, [sold] to Julianna Gustafson at Jossey-Bass, in a nice deal, by Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publishers Marketplace October 25, 2004

Lynne McTaggart’s THE INTENTION EXPERIMENT, about an ambitious experiment to be conducted at Princeton University to determine if human beings can focus their power of intention to influence events (after the book appears, readers will be able to participate in future experiments via the author’s Web site), to Leslie Meredith at the Free Press, in a good deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency.

Publishers Weekly September 8, 2004

A book by a passionate amateur woodworker who has spent months trying to find the exact kind of oak with which to make a perfect reproduction of a 19th-century oak table and chairs, was won at auction by John Glusman at Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

He is T.M. Hawley, a nature writer whose book is called MEN AND OAK, and which involves his personal story of his search for the exactly correct kind of wood for his project, and of man’s relationship to oak for thousands of years.

The world rights sale (including first serial and audio) was made by Russell Galen at Scovil, Chichak & Galen, under unusual circumstances; he was fielding auction bids by cell phone while hiking in the Grand Teton National Park — where, as he notes, oak trees are singularly absent.

Publishers Weekly August 10, 2004

A collection of her best writing and art about nature by biologist, author and wildlife artist Julie Zickefoose was bought for Houghton Mifflin by Lisa White.

She pre-empted with a high five figures for a collection called THE WATCHER AT THE WINDOW, reflecting the fact that Zickefoose, a hard-working mother of two living in an Ohio nature sanctuary, does most of her wildlife observation from her window.

Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen was the agent on the deal.

Zickefoose is a Harvard-trained biologist and a pre-eminent wildlife artist who is also a regular contributor to magazines and a commentator on "All Things Considered" for NPR.

Publishers Marketplace June 29, 2004

Fara Warner's THE POWER OF THE PURSE: HOW BUSINESS IS ADAPTING TO THE RISE OF WOMEN AS THE WORLD'S MOST IMPORTANT CONSUMERS, examining how a variety of companies from Fortune 500 heavyweights such as Proctor & Gamble Co. and McDonald's Corp to startups such as Torrid plus size stores and Bratz dolls are adapting to women's economic clout, to Paula Sinnott at Prentice Hall, in a nice deal, by Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen (world).

Publishers Weekly June 18, 2004

Australian author Juliet Marillier writes big, epic-size historical fantasies for Tor that have become popular among teenage readers, though not aimed at them.

Now she has written her first book specifically for the YA market, and children’s publishers quickly became part of a heated auction. Knopf’s Michelle Frey won with a six-figure offer for two books to agent Russell Galen of Scovil Chichak & Galen. It was a North American
rights offer for a book called WILDWOOD DANCING, set in 19th-century Transylvania, which is the author’s usual mixture of myth, history and a dash of the supernatural, plus a second book.

Danny Baror handles foreign rights, and the author makes her own deals for the Australia/New Zealand territory.

Publishers Weekly May 28, 2004

Whitley Strieber, whose COMMUNION, an account of being abducted by aliens was a huge bestseller 20 years ago, has now written a novel about a worldwide struggle against them, called THE GRAYS, and it was won at a lively auction by Bob Gleason for Tor/Forge. He bought North American rights from agent Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen, with Danny Baror handling foreign. Strieber has written several bestselling books, both fiction and nonfiction, over the years - and in fact his THE COMING GLOBAL SUPERSTORM is the basis for the big current disaster movie, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. His novel portrays the Grays as powerful and enigmatic alien forces struggling with humanity for control of the earth, but although it is cast in fictional form, Strieber believes, says his agent, that such forces are really at work among us now.

Publishers Marketplace May 25, 2004

Jeanne Kalogridis’s THE BORGIA BRIDE, a novel of the life of Lucrezia Borgia, [sold] to Charles Spicer at St. Martin’s Press, in a nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen.

Publishers Weekly April 26, 2004

A mammoth history of the impact, economic and spiritual, of whaling in America was bought by Norton’s Bob Weil, whose bid bettered those of several houses. The author is historian Eric Jay Dolin and his book, whose proposal alone took him a year and which will weigh in at 150,000 words, was bought for world English rights plus audio from Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen.

