HAVEMERCY is a dynamic, imaginative debut of epic fantasy and steampunk by two young women-one a poet, the other an ex-Starbucks barista-who met on the internet. Their first novel introduces us to a world brimming with natural and man made wonders, extraordinary events, and a crisis that will test the mettle of men, the boundaries of magic, and the heart and soul of a kingdom. Scandals are roiling the capital city of Volstov, distracting the citizens from the hundred-years war with their neighboring enemy, the Ke-Han. But thanks to the elite Dragon Corps, the war is all but won. The renegade airmen who fly the Corps' mechanical, magic-fueled dragons are the city's greatest weapon-though one of them is now at the center of its rumor mill. Rook, rider of Havemercy, has insulted a diplomat's wife. To avoid an international incident, the ruling Esar brings in a student to tutor the airmen in etiquette, throwing a sheep into the wolves' den. Meanwhile, the Margrave Royston, a magician with the talent of combustion, has stirred up trouble upon trouble of his own. His affair with a foreign prince has him exiled to the country, where he finds solace in his brother's young teacher. Yet his punishment is soon rescinded, for he is called back to duty to crush the Ke-Han once and for all. But there is something in the air. Rook and Havemercy feel it. On the eve of battle, the Margrave and his protégé, Hal, feel it. They are on the verge of victory-or something unforeseen. Something that could make the most formidable of warriors hesitate, the most powerful of magicians weak, and the most unlikely of men allies in their quest to rise against it... Jaida Jones, born and raised in New York City, is a twenty-year-old student at Barnard College, currently studying modern Japanese literature and film at Columbia. Her poems have appeared in Hanging Loose Magazine, Mythic Delirium and Jabberwocky. A collection of her poetry, Cinquefoil, was published November 2006. Her blog is at ladyjaida.livejournal.com; and she shares a website with Danielle Bennett at www.jonesandbennett.com. Danielle Bennett is a twenty-year-old ex-Starbucks barista from Victoria, B.C. This is her first book. Her online ramblings can be found on her blog, danibennett.livejournal.com. Jaida and Danielle are at work on their next book for Bantam.

On Whitward Street, in a grand old house that's seen magic in better days, the three Harrowell sisters live in peaceful seclusion. But strange and dangerous portents are blowing through the island kingdom of Altania and with them comes a call to destiny one young woman cannot deny. In this enchanting new fantasy adventure, Galen Beckett tells a story so rich in myth, magic, and suspense it weaves an irresistible spell. Of the three Harrowell sisters-romantic Lily, prophetic Rose, and the studious and serious Ivy-it was agreed that the book-loving Ivy would hold the family together and protect them all from financial ruin by their well-meaning but spendthrift mother. It is also Ivy, the eldest and most reasonable, who is the most like their magician father. Poor Mr. Harrowell has for years been trapped in lonely silence in his upstairs study among his books and spells. And while everyone else has given up on him and the magic they blame for his affliction, Ivy alone still believes both in magic-and it's ability to bring her father back. When she comes across a riddle her father left behind long ago she's certain Mr. Harrowell left it as a message especially for her. But what was he trying to tell her and does it have something to do with the silent strangers in black topcoats and hats who periodically appear at the door and of whom her mother will never speak? It's only when Ivy, in a last ditch effort to save her family from penury, takes a job outside the city with the mysterious Mr. Quent, who lives on the very edge of the legendary Wyrdwood, that she discovers the magical fate she shares with a small band of new-found friends. As Ivy's path crosses those of a jaded young nobleman named Dashel Rafferdy, his good-natured and ambitious friend Eldyn Garritt, as well as charismatic highwaymen and transvestite harlequins, spies and revolutionaries, the infamous lord known as The Black Dog and the secret agents of the Vigilant Order of the Silver Eye, Ivy finds it depends on her whether Altania faces a new dawn of wonders-or an everlasting night of horror. Galen Beckett lives in Colorado, where he is at work on his next novel for in this trilogy for Bantam.

