Last week's book sales by L.A. writers or of local interest, from Publishers Lunch Weekly email:

Journalist Christopher Noxon's Rejuvenile: How a New Species of Reluctant Adults is Redefining Maturity "part sociology, part developmental psychology, part absurd comedy." To Crown for six figures.

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's Playing With Boys, to St. Martin's, for a deal in excess of $250,000. She is the former L.A. Times writer whose first novel was The Dirty Girls Social Club.

Amy Wilentz's untitled book about California,"beginning with the chaotic, explosive California recall and the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and broadening out to take a look at the culture of California today, with 'in-the-field reportage, sweeping from elaborate dinner parties with movie people to the anonymous but gigantic developments in the arid foothills of the San Bernardino mountains; from the catalogue-backdrop yuppie towns of Marin Country to the temples of religious sects and the mega churches of the Christian right.'" To Simon & Schuster, for publication in fall 2005.

Louise Krasniewicz and Michael Blitz's Why Arnold Matters: The Total Recall Election and the Termination of Democracy, "a rigorous but lively look at Arnold Schwarzenegger, and what his spectacular rise to power means for all of us." To Basic, for publication in spring 2004.

From Frederick Levy, president of Management 101 in Beverly Hills, Short Films 101: How To Make A Short Film and Launch your Filmmaking Career. To Perigee.

More: Books and authors