Publishers Marketplace April 19, 2004

Florida National Guardsman John Crawford’s memoir of his year of service in Iraq, chronicling the daily life of a young soldier in Iraq - the excitement, the horror, the anger, the tedium, the fear, the camaraderie - while also depicting the transformation of a group of innocents who didn’t expect, ask for, or really volunteer for this war into something entirely different, [sold] to Sean McDonald at Riverhead, in a pre-empt, for publication in 2005, by Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen (world). The book was acquired last November, but the announcement was held until Crawford returned to the U.S.

Publishers Marketplace April 6, 2004

James Rollins’s SIGMA FORCE series, three books in an open-ended new series about government scientists who use advanced technologies and paranormal powers in exotic global settings to eliminate threats to the US, [sold] to Lyssa Keusch at Morrow, in a major deal for very high six figures, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen (NA).

Publishers Weekly February 13, 2004

Diane Higgins at St. Martin’s/Picador has signed novelist India Edghill, author of QUEENMAKER, about King David’s queen, and a forthcoming book about Solomon and Sheba, to a deal for two more Biblical historicals.

One will be a prequel to QUEENMAKER, about Samson and Delilah, the second is yet to be decided; the six-figure North American rights deal was signed with agent Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen. Danny Baror is handling foreign rights.

Publishers Weekly February 10, 2004

Carolly Erickson, who has written biographies of Queen Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, Queen Victoria, the Empress Josephine and other celebrated royal figures, has now signed for her first novel: a fictional THE DIARY OF MARIE ANTOINETTE.

In the book Erickson will tell the doomed queen’s story in diary form, from her teens in Austria to the moment when she was beheaded during the French Revolution.

Charles Spicer at St Martin’s Press bought world English rights from agent Russ Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen for a six-figure advance.

Publishers Weekly January 9, 2004

Titanic film maker James Cameron has just made a preemptive offer for the next nonfiction book by archeologist Charles Pellegrino, whose expertise on that disaster he had drawn on for the movie. The new one, to be published by HarperCollins in the fall, is GHOSTS OF VESUVIUS: A NEW LOOK AT THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII, offering insights based on new archeological findings into that disaster, including some personal stories. Cameron made his deal for the new title with agent Russell Galen.

Publishers Weekly December 4, 2003

Nick Webb, a familiar figure on the London publishing scene for nearly 30 years, most recently as managing director of Simon & Schuster U.K., has turned to writing, and as his first project is a biography of author Douglas Adams.

It was Webb who, as an editor at Pan, first signed Adams, commissioning his celebrated HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. His book, an authorized biography of the author who is popular on both sides of the Atlantic, is called WISH YOU WERE HERE, and was signed for North American rights by Betsy Mitchell at Ballantine. She made the deal with Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen.

Publishers Marketplace December 2, 2003

Richard Milner’s DARWIN’S UNIVERSE, a thorough updating of the author’s classic ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EVOLUTION, which is both an encyclopedia and a collection of entertaining, highly readable mini-essays about hundreds of aspects of evolutionary biology, [sold] to Blake Edgar at University of California Press in a very nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen.

Publishers Weekly November 24, 2003

Jack Repcheck at Norton won an auction among seven publishers for a book on evolutionary biology (the study of how evolutionary changes actually occur) by Dr. Sean B. Carroll of the University of Wisconsin, a man at the center of this new field. Repcheck paid well into the mid six figures for North American, plus first serial and audio, to agent Russell Galen.

Publishers Weekly July 22, 2003

Arthur C. Clarke, the celebrated science fiction master, who said several years ago he was hanging up his pen as a solo author, has in fact written a new novel, and Ballantine, where he first began publishing nearly 50 years ago, bought it.

The buyer there was Shelley Shapiro, who paid in the mid six figures for North American rights to agent Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen. The book is called THE LAST THEOREM, and is the story of a brilliant mathematician who solves Fermat’s Last Theorem and thereby changes the course of the scientific future.

Publishers Marketplace May 30, 2003

Col. Michael Lee Lanning’s MERCENARIES, about mercenaries from the Roman Empire to today’s widespread but secret use (by the U.S. as well as many other countries) of so-called "Private Military Companies," [sold] to Zachary Schisgal at Ballantine, in a nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen.

Publishers Weekly May 12, 2003

Harry Turtledove is a specialist in speculative fiction, and his latest, a massive manuscript on what might have happened if the Japanese had occupied Hawaii in WWII, was just bought for a mid-six figures by Laura Ann Gilman at NAL. She bought North American rights in DAYS OF INFAMY from agent Russ Galen, and will publish in two volumes.

