A novel about Noah and the ark, called The Preservationist by first novelist David Maine, was preempted as part of a two-book world rights deal by Jennifer Enderlin at St. Martin's. In his literary re-creation, Noe (as he is spelled) is presented as a man convinced he has been singled out by the Lord to save mankind, and his family is reluctantly forced to follow him. The deal was made by Peter Miller at PMLA Literary Management and Scott Hoffman, who has just joined the company as a literary manager; he had been in a Washington consulting firm. Author Maine, by the way, lives and teaches English in Pakistan.