WAXMAN LEAVELL LITERARY AGENCY RIGHTS LIST SPRING 2016

443 Park Avenue South Suite 1004 New York, NY 10016
Telephone (212) 675 5556
www.waxmanleavell.com
WAXMAN LEAVELL LITERARY AGENCY RIGHTS LIST
SPRING 2016
Scott Waxman: [email protected]
Byrd Leavell: [email protected]
Rachel Vogel: [email protected]
Larry Kirshbaum: [email protected]
Julie Stevenson: [email protected]
Cassie Hanjian: [email protected]
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GENERAL NONFICTION & MEMOIR
Lizzie Velasquez
A CULTURE OF KINDNESS (Hachette Books)
NA: Hachette Books, UK: Piatkus, ANZ: Affirm, Translation: WLLA (France/Denoël, World Spanish/Planeta,
Portugal/LeYa)
Proposal available, manuscript due May 2016, publishing Spring 2017
Because of a very rare genetic condition, 26-year-old Lizzie Velasquez has dealt with harassment about her appearance for most
of her life. In 2007, the rise of social media led to her most public and humiliating experience: a then 17-year-old Lizzie came
across a YouTube video of herself entitled "World's Ugliest Woman." While that would have been enough to knock down even
the most resilient individual, Lizzie started utilizing the very medium that spawned this hatred to fight back and spread positivity
and compassion instead. These qualities—her trademark humor, her down-to-earth attitude, and her raw vulnerability—have to
date drawn 34 million unique viewers and half a million subscribers to Lizzie’s YouTube channel.
Written by one of cyber-bullying’s most prominent victims, A CULTURE OF KINDNESS is not simply a guide to overcoming
bullying; it is the start of an important conversation about this pervasive cultural problem. As she shares her personal story,
Velasquez provides the reader with the practical solutions that have worked for her over a lifetime of bullying while offering up
insights on how we can transform society into a kinder, more accepting place. With advice on the subjects of confidence,
kindness, and self-worth, this book will be an invaluable resource for parents of modern adolescents, Millennials still recovering
from the after-effects of the earliest cyber-bullying, and anyone who wants to make a real, positive difference.
A more intimate and practical complement to Emily Bazelon’s Sticks and Stones and Rosalind Wiseman’s Queen Bees & Wannabes,
A CULTURE OF KINDNESS will be the go-to book on bullying by someone who has dealt with – and overcome – the
problem personally. US AGENT: Cassie Hanjian
Caroline Calloway
AND WE WERE LIKE (Flatiron)
NA: Flatiron, UK: Michael Joseph, Translation: WLLA (France/Hugo & Cie)
Proposal available, manuscript due Sept. 2016, publishing April 2017
Much of the press that has covered Caroline’s Instagram account invariably has a paragraph along the lines of this Bustle article:
"Caroline Calloway is inventing the Instagram memoir. Through a series of photos and long descriptions depicting her (pretty
glamorous) life as a student at Cambridge University, Calloway has totally changed the way a social media site like Instagram is
used."
Or this one from HelloGiggles: “It’s a brilliant concept: rather than posting real-time updates as they happen, Caroline’s been
structuring her Instagram posts about a year behind her real-life happenings — making each photo a true fragment of the
memoir she’s in the process of working on... The result is an utterly vibrant narrative."
Like Lena Dunham or Sloane Crosley transplanted to the UK, Calloway writes with equal parts wry humor and starry-eyed
wonder, taking a Humans of New York-sensibility to old world Europe.
AND WE WERE LIKE moves from New York to Venice to Cambridge to tell a story full of romance and wonder. The book
has heart and humor and literary merit that hits you instantly. US AGENT: Byrd Leavell
Joanne Ruthsatz, Ph.D. and Kimberly Stephens, J.D.
THE PRODIGY’S COUSIN: The Family Link Between Autism and Extraordinary
Talent (Current)
NA: Current, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
Manuscript available, publishing March 2016
It started with a hunch. Child prodigies have long been a mystery, but, in 1998, psychology
professor Joanne Ruthsatz had a chance encounter with a prodigy's autistic cousin and
wondered: Could autism be the secret to the prodigy's stunning--almost unbelievable-musical accomplishments? That question led Joanne to investigate more than thirty child
prodigies. Their stories border on the fantastic: a two-year-old who loved to spell words like
"algorithm" and "confederation"; an eight-year-old whose paintings sold for tens of
thousands of dollars; a typical 13-year-old who hit his head and woke up a music prodigy.
There were signs of autism almost everywhere. Some had autistic family members; two of
the prodigies had autism but "grew out" of it. The prodigies all had extraordinary memories
and a keen eye for detail--unsung strengths associated with autism. Recently, Joanne and her
team discovered a genetic link between prodigy and autism--confirmation of her long-held
hunch and an important piece of the puzzle. Her next step is to identify what differentiates
the two. The prodigies, intriguingly, possess only the strengths associated with autism--what
protects them from its deficits? Ruthsatz and reporter Kimberly Stephens take us from the
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mystery of prodigy to the cutting-edge of genetics research where scientists are focused not
on those who are sick, but on those who are healthy. Stephens and Ruthsatz challenge our
understanding of what makes exceptional talent possible, and explore whether a longawaited breakthrough in autism treatment may come from an unexpected direction. US
AGENT: Rachel Vogel
Reed Tucker
SLUGFEST: Inside the Epic, 50-year Battle between Marvel and DC.
NA: Da Capo, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
Proposal Available, Manuscript due Feb 2017, Publishing Fall 2017
This is the never-told story of the greatest corporate rivalry of all time. In the now billion-dollar superhero game, Marvel and DC
are the only players. Others have revealed elements of their battle for supremacy, but, packed with new and revealing stories,
SLUGFEST is the first to put it all together one narrative.
Slugfest combines primary-source reporting with in-depth research to create a more fun Barbarians at the Gate for the comic book
industry. Reed interviews the major names in the industry (such as Stan Lee, former Marvel editor-in-chief, historian Roy
Thomas, Marvel and DC writer Gerry Conway, and superstar artist Rob Liefeld) in addition to dozens of role players from the
two companies.
Beyond their immense success at the box office, October 2014 marked the biggest single sales month for print comics in 17
years. Identifying as either a Marvel or a DC reader is integral to comic fandom. SLUGFEST plays to this perfectly, the ideal
book to capture the audiences who now are accustomed to going to see comic book super heroes at the movies every weekend.
The back story of these two companies only grows more relevant to a larger group of people with each new blockbuster. Did
you see the latest Batman movie? Excited about the new Avengers? Well then you are going to love this book.
Reed Tucker is an entertainment reporter at the New York Post, covering movies and pop culture. His work has appeared in
Esquire, USA Today and on the most popular sites covering the comic book industry. US AGENT: Byrd Leavell
Jay Chandrasekhar
MUSTACHE SHENANIGANS (Dutton)
NA: Dutton, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
Proposal Available, Manuscript Due June 2016, Pub. Fall 2016
Before his breakout success in SUPER TROOPERS and before he directed blockbuster Hollywood films like DUKES OF
HAZARD and BEERFEST, Jay Chandrasekhar grew up in the lily-white suburbs of Chicago. Chandrasekhar went to college
and formed the Broken Lizard comedy troupe with his friends there. They went on to make the indie sensation PUDDLE
CRUISER and then broke through with the infamous SUPER TROOPERS (which Chandrasekhar wrote, directed, and starred
in). As per his IMDB page, Chandrasekhar is staying extremely busy to this day. He has also, it must be said, been the first
Indian man to do all sorts of things along the way.
MUSTACHE SHENANIGANS will be a collection of really funny and really honest stories from Chandrasekhar’s life including
his teenage years coming up in the comedy scene in Chicago, doing acid and cocaine with Chris Farley, getting impossibly high
with Willie Nelson, knock-down-drag-out fights with Burt Reynolds, and his experiences working on some of the most popular
shows on television. Hollywood plays a central role, but through it all will be stories that address the racism he ran into, in all
forms, every step of the way.