Publishers Marketplace April 24, 2003

Dr. Robert Smith Thompson’s IMPERIAL AMERICA: WILSON, ROOSEVELT, CHURCHILL, AND THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD, a revisionist history examining the World War era as an American campaign to destroy the British Empire and replace it with an American Empire, [sold] to Stephen Power at Wiley, in a nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen (NA).

Publishers Weekly March 18, 2003

Dr. Donald E. Kroodsma, a University of Massachusetts expert in bird behavior and birdsong, is such a legend in his time that a book about him and his work is already under contract.

Now, however, he is doing his own, THE SINGING PLANET, while continuing to cooperate with the author of the other, BIRDSONG, by Donald Stap, under contract to Scribner.

Dr. Kroodsma’s own book, which he has been thinking about for a number of years, and in which he will tell his own stories in his own voice, was bid on by six publishers before Lisa White at Houghton Mifflin won it for world rights with a low-six-figures bid. The agent was Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen.

The book, incidentally, will be packaged with a CD offering examples of the birdsongs Kroodsma describes in the text. One of his revolutionary discoveries is that birds actually learn their songs, and do not have them imprinted on them genetically, as had been supposed.

Publishers Weekly February 28, 2003

J. California Cooper, whose novels and story collections have sold a combined total of 900,000 copies, largely in the African-American market, has just made a new two-book deal with Doubleday totaling nearly half a million dollars.

Agent Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen made the North American rights deal with editor Janet Hill for a new story collection and a novel; the agent retains audio, U.K. and translation.

Cooper won the American Book Award for her HOMEMADE LOVE.

Publishers Weekly December 2, 2002

A literary nonfiction work about how literature helped an author’s family survive Nazi Germany was swiftly pre-empted by Susan Kamil at Dial a day after she received the proposal and took it home to read. It is READING CLAUDIUS by Caroline Heller, and Kamil bought world rights for six figures from agent Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen.

The book is the story of how Heller’s parents and her father’s brother met in prewar Prague and shared a common interest in literature; when the war broke out Heller’s mother escaped to the U.S., her uncle went to Poland and her father ended up in Auschwitz. As their diaries and letters show, it was the sustenance they found in literature that helped them keep going through the war, and again to pick up their subsequent lives. Her parents, postwar refugees in the U.S., married, and her uncle became a literary critic. Literature continued to solace all three in an otherwise lonely life in America.

Publishers Weekly November 19, 2002

Historian Benson Bobrick recently came upon a cache of letters written by his great-great-grandfather that turned out to be right up his alley: they were written in the midst of several notable Civil War battles, portraying the everyday life of a Union soldier who was living through history.

Working without a contract, Bobrick turned the letters, seen by no one for more than 140 years, into a narrative nonfiction book about his ancestor’s experiences, called NOTHING FOR A SOLDIER: AN UNTOLD SAGA OF THE CIVIL WAR, and sold them to his regular editor, Bob Bender at Simon & Schuster. The more than 75 letters he used cover a soldier’s daily life, from the routine of long marches to the drama of hand-to-hand combat.

It was a North American rights sale for a high five figures, made by agent Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen.

Publishers Weekly October 28, 2002

Diana Gabaldon is one of those authors whose popularity seems to be ever increasing, as reflected in her latest payday: more than $10 million in total from her four major publishers worldwide for a new three-book deal. And it all came about because she had planned to do a novella as a break from her ongoing Outlander series of historical novels for Delacorte. The central figure was to be Lord John, an 18th-century aristocrat who is a favorite figure in the series. In the end, however, Gabaldon found he had inspired a full-length novel, and when her agent, Russell Galen, and her editor, Jackie Cantor, read it, they decided it could readily expand into a three-book series. Here and in Frankfurt, Galen and his foreign rights man, Danny Baror, sold the package not only to Delacorte but also to Doubleday Canada, Random House U.K. and Random/Bertelsmann in Germany. Meanwhile, other foreign rights sales continue.

Publishers Weekly October 28, 2002

The National Academy’s Joseph Henry Press, a growing contender in the popular science area, paid six figures for a biography of the late Stephen Jay Gould by science writer Frederic Golden. The press’s Jeffrey Robbins made the world rights buy from agent Russ Galen.

