Short Takes

Viking's Paul Slovak brought aboard novelist Paul Cody, last published by Picador, for a book called Shooting the Heart, described as a love story about a man who thinks he may have murdered his wife. The buy was from agent Noah Lukeman, world rights, for publication next year.... Also from Lukeman, SMP's George Witte bought a new novel by actor Gene Hackman and his collaborator Daniel Lenahan (Wake of the Perdido Star). The new one is Vermillion, a noir story of race and murder in the 1920s Midwest; it was a world rights buy, and Hackman will be active in promoting it next year.... Warner's Caryn Karmatz Rudy paid six figures for a first novel by an editor at People magazine, Vietnam-born Julie Dam. Bought on the basis of the first 50 pages, A Girl's Gotta Have It! is the story of a fashion reporter in Paris who inadvertently falls for a contestant on a reality TV show about dating models. The North American rights sale was made by Dublin agent Marianne Gunn O'Connor.... Jane Dystel's literary agency is being renamed Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, reflecting the promotion of longtime partner Miriam Goderich. The agency is also expanding with the addition of two new agents, Jessica Papin and Jim McCarthy.... A new book by American-in-Britain investigative journalist Greg Palast (The Best Democracy Money Can Buy) was signed at Plume by editor Kelly Notaras. It's a collection of his political investigative reports, signed for world English rights with agent Diana Finch, her first solo deal since leaving the Ellen Levine agency: she's already made sales in the U.K. and half a dozen foreign countries.... A book called Now and Future Medicine by futurist Ray Kurzweil and longevity expert Dr. Terry Grossman was bought for six figures, world English rights, by Rodale's Stephanie Tade from agent Loretta Barrett. It will offer information about cutting-edge breakthroughs in medical science and how these will increase longevity.