Short Takes

Yet more get-rich secrets are offered in a book just signed by Stephen Hanselman at Harper Business; it's by T. Harv Eker, who launched a personal success seminar business on a small credit-card loan and built it into a multimillion-dollar business. His book is Secrets of the Millionaire Mind and was signed with Bonnie Solow at her own agency.... Brad Land, author of a well-received memoir about deadly college hazing activities, Goat, has now written a novel, just signed by Lee Boudreaux at Random. It's called Songs to Learn and Sing and features a teenage boy, battered by tragedy, who seeks refuge in drugs that make him a stranger to himself. The editor bought North American rights from Bill Clegg at Burnes & Clegg.... The new Chamberlain House imprint at Penguin is rushing out what it calls an "express" paperback that tells the story of Pat Tillman, the NFL star who walked away from a lucrative career to become an Army Ranger and was killed recently in Afghanistan. The book, called Fields of Honor: The Pat Tillman Story, was bought for world rights by editor Ron Martirano from agent Gene Brissie and is being written by award-winning sports journalist Jonathan Rand. It is due out before the end of this month.... A book about legendary '60s surfer Miki Dora, who later turned to a life of crime and lived on the run for years before being caught and jailed, was bought at auction by Mauro DiPreta at William Morrow, then swifty preempted by Leonardo DiCaprio's production company for a movie deal. It's called All for a Few Perfect Waves: The Secret Life of Rebel Surfer Miki Dora and is by Hollywood journalist David Rensin, author of The Mailroom. Agent Brian DeFiore made the Morrow sale, and the movie deal on his behalf was done by Rob Carlson at William Morris.... Odysseus is the latest heroic figure to be adopted as a life model, in a book just bought for Crown by Annik LaFarge. It's called No Man's Land: Following Odysseus to Learn Life's Greatest Lessons by Scott Huler, and the North American buy was made from Michelle Tessler at Carlisle & Company.