Publishers Weekly October 15, 2002

A young journalist who has sprung from two generations of radicals, including members of the Weather Underground and the Communist Party, tells his story in A RADICAL LINE: ONE FAMILY’S CENTURY OF CONSCIENCE by Thai Stein Jones, bought by the Free Press’s Liz Stein.

Jones, a grad of the Columbia Journalism School and now a working journalist, was born 31 years ago to a couple who were fugitive leaders of the Weather Underground, and his book will discuss the various strains of radicalism in the 20th century through his own family history.

Stein paid a mid five figures to Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak & Galen for North American rights.

Publishers Weekly October 7, 2002

A book about the German immigrants who battled each other in the 19th century to create the great companies that still dominate American brewing was bought for six figures by Andrea Schulz at Harcourt. It’s called AMBITIOUS BREW by historian Maureen Ogle, and the seller of world rights was Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak & Galen.

Publishers Weekly September 13, 2002

The Duchess of Windsor, also known as Wallis Simpson, the divorcee whose affair with King Edward VIII caused him to abdicate his throne, has often been portrayed as a shallow gold-digger.

Not so, according to a new biography just bought by Charles Spicer at St. Martin’s Press. Author Carolly Erickson, who has specialized in biographies of royalty, claims to have gone through a heap of new information, including various private letters, that shows the duchess as a much more sympathetic figure, a strong woman who was good for the duke.

Spicer preempted world English rights in the proposal, which came from agent Russ Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen; Danny Baror is handling translation rights.

Publishers Weekly July 9, 2002

The two bestselling birding books already published by David Sibley (with another to come this fall) have already established him as a spectacular successor to Roger Tory Peterson, and now his Knopf editor, Susan Ralston, has sewn him up for the foreseeable future with a deal well into seven figures.

For that Sibley will deliver two new nature guides (subjects unspecified) over the next seven years, with a regular annual January payout to keep him at work in his studio without financial anxieties.

His agent, Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen, notes that since Sibley paints all of his images himself, and is thus a slow worker, the subjects of the new guides are being kept secret so that no competing field guide publishers can beat him into print; "outracing Sibley is a very easy thing to do," he adds.

Galen says the artist wants to revolutionize the entire field of nature guides as well as bird ones, and has made a long-term plan involving dozens of future guides covering many varieties of plants and animals.

Publishers Weekly May 7, 2002

A book on how primates developed their ability to walk upright, leading to the evolution of human beings, by a USC anthropology professor, Dr. Craig Stanford, was preempted by Laura van Dam at Houghton Mifflin.

It’s called WALKING TALL: A BRIEF HISTORY OF BEING HUMAN, and in it, Dr. Stanford, who spends part of each year observing primates in the wild in Africa as co-director of Jane Goodall’s Primate Research Center, concentrates on his observations about how bipedalism – the ability to walk on the hind legs – arose, and its effect on human evolution.

The sale of North American Rights, first serial and audio was made by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen; Danny Baror will handle foreign rights.

Publishers Weekly March 12, 2002

Canadian novelist Sparkle Hayter is known here for her Robin Hudson series of mystery novels, published by Morrow, but when she sought a change of pace, with an offbeat standalone novel about werewolves living in contemporary Manhattan, her agent decided to test the waters in her homeland first.

The agent, Russell Galen of Scovil Chichak Galen, knew that Hayter’s Canadian publisher, McClelland & Stewart, would take a chance even on a proposal for a new book; so his agent for foreign rights, Danny Baror, treated this as a foreign sale, and made a mid-five-figure deal with Dinah Forbes there for the werewolf book, NAKED BRUNCH, on the basis of just a one-page outline.

Hayter has now finished the novel, and Galen chose a U.S. rights offer by Jennifer Kasius at Crown’s Three Rivers imprint, for a two-book deal for Brunch and another standalone novel. The combined Canadian and American sales, said Galen, came to six figures.

Publishers Weekly March 8, 2002

A book that offers advice on avoiding the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease, which affects three million Americans, was bought by McGraw-Hill editor Nancy Hancock.

It is THE MEMORY CURE: NEW DISCOVERIES IN HOW TO PROTECT YOUR BRAIN AGAINST ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND IMPROVE YOUR MEMORY by an authority on the subject, Dr. Majid Fotuhi, a consultant at the Alzheimer Disease Research Center at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Based on new neurological findings, the book is said to be the first to show steps that can be taken to prevent the onset of the disease, usually associated with senility.

