Nancy Huston's novel gets the 'Cold Mountain' treatment this fall.
Canadian-born author Nancy Huston, who has lived in Paris since 1973, makes her American debut next month with her seventh novel, The Mark of the Angel, which was a bestseller in France last year, where it was awarded the 1999 Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle and was shortlisted for the 1999 Prix Goncourt. It was also awarded Quebec's 1999 Prix des Libraires. Set in Paris during the Algerian War, the novel tells the love story of two people damaged by World War II, a young German woman and a Jewish emigre from Hungary.
Slated for publication by Vermont's Steerforth Press (see Hot Deals, May 17), which is distributed by Publishers Group West, The Mark of the Angelwas translated by Huston herself. The prolific writer, who is also the author of numerous works of nonfiction, said, "When I am not writing in French, I am translating my work." Ironically, noted Steerforth publisher Chip Fleischer, "So many people here are talking about the French sensibility of the book, but in France they talk about its non-French sensibility. Ever since WWII, French literature has been dominated by people writing about ideas, but they're not great storytellers."
He cites that Huston's storytelling ability as a reason for the good buzz on the book here in the U.S. even prior to publication. Independent booksellers in the States have already selected it as one of the top 10 books on the first Book Sense 76 list. PW starred the book in its August 2 review.
The Mark of the Angel is a significant acquisition for the nearly seven-year-old literary press, which publishes 20 books a year, roughly 60/40 nonfiction/fiction. Over the past few years, Steerforth has garnered media attention for its reissues of Dawn Powell's writings, its two-volume biography of Colette by Claude Francis and Fernande Gontier, and its Steerforth Italia series, which includes William Weaver's recently released collection of postwar writings, Open City.
According to Fleischer, even if Huston's book d s not become the breakout bestseller that Steerforth is hoping for, it will still contribute to the company's first break-even year. "Our publishing house is not about chasing hot titles," Fleischer explained. "We built a business plan that we would sell midlist books really well. We knew it would take five to 10 years to get a solid backlist. If The Mark hits a home run, it would give us breathing space, but we're not betting the farm."
However, Steerforth is doing everything it can to ensure that The Mark will make an imprint on the American literary scene. It printed 1900 bound galleys with four-color covers and, earlier this summer, sold paperback rights to Vintage Books for a mid-six-figure sum. In addition, the two houses are partnering to give The Mark what Fleischer refers to as "the Cold Mountain treatment."
"We worked with PGW on Cold Mountain, and we decided that we could do the same thing for The Mark," explained Vintage editor-in-chief Marty Asher, adding that he had to buy the book, because "I had five editors refusing to leave my office until I bought it. I felt like a university president with students camped out. People were so obsessed with the book." Vintage has sent its reps 20 galleys each to distribute to key accounts, helped with marketing strategy and cosponsored Huston's three-city prepub tour. She will return to the U.S. in October to tour six more cities.
Steerforth and Vintage are cooperating not just to sell The Mark, but to build the demand for all her work. Vintage has acquired paperback rights to one more Huston novel, while Steerforth has contracts for three books and options for two others. No pub dates have been set yet for these, because, said Fleischer, "We don't want to divert attention from Huston's launch."
"The only thing we agreed on, Fleischer said, "was that we'd let The Mark get out there for a year, and then give Vintage a chance to have a run with it."
--Judith Rosen
WHAT'S MOVING IN... MYSTERIES
'Roadkill' the Rage in Florida
Tampa Tribune reporter Tim Dorsey's first novel, Florida Roadkill, just released by Morrow this month, has been the top-selling book at the Vero Beach [Fla.] Book Center for three weeks running.
Just a case of honoring one's own, right?
Well, not quite.
"We're about three hours from Tampa," said the store's director of marketing and publicity, Dawn Bailey. "Yes, we partially booked him for an event because he has in-laws here, but we got a turnout of about 125 people. I don't think most of them knew him."
Instead, people are loving what Dorsey's knowledge of Florida's flavor and history. His book, which he terms a "noir black comedy suspense action thriller crime mystery novel," follows a passel of oddball low-life criminals as they careen through the state. And a World Series game featuring the Florida Marlins gets the whole ball rolling.
Dorsey himself took such road trips during his research for the book; his Web site, www.timdorsey.com, includes photos of what inspired him.
He's also re-creating the road trip during his massive Florida bookstore tour for the book, in a silver car emblazoned with Florida Roadkill magnets. The journey g s on through October.
