Literary Figures: Novelists

Puzo's new novel is "The Last Don." He is best known for "The Godfather." This new book returns him to that genre: the inner workings of the Mafia. The main character is an old man trying to secure his family's future in an era of legalized gambling, motion picture investments and the threat of government informers. His goal is threatened by familial in-fighting. The two-time Academy Award winner has also written several screenplays, including are all three Godfathers and Superman I and II.

Author Andrew Holleran. His latest novel, "The Beauty of Men" (William Morrow), is about a gay man in his late forties who is obsessed with the beauty of youth and his own mortality. At the same time, he harbors guilt for mourning the loss of his youth when so many around him are dying young. Holleran, whose real name is not known, has written two other novels under the pseudonym and is a frequent contributor to "Christopher Street" magazine.

British author A.S. Byatt. Byatt is known by many Americans for "Possession," a Booker Prize-winning Victorian novel published here in 1990. Her new novel, "Babel Tower," is just hitting the bookstores (Random House). Set in the turbulent 1960s, the book is about Frederica, a young woman involved in a divorce and custody suit, as well as the prosecution of an "obscene" book. "Babel Tower" is the third book in a planned quartet of novels ("The Virgin in the Garden" and "Still Life") set in different mid-century time frames.

British detective author, Lynda La Plante, who created the TV detective series, "Prime Suspect" which stars Helen Mirren as Superintendent Jane Tenneson. La Plante has also published a new crime novel, "Cold Shoulder" about a woman cop on the skids. (Random House) (Interview by Maureen Corrigan)

Novelist Terry McMillan. The film adaptation of her 1992 novel, "Waiting to Exhale" was last year's box office hit.The book sold nearly 4 million copies. McMillan has recently completed her fourth novel, "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" (Viking) which is available in bookstores this week. It tells the story of a 42-year old career woman on vacation in Jamaica who falls in love with a 20-year old unemployed resort worker. According to McMillan, "it's as close to autobiography as I've written in a long time".

Novelist Stephen McCauley was a yoga instructor and travel agent before writing his first novel, "The Object of My Affection". His newest and third novel is "The Man of the House". (Simon & Schuster)

John Updike. America's preeminent writer has written forty-six books, including 17 novels. His latest work is a four-generation saga, a historical novel, "In the Beauty of the Lilies." (Knopf).

Novelist/screenwriter Hanif Kureishi. Kureishi has been termed by the British press a "literary terrorist" for his works which encompass racist and sexual themes. He wrote the screenplays for "My Beautiful Laundrette," and "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid." Both were directed by Stephen Frears. His new novel is "The Black Album," (Scribner). Kureishi was born and brought up in south London; his father is Pakistani, his mother English.

Veteran crime novelist Lawrence Block. He's written 11 novels featuring Manhattan private eye Matt Scudder. His novels have followed Scudder through alcoholism and into recovery through an Alcoholics Anonymous program. His newest Scudder novel, A Long Line of Dead Men will be published in February

Novelist R.S. Jones. His first novel, Force of Gravity was published in 1991. One reviewer called it, "a moving, acutely intelligent story about going insane." He's just published his second novel, Walking on Air (Houghton Mifflin) about a man who is dying of AIDS. A reviewer for The New York Times writes, "The novel's power resides in its almost total refusal to do anything but starkly describe this process, to trace the effects of the disease on this suffering man and his two friends. It rings true from start to finish."