Hancock bought North American rights from Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen, and is rushing it into print for fall.

Publishers Weekly March 4, 2002

That’s the approach of the latest of the many books to be written around the golf celeb, and it’s by a writer whose previous subject was singer Bob Dylan in the same pop role. He is Howard Sounes, and after finishing his Dylan study, DOWN THE HIGHWAY, for Grove/Atlantic, he became convinced the young black golfer was the most influential figure in pop culture today. He will focus on the rise of golf to a popular sport enjoyed by millions by exploring the role and personalities of three players from different eras who helped it to happen – Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and now Woods – and Morrow’s Henry Ferris preempted his proposal. He made a strong six-figure deal for North American rights, plus serial and audio with agent Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak & Galen.

Publishers Weekly December 17, 2001

Terry Goodkind is high up on the bestseller list with his seventh and latest novel, THE PILLARS OF CREATION, and his agent, Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen, is determined to get him $10 million for his next three books. That’s the total he asked for at a lunch last fall with Goodkind’s editor and publisher at Tor Books, Patrick Nielsen-Hayden and Tom Doherty, respectively, when they sought to get a long-term commitment from the author. Galen actually received less than that from Tor, but has been working since, with foreign rights specialist Danny Baror, to get the rest of the way to the magic figure. Baror made a high-six-figures deal with Bertelsmann, the author’s regular German publisher, and then switched him to HarperCollins as a result of an auction in the U.K. that brought him in a sum "very substantially" into seven figures. The bid, by Harper’s Jane Johnson, was not the biggest, but, said Galen, the publisher offered the best marketing plan. He’s still a tad short of the magic $10 million, "but Goodkind is popular in 17 other countries. We’ll get there."

Publishers Weekly December 7, 2001

A proposed biography of Patricia Highsmith, the eccentric and reclusive author of THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN and many other artful thrillers, was bought last week by Tim Bent at St. Martin’s Press, who beat out several other interested bidders with a high five figures.

The author is playwright Joan Schenkar, also the author of TRULY WILDE, a story about Oscar Wilde’s niece Dolly, published last year by Basic Books.

Agent Russell Galen of Scovil Chichak Galen, who made the sale for world rights, said Schenkar, who divides her time between the U.S. and Europe (and talked to Bent about the deal mostly in French), became interested in Highsmith because of the similarities to her previous subject: an American who lived largely abroad, had an ambiguous sexuality, and whose work lay at the borders of commercial and literary art.

The title for the proposal is THE TALENTED MISS HIGHSMITH: THE SECRET LIFE AND SERIOUS ART OF PATRICIA HIGHSMITH.

Publishers Weekly November 9, 2001

ACROSS THE BLACK WATERS, the dramatic story of how people of Indian origin migrated around the globe in the past two centuries, was pre-empted for a strong six figures, North American rights, by Eamon Dolan at Houghton Mifflin.

The book is by Minal Hajratwala, who has portrayed the saga in terms of members of her own family, who now live in nine different countries and four continents. She is an editor at a paper in San Jose, Ca., as well as a poet and performance artist, but this is her first book; she plans extensive travels to catch up with some of her family for the book which she plans to complete in late 2003.

The sale was made by Anna Ghosh at the Scovil Chichak Galen agency.

Publishers Weekly November 7, 2001

Marla Cone is the chief environmental correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, and has just received a foundation grant for an 18-month expedition to study the impact of world pollution on the Arctic; the book she plans to write as a result, POISONED POLE, was just sold at auction to Brendan Cahill at Grove Atlantic.

He bought world rights from agent Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak & Galen, but has retained first serial for Cone’s newspaper, which has given her a leave of absence for the trip and book.

Galen reports that when Cone was first scheduled to speak to editors she was on another trip and became stranded in the Faroe Islands by the Sept. 11 attacks. It was some time before she could reach a location where she could speak on the phone to them; the sale followed.

Apparently the Arctic, which looks so white and pure, is actually deeply polluted, with much of the northern hemisphere’s pollution impacting it.