Morrow is still working on getting national review attention; Marilyn Stasio will write about the book on in her September 5 New York Times Book Review crime/mystery column. So far trade and local notices have been stellar. "Admirers of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen will note their influence here," said PW's reviewer. "As entertainment, this rollicking, over-the-top novel is a blast."
Morrow has already gone back to press on its initial 15,000-copy first printing, and Bailey thinks the book could well have legs outside of the Sunshine State. "It's a mix between Hiaasen and Quentin Tarantino. I think a lot of people would like it."
Morrow d s, too, and has already committed to a second Dorsey mystery, featuring Roadkill's ne'er-do-well Serge, for summer 2000.
--Judy Quinn
BEHIND THE BOOK
Lyons Ropes in McGuane's 'Horses'
The book's cover looks remarkably like the Knopf hit All the Pretty Horses. And its author, novelist/sportswriter/scriptwriter Thomas McGuane, is usually published by that house as well.
So how is it that McGuane's new essay collection Some Horses, now going back to press for a second printing, is published by the Lyons Press, not Knopf?
"[Lyons Press president and publisher] Nick Lyons is a fly fisherman, and so is McGuane. It's a pretty small circle, so they know each other and have talked for some time about doing a book together," said Lyons sales director Bill Wolfsthal.
Lyons editor Lilly Golden came up with the bright idea of collecting McGuane's essays about horses, some of which appeared in Sports Illustrated, Men's Journal, Atlantic Monthly and Outside. McGuane, who had long admired Lyons's outdoors books, agreed.
The June release was reviewed in USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Outside. This past Sunday, the New York Times made note of the book as well. An NPR feature on the book on August 6 already has prompted movement a second printing, bringing total in print to 35,000. The Times mention could spur a third.
McGuane hasn't slipped through Knopf's net: His next essay collection The Longest Silence: A Life in Fishing was under contract there and will be published by the house in November. And Random House will most likely be in the bidding for the paperback rights to Some Horses, for which a mid-five-figure paperback floor has already been set.
Of course, Wolfsthal admitted, Lyons would have loved to publish McGuane's essays on fly-fishing, too. But it has the consolation of hooking another big fish: Craig Nova, whose fiction was last published by Houghton Mifflin, has penned Brook Trout and the Writing Life, which Lyons will release in October.
--J.Q.
TECHNOLOGY
Perfect 'Climate' for Print on Demand
While most Print-on-demand books are out-of-print titles that don't justify a high print run, A Cooler Climate by Zena Collier is an exception. This reprint, for a movie tie-in, was printed via on-demand because no publisher was able to get the book out quickly enough using traditional methods.
A Cooler Climate serves as the basis for a Showtime Original, starring Sally Field and Judy Davis, that aired August 22. Independent publicist Nelson Taylor said that various publishers had shown interest in bringing back the title, first pubbed by British American in the early 1990s. But the movie was due to air several weeks after the pitch, so Collier signed up with on-demand outfit t xcel.
Ninety-two B&N stores have placed orders, for a total of more than 4000 copies. Showtime has also made a buy and will sell the title through its Web site. Other booksellers interested in ordering can do so from Ingram, which has a partnership with t xcel.
The novel tells the story of a nomadic woman who takes a job as a housekeeper for a wealthy family. When it was originally published, PW called A Cooler Climate "a provocative story of a conventional woman who suddenly loses her social identity." For this go-round, USA Today plans an article, making Climate one of the first on-demand titles to attract significant attention.
And in a footnote that proves the old trope about not needing to understand technology to benefit from it, the 70-something Collier d sn't even own a computer.
--Steven M. Zeitchik
IN THE NEWS
A Cancer Breakthrough
Here's the latest reason to congratulate Perseus for saving former HarperCollins division Basic Books from extinction: Basic is the publisher of Robert Weinberg, the MIT scientist who made news late last month with the announcement that he and his team had turned normal human cells malignant in a test tube -- a breakthrough that may lead to cancer cures.
Weinberg's most recent book, One Renegade Cell: How Cancer Begins, was a 15,000-copy-plus success for Basic's new owners when it was first published in hardcover in October 1998. But Weinberg's announcement has sparked more demand for the paperback, scheduled for this October. Basic's first printing of this book will be significantly larger than its typical hardcover-to-paperback ratio, and an update by Weinberg about his discovery is now in the works for the paperback's second printing.
Weinberg's research is also described in Natalie Angier's Natural Obsessions: Striving to Unlock the Deepest Secrets of the Cancer Cell, a Mariner paperback released this spring.
--J.Q.