All in all, Chandrasekhar offers a funny, insightful view into the film industry both in the US and abroad. US AGENT: Byrd
Leavell
Pastor David Stine
MAKING CONTACT: The Practical Science of Hearing from God and Knowing His Will for Your Life (Howard)
NA: Howard Books/S&S, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
Manuscript available, Pub. Nov. 2016
In his role as Lead Pastor at DC Metro Church, Dr. David Stine has heard a common refrain over the past 8 years: “How do
you make contact with God and hear His voice in your daily life?” At the core of this question is the desire for an assurance that
God exists and is somehow interested in our lives—even if the answer we receive is only a faint whisper. In Contact, Dr. David
Stine lays out his plan for connecting with God and regularly hearing His voice – clearly and consistently. Written from the heart
of a pastor with an investigative spirit, Dr. Stine presents the six-step process he developed based on the scientific method to
help Christians grow in their ability to listen more attentively and, ultimately, hear from God.
Sharing personal stories from his own life and delineating the practical applications of each lesson, Dr. Stine illustrates how to
scientifically test and verify the messages we believe we’re hearing from God and teaches the reader how to authentically observe
His voice. The accompanying devotional workbook, The Experiment, takes the Contact message one step further and leads the
reader through a 40-day commitment to spend time with God, providing curated Bible passages, questions for reflection, ideas
for personal worship, and plenty of space for two-way journaling. A scripturally-based yet scientifically-supported plan to deepen
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your relationship with God, Contact fills the void in the marketplace for practical Christian nonfiction on how to directly
connect to our Creator.
Dr. David Stine is the founder and Lead Pastor at DC Metro Church, a multi-cultural non-denominational church in the DC
area. Established in September 2007, DC Metro Church now has 5,000 regular attendees and three separate campuses.
A practical and practicable guide that will appeal to the same readers that launched Joel Osteen’s prolific career and made Sarah
Young’s Jesus Calling a record-breaking bestseller, Contact presents the opportunity to publish one of the strongest emerging
voices in the Christian community. US AGENT: Cassie Hanjian
John Maclean, with Mark Tabb
HOW FAR CAN YOU GO?: The 25-Year Journey of an Elite Wheelchair Athlete Who Learned to Walk Again
NA: Hachette Books, ANZ: Simon & Schuster, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA (Russia/Populi)
Proposal is available, MS due September 2015, publishing March 2016
Twenty-five years ago, John, a native Australian, was hit by a truck while he was training for the Nepean Triathlon. Though left
with at most 25% function in his left leg, none in his right, and excruciating hypersensitivity in both legs, he insisted that he’d be
able to walk again. But after two years of intense therapy, it was obvious that his wheelchair would be his constant companion. So
he proceeded to make the most of what his body could do. Breaking record after record, he became one of the most accomplished
wheelchair athletes in the world: He was the first paraplegic to swim the English Channel and the first athlete ever to both
complete the Hawaii Ironman and swim the Channel. He competed in the first Olympic wheelchair race in Sydney in 2000, and in
two Paralympic Games in two completely different disciplines, winning silver in 2008. Through all of this, he never let go of the
idea that he would be able to walk one day.
And then, astoundingly, he did. Simply put, John has become the first medically defined paraplegic to ever walk again unassisted.
Through a therapy called tremor methodology, John is able to work his muscles through intense focus and determination. For
most people, being able to carry their child down the street would have been enough. But for John, the next question is “how far
can I go?” HOW FAR CAN YOU GO delves into not just the physical aspects of John’s journey, but the psychological ones:
what it means to no longer be a “wheelie,” yet still be severely disabled; what it feels like to walk on the beach for the first time and
hold his wife’s hand; and ultimately, what it means to push through the impossible.
John Maclean is the author of two previous books, Sucking The Marrow Out of Life and Full Circle. Mark Tabb has authored/coauthored twenty-six books, including Running For My Life, with former Lost Boy of Sudan and U.S Olympian Lopez Lomong.
US AGENT: Rachel Vogel
Deborah
Deborah Davis
THE TRIP: Andy Warhol’s Plastic Fantastic Cross-Country Adventure (Atria)
NA; Atria, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA (China/Guangxi Normal, Dutch/Meulenhoff,
France/Editions Rivage; Taiwan/Business Weekly)
MS is available, published July 2015
In 1963, the pop art king Andy Warhol took a road trip from New York to LA through a country in the
midst of dramatic cultural change and as an artist on the brink of stardom. Through this episode we
witness many of the things that made him an icon in an era like no other. This was his first time in LA
and he was welcomed like a hero by its art scene, by people like Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda, Marcel
Duchamp, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and other luminaries from the worlds of
movies and art. He blended in perfectly and solidified his image as a visionary for a time in which
people began to look at art in an entirely different way.
This is narrative non-fiction at its best: an overlooked historical moment, major figures, unlimited
storylines, engaging, enlightening, and enjoyable to read. Deborah Davis is the author of six narrative
non-fiction books, including Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X (Tarcher/Putnam,
2003). She has also written for the New York Times and the Washington Post. US AGENT: Scott
Waxman
STRAPLESS was licensed to: UK: Sutton, Korea: Maronie Books, Poland: Twoj Styl
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John LeFevre
STRAIGHT TO HELL: True Tales of Deviance, Debauchery, and Billion-Dollar Deals
(Grove/Atlantic)
NA & UK: Grove/Atlantic, Translation: WLLA (China/Citic, Poland/Bukowy Las,
Taiwan/Briefing Press, Germany/Finanzbuch, Spain/Planeta)
Manuscript available, publishing July 2015
**New York Times Bestseller**
From the infamous Twitter account, true stories from the wild world of international finance:
Over the past three years, the notorious @GSElevator Twitter feed has offered a hilarious,
shamelessly voyeuristic look into the real world of international finance. Hundreds of thousands
followed the account, Goldman Sachs launched an internal investigation, and when the true identity of
the man behind it all was revealed, it created a national media sensation—but that’s only part of the
story. Where @GSElevator captured the essence of the banking elite with curated jokes and
submissions overheard by readers, STRAIGHT TO HELL adds John LeFevre’s own story—an
unapologetic and darkly funny account of a career as a globe-conquering investment banker spanning
New York, London, and Hong Kong. This book pulls back the curtain on a world that is both hated
and envied, taking readers from trading floors and roadshows to private planes and after-hours
overindulgence. Full of shocking lawlessness and win-at-all-costs antics, this is the definitive take on
the deviant, dysfunctional, and absolutely excessive world of finance. JOHN LEFEVRE has enjoyed a
distinguished career in international finance. He joined Salomon Brothers immediately out of college
and worked for Citigroup in New York, London, and Hong Kong. In 2010 he was hired by Goldman
Sachs to be its head of Asia Debt Syndicate, a position that eventually he did not take due to a
contractual issue. US AGENT: Byrd Leavell
Dr. Charlotte Peterson
THE MINDFUL PARENT: Strategies from Peaceful Cultures to Raise Compassionate, Well-Balanced Kids (Skyhorse)
NA: Skyhorse, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA (Korea/ Ulysses)
Manuscript available, publishing November 2015
The first parenting book that integrates practices from peaceful cultures and countries that have strong commitments to peace.