Publishers Weekly September 25, 2001

Nine years ago Martin Torgoff, a documentary film maker and author, began work on a nonfiction project he called CAN’T FIND MY WAY HOME: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE EXPERIENCE OF ILLICIT DRUGS IN AMERICA, which turned out to be a mammoth history of the impact of drugs and the drug culture on America from the 1940s to the present – including his own personal struggle against a drug habit.

He sold it, through agent Russ Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen, for a six-figure advance, with a three-year delivery date. By 1995, however, the had a 2000-page manuscript that covered less than half of his allotted span of time.

Eventually, as Torgoff labored on, the original publisher ran out of patience and let Galen re-sell the project. After he had spent almost as much time cutting as he had writing, the manuscript was finally ready, and early this month Galen sold it a second time – this time to Bob Bender at Simon & Schuster, who paid six figures (again) for world rights plus audio. Galen is hanging on to movie and TV.

Torgoff has previously written books on Elvis Presley, for Delacorte, and John Cougar Mellenkamp, for St. Martin’s.

Publishers Weekly June 5, 2001

Harry Turtledove is a practitioner, probably the leading one, of fictional "alternate history," which offers different scenarios for historical events. His first novel, THE GUNS OF THE SOUTH (Ballantine, 1992), which imagined a victory by the South in the Civil War, was a bestseller and established him in the field.

Now his agent, Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen, has made a two-book, North American rights deal for him with Laura Ann Gilman at Dutton/Signet that brings him a mid six figures for each book.

The new titles, to be done under the NAL imprint, are RULED BRITANNIA, which offers a vision of Britain conquered by the Spanish Armada in 1588 and thereafter subjected to the rigors of the Inquisition; and In the Presence of Mine Enemies, about a Nazi victory in WWII that drives Jews to practice their religion underground. The first, already completed, is for publication in November 1992, the second will follow later.

Publishers Weekly February 16, 2001

Even in these days of rapid migration of authors and editors from publisher to publisher, there are examples of touching constancy, as agent Russell Galen reminds us.

He cites the case of his client, historian Benson Bobrick, who sold his first book, EAST OF THE SUN: THE EPIC CONQUEST AND TRAGIC HISTORY OF SIBERIA to editor Bob Bender at Simon & Schuster in 1989. He went on to write two more major history books for them, one on the American revolution in 1998 and one on the story of the English Bible that will appear this year.

His latest, THE MANSIONS OF THE MOON: ASTROLOGY IN HISTORY, MYTH, ART, SCIENCE AND WAR, Galen describes as the first objective and scholarly narrative history of astrology. Bender bought world English and translation rights plus audio, and plans to publish in 2004.

The other element in the equation, the money, kept moving along, says the agent, escalating from the low six figures at first to the mid six for the latest.

Publishers Weekly April 10, 2001

Editors at Perseus secured two offbeat science titles, about a breakthrough moment in biology and the connection between wireless technology and society.

Senior editor Amanda Cook paid six figures for North American rights to a book by a young biologist called IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE: THE CAUSE OF THE MOST DRAMATIC EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF LIFE. It is Andrew Parker’s account of how all the major animal groups emerged simultaneously in the history of life on earth – the so-called biological "Big Bang." It is Parker’s theory that this astounding coincidence took place because of the development of sight.

Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak & Galen made the sale, and Cook hopes to publish in spring 2003.

Publishers Weekly March 23, 2001

Joe Louis and Jesse Owens were the two most famous black athletes in the 1930s, when they were both sent in against Nazi-backed opponents and prevailed – Louis against Max Schmeling in the ring, and Owens as a sprinter in the Berlin Olympics. They were also lifelong friends who despite their fame were never quite accepted by white America, and who both died in poverty.

London-based journalist Don McRae had the idea of doing a dual biography of the pair that would trace their respective careers, their friendship, and how they both impacted on America’s racial history. His proposal, BLACK AND WHITE: THE LEGACY OF JOE LOUIS AND JESSE OWENS, was sold simultaneously by London agent Jane Bradish-Ellames of Curtis Brown and Russell Galen of Scovil Chichak & Galen here, for what will total a mid-six-figures advance.

Galen sold the book to executive editor David Hirshey at HarperCollins, who will publish it through the Ecco imprint, and British rights went to Simon & Schuster U.K. Curtis Brown in London holds translation rights.

