Winter 2012 Paperback Catalog

The poignant and visceral anti-Valentine’s collection, featuring
poems by Mark Strand, Robert Hass, Bob Hicok, and many others
Edited and introduced
by Jerry Williams
It’s Not You, It’s Me
The Poetry of Breakup
Award-winning poet Jerry Williams is an expert in breaking up, and he credits
his survival to the careful words of poets who have loved and lost before him.
It’s Not You, It’s Me is a poetry anthology—at once amusing, angry, sweet, and
bitter—that gives a fresh voice to the all-too-familiar experience of ending
a relationship. Williams compiled over 90 poems by contemporary writers
including Denis Johnson and Kim Addonizio, as well as former poets laureate
Robert Hass, Maxine Kumin, and Mark Strand, whose comforting and healing
words dragged him out of his breakup-induced depression.
We have all been through a breakup, but these poets have created art out of
heartbreak: sharing their wisdom on the pain of the flip side of romance, and
poking fun at the mess we become at the mercy of love.
978-1-59020-751-2 • U.S. $14.95 / 17.50 CAN.
Poetry / Humor
5 3/8” x 7 1/2” • 176 pages
Rights: V00
Pub History: Overlook HC, 978-1-59020-282-1
On Sale: 12/27/11
“A fine new anthology…featuring terrific poets…Williams is as good a
prose writer as he is a poet. Get hold of this guy’s stuff and read it.” —Entertainment Weekly
“This collection…gathers many of the poems that have helped
Williams (a poet himself, with two books to his name) through his
rooms of anguish over the years. Happily, they’re pretty great.”
—The New York Times
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■■ National Review & Feature Attention
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Photo © David Carlson
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JERRY WILLIAMS teaches creative writing at Marymount Manhattan
College. He is also the author of the collections of poems Casino of the
Sun and Admission. His poetry and nonfiction have appeared in American
Poetry Review, Tin House, Pleiades, and many other journals. He lives in
New York City.
JANUARY • OVERLOOK
Love, literature, and a fascinating and unparalleled
close-up view of Kerouac’s inner circle
Carolyn Cassady
Off the Road
My Years with Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac, and
Allen Ginsberg
Off the Road tells the intimate story of the legendary Neal Cassady and his
remarkable friendships with Jack Kerouac (who immortalized Cassady as Dean
Moriarty in On the Road) and Allen Ginsberg. Written by the woman who
loved them all—as wife of Cassady, lover of Kerouac, and friend of Ginsberg—
this riveting and intimate memoir spans one of the most vital eras in twentiethcentury literature and culture, including the explosive successes of Kerouac’s
On the Road and Ginsberg’s Howl, the flowering of the Beat movement, and the
social revolution of the 1960s. Carolyn Cassady reveals a side of Neal Cassady
rarely seen—that of husband and father, a man who craved respectability, yet
could not resist the thrills of a wilder and ultimately more destructive lifestyle.
978-1-59020-104-6 • U.S. $16.95 / NCR
Memoir
5 3/8” x 8” • 464 pages
16 page b/w insert (28 b/w photos)
On Sale: 12/27/11
“A great book as well as wonderful autobiography.”
—Washington Post Book World
“A poignant recollection—truthful, coarse, and inviting—teeming with
the spirit of the men who inspired and symbolized the dreams of a
generation.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“This is the book to be read in tandem with Kerouac’s On the Road,
Ginsberg’s Howl, and Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. It fits like
■■ Walter Salles’s film of On the Road is slated for a 2011
the lost half of a broken plate.” release
—The Literary Review
■■ National Publicity
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Photo © courtesy of the author
■■ Online Promotions
CAROLYN CASSADY was born in Michigan, graduated from Bennington
College, Vermont, and earned her MA in Fine Arts and Theater Arts
from the University of Denver. In 1948 she married Neal Cassady in
San Francisco.
JANUARY • OVERLOOK
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Now being adapted as a movie, this novel is the most enjoyable
dysfunctional family drama since The Royal Tenenbaums
Rober t Sedlack
The African Safari Papers
The African Safari Papers is an intense and outrageous portrait of a family so
troubled that their vacation is, in a word, torture. Richard Clark, the narrator
of this sharp and sometimes madcap novel is nineteen—a drug-addicted,
foul-mouthed, sex-crazed young man in Africa on a safari with his parents.
Obviously, this is a mistake.