For the last 35 years, Dr. Charlotte Peterson has spent six months at a time living in 60-plus countries, with a focus on cultures
that are deemed truly peaceful: Bhutan, Tibet, Bali, and the Aztecan, Incan and Mayan people, among others. There, Peterson has
seen that children are strikingly different from Western children. “The terrible twos” is not a term in these places, and teenagers
are never withdrawn. Rather, Peterson has observed that infants and children cry less, boys are markedly less hyperactive and
aggressive, and older children are regularly seen caring for younger ones. On the world stage, these countries are without a doubt
models of peace and prosperity: the Dalai Lama hails from the Tibetan culture, and Bhutan’s former King Jigme Singye
Wangchuck introduced the concept of “gross national happiness.” THE MINDFUL PARENT gathers together Peterson’s own
research as a psychologist while living in these places—as well as in Japan, Thailand, Nepal, Fiji and elsewhere—and introduces a
childrearing practice called Mindful Parenting, which is based on these cultures’ prevailing belief that all children have a desire to
be cooperative. Using various cultural rituals from pre-conception to coming-of-age as the foundation of her argument, THE
MINDFUL PARENT lays out the importance of attachment, relational parenting, and ‘listening inside,’ which encourages your
child to become emotionally self-aware. Having revisited the places that best exemplify these practices and observing how these
children grow into adults, Peterson guarantees that following these techniques—which she’s made achievable for a modern
Western family—will result in kind and happy children. Charlotte Peterson, Ph.D. has been a psychologist in private practice for
over 34 years. US AGENT: Rachel Vogel
Cat Marnell
HOW TO MURDER YOUR LIFE (S&S)
NA: S&S, UK: Ebury, Translation: WLLA (Brazil/Planeta, Finland/Gummerus, Germany/Rowohlt, Holland/Atlas Contact, Italy/Mondadori,
Sweden/Norstedt)
Proposal is available, MS due March 2016, publishing March 2017
Cat Marnell is beautiful, frighteningly self-destructive, and an extraordinary writer. Her remarkably candid writing has captivated
readers and writers alike. Journalists have all found their own colorful ways to describe her: "arguably the Internet’s most divisive
writer," “a gifted memoirist,” “New York's enfant terrible,” “angel dust aficionado,” “the site's most read and most commented-on
writer,” “Internet anti-hero,” “amphetamine-addicted and uncomfortably honest former beauty writer,” or simply “fascinating and
a little bit scary.” Most of the longer profiles follow the same script that much of her memoir HOW TO MURDER YOUR LIFE
will cover: her childhood in DC with her psychiatrist and psychotherapist parents, boarding school, the ADD and ADHD
medication she’s been hooked on since she was 15, her time at Condé Nast, her meteoric rise to fame as xojane's beauty editor, her
honesty about her drug use, the comment sections below her posts that often approach 1,000 responses, her move to Vice, and
her continuing life as a rules-breaking poet of the 21st century demimonde. HOW TO MURDER YOUR LIFE has the rare
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alchemy of ingredients to become a book that people later use as a demarcation point for the form. Cat is committed to creating
something that validates the comparisons that are made between Brett Easton Ellis, Charles Bukowski, and Jim Carroll. But her
own description of her book is much more fun: "I used to say ‘Devil Wears Prada’ meets ‘Basketball Diaries,’ but now I think
‘Bergdorf Blondes’ on PCP is much more accurate—with a touch of ‘American Psycho.’” US AGENT: Byrd Leavell
Mike Duncan
THE STORM BEFORE THE STORM: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic (Public Affairs)
NA + UK: Public Affairs, Translation: WLLA (Korea/Gyoyuseoga)
Proposal Available, MS due Winter 2016, publishing Summer 2017
Mike Duncan, whose History of Rome series of Podcasts has been downloaded more than 56 million times, gives us the first modern deep-dive
into Rome during the years 135-80 BC. The inspiration and raison d’être for the book came about through his fans, who constantly asked
Duncan, Where do we currently stand on the historical timeline in comparison to Ancient Rome? The answer is the period before the rise of
Julius Caesar. It was a time, in Duncan’s words, of rising economic inequality, increasing political polarization, the privatization of the military,
endemic social and ethnic prejudice, ongoing military quagmires, and the ruthless ambition and the unwillingness of elites to do anything to
reform the system in time to save it. Given these uncanny similarities, it’s remarkable that a lively narrative of this period hasn’t been written
about since the 1800s.
Written in Duncan’s signature wry and accessible voice, THE STORM BEFORE THE STORM takes us through the populist era led by the
Gracchi Brothers to the non-aristocratic rise of Gaius Marius up to his confrontation with his arch nemesis, the conservative Lucius Cornelius
Sulla. Sulla, the first Roman to be made ‘dictator for life’ paved the way for Caesar and the fall of the Republic. Through it all, the age-old
lesson is underscored: those who don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it.
Mike Duncan is one of the foremost podcasters in the world. The History of Rome series ended in 2012, yet it remains one of the most popular
podcasts on the Internet and can still be found now and again in the top 100 podcasts on iTunes. His current series, Revolutions has so far
generated 12 million downloads and his informative cartoons, in partnership with illustrator Jason Novack, have been featured in The New
Yorker, The Paris Review, The Awl, and The Morning News. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife and two kids. US AGENT: Rachel Vogel
Adam Skolnick
ONE BREATH
NA: Crown, UK: Corsair/Little,Brown, ANZ: Penguin Australia, Translation:
WLLA (China/Post Wave, Czech/Jota, Poland/Znak)
Manuscript available, publishing January 2016
"This is a powerful story about a dangerous, beautiful sport and an unforgettable young
man. Skolnick tells his tale with passion and affection for his subject, but also with an
admirable journalistic integrity. In the process, he takes us to distant worlds --underwater universes most of us will never know --- where humans are challenged to the
utmost limits of being." – Elizabeth Gilbert, author of EAT, PRAY, LOVE
Part INTO THE WILD, part SHADOW DIVERS, ONE BREATH reveals the world
of daredevil free divers addicted to the buzz that comes from tempting their own fate,
and diving as deep as they can on a single breath. These competitors walk a thin line,
which became devastatingly apparent in 2013 when rising star Nicholas Mevoli was
pronounced dead after an attempt to break his own personal best and achieve a second
American record. Adam Skolnick was present that day, covering the competition for the
New York Times, and ONE BREATH begins with the story of Nicholas Mevoli’s last
dive. Part season in a bottle, part historical and scientific exploration, Skolnick will take
readers from sponge divers in Ancient Greece into the 20th century, where scientific
perceptions have shifted over the course of the last five decades as divers continue to
find ways to defy what medical science deems impossible. He will visit with the best
divers in the world and watch them train and compete at home and abroad in places like
the Bahamas, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Honduras, Hawaii,
and New York City. What emerges is a story filled with quirky characters, evocative
history, unsolved mysteries of science, and determined athletes competing for a world
title. It will take the reader to some of the most beautiful places on earth and down into
the depth of the sea where there exists a poetry and beauty few will ever experience.
ADAM SKOLNICK has written for the New York Times, Outside, ESPN.com,
BBC.com, Salon.com, Men’s Health, Wired, and Travel + Leisure, among others. His
coverage of Nicholas Mevoli’s death at Vertical Blue earned two APSE awards. US
AGENT: Byrd Leavell
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Mishka Shubaly
I SWEAR I’LL MAKE IT UP TO YOU (PublicAffairs)
NA + UK: PublicAffairs, Translation: WLLA
MS available, published March 2016
“There’s no storyteller like Mishka Shubaly—hardcore on every emotional level, he scares the bejeezus out of me, especially when
he’s cracking me up. I Swear I’ll Make It Up To You is a brilliantly toxic confession awash in booze, bodily fluids, and the shock of
accidentally turning into a human being, against your will.”—Rob Sheffield, author of Love Is a Mix Tape
Somewhere between Augusten Burroughs’s Dry and Christopher McDougall’s epic success Born to Run, Mishka Shubaly’s first
book-length memoir is an odyssey of family, heartbreak, violence, punk rock, brokenness, broke-ness, sex, love, loss, drinking,
drinking, drinking, and an unlikely savior: distance running.
A misfit kid at the best of times, Mishka Shubaly had his world shattered when, in a twenty-four-hour span in 1992, he survived a
mass shooting on his school’s campus, then learned that his parents were getting divorced. His father, a prominent rocket scientist,
abandoned the family and their home was lost to foreclosure. Shubaly swore to avenge the wrongs against his mother, but instead
plunged into a magnificently toxic love affair with alcohol.
Almost two decades later, Shubaly’s life changed again when a fateful five-mile run after a bar fight inspired him to clean up his
life. And when he finally reconnected with his estranged father, he discovered the story of his childhood was radically different
from what he thought he knew.
In this fiercely honest, emotional, and self-laceratingly witty book, Shubaly relives his mistakes, misfortunes, and infrequent good
decisions: the disastrous events that fractured his life; his incendiary romances; his hot-and-cold career as a rock musician; meeting
his newborn nephew while out of his gourd on cough syrup. I Swear I’ll Make It Up to You is an apology for choices Shubaly
never thought he’d live long enough to regret, a journey so far down the low road that it took him years of running to claw his way
back. US AGENT: Byrd Leavell
Shane Ryan
SLAYING THE TIGER: A Year Inside the Ropes on the New PGA Tour (Ballantine)
NA: Ballantine, UK: Aurum Press, Translation: WLLA (France/Editions Elivest)
Manuscript available, published June 2015
***New York Times Bestseller***
Shane Ryan is the perfect herald for golf's new age. In SLAYING THE TIGER, he embeds himself for a season on the PGA
Tour, where he finds the game far removed from the genteel rhythms of yesteryear. Instead, he discovers a group of mercurial
talents driven to greatness by their fear of failure and their relentless perfectionism. From Augusta to Scotland, with an irreverent
and energetic voice, Ryan documents every transcendent moment, every press tent tirade, and every controversy that made the
2014 Tour one of the most exciting and unpredictable in recent memory.
Here are indelibly drawn profiles of the game’s young guns: Rory McIlroy, the Northern Irish ace who stepped forward as the
game’s next superstar; Patrick Reed, a brash, boastful competitor with a warrior’s mentality; Dustin Johnson, the brilliant natural
talent whose private habits sabotage his potential; and Jason Day, a resilient Aussie whose hardscrabble beginnings make him the
Tour’s ultimate longshot. Here also is the bumptious Bubba Watson, a devout Christian known for his unsportsmanlike outbursts
on the golf course; Keegan Bradley, a flinty New Englander who plays with a colossal chip on his shoulder; 21-year-old Jordan
Spieth, a preternaturally mature Texan carrying the hopes of the golf establishment; and Rickie Fowler, the humble California kid
striving to make his golf speak louder than his bright orange clothes.
