Between the Lines

THEY DREAM OF BOOK DEALS
His career isn't over, though it has mostly moved to Nick at Nite, but Larry Hagman feels it's time to tell his story. The man who survived a shooting as J.R. on Dallas and a liver transplant five years ago aims to interest a major publisher in Hello, Darlin': Tall (and Absolutely True) Tales About My Life. The tales would range from Hagman's childhood as Broadway star Mary Martin's son through his years on I Dream of Jeannie and Dallas to more recent work like his supporting role in Primary Colors. ''There isn't a time in his life that isn't interesting,'' says the actor's agent, Dan Strone, adding that the admitted onetime LSD user is now ''a 69-year-old Harley-riding grandpa.'' Also making the rounds from Strone's office: a proposal for an autobiography by the popular Irish tenor Ronan Tynan, the same book that appeared to be sold to Warner Books last spring for $400,000. ''Warner wanted the book to be ready for St. Patrick's Day, and Ronan elected to do the gutsy thing, which was write the book himself, which is a longer process,'' says the singer's manager, Ed Kasses. Both Warner and the singer's previous agent, Joanna Pulcini, declined to comment.

NO AXELS TO GRIND?
The father of U.S. figure skating, Dick Button, plans to write his memoir. IMG agent David McCormick is shopping a proposal by the two-time Olympic gold medalist and TV commentator that would combine his life in skating, his career as a TV producer, and his views on skating today. ''He's very outspoken, and he's had an extraordinary life,'' says one top editor who hopes to land the project.

GAO TIME
He won the Nobel Prize for literature this year, but Gao Xingjian didn't have an American publisher until HarperCollins signed up two of his novels at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. Soul Mountain will be published in the United States in January.