SAY GOODBYE by Lisa Gardner
First Serial, British, Translation, Audio, and Performance:
Jane Rotrosen Literary Agency, 212-593-4330 (P); 212-935-6985 (F)

IS YOUR CHILD BIPOLAR: The Definitive Resource on How to Identify, Treat, and Thrive with a Bipolar Child
by Janet Wozniak, MD and
Mary Ann McDonnell, APRN, BC
British, Translation, and Performance:
Kneerim & Williams, 212-765-5070 (P); 212-258-2291 (F)

EVERYTHING NICE by Ellen Shanman
First Serial, British, Translation, Audio, and Performance:
Jane Rotrosen Literary Agency, 212-593-4330 (P); 212-935-6985 (F)

FALLEN by Tim Lebbon
First Serial, British, Translation, Audio, and Performance:
Howard Morhaim Literary Agency, Inc.,
212-222-8400 (P); 212-222-5056 (F)

HOT NIGHTS, DARK DESIRES by Eden Bradley, Sydney Croft, and Stephanie Tyler
Performance: Brown Literary Agency,
239-455-7190 (P); 239-404-9368 (F)

Two of today's brightest stars of dark fantasy combine their award-winning, critically-acclaimed talents in this spellbinding new tale of magic, terror, and adventure that begins when a young woman slips through the space between our everyday world and the one hiding just beneath it… "Always assume there's someone after you." That was the paranoid wisdom her mother hardwired into Jasmine Towne ever since she was a little girl. Now, suddenly on her own, Jazz is going to need every skill she has ever been taught to survive enemies both seen and unseen. For her mother had given Jazz one last invaluable piece of advice, written in her own blood. All her life Jazz has known them only as the "Uncles" and her mother seemed to fear them as much as depend on them. Now these enigmatic, black-clad strangers are after Jazz for reasons she can't fathom and her only escape is to slip into the forgotten tunnels of London's vast underground. Here she will meet a tribe of survivors calling themselves the United Kingdom and begin an adventure that links her to the ghosts of a city long past, a father she never knew, and a destiny she fears only slightly less than the relentless killers who'd commit any crime under heaven or earth to prevent her from fulfilling it. Peter Straub praises Christopher Golden as "…one of the most hard-working, smartest, and talented writers of his generation." And the New York Times Book Review states "Tim Lebbon displays the sort of cool irony and uncanny mood-making that drive the best 'Twilight Zone' stories. Christopher Golden is the author of The Myth Hunters and The Boys Are Back in Town and Baltimore, with Hellboy creator and illustrator Mike Mignola. Visit him online at www.christophergolden.com. Tim Lebbon lives in South Wales. His books include the critically acclaimed Dusk and Dawn.

Lee Child's 2007 Jack Reacher novel, Bad Luck and Trouble, shattered all of his previous bestseller records, debuting at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list and achieving high positions on bestseller lists coast-to-coast, including those for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Denver Post, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Rocky Mountain News, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and Dallas Morning News. And critics nationwide unanimously hailed Bad Luck and Trouble as Child's most high-octane, accomplished thriller yet: "Electrifying... A top-tier Reacher book" (Janet Maslin, New York Times). "A breathless, ultra-cool novel with relentless pacing" (The Cleveland Plain Dealer). Now, in NOTHING TO LOSE there are two lonely towns in Colorado, Hope and Despair, with twelve miles of empty road between them. Jack Reacher is just passing through, minding his own business, looking for a cup of coffee. What he gets is big trouble… and in Lee Child's electrifying new novel, Reacher-a man with no fear, no illusions and nothing to lose-goes to war against a town that not only wants him gone, it wants him dead. Within hours of his arrival in Despair, Colorado, Reacher begins to crack the secrets of its sinister connection to a war that's killing Americans thousands of miles away. Now, between a town and a man, something has to give. And Reacher has never given an inch. Child lives in New York City and France, where he is at work on his next thriller, which Delacorte Press will publish in 2009.