Golf may be slow to change, but in 2014, the wheels were turning at a feverish pace. SLAYING THE TIGER offers a dynamic
snapshot of a rapidly evolving sport. US AGENT: Byrd Leavell
Robert Evans
A BRIEF HISTORY OF VICE (Plume)
NA: Plume, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
Proposal available, MS available, publishing Spring 2016
Robert Evans was a struggling freelancer when he convinced the editors at Cracked.com to let him start interviewing people with
unique lives and crazy jobs. After the articles began generating a huge response, he started weaving in his personal experiences, and
they quickly became Cracked’s most popular content. In the last year, his articles have racked up more than 64 million views—64
million. He gets an average of five or six million views a month. Over the course of his career his articles have been read more than
141 million times.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF VICE is going to build on the most popular articles that have driven this huge response. It is going to be
the first thorough, readable, funny history of human vice and debauchery, complete with guides so the reader can experience that
history personally. Readers won’t just learn about the beer that destroyed South America’s first empire; they’ll learn how to make
it. Coffee and its Islamic origins…Ephedra and Mormons…Psilocybin mushrooms and the birth of religion…music and
Stonehenge…through each subject Evans will connect the dots in continuously enjoyable and entertaining ways. US AGENT:
Byrd Leavell
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Abigail Tucker
THE LION IN THE LIVING ROOM: How Housecats Tamed Us and Took
Over the World (S&S)
NA & UK: S&S, Translation: WLLA (Japan/Intershift, Spain/Esfera)
Manuscript available, publishing October 2016
Tucker, an award-winning science writer on staff at Smithsonian, investigates how house
cats and human civilization shaped, and continue to shape, each other. She addresses the
downfall of the great cats that hunted humans as food for much of prehistory, theories
of the origin of cat domestication and Egypt's famous cat culture, including the cat
mummies which scientists continue to use for genetic studies. Chapters will cover health
and disease, from how cats helped save humans from the Black Death to modern work
on toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease spread by cats that some researchers now think is
responsible for conditions like schizophrenia. The book will address ecological issues:
house cats are a devastatingly invasive species, responsible for some 14 percent of all
modern bird and mammal extinctions. It will discuss the psychology of cat ownership -why some people prefer cats to dogs and vice versa, which countries love cats and why
others don't, how culture and gender affects our fondness for cats (or lack thereof), and
more. It will discuss modern cat breeders (some of whom have a Frankenstein-like
quality), modern cat skeptics (including the bird people who have come to view sparrowdevouring house cats as mortal foes), and end with a discussion of how cats colonized
the internet, with the smashing success of LOL Cats and more. A book for cat people,
people who know and love cat people, dog people, and anyone who wants to pause and
admire the charms of the cold-blooded apex predator that millions of us cuddle every
night. US AGENT: Scott Waxman
Jennifer Romolini
WEIRD IN A WORLD THAT’S NOT (Harper Business)
NA: Harper Business, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
Proposal available, manuscript due September 2016, Publishing Spring 2017
The success of titles such as #GirlBoss, Lean In, and The Confidence Code prove there's a revolution afoot for women in the workplace
and an audience that's hungry for advice and guidance on how to navigate their professional lives. WEIRD IN A WORLD
THAT’S NOT is a new and necessary entry into this growing category of bestsellers. It targets an underserved readership: It's a
career guide for the awkward, the misfits, and the failures. It's a real-talk book for female outsiders—those who want it, but have
no idea (yet) how to make it happen.
WEIRD IN A WORLD THAT’S NOT is written by someone who went from being a 25-year-old college dropout and divorcée
with no prospects to running some of the biggest websites in the world. Romolini understands what it means to work within
institutions as a woman, to climb the ladder, to come up against sexism and trolls and fight your own battles with selfconsciousness, insecurity, and self-doubt on a road to success.
Romolini has built a remarkable career speaking to women — she knows what millennial women respond to and what they want
to read, at scale. WEIRD IN A WORLD THAT’S NOT will be a brilliant, heartfelt, meaningful book that connects with a large
and receptive audience for years to come.
Jennifer Romolini is the editor-in-chief and Vice President of content for HelloGiggles.com, a site founded by actress Zooey
Deschanel. Under her stewardship, Hello Giggles has grown nearly 500 percent—from 3 million readers to the 17 million it has
today. Her work has appeared in places like The New York Times, the New York Post, the Huffington Post, and Boston
Magazine. US AGENT: Byrd Leavell
Brendan McDonough, with Stephan Talty
MY LOST BROTHERS (Hachette)
NA: Hachette, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
MS available, Publishing May 2016
Brendan McDonough is the lone survivor of the 2013 fire in Yarnell, Arizona that took the lives of his 19 firefighter brothers. A
3,000 degree freak inferno trapped his elite wildlife team known as "hotshots" in a matter of minutes, marking the disaster as the
deadliest for firefighters since 9/11. By pure luck and circumstance, Brendan survived.
Now, two years later, Brendan will tell his powerful story. Before he joined the Granite Mountain crew, Brendan was on the road
to nowhere. Lost in a downward spiral of drugs and crime, joining the ranks of these quiet heroes was his last chance to fulfill a
childhood dream and make something of himself. Initially nervous that the hotshots would not welcome him due to his poor
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reputation around town, Brendan instead came to find his first true family. With the support of his new crew, he completely
turned his life around, becoming a specialty firefighter in his own right, and, perhaps even more importantly, he began to think of
others ahead of himself.
In the spirit of BAND OF BROTHERS and LONE SURVIVOR, MY LOST BROTHERS is a rare narrative of brotherhood,
tragedy and the random nature of survival. To this day Brendan cannot answer the most difficult question: why was he the last
man standing? US AGENT: Scott Waxman
A.J. Baime
THE ACCIDENTAL PRESIDENT (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
NA: HMH, UK: Transworld, Translation: WLLA
Proposal available, MS due July 2016, publishing 2017
Harry S. Truman’s first 120 days in office saw an unprecedented litany of historic occurrences: the founding of the United Nations,
the fall of Berlin, the Potsdam Conference (in which Truman, Stalin, and Churchill met in attempt to shape the postwar world), the
first atomic explosion, the Nazi surrender, the liberation of concentration camps, the early crystallization of the Zionist movement,
the mass starvation of prostrated Europe, the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the surrender of Imperial Japan, the end
of the bloodiest conflict in history, and the dawn of the Cold War, which brought with it the specter of World War III and the end
of human civilization as we know it.
No American president had ever faced so many historic events in his first year in office, and no American president was quite like
Harry Truman: a man who had only once stepped foot outside his country, with no training in global politics, who had never even
governed his own small town, forced into the most high stakes chess game of international relations that had ever been played; a
man who had no college education, struggling to understand the concept of the atomic bomb, with its murderous fury and its
political implications, and finding himself the one to decide—before the judge and jury of all of history to come—whether or not
to use it. US AGENT: Scott Waxman
Stephen Talty
THE BLACK HAND (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
NA: HMH, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
Proposal available, Manuscript due June 2016, publishing April 2017
The Black Hand was a crime wave that took early 20th century New York City to its knees. It was terrifying mostly because it was
an idea, not a person or group. Ideas take root, or in this case, they seed fear and terror. From fear and terror comes anarchy, a
total breakdown in order that can turn society upside down. At a time when it seemed like no one was brave or smart enough to
fight back, one man stood out.
They called Joseph Petrosino "the Italian Sherlock Holmes". He started his career by taking on the first Italian crime families,
tracking them in elaborate disguises and infiltrating their ranks. Immensely strong, he fought them in the streets of Little Italy and
had the scars to prove it. It was said that every mobster in New York knew Petrosino on sight and that to be seen in his presence
was a death warrant. This is one of the great untold immigrant stories.
