Because as Motoko Rich reports for the New York Times, Charles Frazier has evidently turned in the first half of his new book, THIRTEEN MOONS — which Random House bought 4 years ago for $8 million based on a single-page outline – with the second half to come next week. When the deal was announced (which took him away from Grove/Atlantic, the publishers who discovered him and made COLD MOUNTAIN a huge success) the new book was expected to be delivered in 2005. But Kate Medina, executive editorial director at Random House and Frazier’s current editor, said he had turned in an earlier manuscript and has been working on revisions until now.
Still, don’t feel too bad for Grove/Atlantic, even if THIRTEEN MOONS turns out to be the promised “literary sensation” (or even if it ends up proving the rule of the sophomore jinx.) Because Vintage let the license for the paperback rights to COLD MOUNTAIN expire, G/A got the book back, and Morgan Entrekin says the company plans to publish a new paperback edition of Mr. Frazier’s first book in late September to coincide with the release.