Heroes creator Tim Kring is collaborating with literary critic and novelist Dale Peck on a sci-fi/alternative-history trilogy that was sold at auction to Crown yesterday for an advance said to be worth a staggering $3 million.

According to an industry source, the book is set in America, and runs from the 1960s to the near future. The protagonist is a man named Chandler Forrest whose participation in LSD experiments administered by the C.I.A. has given him superpowers.  read more »

Bestselling presidential historian Michael Beschloss, most recently the author of Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How they Changed America, has left Simon & Schuster to sign a deal with Crown, a division of Random House, according to several publishing sources.

Mr. Beschloss' last book for Simon & Schuster was edited by Michael Korda, who has since retired. Before that, he worked with Alice Mayhew. At Crown, sources said, he will be edited by Sean Desmond.  read more »