When The Black Hand struck, New Yorkers turned to Petrosino to protect the city. Elite Upper East Siders feared the crime wave
would move uptown and then spread nationally. In battling the scourge, Petrosino, along with his now-forgotten ally in the fight,
the pioneering reformer Arthur Hale Woods, altered the course of American life in ways that are instantly recognizable today.
THE BLACK HAND uses never-before-seen archival material and Petrosino's own letters to draw the first full-length portrait of
a controversial genius and a moment in time when crime paid. US AGENT: Scott Waxman
Tim Larkin
WHEN VIOLENCE IS THE ANSWER (Little, Brown)
NA: Little, Brown, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
Proposal available, MS due April 2016, publishing Winter 2016
Violence is perhaps the most consistent element woven within every bestseller list. And yet, you can almost count on one hand the
significant books that actually study it. WHEN VIOLENCE IS THE ANSWER is the first book that will to teach you how to
think about violence the right way. So you can understand it. So you are aware and prepared for the rest of your life.
The book’s structure is based on the 9 essential elements of violence in modern society. Each chapter will address one element,
such as Violence is a Tool or The Two Types of Violence: Asocial and Antisocial. Riveting real-life stories from Larkin’s clients
and students will be used to illustrate the material throughout. The stories will also be buttressed by the most current statistical
analysis, socioeconomic data, behavioral science, government crime statistics, sports medicine injury data, and Larkin's own direct
research from his 25-year career as an expert on the subject. Readers will leave the book equipped with a greater understanding of
what violence really is, where the knowledge of violence typically resides, how it functions in modern society, how to avoid the
types of violence that are avoidable, how to recognize when you’re in the midst of the type that isn’t, and what you need to know,
think, feel and do in order to survive an encounter unharmed.
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TIM LARKIN is the founder of Target Focus Training and one of the world’s foremost experts, thinkers, teachers, trainers, and
writers on the subject of violence. He is a former military intelligence officer who through his company has trained more than
10,000 people in 50 countries how to deal with imminent violence. In 2013, his first traditionally published book, Survive The
Unthinkable: A Total Guide To Women’s Self Protection debuted at #4 on the New York Times list.
WHEN VIOLENCE IS THE ANSWER builds on the success of titles like Gavin de Becker’s The Gift of Fear and Dave
Grossman’s On Killing and is poised to become a major bestseller—a sober confrontation with the reality of violence that offers the
practical means to overcome it. US AGENT: Byrd Leavell
Julie Satow
TARNISHED BRASS (Twelve)
NA: Twelve, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
Proposal available, manuscript due January 2017, publishing Oct. 2017
When you think of the Plaza Hotel, you think Eloise, old world glamour, the pinnacle of high society. TARNISHED BRASS
recounts all of this and more, from the moment in 1907 when Alfred Vanderbilt moved in as a permanent resident and signaled to
the world that it was okay for the rich to live in apartments. It tells the story behind the 1,650 chandeliers and examines how the
Plaza became one of the most beloved structures in New York City, attracting celebrities from Greta Garbo to Marilyn Monroe.
But there’s a lot more to the history of the most famous hotel in the world than just bold-faced names. There are darker yet no less
riveting tales of the parade of buyers that lined up over the years, including Conrad Hilton and Donald Trump, and of how the
historic behemoth—with its endless need for repairs and financial burdens—together with the market bubbles and bursts
throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, stymied each hopeful owner. Today, the Plaza is in the hands of a self-made tycoon from
India currently languishing in a New Delhi prison for an investment scam worth $4 billion. The building itself is now mostly condos
of debatable quality, its once-cherished hotel rooms more or less deemed low-priority.
In the hands of Julie Satow, the award-winning reporter for The New York Times Real Estate section and elsewhere, the story of
the Plaza becomes something more than the story of New York City luxury real estate over the past 100 plus years—because the
story of New York City luxury real estate is also the story of global wealth. Through the lens of the Plaza, we see how the city’s
wealthiest residents are more and more likely to be Russian oligarchs or Chinese businessmen.
With unparalleled access to people like Donald Trump, Mike Bloomberg’s inner circle, and brokers involved in numerous 8- and 9figure deals, Satow gives us the glitz and the star-studded glamour of the Plaza Hotel, while effortlessly laying out how the industry
ticks. At the same time, she casts a critical eye on where we’re headed, and what it means for the Plaza and New York City as a
cultural mecca. When an anonymous Swiss bank account can buy a piece of the most revered building in New York, how does the
city define itself? US AGENT: Rachel Vogel
Michel Paradis
DOOLITTLE’S JUSTICE: The Untold Story of Revenge, Terror, and the Price of Heroism in World War II (S&S)
NA + UK: Simon & Schuster, Translation: WLLA
Proposal available, manuscript due April 2016, publishing 2017
Jimmy Doolittle, an unassuming 46-year-old stunt pilot and his eighty young men changed the tide of World War II by successfully
striking Japan for the first time in a thousand years. But when Doolittle’s crew and two others crashed in Japanese-occupied China,
the two flight crews were imprisoned by the Japanese. They were brutally tortured and coerced into false confessions, after which
the Japanese set up an ad hoc military tribunal that led to the execution of three of the eight soldiers. After the daring rescue of the
surviving men by the OSS, the US Army convened a trial of that trial, a riveting courtroom drama related here for the first time. In
preparation for the trial, the military lawyers assigned to the prosecution and the defense each went back to the scene of the
atrocities near Shanghai to investigate, and cases were put together. The US charged the Japanese with war crimes, but through
their own prosecution ended up exposing their own war crimes, and—most taboo of all—those of Doolittle’s Raiders.
Through interviews with Doolittle’s co-pilot, as well as access to unpublished archival documents, Paradis tells a little-known yet
no less gripping piece of this legendary story—one that poses powerful questions about justice versus revenge and what it means
to be a hero, questions that reverberate today from the Congo to Iraq to Guantanamo. Paradis not only tells the incredible story of
men who survived three years of hell and two military trials, but also illustrates how the magnitude of these events still resonate
throughout modern history, and the enduring mark it has left on how the world views POWs, treats war criminals, and respects
human dignity during times of war.
MICHEL PARADIS is a widely respected human rights lawyer and law professor at Columbia and Georgetown Law Schools. He
has contributed extensively to scholarly publications on the subjects of international humanitarian law and terrorism. He currently
serves as a senior attorney in the U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Chief Defense Counsel. In that role, he is regularly
appointed to represent detainees held at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He has argued numerous landmark
cases before the nation’s highest courts and been featured in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. He received his
bachelor and law degrees from Fordham and his doctorate from Oxford. He lives with his wife in New York City. US AGENT:
Rachel Vogel
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Mark Divine
UNBEATABLE MIND: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an Elite Level
NA: WLLA, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA (German/Riva)
Published April 2014
Divine draws on his experience as a serial entrepreneur and MBA-turned-Navy SEAL to help his readers reach their full potential,
no matter what their individual goals happen to be. Divine's approach, proven through the success of his SEALFIT program,
offers a synthesis of the mindfulness of Yoga, the limit-pushing physical rewards of CrossFit, and the mental and physical
discipline of Ninjitsu.
Commander Mark Divine, a retired Navy SEAL and founder of SEALFIT and the popular Unbeatable Mind Academy, presents
his insights on how to forge mental toughness, develop mental clarity and cultivate an authentic warrior's spirit. The book's themes
were developed over the past decade to provide a foundational philosophy for his Unbeatable Mind Academy...training designed
for special operations candidates that has led to an extremely high success rate.
Equal parts practical and inspirational, in the tradition of Tim Ferriss and Tony Robbins, UNBEATABLE MIND is accessible to
both men and women, and to people from all walks of life. US AGENT: Byrd Leavell
FICTION:
Kathleen Glasgow
GIRL IN PIECES (Delacorte Press)
NA: Delacorte, UK: Oneworld, ANZ: HarperCollins, Translation: WLLA
(Poland/Jaguar, Spain/Montena, Italy/Rizzoli, Czech/Dobrovsky, Brazil/Planeta)
Final manuscript available, publishing September 2016
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis is a cutter.