Publishers Weekly March 20, 2001

Talking of Biblical tales, author India Edghill originally published a novel called QUEENMAKER: A NOVEL OF KING DAVID’S QUEEN with Xlibris as an on-demand title that could be printed to order. After it was singled out in a New York Times Book Review piece as one of a couple of "exceptional" novels available online, however, she decided she would like to try and sell foreign rights.

She went to Scovil Chichak Galen, where agent Anna Ghosh took her on. Ghosh soon decided that the book deserved trade publication here, and at the same time Danny Baror, who handles SCG’s international rights, confirmed its appeal by selling it to Bertelsmann in Germany.

Now Ghosh has closed a two-book deal for North American rights with Diane Higgins at St. Martin’s Press, for the King David novel (which will probably be retitled) and a second book, which will be about David’s son, King Solomon, from the point of view of Queen Sheba, his lover.

Publishers Weekly March 2, 2001

With his SIBLEY GUIDE TO BIRDS, published by Knopf last October, ornithologist/illustrator David Allen Sibley became the fastest-selling bird book author in history (it currently has 450,000 copies in print.)

Now Knopf senior editor Susan Ralston, his editor on that and on his next, THE SIBLEY GUIDE TO BIRD LIFE AND BEHAVIOR, scheduled for next fall, has signed him for a third book, THE SIBLEY GUIDE TO BIRD BASICS, which will be a beginner’s guide to birdwatching, set for publication in fall 2002. The agent was Russell Galen of Scovil Chichak Galen.

Publishers Weekly September 26, 2000

An Indian form of Feng Shui, which is also a sister science to Yoga and Ayurveda, is Vastu, and it is about to get its own book.

It was sold, appropriately enough, by Indian-born agent Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen, to Kim Kanner at Pocket Books, who came through with a low-six-figure deal for world rights.

The author is Kathleen Cox, who worked as a journalist in India for 10 years and became a student of the Vedic science of design and décor that is Vastu. She had earlier published the first book on Vastu in the West through Marlowe but the new one, said Ghosh, is a bigger and "more practical" book. The underbidder in a best-bid auction involving five houses was HarperCollins.

Publishers Weekly November 14, 2000

Timothy Westmoreland, who was born into an illiterate household and has suffered from an early age with diabetes, which has cost him his sight and threatens him with death at any time, has found a way out of suffering in writing – and has just had a book of stories and a novel bought by Harcourt.

Andre Bernard, who had first discovered Westmoreland when editor Charles Baxter chose a story called GOOD AS ANY for his Best New American Voices 2001 collection, also published by Harcourt, bought world rights and first serial for the two books from agent Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen.

"He has an astonishing voice, like early Russell Banks," said Bernard, who plans to publish the story collection, also called GOOD AS ANY, early in 2002, with a novel to be written later involving some of the same characters. He preempted with his two-book offer.

Westmoreland began to study writing a few years ago, when his failing eyesight made other careers impossible. He recently graduated from the MFA program at the University of Massachusetts, and has studied with John Edgar Wideman. He has also won several scholarships to writers’ retreats and been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Publishers Weekly November 20, 2000

The idea for a book on the building of the Erie Canal had occurred to both editor-in-chief Bill Thomas at Doubleday and executive editor Charles Conrad at Broadway, and when they both made recent deals with agent Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen, they asked him if he had a suitable writer for such a project. Turns out that the writer whose book Broadway had just bought, Dan Raviv (COMIC WARS), had a colleague, Gerard Koeppel at CBS News, who seemed ideally suited, having done a book recently for Princeton University Press called WATER FOR GOTHAM about the building of New York City’s water supply system. Galen promptly made a six-figure hard-soft deal for Koeppel to do the Erie project, to be edited by Conrad but published first in hardcover by Doubleday. The deal was for North American rights, including serial and audio, and the manuscript is set for delivery in 18 months.

Publishers Weekly October 30, 2000

Bill Thomas at Doubleday and Marty Asher at Anchor/Vintage preempted a book by Joseph E. Stevens called ZERO HOUR: AMERICA AT WAR FROM PEARL HARBOR TO MIDWAY, a detailed account of the first six months of American participation in the war, in which America scrambled to find its wartime footing. The six-figure North American rights deal was made by Russell Galen at Scovil, Chichak & Galen, and the book should be delivered in just over two years. Stevens’s last book was 1863: THE REBIRTH OF A NATION with Bantam.

