Hardcover: Fiction/First Novels & Collections
AKASHIC
John Crow's Devil (Sept., $19.95) by Marlon James portrays the biblical battle between two men for the soul of the village of Gibbeah. Ad/promo.Author tour.
The Mercy of Thin Air (Sept., $24) by Ronlyn Domingue. Raziela dies mid-love affair and remains between life and death, haunting houses and telling of her lost love. Ad/promo.16-city author tour.
JOHN F. BLAIR
Rocks That Float (Sept., $22.95) by Kathy B. Steele recounts Jimmy Steverson's post-divorce retreat to a tiny mill village.
The Highest Tide (Sept., $23.95) by Jim Lynch explores a boy's fascination with the sea during a life-changing summer. 75,000 first printing. Author tour.
BRIDGE WORKS (dist. by NBN)
Blackbelly (Oct., $21.95) by Heather Sharfeddin. A hate crime against a Muslim family leads to unjust accusations for a local rancher.
BROADMAN HOLMAN
Justice Riders (Jan., $24.99) by Chuck Norris and Ken Abraham lauds the men who kept the peace on the 1870s western frontier.
CARROLL GRAF
Hunger's Brides: A Novel of the Baroque (Sept., $35) by Paul Anderson. A disgraced academic uncovers the life of a 17th-century Mexican female poet.
Love with Noodles: An Amorous Widower's Tale (Sept., $25) by Harry Freund observes a 60-year-old widower's return to romance.
A Time to Run (Nov., $24.95) by Barbara Boxer with Mary-Rose Hayes is an insider's look at politics, friendship, betrayal and the almighty public spin.
CROWN/SHAYE AREHEART
The Grace That Keeps This World (Oct., $24) by Tom Bailey. A family of hunters living on the edge of the Adirondack wilderness slowly unravels.
Send Me (Feb., $23) by Patrick Ryan. The deck seems stacked against two-time divorcee Teresa Kerrigan, who tries valiantly to keep herself and her four children together.
Backward-Facing Man (Sept., $24.95) by Don Silver follows the results of a 1960s protest gone wrong over the course of 30 years. 50,000 first printing. Ad/promo. Author tour.
Lapham Rising (Feb., $22.95) by Roger Rosenblatt satirizes life in the Hamptons. 40,000 first printing.
A Meal to Die For (Jan., $24.95) by Joseph Gannascoli. A thief cooks for his Mafioso pals—and wonders if one has betrayed him. Ad/promo.
The Great Stink (Oct., $25) by Clare Clark. A 19th-century engineer works to transform London's sewer system, besieged by everything from corruption to cholera to murder.
Poison Study (Oct., $19.95) by Maria V. Snyder recounts the travails of Yelena, who chose the hazardous job of poison taster over her own execution.
The Art of Uncontrolled Flight (Sept., $19.95) by Kim Ponders. Captain Annie Shaw, a trail-blazing Air Force pilot, faces the challenges of combat. 50,000 first printing. Ad/promo. Author tour.
HORSE CREEK (4500 Highland Hills Dr., Norman, Okla. 73026)
Fort Zion (Oct., $21.95) by Robert L. Foster chronicles the 1844 arrival in Salt Lake City of the first wagon train of Mormons.
Torch (Feb., $24) by Cheryl Strayed. Teresa Rae Wood's sudden death leaves her husband and children reeling in small-town Minnesota. 25,000 first printing. Ad/promo. Author tour.
MACADAM/CAGE
The Jungle Law (Oct., $25) by Victoria Vinton renders Rudyard Kipling's year in Vermont, living with his family and writing The Jungle Book. 45,000 first printing. Ad/promo. Author tour.
The House of Scorta (Jan., $23) by Laurent Gaudé. This winner of France's Prix Goncourt delves into five generations of crime, love and secrets in a Southern Italian village. Ad/promo.
The Shroud of the Thwacker (Oct., $22.95) by Chris Elliott tweaks the historical crime genre with a 19th-century serial killer whose weapon is his deadly thwack.
NOVELLO FESTIVAL PRESS (dist. by John F. Blair)
American Dreaming and Other Stories (Oct., $21.95) by Doris Iarovici weaves tales of contemporary life. Author tour.
The Pagoda in the Garden (Oct., $23.95) by Wendy Lesser. This three-part novel details life in England during the 20th century.
Dog Days (Oct., $23.95) by Ana Marie Cox recounts a Washington, D.C., campaign staffer's romantic and political exploits.
The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette (Sept., $24.95) by Carolly Erickson retells history from the doomed queen's point of view.
Rattled (Feb., $21.95) by Debra Galant. Chic suburbanites, old-timers, one shady real estate mogul and a rattlesnake face off.
The Terminal Project and Other Voyages of Discovery (Sept., $26.95) by Melvyn Chase offers stories about secrets uncovered, loneliness in the quest for a new life, a new serpent for a new Garden of Eden and more.
UNBRIDLED BOOKS
Angel and Apostle (Oct., $24.95) by Deborah Noyes reimagines the story of Pearl, Nathaniel Hawthorne's character from The Scarlet Letter. Ad/promo.Author tour.
UNIV. OF WISCONSIN PRESS/ TERRACE BOOKS
Setting the Lawn on Fire (Sept., $21.95) by Mack Friedman charts the romantic and work life of a gay Jewish boy traveling through North America.
The Thrall's Tale (Jan., $25.95) by Judith Lindbergh. Three women—a healer, a slave and her daughter—live in the first settlement in Greenland in 985 A.D.
The Widow of the South (Sept., $24.95) by Robert Hicks fictionalizes the story of Carrie McGavock, whose plantation became a hospital during the Civil War. Ad/promo. 15-city author tour.
Seasons (Oct., $21.95) by Bonnie Hopkins. Just as they are about to marry, past loves and present obsessions cause trouble for Jaci and her fiancé. Ad/promo. Author tour.
WESTBOW
Comes a Horseman (Nov., $21.99) by Robert Liparulo. Two FBI agents investigate a series of murders and uncover a 1,000-year-old conspiracy.