While most girls her age are thinking about dating and where to go to college, Charlie is
struggling just to survive. After losing her best friend Ellis, then her home, Charlie finds
herself living on the streets of Saint Paul, Minnesota, where every day is a fight to live. After
a traumatic event lands her in the hospital, Charlie finds what might be her best hope: a
recovery program for girls just like her. When her insurance runs out, though, Charlie is
back on the streets, alone. Through the kindness of her old friend, Mikey, the roadie for a
band in Arizona, Charlie finds herself in the endless desert of Tucson, surrounded by
musicians, artists, and eccentrics, and, in particular, a washed-up singer named Riley West.
GIRL IN PIECES is the stunning, heartbreaking story of what it means to live in the world
when your body is your own worst enemy. It marks the arrival of Kathleen Glasgow, a
major new voice in young adult literature. Advance readers have called GIRL IN PIECES
"Vivid, devastating, and beautifully written," (Julie Schumacher, best-selling author of Black
Box); "Wise, unflinching, and a balm for the kind of heartbreak that can't ever be fully
mended," (Summer Wood, best-selling author of Arroyo); and "This sharp and beautiful
portrait….illuminates not only the anxiety of youth but the vulnerability and terror of life in
general" (Amanda Coplin, best-selling author of The Orchardist).US AGENT: Julie
Stevenson
Drew Magary
THE HIKE (Viking)
NA + UK: Viking, Translation: WLLA
Manuscript available, publishing Fall 2016
When Ben, a CFO for a small construction company, has to take a business trip to rural Pennsylvania, he decides to spend an open
afternoon taking a quick hike through the Poconos. A short hike. A leisurely hike. But once he sets out into the woods behind his
shabby hotel, he stumbles onto a path that leads him inescapably forward into a world of cannibalistic giants, demons, giant
insects, and other bizarre and fantastic creatures. Desperate to return to his family, with an enjoyably profane crustacean as his
only companion, he forges on, through one adventure after another, in search of the “Producer,” the creator of the hell in which
he has been held hostage.
Magary’s remarkably unique novel gives a clear nod to The Odyssey, but immediately calls to mind contemporary successes such as
Ernest Cline's Ready Player One and Neil Gaiman's American Gods, along with the old King’s Quest PC games that Magary played as
a child. In The Postmortal, he showed how he could pull off his own take on the traditional sci-fi novel. In THE HIKE, he now
does it with fantasy.
Magary is a correspondent for GQ and a columnist for Deadspin. He's also the author of the memoir Someone Could Get Hurt
(nominated for an Audie award and optioned for TV by Warner Brothers and Conan O’Brien) and The Postmortal.
Foreign sales for The Postmortal: Germany/Droemer Knaur, Poland/Proszynski, Spain/Planeta, Thailand/Earnest Publishing
Co. US AGENT: Byrd Leavell
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S.E. Daitch
THE PAINTER IN THE MIRROR (Alibi/Random House)
NA: Alibi, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
Manuscript available, publishing November 2016
“. . . One of the most intelligent and attentive writers at work in the U.S. today.” – David Foster Wallace
“It’s always a delight to discover a voice as original as Susan Daitch’s.” – Salman Rushdie
Writing of S.E. Daitch’s novel THE COLORIST, Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times wrote, “An observant eye… Her vision
of New York is one of a cartoon city where anything is possible, where real-life adventures resemble the antic happenings of a
comic strip.” Daitch brings the same keen eye and madcap sensibility to THE PAINTER IN THE MIRROR, a page-turning tale
of murder and art theft that will take you on a fast-paced ride through an exquisitely rendered contemporary New York.
Stella DaSilva, a 30-something art conservator working for an auction house that prides itself on “discretion” when it comes to
high-rolling art dealers, finds herself at the center of an investigation when “Las Meninas,” the 16th-century Velázquez masterpiece
she is restoring, is stolen, and Stella looks like a prime suspect. Pursued by henchmen and law enforcement, Stella must navigate
her way through a maze of new money and old haunts in order to save her life and clear her name. Along the way, she may or may
not be falling in love with a detective who is taken off her case, but remains her closest ally.
A.J. Orchov brings suspense, broad appeal, and a tremendous gift for richness, texture, and relatable characters. THE PAINTER
IN THE MIRROR is a noir-tinged chase through New York’s high and low cultures with a street-smart heroine who always
manages to find a resourceful way out of a jam.
AdriAnne Strickland and Michael Miller
SHADOW RUN (Delacorte Press)
NA: Delacorte, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
Manuscript available, publishing Fall 2016
Time is running out for Qole. As the captain of the Kaitan, a starship that uses magnetic nets to “fish” for Shadow, she comes into
constant contact with the volatile cosmic energy. Everybody knows Shadow is dangerous: it’s incredibly powerful, but too much
exposure causes madness, followed by death. Even those who are willing to take the risk are barely able to scratch out a living. Still,
fishing is about the only option on the remote, frozen planet of Alaxak, and Qole is the best. The Shadow that flows through her
veins quickens her reflexes and allows her to sense its presence, and she’s determined to use that “affinity” to protect her small but
loyal crew. Which is why she’s so suspicious of offworlder Nev, her startlingly handsome new crew member.
What Qole doesn’t know is that Nev is actually Prince Nevarian Dracorte, heir to his family’s throne. He’s convinced that Shadow
is the key to preserving the royal Dracorte legacy, and that Qole is the key to harnessing its power. When her cooperation proves
difficult, Nev resolves to get her back to his home planet by any means necessary, but he’s not the only one. A rival royal family is
also after Shadow affinity, and unlike Nev, they’re more interested in gaining Qole’s abilities than keeping her alive. His mission to
exploit her becomes one to save her, and to survive, she’ll have to trust her would-be kidnapper. The Kaitan’s crew goes from
fishermen to prey as they make a death-defying run across the galaxy, and Qole and Nev are forced to revise their ideas of family
and loyalty, with the fate of their worlds hanging in the balance.
Firefly meets Dune as this close-knit, found family of a crew navigates a galaxy of political intrigue and resource-driven power
games. SHADOW CALL, book 2 in the projected four-book series, is forthcoming in 2017.US Agent: Kirsten Carleton
Lindsay Emory
RUSHING TO DIE – A Sorority Series Mystery, Vol. 2 (Witness Impulse)
NA: Witness Impulse, UK: Abner Stein, Translation, WLLA
MS available, published December 2015
In the second installment of Lindsay Emory’s Sorority Sisters mystery series, chapter advisor
Margot Blythe must expose a sorority row assassin … before she becomes the killer’s next target.
Three months into her tenure as the Sutton College Delta Beta chapter advisor, Margot Blythe has
the sorority in tip-top shape, just in time for sorority rush. Snapping and stomping in perfect
synchronization, everyone is hopeful that after this rush, Delta Beta’s reputation as “the murder
house” will be forgotten.
Until a body is found in the Delta Beta backyard. Again. The woman is found wearing a Delta Beta
shirt, which is troublesome enough; even more distressing, no one in the chapter recognizes her.
Unwilling to let a minor inconvenience like potential murder spoil the social calendar, Margot
gladly hands off the investigation to local police cutie Ty Hatfield while the Delta Beta girls throw
themselves into rush preparations.
But when another body is found, with the terrifying possibility of more to come, Margot does the
only thing that a responsible advisor can do and demands that rush be canceled, making enemies in
every house on sorority row. When the resulting furor starts to get dirty, it’s up to Margot to
uncover some nasty messes tucked away in the sorority closets—to save her sisters’ reputations,
and their lives. US AGENT: Cassie Hanjian
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Lindsay Emory
SISTERHOOD IS DEADLY – A Sorority Sisters Mystery, Vol. 1 (Witness Impulse)
NA: Witness Impulse, UK: Maze/HarperCollins, Translation: WLLA
MS is available, published July 2015
Margot Blythe is a 27-year-old professional sorority girl. As a Sisterhood Mentor for Delta Beta sorority, she travels around North
America advising Delta Beta chapters on Very Serious Sorority Issues™. While Margot is visiting her alma mater, the Delta Beta
chapter advisor drops dead during a chapter meeting, sending shock waves throughout sorority row and around the ivy-draped
campus of Sutton College. Margot is appointed the honor of serving as chapter advisor pro tem and must manage the normal drama
of fifty frazzled sorority women, protect the house from the annual fraternity pledge pranks, and combat the maybe-false rumors
planted by a competing sorority about a Delta Beta phone sex ring. Oh, and there’s the matter of keeping local police cutie Ty
Hatfield off her back while she attempts to solve the mystery of whether a sister could have committed the second worst sin:
murder. (The worst sin, of course, is shoe theft.) US AGENT: Cassie Hanjian
Vanessa Carnevale
THE FLORENTINE BRIDGE (Harlequin Australia)
ANZ: Harlequin Australia, NA: WLLA, UK: TK, Translation: WLLA
MS available, publishing TK
A bittersweet love story set against the lush backdrop of Tuscany. With a wildly romantic plot and transportive writing, Carnevale's
commercial debut inhabits the sweet spot between Rosanna Chiofalo's Bella Fortuna and Colleen Oakley’s Before I Go.
