Bantam

NEW YORK -- After a hotly contested auction, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf has sold the world rights of his planned book to Bantam Books for a sum estimated at more than $5 million.In a statement yesterday, Bantam said the four-star general, who commanded the allied forces in the Persian Gulf war, would begin work on his autobiography immediately after his retirement from the Army on Aug. 31.The writer who will work with him on the book, which has no title yet, has not been chosen.Marvin Josephson, the general's agent, said that competition among publishers for the book had been intense but that the final choice had been between Bantam and Random House Inc. A senior editor at Random House said the company had bid $5 million, suggesting that Bantam paid more.

Harford North Stars Bantam took on Howard Grey at the Gardens Ice House in Laurel on Saturday and came home with a 3-2 win. Mason Ledbetter was the leading scorer of the game with two goals, while taking another two shots on goal. Dylan Lapore was the leader in shots on goal this week with four. The North Stars Bantam had 17 total shots on goal. The team has a 3-1-1 record for the season. The team also played a double header on Oct. 22 against the Baltimore Stars. In an early morning game at Ice World, 14 shots on goal led to five goals in a game ending in a 5-5 tie. The evening game at Mt. Pleasant was a fast paced game with the North Stars having 23 shots on goal.

"Vision of the Future,"By Timothy Zahn. Bantam.352 pages. $24.95.In 1991, Timothy Zahn launched the first new book in a saga that had been dormant since the mid-1980s.His "Heir to the Empire" reintroduced science-fiction fans to the wonders of the "Star Wars" galaxy with a thrilling tale about Luke Skywalker, his sister Leia Organa and her husband Han Solo. Zahn's book, the first in a trilogy, jumped onto best seller lists, as fans' wishes for the re-emergence of "Star Wars" tales came true.

Misdemeanor assault and breach-of-peace charges against Jordan Williams, Maryland's 6-foot-10, 245-pound basketball freshman, were dropped Monday in court in Bantam, Conn. Williams, 18, and four other young people had been arrested last month after an altercation among themselves outside a mall in Williams' hometown of Torrington. "We're happy this has been resolved," Maryland coach Gary Williams said in a statement. "Jordan is an outstanding person and a student-athlete who is a great representative of our basketball team."

How's this for a title: "David Letterman's Book of Top Ten Lists and Zesty Lo-Cal Chicken Recipes." And don't forget the "special bonus" inside -- plans from master carpenter Norm ("This Old House") Abrams showing how to make an end table.The nutty $16 hard-cover book collects more than 150 of the Top Ten Lists featured on CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman," such as "Top Ten Signs You Bought a Bad Computer" (No. 10: "Lower corner of screen has the words 'Etch A Sketch' on it") and "Top Ten Rejected Disney Movies" (No. 1: "Swiss Family Buttafuoco")

A Briefer History of Time By Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow Bantam / 176 pages / $18 Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time was a publishing sensation when it came out 10 years ago. The book, which explained the intricacies of physics, spent 72 weeks on The New York Times best-seller list and sold more than 10 million copies. Nevertheless, some folks thought that A Brief History of Time could be, well, briefer. So Hawking and physicist Leonard Mlodinow have responded with this new book.

Ian Ballantine, 79, a prolific publisher who founded three major paperback companies and believed that people would read a variety of books if they were affordable and accessible, died Thursday of a heart attack in Bearsville, N.Y. He and his wife, Betty, launched Penguin U.S.A. in 1939, reprinting imported classics.They left Penguin in 1945 to start Bantam Books, where their first list included "Life on the Mississippi" by Mark Twain, "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck and "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Misdemeanor assault and breach-of-peace charges against Jordan Williams, Maryland's 6-foot-10, 245-pound basketball freshman, were dropped Monday in court in Bantam, Conn. Williams, 18, and four other young people had been arrested last month after an altercation among themselves outside a mall in Williams' hometown of Torrington. "We're happy this has been resolved," Maryland coach Gary Williams said in a statement. "Jordan is an outstanding person and a student-athlete who is a great representative of our basketball team."

Publishers are looking at their bottom lines and at the array of proposals and manuscripts being offered to them, and, with a sense of restraint forgotten in the acquisitive '80s, they are learning to say, "No, thank you."As a result, lists are leaner at most publishing houses, with fewer titles being printed. Publishers say they are looking with greater discretion at book outlines, turning away things they probably would have accepted a few years ago.This appetite control prompted important changes at three publishing houses in the last few months.

New York -- Bill Clinton against George Bush was a "His" and "Hers" campaign for James Carville and Mary Matalin, the odd romantic couple of American politics. He was the top strategist for the victor; she was the deputy campaign manager for the president.Now that the ballroom balloons have all burst and the two have finished a European vacation, they are pitching a hotly sought book about the election and the love that survived it.In a blitz of meetings with New York publishers and editors late last week, Mr. Carville and Ms. Matalin proposed writing tales from inside their respective bunkers, leavened by recollections of their own relationship on the run. They showed the book people a proposed outline -- but not to keep, lest the dozen or so pages be leaked to the media.

