Fall has always been the busy season in publishing, with its inevitable crush of titles scrambling for attention and a toehold in bookstores, but at no time in recent memory has there been such a traffic jam of big-name authors unleashing top-drawer books. Already, the October best-seller lists read like a who's who: Mitch Albom, Bob Woodward, Frank Rich, John Grisham, Michael Connelly, John le Carr , Cormac McCarthy, Charles Frazier and Janet Evanovich. In coming weeks, they are likely to be joined by literary rock stars like Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Richard Ford, Thomas Harris and Thomas Pynchon.

Pop quiz: Which "big name author" seems slightly out of place in this New York Times survey of the fall book season? And what paper does he write for? We understand that The Greatest Story Ever Sold is doing well right now, but we're pretty sure that no one moved their publication date because Hot Seat was coming out the same day. At least they had the good taste not to put the book in the photo that ran with the story.

A Crowded Autumn Book Season Presents a Pileup of Name Authors [NYT]