As Richard smolders with resentment, he documents the trip in a series of
journal entries that are funny, sad, and piercingly insightful. Juxtaposed with the
hostile environment, the tense situation becomes explosive: with raw energy
and acuity, somewhere between Hunter S. Thompson and David Sedaris, we
see Mom going insane, Dad drinking compulsively, and Richard busy getting
high on smuggled drugs. Anything can happen, and it does, in this Catcher in the
978-1-58567-300-1 • U.S. $14.95 / NCR
Fiction
5 3/8” x 8” • 320 pages
Rights: A00
On Sale: 12/27/11
Rye for the twenty-first century.
“A politically incorrect, gutsy book filled with taboo sex, drugs and
gratuitous violence…A startling debut.” —The Globe and Mail
“Articulate, cheeky, and, in the best sense, dangerous.”
—Timothy Findley, author of Pilgrim
“Richard’s voice is brilliantly keen and winning, and he chronicles wild
■■ Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize
experiences and dysfunctional behaviors with irresistible verve.”
■■ Sold to a major film studio and being adapted by
—Publishers Weekly
■■ National Publicity
director Jeff Nathanson (Catch Me If You Can)
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■■ Online Promotions
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Photo © Bel Reich
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ROBERT SEDLACK is a writer and documentary filmmaker. A graduate of
New York University, he is also the author of The Horn of a Lamb (“Sedlack
is as fastidious a narrator as Dickens or Hugo”—The Globe and Mail).
He lives in Los Angeles.
JANUARY • OVERLOOK
The perfect book for the literary garderner, including works by
Garrison Keillor, James Thurber, Stephen King, and Doris Lessing
Michele Slung
The Garden of Reading
An Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction
About Gardens and Gardeners
Michele Slung has collected an enchantingly rich bouquet of captivating,
memorable, and frequently surprising stories about gardening. Eudora Welty,
James Thurber, Doris Lessing, Lisa St. Aubin, Saki, V.S. Prichett, Colette, and
Robert Graves are included, along with unexpected finds from Stephen King,
J.G. Ballard, Sandra Cisneros, Jane Smiley, and Garrison Keillor, among others.
The gardens featured in these stories are both cultivated and wild, while the
gardeners can be lethal, lazy, rueful, or philandering. There are moments of
nearly overpowering sensuousness, and there are moments of tenderness that
will touch your heart.
Whether you’ve nurtured a solitary houseplant on a windowsill, acres of
978-1-59020-727-7 • U.S. $14.95 / $17.50 CAN.
Gardening / Anthologies
5 3/8” x 8” • 272 pages
Rights: W00
Pub History: Overlook HC, 978-1-59020-431-3
On Sale: 1/31/12
glorious blooming flowerbeds, or simply a bright gleam of imagination, The
Garden of Reading will remind you of the magic and wonder of the world
around us.
“A must-read for all gardeners.” —Gardening
■■ The perfect gift for Mother’s Day
■■ Edited by the author of Momilies®, which has over a
million copies in print
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MICHELE SLUNG is the author of Momilies® and the editor of I Shudder
at Your Touch, Shudder Again, Slow Hand, and Fever, along with many other
anthologies.
FEBRUARY • OVERLOOK
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The classic practical companion to repairing an old house
Christopher Evers
Illustrations by Harriet Hason
The Old-House Doctor
An Illustrated Guide to Caring for Your Home
With over 300 detailed illustrations, this practical how-to book on repairing,
restoring, preserving, and renovating old houses includes chapters on:
•Covering the roof of your old house
•How to mend and straighten a house’s frame
•Replacing doors and windows
•Locating materials for restoring an old home
•Re-wiring an old electrical system
•How to combat termites and other pests
•Heating and insulation to reduce energy consumption
•Wallpapering and painting
978-1-59020-736-9 • U.S. $16.95 / 19.50 CAN.
Home / Repair
7 3/8” x 10” • 190 pages
Rights: W00
Pub History: Overlook PB, 978-1-87951-239-2
On Sale: 1/31/12
The Old-House Doctor also features dating charts and easy-to-read diagrams
outlining everything from the workings of a dumbwaiter to determining when
a house was built.
“As entertaining as it is enlightening. Lucid directions, ably
complemented by Hason’s black-and-white drawings, make this a
valuable reference for the do-it-yourself carpenter.”
—Publishers Weekly
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■■ Author Events
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CHRISTOPHER EVERS has been a professional old-house doctor and
carpenter for over twenty years. He lives near Kingston, New York.