Nineteen-year-old aspiring artist Mia Moretti has been cancer free for nine months. Her battle with the illness has taken its toll on
her, leaving her severely depressed and tormented by an overwhelming fear of dying. Inspired to make a fresh start, Mia decides to
leave New York and move to Tuscany to pursue a simpler life where she can, with any luck, find the motivation she needs to paint
again.
What she doesn’t count on is meeting Luca, a handsome Italian mechanic who sweeps her off her feet. As Mia slowly lets down her
walls and allows Luca in, her passion for life is reignited, and her new perspective begins to inspire her art. But just when she’s ready
to let go of her past, a tragedy dredges up all the anxieties she’s worked so hard to overcome and threatens her budding relationship
with Luca. Full of heart and hope, THE FLORENTINE BRIDGE is a tear-jerking book club read for those looking for an Under the
Tuscan Sun-inspired setting.
HUMOR AND LIFESTYLE:
Brett McKay, Kate McKay, and Ted Slampyak
THE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO THE ART OF MANLINESS
NA: Little, Brown, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
Proposal available, Manuscript Due August 2016, Publishing May 2017
The Art of Manliness is the largest independent men’s lifestyle site on the web, generating over 10 million pageviews a month and
holding a social media following with over 1 million followers. AoM has made a name for itself with its top notch and in-depth
content geared towards helping men become their best selves.
There’s more to being a man than expensive clothes and the hot babe of the month. The Illustrated Guide to the Art of Manliness
will offer a visual how-to on all things manly, from Dressing & Grooming ("How to Iron a Shirt") to Outdoor Skills ("How to
Make a Campfire" to Fatherhood & Family Life ("How to Burp a Baby"). It will consist of the Art of Manliness website's most
popular illustrated guides, as well as never before seen illustrated tutorials.
Since 2010, the Art of Manliness has worked with illustrator Ted Slampyak to create vintage inspired visual guides that show men
how to do various “man skills” in a simple, accessible, evocative, and entertaining way. With Ted’s talent to create illustrations that
look like they’ve come from a bygone era when men were men, The Illustrated Guide to the Art of Manliness will have a classic
yet timeless appeal. US AGENT: Byrd Leavell
Elina Fuhrman
SOUPELINA’S SOUP CLEANSE: Plant-Based Soups and Broths to Heal Your Body, Calm Your Mind, and Transform
Your Life (Da Capo)
NA: Da Capo, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA (German/Droemer Knaur, Spain/Alfaomega, Portugal/LeYa)
Proposal is available, MS available October 2015, publishing Winter 2016
“Souping” is quickly becoming the next big trend, replacing sugar-laden juice fasts with fiber-rich plant-based soups. Originator of
the soup cleanse and journalist-turned-soup guru Elina Fuhrman guides the reader through their own soup cleanse process by
offering tips and tricks while providing the science behind the power of soup. All the soups featured in SOUPELINA’S SOUP
CLEANSE are 100% vegan and organic, encouraging readers to reset their digestive systems and make more conscious food
choices in the process.
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In 2009, Fuhrman’s world was turned upside down by a surprising diagnosis of aggressive breast cancer in the midst of a very
successful career as a journalist for CNN. Seeking an alternative to aid in her healing process, she donned her investigative reporter
hat and discovered that what we put in our bodies throughout our lifetime has a huge impact on future illnesses. Turning to a
fully-vegan diet, she discovered that one type of food had the best track record for aiding in digestion while soothing a stomach
disrupted by chemotherapy treatments: soup.
Fuhrman’s soups have been featured by Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, New York magazine and the Huffington Post. SOUPELINA’S
SOUP CLEANSE is a guide to healthy and sustainable eating, one spoon at a time. US AGENT: Cassie Hanjian
Tucker Max and Geoffrey Miller
MATE (Little, Brown)
NA: Little, Brown, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA (Brazil/Sextante,
German/Mosaik)
Manuscript available, publishing Sept. 2015
Tucker Max and Geoffrey Miller's MATE is the first book that uses the best new science to
guide young men through the confusing world of women, sex, and dating. Based on recent
breakthroughs in evolutionary psychology, human sexuality, behavior genetics, and animal
communication, Tucker and Geoff show young men exactly what women want, why they
instinctively want it, and how to transform themselves into real men who can truly offer it.
From explaining how to cultivate attractive traits like health, humor, honesty, and confidence to
strategies for choosing colleges, careers, and cities with the best mating markets, MATE gives
young men a comprehensive, evidence-based, insightful, funny playbook for becoming more
sexually attractive and romantically successful. It’s The Game, but with real science and a moral
compass; it’s Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus for young men.
TUCKER MAX is the author of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, which was a #1 New York Times
bestseller and has over 2 million copies in print worldwide, and Assholes Finish First and Hilarity
Ensues, which both have over one million copies in print worldwide. GEOFFREY MILLER,
Ph.D., is a tenured professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of New Mexico and
the author of The Mating Mind and Spent. US Agent: Byrd Leavell
Sophie Gamand
WET DOG (Grand Central)
NA: Grand Central, UK: Aurum, Translation: WLLA (France/Livre de Poche, Germany/Riva)
Manuscript available, publishing October 2015
Sophie Gamand is a French photographer who has lived and worked in New York since 2010. When she posted her hilarious
photos of dogs during their bath times at a local pet grooming salon, they immediately went viral, receiving hundreds of thousands
of hits and Facebook shares on Yahoo, Buzzfeed, MSN, The Daily Mail, The Mirror, Telegraph, Guardian, The Week, Laughing
Squid, The Dish, Daily Candy, and dozens of other sites. The profound reaction her photos have generated, and how entertaining
she is able to make each image, speaks to her ability as a photographer. Something happens when the dogs are caught in such a
vulnerable state. Each image offers a rare glimpse of their personality, and with its lush images, humorous approach, and
tremendous following, WET DOG is ideally suited to be the next title to follow in the bestselling footsteps of SHAKE and
UNDERWATER DOGS. Sophie’s whimsical and humorous work has been internationally recognized. In January 2014, shortly
after “Wet Dog” received worldwide attention, her series “Dog Vogue” went viral as well. You can see more of her work here.
US AGENT: Byrd Leavell
The Fat Jew (Josh Ostrovsky)
MONEY, PIZZA, RESPECT (Grand Central)
NA: Grand Central, UK: Hardie Grant, Translation: WLLA
Manuscript available, publishing November 2015
From the creator of the hugely popular @thefatjewish Instagram comes an outlandish collection of hilarious personal essays and
images, which might be the most ridiculous book in the history of arts and letters.
Born and bred in New York City, Ostrovsky's overbearing mother entered him into "the biz" as an 8-year old with exquisite
cheekbones and the singing voice of an angel. He appeared in a plethora of television commercials, and after his child-acting career
fizzled, Ostrovsky took 20 years away from the limelight to focus on finding himself, eventually opening a yoga center in Toronto,
and receiving his MFA in pottery at Middlebury College. JK, he mostly just did drugs.
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But in 2009, when social media became a thing, he triumphantly returned to a life in the spotlight. He exfoliates daily, plays the
harp, bakes his own croutons for every salad he eats, once saved a baby deer with a broken leg who had fallen into a stream, and
speaks fluent Portuguese. With an army of followers on social media that often border on fanatical and creepy, he is a "rising"
"star" whose backup plan is to marry Suri Cruise when she's of legal consenting age.
