Bestseller

August 27, 2012
Alma Books founder Gallenziâs send-up of the British book world strikes home in the details but rarely penetrates the surface. Dogged writer Jim Talbot is willing to do anything to get published, and over the course of the novel, he does: lying, stealing, cheating, and killingâor at least trying to kill. When his roommates kick him out, he moves back in with his cancer-stricken mother, whose money he has been diverting for several years into his own account in lieu of paying her taxes and medical bills. He then pretends to be a literary agent shopping a scandalous memoir, gaining connections faster than he can write the nonexistent manuscript that he has sold. Meanwhile, after old-fashioned publisher Dr. Charles Randall gets fired from Tetragon, the small press to which heâs devoted his life, he discovers a 15-year-old manuscript by a deceased friend whose work is back in vogueâand decides to take revenge on Tetragon by starting his own imprint. As Jim and Charles grow ever more desperate in their respective attempts at literary success, Gallenziâs (Interrail) satire devolves into absurdity, which is entertaining despite falling a bit flat. Agent: Tim Bates, Pollinger, Ltd.

September 1, 2012
In this deliciously droll send-up of the British publishing world, no sacred literary cow is left unskewered. Gallenzi's publishing experience (including as founder of Alma Press) lends a keen, satirical eye to the beautifully plotted story line. The vaguely unlikable yet eminently readable characters lurch from woe to misery to duplicity to soaring heights to woe again. Multiple-reject hopeful author Jim Talbot finally vows an all-or-nothing approach to getting published, leading to a hysterically perfect chain of crashing events. Eccentric, aging publisher Charles Randall, hopelessly stuck in a past that existed even before his time, struggles to comprehend the slick world of commercial publishing after he's let go from his own press by a corporate toady. Their stories intersect with one another as they also intertwine with secondary yet essential characters who each portray a glib caricature of publishing today in this sly, tongue-in-cheek novel that will leave readers in stitches of laughter.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)