FEBRUARY • OVERLOOK
A rich selection of short fiction by the
author of The Master and Margarita
Mikhail Bulgakov
Translated from the Russian by Carl
R. Proffer
Diaboliad and Other Stories
Murder, Disgrace, and the Making of an American Legend
After a long period of suppression, Milhail Bulgakov was discovered in the West
in 1967 with the publication of his masterpiece, The Master and Margarita.
Diaboliad and Other Stories is the only complete translation of his first collection
of short stories, plus six of his best feuilletons from the 1920s. The targets of
Bulgakov’s brilliant, dark satires here include the Gogolian bureaucracy that
mushroomed after the Revolution, the subjugation of science to the state, and
the price to be paid when the new world of Communism clashed with the
old order. Everywhere the reader will find Bulgakov’s customary exuberance,
brilliance, and originality, as well as the distinctive voice that was to achieve full
effect in The Master and Margarita.
978-1-59020-744-4 • U.S. $17.95 / $21.00 CAN.
Fiction
5 3/8” x 8” • 264 pages
Rights: W00
Pub History: Ardis PB, 978-0-67974-892-2
On Sale: 1/31/12
“Bulgakov’s strong point was his ability to amplify the roots of man’s
dementia, the howls of political pandemonium, and many of the
stories here build up pressure as the characters thrash along, pursuing
or pursued…a lively collection.”
—Washington Post Book World
■■ The only complete translation of Bulgakov’s first
collection of short stories.
■■ National Publicity
ALSO AVAILABLE
NOTES ON THE CUFF
978-1-59020-506-8, $17.95
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MIKHAIL BULGAKOV (1891-1940) burst onto the world literary scene in
the 1960s with the posthumous publication of The Master and Margarita,
and his work has continued to enjoy tremendous literary success
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throughout the world.
FEBRUARY • OVERLOOK/ARDIS
The striking and lively novel about Frida Kahlo, one of the
most dynamic artists of our time—now an international
bestseller translated into 17 languages
Bárbara Mujica
Frida
Frida Kahlo, painter and cultural icon, lived a life of extremes. The subject of
an Academy Award® nominated film starring Salma Hayek, Kahlo was crippled
by polio and left barren by an accident when she was a teenager. And yet she
went on to fall in love with and marry another star of the art world, muralist
Diego Rivera. Filled with passion, jealousy, and deceit, their story captured the
world’s imagination.
Told in the voice of Frida’s sister Cristina, who bears witness to Frida and
Diego’s tumultuous marriage, this is a brilliantly vivid work of historical fiction.
What unfolds is an intense tale of sibling rivalry, as both sisters vie for Rivera’s
affection. It is a narrative replete with figures such as Russian revolutionary
Leon Trotsky and the stunningly beautiful movie star María Félix. Mujica imbues
the lives and loves of these remarkable characters with sparkling drama and
builds her tale to a shattering conclusion.
978-1-59020-752-9 • U.S. $15.00 / 17.50 CAN.
Fiction / Literature
5 3/8” x 8” • 368 pages
Rights: C00
Pub History: Plume PB, 978-0-452-28303-9
Overlook HC, 978-1-58567-074-1
On Sale: 1/31/12
“A vivid creation…This story burns with dramatic urgency.”
—The New York Times
“The best kind of fictionalized biography: rich, vibrant, and
psychologically acute.” —Kirkus Reviews
■■ National Publicity
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■■ Online Promotions
■■ www.barbaramujica.com
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Photo © Jim Johnson
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BÁRBARA MUJICA is a novelist, short-story writer, critic, and professor
at Georgetown University. Mujica’s novel Sister Teresa, also published by
Overlook, was highly acclaimed. A two-time nominee for the Pushcart
Prize, she has won numerous awards. Her essays have appeared in
The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other newspapers.
FEBRUARY • OVERLOOK
Rober t Edelstein
NASCAR Legends
Memorable Men, Moments, and Machines in
Racing History
NASCAR Legends traces the story of stock car racing through the recordbreaking drivers who made it the number one spectator sport in America.
NASCAR’s 60-year history is rich with varied about heroic racers, incredible
races, and love of family. There profiles of true NASCAR stars: Bill France;
Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.; Richard, Kyle, and Adam Petty, among
other legends of the speedway. TV Guide motorsports reporter Edelstein’s
painstaking journalistic work, combined with his encyclopedic knowledge and
love of the sport, make NASCAR Legends an essential book for anyone drawn
to the magic of the track.