Channeling the brilliance of his online presence, MONEY PIZZA RESPECT rolls out one ludicrous story after another-from
puking on his grandfather after a debaucherous drunken night to saving his deaf neighbor from a burning building, to hiring
prostitutes for the sole purpose of reenacting scenes from Mel Gibson's Braveheart. In this, the next milestone of his glorious life,
Ostrovsky will attempt to reinvigorate the dying medium of print. US AGENT: Byrd Leavell
Rich Roll and Julie Piatt
THE PLANTPOWER WAY: Whole Food Plant-Based Recipes & Guidance for the Whole Family (Avery)
NA: Avery, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA (Spain/RBA Libros, Russia/Mann, Ivanov & Ferber, Germany/Narayana
Verlag)
Manuscript available, published April 2015
Created by renowned ultra-distance athlete and high-profile plant-based-wellness advocate Rich Roll and his chef wife, Julie Piatt,
THE PLANTPOWER WAY shares the joy and health they and their whole family have experienced by living a plant-based
lifestyle. Bursting with inspiration, practical guidance, and beautiful photography, THE PLANT POWER WAY has more than 120
delicious, easy-to-prepare whole food recipes. Packed with irresistible dishes, this cookbook proves that plant-based eating can not
only fuel the most elite athletes in the world but also satisfy and delight the modern family. But the recipes are just the beginning;
what sets THE PLANTPOWER WAY apart is the inspiration you’ll feel when you step into Rich and Julie’s world and read their
stories about how they’ve been able to live with abundance and heart every day.
RICH ROLL is an accomplished vegan ultra-endurance athlete, full-time wellness and plant-based-nutrition advocate, and
motivational speaker. In 2010, Rich became one of only two people ever to complete the EPIC5 challenge—five back-to-back
ironman-distance triathlons in less than one week.
JULIE PIATT has spent decades traveling many paths and studying many traditions. She is a true renaissance artist who expresses
her creative voice as a plant-based chef, singer-songwriter, yogi, sculptor, painter, spiritual guide, and homeschooling parent. US
AGENT: Byrd Leavell
Martin Vargic
VARGIC’S MISCELLANY OF CURIOUS MAPS (Harper Design)
NA: Harper Design, UK: Penguin, Translation: WLLA (France/ Editions du Sous-Sol)
Manuscript Available, publishing December 2015
Vargic, a 16-year old artist from Slovakia, rose to international fame in early 2014 when his Map of the Internet 1.0 went viral.
Using old National Geographic maps as inspiration, he drew freehand into Photoshop the Alexa data of the most visited websites
in the world. Visually stunning, it generated hundreds of thousands of hits and Facebook shares and was subsequently featured on
Slate, The Huffington Post, and dozens of other sites worldwide.
In subsequent months, Vargic published several other maps on his website, www.halcyonmaps.com, which immediately garnered
more Internet fame. His second work, the Map of Stereotypes, pulled together more than 1800 clichés and pop culture references
into a map based on the stereotypical westerner’s view of the world. It too received immediate media attention, and was
prominently featured on a multitude of sites such as Slate, The Huffington Post, and many others. Vargic was clearly onto
something. VARGIC’S MISCELLANY OF CURIOUS MAPS brings Vargic's rare talent to a book that features all of Vargic's
previously published maps, as well as a collection unseen by the general public, such as The Music Map, The Map of YouTube and
a collection of 50 hilarious world mini-maps showing everything from the number of metal bands per capita to the probability of
getting struck by lightning. This is a beautiful, four-color, hardcover edition with eight full-page spreads and about 60 one-page
maps. US AGENT: Byrd Leavell
Marissa A. Ross
UNWINED (Plume/Blue Rider Press)
NA: Plume/Blue Rider, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
Proposal available, MS due June 2016, Publishing Spring 2017
As a young, broke comedy writer trying to make it in LA, wine was Marissa Ross’s saving grace. Sure, what she started with was
cheaper than moonshine and probably wasn’t even technically ‘wine’ but rather a sort of wine-flavored alcoholic beverage. But,
eventually, she graduated to wine that was actually semi-decent (but still cheap), and her love and knowledge of the stuff only
became stronger. When Marissa’s good friend, Molly McAleer, founded Hello Giggles and asked her to do video reviews of wine,
she discovered that she could start a conversation about wine that nobody was having, one that is funny, unpretentious, and a little
self-deprecating, while still being informative. Today, she is a comedic authority on wine. Her blog Wine. All the Time, is the
winner of Saveur’s 2015 Blog Awards in the Best Wine Coverage category, and she writes about wine for a variety for websites
from Vice to Wine Enthusiast. She’s asked to host tastings and write up wine labels at high-end events from Hollywood to NYC
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and regularly fields wine recommendation requests from Kelly Oxford to BJ Novak. And it’s also worth noting that she
managed all of this while being Mindy Kaling’s personal assistant for four years.
Her book, UNWINED: A Guide to Drinking, Living & Keeping it Together, will follow in the wildly successful steps of such
books as MY DRUNK KITCHEN or GRACE’S GUIDE by seamlessly weaving in personal, hilarious anecdotes to educate
readers on everything they need to know about wine—from how it’s made, to how to taste it and describe it, to how to buy it for
your boyfriend’s discerning parents, to how to drink it in public without getting arrested.
Millenials are consuming over 25% of the wine on the market, and yet pretty much the only guides available to them are geared to
baby-boomers. Marissa has hit on something huge, and with her humor, knowledge, and connections, it’s no surprise she’s become
the go-to authority for the twenty-something wine-drinking crowd. US AGENT: Rachel Vogel
Siphiwe Baleka and Jon Wertheim
THE 15/4 PLAN (Touchstone)
NA: Touchstone, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA
Proposal is available, MS due May 2016, publishing Spring 2017
Siphiwe Baleka is a revolutionary fitness leader in the trucking industry. He’s a Yale-educated champion swimmer who traveled the
world for over a decade. His love of the road led him to trucking and he has witnessed the negative health effects of this lifestyle
first hand. Over the last few years, he has developed a straightforward fitness program designed for truckers that will transform
workplace wellness.
After noticing his initial weight gain several years ago from long haul driving, Baleka was fueled to counter-act the trucker obesity
stats and develop a restorative wellness program for his company. He approached Prime Inc.’s president with a business proposal
as an in-house fitness coach. Now he’s created a 13-week nutrition and exercise plan for his fleet of fellow drivers that has helped
thousands. The Driver Health and Fitness (DHF) program’s remarkable results have been making headlines, putting him on the
map as “Fittest Truck Driver in America” and earning Prime the “Healthiest Company Award” at the 2014 CES/Digital Health
Summit.
In THE 15/4 PLAN, Baleka will present his DHF program in a comprehensive book of strategies, fitness tools, and personal
anecdotes to help anyone constrained by a sedentary job. This promises to be a great read as well as a cutting edge health and
wellness book that can fit nicely on the shelf next to Rip Esselstyn’s THE ENGINE 2 DIET or Sue Mitzmann’s THE MELT
METHOD. US Agent: Scott Waxman
BACKLIST:
Mohamedou Ould Slahi
GUANTÁNAMO DIARY, edited by Larry Siems (Little, Brown)
***New York Times Bestseller***
NA: Little, Brown, UK: Canongate, Translation: WLLA (Arabic/ Dar al-Saqi, Bosnian/
Buybook, Brazil/Companhia des Letras, Croatia/Profil, Czech/Jota, Denmark/People’s Press,
Finland/Like, France/ Michel Lafon, Germany/Klett Cotta, Greece/Psichogios, Holland/de
Boekerij, Hungary/Maxim, Indonesia/Noura Books, Italy/Piemme, Japan/Kawada Shobo
Shinsha, Latin America/Planeta Mexico, Norway/Cappelen Damm, Poland/Muza,
Portugal/Vogais, Romanian/Corint Books, Russia/AST, Serbia/Laguna, Slovakia/Tatran,
Spain/Agora, Sweden/Norstedt, Turkey/Belge Yayinlari)
EMS is available, published: January 20, 2015; Paperback publication December 2015
Sharma Shields
THE SASQUATCH HUNTER’S ALMANAC (Holt)
NA: Holt, UK: Abner Stein, Translation: WLLA (excl. France and Germany), TV: Legendary Pictures
Published January 2015
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David Epstein
THE SPORTS GENE: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance (Current)
**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**
NA: Current, UK: Yellow Jersey, Translation: WLLA (Brazil/Campus, Bulgaria/45 Janet,
Croatia/Mate, Czech Republic/Albatros, France/Editions Golferone, Holland/De Arbeiderspers,
Japan/Hayakawa, Korea/Open Books, Norway/Flint Forlag, Slovakia/Premedia Group,
Spain/Urano, Russia/AST, Slovenia/UMco, Turkey/Marti Yayinlari)
EMS and cover are available, published August 2013