In this marvelous blend of science, history, and astonishing storytelling, an acclaimed journalist explores one of the most powerful forces of nature, from its meteorological origins to its profound influence on human beings across the globe. The odds of being struck by lightning are about one in three million. And yet, this rare phenomenon has inspired both fear and awe for millennia… In this groundbreaking, brilliantly researched book, John S. Friedman probes lightning's scientific, spiritual, and cultural roots. Blending vibrant history with riveting first-hand accounts of those who have clashed with lightning and lived to tell about it, OUT OF THE BLUE charts an extraordinary journey across the ages that explores our fascination and dread in the face of one of nature's most fearsome spectacles. Melville called it "God's burning finger." The ancient Romans feared it as the wrath of God. Today we know that lightning isn't a result of myth and folklore, but a natural phenomenon with a very real cause and effect. So why our eternal fascination with lightning? OUT OF THE BLUE attempts to understand this towering force of nature, exploring lightning's evolution from our earliest civilizations through Ben Franklin's revolutionary experiments to the hair-raising adventures of storm chasers like David Hoadley, who has been chronicling extreme weather for half a century. Friedman interviews a Virginia ranger who has been struck by lightning seven times-and dubbed the human lightning rod-along with two dozen others who tell astonishing tales of rescue and survival. He explores today's amazing storm-tracking technology and offers explanations for why certain people-even entire families-seem to naturally attract lightning. And he charts its profound, life-altering effect on the emotional and religious lives of its victims, along with the three spiritual stages survivors experience. OUT OF THE BLUE tells a remarkable true tale of fate and coincidence, discovery and divine retribution, science and superstition. As entertaining as it is informative, it is a book for adventurers, weather buffs, nature lovers, and anyone who has ever been awed by the sight of a thunder bolt. The Oscar-winning producer of the documentary "Hotel Terminus," John S. Friedman has written for The New York Times and other publications, and contributes regularly to The Nation. The editor of The Secret Histories, he lives in Connecticut.

Booklist declares that "Polly Evans writes travel lit at ground level: noisy, colorful, and entirely delightful. Comparisons to Bryson, Cahill, and Theroux…would not be unwarranted." In this latest adventure, Polly Evans offers readers a stampeding, true story of her journey from timorous equestrian novice to wildly whooping cowgirl-a madcap ride through Argentina that will fascinate travelers and armchair adventurers alike. Polly, as a young girl, dreamed about learning to ride-and in her mid-thirties the obsession returned. Determined finally to saddle up, she set off for Argentina, home of the nomadic gauchos who still gallop through the plains. In this sprawling country, six-year-olds travel to school on horseback. So how difficult could it be? As she learns to sit astride a horse without falling off and befriends the marvelous creatures around her, Polly leaps into the sights and sounds of Argentina past and present: A hair-raising mystery involving Evita Peron becomes a parable about women, politics, and religion; a tango performance in Buenos Aires, an occasion for both sorrow and rejoicing. From wine-tasting in the Andes to exploring the legendary Perito Moreno glacier, from investigating the myth of the gaucho to discovering her Welsh roots in Patagonia, Polly takes us along for an exhilarating, unforgettable ride, as she finally lives out her dream-at a trot, a canter and a gallop. Polly Evans is the author of Delta travel adventures, It's Not About the Tapas, a Boston Globe bestseller and People "Great Reads: Travel" pick, Fried Eggs with Chopsticks; and Kiwis Might Fly. When she's not on the road, Polly, an award-winning journalist, lives in London, where she is currently at work on her next adventure: dog sledding in Canada's frozen Yukon, which Delta will publish in 2009.

Delta's much-praised publication of Goddard's mysteries continues with this critically acclaimed novel, available for the first time in a trade paperback edition. PAST CARING, Goddard's Booker Prize-nominated debut "combines the expert suspense manipulation skills of a Daphne du Maurier romance with those of a John le Carré thriller" (The New York Times). Why did distinguished Edwardian Cabinet minister Edwin Strafford resign at the height of his parliamentary career? Why did the woman he loved so suddenly reject him? And why, years later, should someone go to such lengths-as far as murder-to prevent the truth from being revealed? Martin Radford leaps at the chance to solve the intriguing secret of Edwin Strafford's startling fall from grace. But when his investigation triggers a violent train of events, Martin is swiftly, and inextricably, entangled in the specter of crimes long past but never paid for… Robert Goddard is the author of sixteen bestselling novels, including Into the Blue, Play to the End, Hand in Glove, Borrowed Time, Sight Unseen, and In Pale Battalions, all now available in Delta editions. He lives in England. Delacorte will publish a brand new Goddard novel, Beyond Recall, in 2009.