“A fast-paced and rowdy romp that captures the grit and roar of
the track and the outsized personalities and daredevils of America’s
homegrown sport.”—Neal Thompson, author of Driving with the Devil
John Evangelist Walsh
The Night Casey Was Born
NASCAR Legends
978-1-59020-731-4 • U.S. $15.95 / $18.50 CAN.
Sports
5 3/8” x 8” • 320 pages
13 b/w images throughout
Rights: V00
Pub History: Overlook HC, 978-1-59020-184-8
On Sale: 2/28/12
“The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day…”
“Casey at the Bat” is a legendary poem about the crushing defeat of a
small-town baseball hero. For the first time, John Evangelist Walsh gives the
story behind the poem and its young journalist author, as well as its inaugural
performance in 1888 in New York’s Wallack’s Theater. The Night Casey was
Born is a portrait of America in the earliest years of its love affair with baseball.
The Night Casey Was Born
978-1-59020-753-6 • U.S. $15.00 / $17.50 CAN.
Sports / Baseball / History
5 3/8” x 8” • 224 pages
Rights: W00
Pub History: Overlook HC, 978-1-58567-893-8
On Sale: 2/28/12
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“This history of the mighty Casey hits it out of the park.”
—Baltimore Sun
■■ National Publicity
■■ National Review and Feature Attention
■■ Online Promotions
ROBERT EDELSTEIN is the author of Full Throttle and NASCAR Generations.
He is the exclusive motorsports reporter for TV Guide. He lives with his
family in Caldwell, New Jersey.
JOHN EVANGELIST WALSH is the author of biographies on Robert Frost,
Edgar Allan Poe, and John Keats among others. He lives in Monroe,
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Wisconsin.
MARCH • OVERLOOK
The taut, gripping tale of deception in the Camorra, Naples’
deadliest mafia, by the “master of suspense” (The New York Times)
Gerald Seymour
The Collaborator
Immacolata Borelli is an accounting student in London trying to live an ordinary
life. But when her ruthless family back home in Naples throws her hard-earned
stability into chaos, Immacolata decides to collaborate with justice—to betray
her own clan. Together with senior Carabinieri investigator Mario Castrolami,
she unwittingly sets into motion a terrifying and unpredictable series of events.
Gerald Seymour brings to The Collaborator the same irresistibly compelling
storytelling that made his previous books, among them the bestselling Harry’s
Game and The Walking Dead, stunningly gripping and nuanced thrillers. In this
book he has created a heart-stopping plot immersed in the Camorra’s violent
underbelly of crime and double-dealing that extends far beyond Italy’s shores.
978-1-59020-732-1 • U.S. $15.95 / NCR
Fiction
5 3/8” x 8” • 480 pages
Rights: A00
Pub History: Overlook HC, 978-1-59020-446-7
On sale 2/28/12
“Suspense master Seymour dazzles with commanding language and
meticulous detail.” —Entertainment Weekly
“A richly imagined novel that bristles with authenticity… a realistic
portrait of a side of Naples that tourists rarely see.” —Washington Post
■■ Gerald Seymour was featured in the Oscar-winning
film One Night in September
■■ Edgar Award Best Novel nominee for
The Journeyman Tailor
■■ National Publicity
■■ National Review and Feature Attention
ALSO AVAILABLE
THE WALKING DEAD
HARRY’S GAME
978-1-59020-005-6,
978-1-58567-909-6,
$24.95
$14.95
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■■ Online Promotions
GERALD SEYMOUR spent 15 years as an international television news
reporter with ITN, covering Vietnam and the Middle East and specializing
in the subject of terrorism. He is also the author of the acclaimed thriller
Harry’s Game, among many others, six of which have been filmed for
television.
MARCH • OVERLOOK
The epic story of ancient Rome, where human values
are treacherously pitted against the calculating machinations
of an all-powerful tyranny
PAPERBACK
ORIGINAL
Paul Waters
The Philosopher Prince
The sequel to the brave and unflinchingly violent Cast Not the Day, this novel of
friendship and betrayal in battle is Waters’s most gripping work yet.
