Dear Pete, Although it's not fiction, and thus doesn't fit your query precisely, a new book that you and other Mark Twain Forum members might enjoy checking out is Ralph Wiley's __Dark Witness: When Black People Should Be Sacrificed (Again)__, published April 16th by One World/Ballantine (a division of Random House). Wiley is a former senior writer at __Sports Illustrated__and author of __Why Black People Tend to Shout__ and __What Black People Should Do Now_. His new book is packed with appreciative paeans to Twain. Wiley doesn't always get things quite right, and he's less conscientious than he should be about crediting sources--but his enthusiasm for Twain knows no bounds. (He even quotes six pages from __Tom Sawyer Abroad__in his appendix, and includes a list of his ten favorite books by Twain, and his second ten favorite books by Twain!) Although his past books have been nonfiction, the author's blurb says he's working on a novel. Twain seems to be so central to everything he does, that I can't imagine his NOT being key to whatever fiction Wiley produces. Shelley Fisher Fishkin