From "witty and endearing" (New York Observer) to "impossible to put down" (Publishers Weekly), the critics have given elite marks to Diana Peterfreund's Secret Society Girl and Under the Rose. Now, in a wildly captivating new novel, Amy "Bugaboo" Haskel and her fellow Rose & Grave knights are trading cold, gray, hyper-intellectual New Haven for an annual rite of spring in Florida… For Amy, a week of R&R on her secret society's private island should be all fun in the sun-and an escape from an on-campus feud with a rival society that's turned disturbingly personal. But along with her SPF 30 and a bikini, Amy is bringing a suitcase full of issues to remote Cavador Key. Graduation from Eli University looms, not to mention buckets of unfinished business with a former flame and-most pressing of all-the sudden, startling transformation of a mysterious Rose & Grave patriarch from evil to utterly… appealing! Just when Amy thinks Spring Break can't get any less relaxing, an "accident" puts everyone on edge. And that's only the beginning, as Amy starts to suspect that someone has infiltrated the island. With some major Rose & Grave secrets about to be exposed, and the potential fallout enough to take down one of America's most loathsome figureheads, what she doesn't know is that the party crasher is deadly serious about making sure "Bugaboo" doesn't get back to Eli alive… Diana Peterfreund graduated from Yale University in 2001 with degrees in geology and literature. A former food critic, she now resides in Washington, DC, where she is at work on her next "Secret Society Girl" novel.

Mary Ann Schaffer's extraordinary debut novel (already licensed in 11 countries) is a story of friendship, bravery, ingenuity, love, and the power of the written word. In the aftermath of the Second World War, English writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. After one bestseller, she's stumped. Until the day she receives a letter from a man living on Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, who has come across a used book on Charles Lamb with her name in it, and is looking for more information on the author. As they begin exchanging letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his society friends. This eccentric group has formed a special bond through their Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, which was born in the heat of the moment as a cover story when they were caught breaking curfew by German guards occupying the island. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society's members, learning about their lives, their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on all of them. She is especially drawn to Dawsey Adams, the self-contained farmer who first wrote to her, and to the story of Elizabeth, a young woman whose bright spirit and strength live on in the daughter she left behind when she was sent away to a concentration camp. Juliet knows she has found the subject of her next book, and possibly much more, and sets sail for Guernsey, changing the course of her life forever. Written with warmth and humor and as a series of letters, THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY is a celebration of the written word and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

Hannah Tinti's 2004 debut, the short story collection, Animal Crackers, praised by Publisher's Weekly in a starred review as "striking… highly original… gorgeous," was licensed in fifteen countries and was a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her new novel, unflinchingly told, hauntingly imagined, is a searing, lyrical tale about a boy's redemption in the wake of transgression, and the search for a place to call home. In New England in a past century, ten-year-old Ren doesn't know who his mother was, or his father. He's not sure who left him at St. Anthony's Catholic orphanage so many years ago, or how he lost his right hand as a baby. All he knows is that his future isn't promising-surely no one will adopt a boy with such a defect. But then, the dashing, fast-talking Benjamin Nab walks into St. Anthony's and adopts Ren, claiming to be his long-lost uncle. Benjamin is a liar, a cheat, a con artist-and he knows he can turn Ren into a working asset. Taken into a world of scams, thievery, and graveyard stakeouts, Ren wonders if this is his fate... until details of his elusive past emerge, and he begins to find extraordinary acts of kindness, and a yearned for sense of belonging, in the most unlikely of places. With daring imagination and fierce storytelling, Tinti's novel is an unforgettable coming-of-age story. Hannah Tinti's work has appeared in magazines and anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories 2003. She is the editor of One Story magazine.