355 AD: In a late-Roman world of ambitious bureaucrats and power-hungry
courtiers, two young friends of the British nobility, Drusus and Marcellus, have
fallen foul of the emperor’s authority. Charged with treason, the emperor’s dark
and terrifying agent Paulus, they must face the might of the corrupt Roman
state. For Drusus and Marcellus, their only ally is the young prince, Julian. From
one end of the empire to the other, they set themselves against forces that
are determined to crush them. Following the daring and suspenseful plotline
of Cast Not the Day, Paul Waters has once again delivered a humane and fresh
portrayal of Roman intrigue.
978-1-59020-718-5 • U.S. $15.95 / $18.50 CAN.
Fiction
5 3/8” x 8” • 384 pages
Rights: C00
First Serial, Audio, Large Print: Overlook
Agent: Jonathan Pegg at Jonathan Pegg Literary Agency
On Sale: 2/28/12
Praise for the work of Paul Waters:
“A masterpiece that deserves to become one of the classics of
historical fiction.” —Manda Scott, author of the Boudica trilogy
“Mary Renault, Rosemary Sutcliff, William Golding, and classicist Paul
Waters deserve to be mentioned in the same breath…Most powerful
ALSO AVAILABLE
and promising.” —Paul Cartledge, author of Thermopylae
“A gripping read, skillfully evoking a world both exotic and oddly
familiar.” —The Observer (London)
■■ National Publicity
THE REPUBLIC
OF VENGEANCE
978-1-59020-1428$16.00
SUGGESTED ORDER
CAST NOT THE DAY
978-1-59020-473-3
$15.95
■■ National Review and Feature Attention
■■ Online Promotions
■■ www.paul-waters.com
PAUL WATERS’S field at University College London was Classics, and he
has lived and worked in France, Greece, the United States, and Africa.
He is also the author of Overlook’s The Republic of Vengeance and
Cast Not the Day.
MARCH • OVERLOOK
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“Incredibly juicy…with so many affairs and broken hearts,
the most surprising thing is that anything got written in the
last 100 years.” —The New York Times Book Review
Lesley McDowell
Between the Sheets
The Literary Liaisons of Nine 20th Century
Women Writers
Why did a gifted writer like Sylvia Plath stumble into a marriage that drove her
to suicide? Why did Hilda Doolittle want to marry Ezra Pound when she was
attracted to women? Why did Simone de Beauvoir pimp for Jean-Paul Sartre?
The list of the damages done in each of these sexual relationships is long,
but each provokes the same question: would these women have become the
writers they were without these literary relationships?
Incorporating research using diaries, letters, and journals of each woman, Lesley
McDowell examines the extent to which each woman was prepared to put
artistic ambition before personal happiness, and how dependent on their male
writing partners they felt themselves to be. She reveals how in many instances,
978-1-59020-732-1 • U.S. $15.95 / NCR
Fiction
5 3/8” x 8” • 480 pages
Rights: A00
Pub History: Overlook HC, 978-1-59020-238-8
On Sale: 2/28/12
their partnerships liberated unspoken desires, encouraged artistic innovations,
and even shored up literary reputations. Fascinating and insightful, Between the
Sheets is a marvelous read and an invaluable addition to the literature of feminism.
“Laudatory . . . a welcome addition to the lives of writers in love
and lust.” —The New Republic
■■ Between the Sheets will appeal to readers of the
individual women writers covered in the book
as well as those interested biography, feminism, and
■■ National Publicity
literary criticism
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LESLEY MCDOWELL writes for The Times Literary Supplement and the
Independent. She earned a Ph.D. for her work on James Joyce before
turning to literary journalism.
MARCH • OVERLOOK
After eight printings, and at last in paperback—the unsurpassed,
classic collection of samurai tales, laws, and writings
Hiroaki Sato
Legends of the Samurai
Over the decades the reputation of the samurai has grown to mythical
proportions, owing to such films as Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai and
Yojimbo as well as works such as James Clavell’s epic Shogun. In Legends of the
Samurai, Hiroaki Sato confronts both the history and the legend of the samurai,
untangling the two to present an authentic picture of these legendary warriors.
Through his masterful translations of original samurai tales, laws, dicta, reports,
and arguments accompanied by insightful commentary, Sato chronicles the
changing ethos of the Japanese warrior from the samurai’s historical origins to
his rise to political power.
A fascinating look at Japanese history as seen through the evolution of the
978-1-59020-730-7 • U.S. $14.95 / $17.50 CAN.
Martial Arts / History
6” x 9” • 432 pages
8 b/w illustrations throughout, including maps
Rights: V00
Pub History: Overlook HC, 978-0-87951-619-2
On Sale: 2/28/12
samurai, Legends of the Samurai stands as the ultimate authority on its subject.