Publishers Weekly October 27, 2000

A book about the intense financial struggle over the Marvel Comics empire, which ended with the defeat of two battling corporate raiders, has been pre-empted for a six-figure North American (plus serial and audio) buy by Charles Conrad at Broadway Books.

Author Dan Raviv is a senior correspondent for CBS News and wrote the bestselling EVERY SPY A PRINCE, about Israel’s intelligence community. There’s an Israeli angle here too, for after raiders Rob Perelman and Carl Icahn had battled to a standstill over the comics company and put it into bankruptcy, it was a pair of Israeli businessmen, Ike Perlmutter and Avi Arad, who took it over, produced the movie X-MEN out of the Marvel properties, and saved the company.

Raviv’s project, to be called COMIC WARS: HOW TWO TYCOONS BATTLED OVER THE MARVEL COMICS EMPIRE – AND BOTH LOST, was sold by agent Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen, and will be delivered next summer, for publication in spring 2002.

Publishers Weekly October 16, 2000

Laura Van Dam at Houghton Mifflin preempted a book by British geneticist Dr. Steve Jones called Y: A BOOK ABOUT MALENESS from agent Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen for a high six figures for North American; it was also sold to Little, Brown in London.

Publishers Weekly April 10, 2000

....Something about Nick Tosches’ mojo with his material must be working. At first glance, the "links" he mentions notwithstanding, his publishing career has been all over the place – defunct publishers, literary houses, commercial houses (Crown), maverick ones (Arbor House). But Tosches reads it differently, and you begin to see that amid the turmoil there is a continuity of people who have stuck by Tosches, through a series of handshakes, as it were.

"Russ Galen has been with me since the second book. He was a new kid at Scott Meredith then, and we’ve been together now close to 30 years [Galen is now a principal at Scovil Chichak Galen]. A great conspirator, a great friend," Tosches calls him.

New York Daily News November 23, 1999

An extraordinary letter has made its way over the fax machines of New York’s top literary scouts.

It is a copy of a big-time agent’s pitch letter to Martin Asher – editorial director of paperback publisher Vintage and an acquiring editor at Knopf – with the agent’s name, the name of the writer discussed and other identifying details blacked out.

The letter, presumably leaked by a sub-agent of the proposed book sale, has become the subject of a furious guessing game, especially since word got out that Asher was about to close a deal for the mystery project, THE DRUID KING, for close to seven figures.

The fax did reveal that the novel would be based on a screenplay by a Paris-based American writer for a big-budget movie currently shooting in Europe about Julius Caesar’s epic war against the Gallic war-chieftain and Druid priest, Vercingetorix. The stars are Max von Sydow, Klaus-Maria Brandauer, and Christopher Lambert.

Follow those leads – and the letter’s clue that the author knows Knopf chief Sonny Mehta from their days in swinging London – and you get to Norman Spinrad, who in past books focused on exploring the future.

And Spinrad leads to agent Russell Galen, who confirmed that he had successfully completed negotiations late yesterday with Knopf.

In a departure for Knopf – and a victory for Galen – the publisher did not acquire worldwide rights, publishing sources said. A $1.5 million bid for German rights is already on the table.

Publishers Weekly September 5, 2000

A book about the bizarre story of Ralph Albert Blakelock, who a century ago was America’s most highly paid painter, and has since been described as a kind of native Van Gogh, has been bought by Joan Bingham for Grove/Atlantic.

It’s called SKIED, and is the work of a young art journalist, Glyn Vincent. Bingham pre-empted based on a proposal circulated by Russ Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen, for North American rights only. A manuscript is expected in a year.

Blakelock had a breakdown around the turn of the century when he was in his early 50s and was institutionalized for the rest of his life. Canny promotion built him into a legend, and for the next 20 years he was the most celebrated and highly paid painter in the country. His value continues to hold up, with a record $3.2 million being paid for a Blakelock at a recent Sotheby’s sale.

Publishers Weekly August 22, 2000

James Brady’s THE MARINES OF AUTUMN was a big hit, as well as a critical success, for the Thomas Dunne imprint at St. Martin’s Press, and Dunne has now signed him for another book involving Marines in the Far East in a wartime setting – but beyond that no details are available.

The book is tentatively called WARNING OF WAR and was bought for six figures, world rights, from Scovil Chichak Galen. Publication is set for winter 2002.


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