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-- 'TIS THE SEASON Stephen King has turned in the first of the two novellas that -- along with two short stories -- will comprise Hearts in Atlantis, the second book in his three-book deal with Scribner. The third will probably be a writer's handbook, though ''he could always come up with something [else],'' says Pat Eisemann, publicity head for the Simon & Schuster imprint. Scribner will publish Hearts in September 1999, the same month they'll bring out 'Tis, Frank McCourt's sequel to Angela's Ashes.
-- KIDS' STUFF Ted Heller, 41, son of Joseph Heller, has just sold his first novel, Slab Rats, to Scribner for a low-six-figure sum. The book, a satire about the magazine industry, was described by those who saw it as ''The Player at Conde Nast.'' Meanwhile, Linn Ullmann, the 31-year-old daughter of Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman, just sold her first novel, a generational saga called Before You Sleep, to Viking, also for a rumored low-six-figure sum. ''It's unusual to buy a first novel based on a fragment of a translated [from Norwegian]manuscript,'' admits Julie Grau, the senior editor who bought the book and plans to publish it next fall. According to one insider who has read the manuscript, the character of the family matriarch, a ''very alluring and sexual woman,'' bears a strong resemblance to Liv.
-- SONG OF SALMAN Now that the Iranian government has lifted its long-standing death threat (fatwa) against Salman Rushdie, we can expect the Satanic Verses scribe to get out there and beat the drum for his new novel...perhaps literally. Holt's marketing department is trying to sell Rushdie agent Andrew Wylie on a joint spring tour with U2, with whom the author spent serious face time researching The Ground Beneath Her Feet, a rock & roll update of the Orpheus and Eurydice story (even popping up on stage, though not singing, during a 1993 concert). ''He has a relationship with Bono, so I don't think it's inconceivable,'' says a Holt spokeswoman. Wylie was en route to the Frankfurt Book Fair and could not be reached, but he has reportedly pooh-poohed the idea in favor of promotional spots with MTV or VH1. ''Next year is the 10-year anniversary of the fatwa, so there's a lot to tie into that,'' enthuses the spokeswoman. Maybe a nice Ayatollah T-shirt?
-- Alexandra Jacobs and Matthew Flamm