“A welcome antidote to the one-dimensional image of the samurai…a
revealing, entertaining, and often surprising portrait of pre-modern
Japan’s heroic warrior elite.” —Mangajin
“The value of this work lies in the way it illuminates a non-Western
cultural tradition—a way of thinking and acting that may seem alien. It
offers a rare look into the mindset of Japan’s warrior aristocracy.”
—Library Journal
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HIROAKI SATO is a PEN translation prize winner and past president of
the Haiku Society of America. He also translated The Sword and the Mind
for Overlook.
MARCH • OVERLOOK
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Who Shot the Water Buffalo?
Ken Babbs
■■ Named “Required Reading” by
The New York Post
978-1-59020-733-8 • U.S. $14.95 / $17.50 CAN.
Fiction
5 3/8” x 8” • 320 pages
Rights: C00
Pub History: Overlook HC, 978-1-59020-444-3
On sale 3/27/12
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Publicity
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Review and Feature Attention
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Promotions
102
KEN BABBS graduated from Miami
University in Ohio and attended
Wallace Stegner’s Graduate Writing
Program at Stanford University. Later,
as a Marine Corps Captain, he flew
helicopters in Vietnam. A founding
father of the Merry Pranksters, he
was a collaborator of Ken Kesey’s.
Ken Babbs lives in Dexter, Oregon.
APRIL • OVERLOOK
Photo © Brian Lanker
■■ www.skypilotclub.com
The “hilarious and terrifying” (Robert Stone)
first novel by Ken Babbs, famously a Merry
Prankster and best friend of Ken Kesey
Ken Babbs was the last member of the legendary Stanford “Former U.S. Marine Captain Ken Babbs
writing class led by Wallace Stegner to publish a novel,
and the wait was worth it. Lieutenants Tom Huckelbee
(“leathery as any Texican come crawling out of the sage”)
and Mike Cochran (“loquacious son of an Ohio gangster”)
make an unlikely pair of officers training to be helicopter
was a pilot who climbed from the
SAMissile-killing skies over Vietnam to the
LSDippy hippie highs of Ken Kesey’s Merry
Pranksters . . . and lived. I know, because
I saw him afterward. This book is Babbs,
Part One.” —Tom Wolfe
“A lovely if chilling read, chilling because it
pilots in Vietnam. Their only aim is to get through this
brings home the reality of a tragic war.”
disorienting war without losing their minds. This is a
—Larry McMurtry
bullet-straight story, a hallucinatory journey with a “Who Shot the Water Buffalo? has a
fearlessly unconventional voice. Babbs brilliantly portrays
marvelous antic spirit . . . It is one of
the finest novels to come out of that
the world through the eyes of a young man discovering
catastrophe—perceptive, insightful, brave,
what it means to be beholden to another.
and funny all at once.” This novel, acclaimed as “a cross between Joseph Heller
and Hunter S. Thompson” (Booklist), is a riveting and very
funny exploration of war and friendship, and a book not
—Robert Stone
“An impeccable, humorous heirloom,
a shock of napalm that smells like . . .
victory.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
to be missed.
I’m all shot up, Doc…it was a trap…no one expected a heavy machine gun…we headed for
it like filings to a magnet…I came into the zone hard, dropped the chopper to let the ARVNs
out and everything went to shit…the windshield blew apart…my shoulder was all torn up,
a real mess, Doc…there’s a curse on that shoulder…the same exact one I fucked up in flight
school…there I was, tooling along on my Lambretta motor scooter cheerfully whistling the
Marine Corps Hymn, headed for my early-morning celestial navigation class…learn to steer
by the stars…
SUGGESTED ORDER
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APRIL • OVERLOOK
The transcendent last novel by the world-renowned
author of The Last of the Just—“an outstanding achievement”
(Sunday Telegraph)
André Schwarz-Bar t
Translated from the French by
Julie Rose
The Morning Star
The Last of the Just made André Schwarz-Bart famous for a novel that
triumphantly defied traditional views of fiction. Four years after the author’s
death, his widow, Simone, rescued The Morning Star from his papers. This novel
is the last word of a writer with a masterful and poignant sense of the past,
present, and future. The story begins in the year 3000 and travels backward
through the years to relive the history of one child’s family: back to a Polish
village and a mysterious massacre. Blending fact, religion, mysticism, and folklore
with the author’s personal connection to the Holocaust, The Morning Star is
“a delicate, necessary portrait” (Booklist), both a vitally engrossing tale and a
powerful recognition of the dark forces of history.