The Private Patient By P.D. James Knopf / 354 pages / $25.95 When an author reaches her ninth decade, readers naturally wonder how many more books she'll be able to write. And while P.D. James, 88, doesn't spell out that this is the last Adam Dalgliesh novel, there are subtle clues of twilight descending upon one of the best-admired British detectives of the past half-century. The police commander is ever closer to reaching a definitive arrangement with longtime love Emma Lavenham. He investigates the surprising murder of a woman two days after plastic surgery almost by proxy, handing off most of the grunt work to DI Kate Miskin.

A Briefer History of Time By Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow Bantam / 176 pages / $18 Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time was a publishing sensation when it came out 10 years ago. The book, which explained the intricacies of physics, spent 72 weeks on The New York Times best-seller list and sold more than 10 million copies. Nevertheless, some folks thought that A Brief History of Time could be, well, briefer. So Hawking and physicist Leonard Mlodinow have responded with this new book.

L.A. OUTLAWS -- By T. Jefferson Parker Dutton / 360 pages / $25.95 Nobody in the crime genre writes about relationships like T. Jefferson Parker. Novels like Silent Joe and The Blue Hour and Storm Runners not only capture the impossible incandescence of falling in love but make the reader believe that his protagonists, often strong and guarded in their daily lives, will succumb to turbulent emotions for someone else. So it's a bit of a shame that the interactions between Suzanne Jones, a schoolteacher with a very public secret life as a Robin Hood-like bank robber, and rookie police officer Charlie Hood feel forced and unequal, mostly because Charlie's innocent, somewhat naive manner meshes awkwardly with the almost scenery-chewing personality Jones inhabits as her alter ego, Alison Murrieta.

The Pale Blue Eye Louis Bayard Ten Second Staircase Christopher Fowler Bantam / 356 pages / $24 Books that focus on an impossible crime have fallen out of favor in the mystery genre, but Christopher Fowler does a marvelous job rescuing the old art form - concocting a fiendish plot that tests readers' minds and entertains them thoroughly while developing the repartee between his two delightful protagonists, the octogenarian detectives Arthur Bryant...

"Vision of the Future,"By Timothy Zahn. Bantam.352 pages. $24.95.In 1991, Timothy Zahn launched the first new book in a saga that had been dormant since the mid-1980s.His "Heir to the Empire" reintroduced science-fiction fans to the wonders of the "Star Wars" galaxy with a thrilling tale about Luke Skywalker, his sister Leia Organa and her husband Han Solo. Zahn's book, the first in a trilogy, jumped onto best seller lists, as fans' wishes for the re-emergence of "Star Wars" tales came true.

How's this for a title: "David Letterman's Book of Top Ten Lists and Zesty Lo-Cal Chicken Recipes." And don't forget the "special bonus" inside -- plans from master carpenter Norm ("This Old House") Abrams showing how to make an end table.The nutty $16 hard-cover book collects more than 150 of the Top Ten Lists featured on CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman," such as "Top Ten Signs You Bought a Bad Computer" (No. 10: "Lower corner of screen has the words 'Etch A Sketch' on it") and "Top Ten Rejected Disney Movies" (No. 1: "Swiss Family Buttafuoco")

The Pale Blue Eye Louis Bayard Ten Second Staircase Christopher Fowler Bantam / 356 pages / $24 Books that focus on an impossible crime have fallen out of favor in the mystery genre, but Christopher Fowler does a marvelous job rescuing the old art form - concocting a fiendish plot that tests readers' minds and entertains them thoroughly while developing the repartee between his two delightful protagonists, the octogenarian detectives Arthur Bryant...

I wonder if Annie Somerville stood in the middle of her rows of corn, or in any of her "Fields of Greens," and heard a voice: "If you cook it, they will come."Why not? It worked for actor Kevin Costner, who, as Dyersville, Iowa, farmer Ray Kinsella, heard a similar utterance in the hit movie "Field of Dreams." He built a baseball field; Annie Somerville wrote a cookbook."Fields of Greens" (Bantam, $26.95) is as right as baseball is for summer, given that it is devoted to the cooking of all manner of vegetables.

Ian Ballantine, 79, a prolific publisher who founded three major paperback companies and believed that people would read a variety of books if they were affordable and accessible, died Thursday of a heart attack in Bearsville, N.Y. He and his wife, Betty, launched Penguin U.S.A. in 1939, reprinting imported classics.They left Penguin in 1945 to start Bantam Books, where their first list included "Life on the Mississippi" by Mark Twain, "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck and "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Bowling is for everyone. Take the story of two duckpin bowlers from Pikesville, both setting records, both part of team victories.Jeff Kaplan lives in Pikesville and bowls on Saturday mornings in the National Duckpin Youth Association league."