Praise for the work of André Schwarz-Bart:
978-1-59020-734-5 • U.S. $14.95 / $17.50 CAN.
Fiction / Literature
5 3/8” x 8” • 192 pages
Rights: C00
Pub History: Overlook HC, 978-1-59020-389-7
On Sale: 3/27/12
“The Last of the Just transcends the definition of fiction. It is part
history, part vision, forged into a single echoing terrifying outcry, at
once lush and sardonic, full of color and heartbreaking richness.”
—The New York Times
“The conflict over the ethics of aestheticizing horror is as old as
genocide itself, but Schwarz-Bart has come up with a unique literary
solution.…What finally emerges from Schwarz-Bart’s book is a
celebration of life in all its transience.” —Jewish Review of Books
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THE LAST OF THE JUST
978-1-58567-016-1, $15.95
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104
ANDRÉ SCHWARZ-BART (1928-2006) won the Goncourt Prize for The
Last of the Just, a New York Times bestseller upon first publication, now in
its sixth printing with Overlook. He was born in France. His parents were
arrested in a Nazi roundup, and he served with the French Resistance.
APRIL • OVERLOOK
The classic meditation on the pleasures and wonder of fishing—
and a marvelous gift book
Chris Yates
How to Fish
An Angler’s Meditation
Chris Yates discovered the joys of fishing early in life and was quickly hooked
by its pleasure. Many years later, he is still content to sit, day after day, observing
the quirks of different fish and losing track of time. For him, fishing is much more
than just a question of technique; sometimes it’s about listening to nothing but
your instincts, and at other times it’s about enjoying yourself in the moment.
And it’s always about not knowing how the day is going to unfold.
There’s no better guide for the uninitiated—and no better companion for
those already familiar with the satisfactions of fishing—than Chris Yates. From
casting and reeling to whiling away the hours, How to Fish is a gem of a book
that gets to the heart of the passion for angling: there’s more to fishing than
catching fish.
978-1-59020-158-9 • U.S. $14.00 / $16.50 CAN.
Fishing
5” x 7” • 256 pages
23 b/w illustrations
Rights: E00
Pub History: Overlook HC, 978-1-59020-003-2
On Sale: 3/27/12
“A beautiful meditation on existence that would make Thoreau or…
Izaak Walton proud…He captures the wonder, and humor, of the
—Los Angeles Times
natural world.”
“This insightful, whimsical, poetical, practical memoir and how-to
guide will delight anyone who has ever fished.”
—Spirituality and Health
■■ The perfect Father’s Day or graduation gift
■■ National Publicity
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Photo © Andrew Van Hoffelin
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CHRIS YATES is a photographer, an author, the founder of Waterlog
magazine, and first and foremost a fisherman. For years he was the angling
correspondent for the Financial Times. He was first inspired to write
about fishing by the discovery of a monster carp in his village pond when 105
he was five.
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The spellbinding story of a gladiator’s heroic fight for freedom,
and of a harrowing journey on the Spartacus Road
Peter Stothard
The Spartacus Road
A Personal Journey Through Ancient Italy
The name of Spartacus resounds through history. In the final century of the
first Roman Republic an army of slaves led by Spartacus rose up in Italy. Its
success was something no one before had ever known. The Spartacus Road
is the route along which this rebel army outfought the world’s finest military
forces between 73 and 71 BC, bringing both fears and hopes that have never
wholly left the modern mind.
Sweepingly erudite and strikingly personal, The Spartacus Road is a book like
none other—at once a journalist’s notebook, a reflection on life’s fragility,
including the author’s own fight against cancer, and a classicist’s celebration.
As he travels along the Spartacus Road and into the classical Italian landscape,
Stothard breathes new life into a singular war in antiquity, recounting one of
978-1-59020-578-5 • U.S. $17.00 / NCR
History / Memoir
5 3/8” x 8” • 368 pages
72 b/w images throughout
Rights: A00
Pub History: Overlook HC, 978-1-59020-323-1
On Sale: 3/27/12
the greatest stories of the ages.
“You can almost picture those Roman soldiers and those slaves with
their swords and shields. You can see that wave upon wave of soldiers
attacking.” —NPR’s All Things Considered
“Mr. Stothard’s engaging book reminds us that, for all the secrets the
story of Spartacus refuses to give up, it still leads us back to the heart
of things.” —Wall Street Journal
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106
PETER STOTHARD is the Editor-in-Chief of the Times Literary Supplement.
He was editor of the Times for ten years and writes on modern politics
and ancient literature. His previous book, 30 Days: A Month at the Heart of
Blair’s War, is a diary of his time observing the direction of the 2003 conflict
in Iraq.
APRIL • OVERLOOK
Dramatic and moving, the latest novel by Salem historian
Frances Hill makes the witch hunts terrifyingly vivid
Frances Hill
Deliverance from Evil
A Novel of the Salem Witch Trials
In an era of uncertain survival in the New World, the Devil himself was
believed to prey on society—and his witches could be convicted by mere
children. Deliverance from Evil brings to life the Salem witch trials, one of the
most uncanny times in our nation’s history. Young girls in trances pointed out
neighbors, leaders, relatives—over 150 people were arrested, with many
hanged for their supposed sins. Frances Hill, author of A Delusion of Satan,
brings her deep historical and political understanding together with her honed
skills as a novelist to produce a picture of the trials both realistic and emotional.
She has written an extraordinary and gripping novel of hysteria, power plays,
faith, and love in colonial America.
Praise for the work of Frances Hill:
978-1-59020-728-4 • U.S. $14.95 / $17.50 CAN.
Fiction
5 3/8” x 8” • 320 pages
Rights: V00
Pub History: Overlook HC, 978-1-59020-470-2
On Sale: 3/27/12
“Vivid description gives the feeling that the Salem witch hunt
—Los Angeles Times
happened five minutes ago.”
“Dramatic…[Hill] fleshes out the gaunt records.” —John Updike, The New Yorker
“Re-imagines the superstition and hysteria surrounding the 17thcentury Salem witch trials in novelistic form.” ■■ Frances Hill is a leading expert of the Salem
witch trials
—USA Today
■■ National Publicity
■■ The Salem witch trials have an enduring appeal
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to readers
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Photo © courtesy of the author
■■ Author Events in Salem
■■ www.franceshill.net
FRANCES HILL is an historian, novelist, and journalist whose previous books
include A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials, The Salem
Witch Trials Reader, Hunting for Witches: A Visitor’s Guide to the Salem Witch 107
Trials, and Such Men Are Dangerous: The Fanatics of 1692 and 2004.
APRIL • OVERLOOK
Historic sea battles and shifting naval powers in the modern era
Peter Padfield
Maritime Dominion and the
Triumph of the Free World
Naval Campaigns that Shaped the Modern World
The Battle of Midway. Pearl Harbor. Tsushima. The Dardanelles. The twentieth
century saw some of the most devastating and world-changing sea battles ever
known. Empires fell, new governments arose, and day-to-day life was changed
forever. In Maritime Dominion, Peter Padfield examines the terrible wars of the
last century, reaching controversial and sometimes startling conclusions.
Beginning in the nineteenth century when Great Britain ruled the waves,
Padfield looks at the motives of her statesmen and the effects of her world
dominion. The First World War saw Britain’s strength fall, and during the
Second World War the United States succeeded as the supreme maritime
nation, subsequently defeating the Soviet empire in the Cold War. With the
978-1-59020-754-3 • U.S. $18.95 / NCR
History / Military
6” x 9” • 384 pages
41 b/w illustrations and photos
Rights: N00
Pub History: Overlook HC, 978-1-59020-332-3
On Sale: 3/27/12
ALSO AVAILABLE
rise of missile technology, Padfield demonstrates how important maritime
strength remained for the security and stability of the western world. Maritime
Dominion richly illustrates the importance of naval primacy over the past 150
years and brings to life the sea battles that changed modern history.
“Ambitious, hugely enjoyable…this lucid, passionately argued and
beautifully written history ranks among the finest of recent times.” —Sunday Times
“The best naval historian of his generation.”
—John Keegan, author of A History of Warfare
■■ National Publicity
MARITIME SUPREMACY
978-1-58567-151-9,
$17.95
MARITIME POWER
978-1-58567-748-1,
$17.95
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108
PETER PADFIELD is widely considered the leading naval historian of our
time. The Maritime trilogy includes Maritime Power and Maritime Supremacy,
both published by Overlook. His work as a naval historian received the
Mountbatten Maritime Prize.
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