MUSICAL CHAIRS: Hopping from Doubleday, where he...

MUSICAL CHAIRS: Hopping from Doubleday, where he served as editor-in-chief, to Random House is Sam Vaughan. At Random House, Vaughan assumes the title of senior vice president and editor of the adult trade division. Vaughan served Doubleday for more than 30 years, working with such authors as William F. Buckley, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Garson Kanin, Arthur Hailey, Stephen King, Alistair MacLean, Irving Stone, Gay Talese and Leon Uris.

DOING THE AGENCY SHUFFLE: Putting finishing touches on his autobiography, “On the Run” (Lyle Stuart), former CIA agent Philip Agee has diligently abided by a court order that requires him to submit all material to the CIA for review. The score so far: six chapters down, and not one word censored.

Ever efficient, meanwhile, the Agency itself--in the person of Information and Privacy Coordinator Lee S. Strickland--has written to publisher Lyle Stuart concerning his “27 April ’78 Privacy Act request to the CIA for information on yourself.” Since “we have not corresponded with you since 17 October 1978, we would like to verify that the address we have on record for you is correct. We also would like to be certain that you remain interested in receiving the information you requested.” Just in time for the new year, the letter arrived at Stuart headquarters in Seacaucus, N.J., in the first week of January, 1986.

CALLING ALL SLEUTHS: In celebration of the private eye novel, St. Martin’s Press, in conjunction with the Private Eye Writers of America, has announced a contest for aspiring private eye writers. Open to all professional or nonprofessional writers who have never published a private eye novel and who are not under contract with any publisher to do so, the contest offers a guaranteed advance of $10,000 and publication of the winning manuscript by St. Martin’s in the United States and Macmillan in the United Kingdom. Contest entries must be received or postmarked no later than Aug. 1, 1986, and the winner will be announced by Sept. 30, 1986. Contest rules may be obtained by writing PWA/St. Martin’s Press Contest, at either P.O. Box 1930, Longwood, Fla. 32750 or P.O. Box 1349, Sonoma, Calif. 95476. Manuscripts must be sent to the same addresses.

COVER STORY: It’s red, white and blue, naturally, with a nice pensive picture of the author. But the most striking thing about the dust jacket of David Stockman’s forthcoming book for Harper & Row, “The Triumph of Politics,” is the subtitle: “Why the Reagan Revolution Failed.” The publisher plans a $300,000 advertising and marketing campaign for the book, for which Stockman was advanced more than $2 million.

AND THE PLOT THICKENS: It must have been the big red teaser on the cover of Dr. Thomas Noguchi’s “Coroner at Large” that caught his eye. “Challenges the verdicts in the murder trials of Jean Harris, Jeff MacDonald . . . ,” it read. Well in no time at all, Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald, convicted of murdering his wife and two daughters and the subject of the book and NBC miniseries “Fatal Vision,” was on the phone to Simon & Schuster, wanting to know just how he could contact the former L.A. county coroner. Since then, the two have been in regular contact. Like the former Army physician himself, Noguchi believes MacDonald is innocent.

But Alfred Kassab, MacDonald’s father-in-law, definitely thinks otherwise. Kassab’s relentless efforts to reopen the case in 1979--nine years after it occurred--resulted in MacDonald’s present position behind bars. Kassab also discovered “Coroner at Large,” and has written to Noguchi, calling his efforts--not to mention the book--”criminal.”

STAR STORIES: With praise for his latest literary effort, “As Time Goes By”--the tell-all biography of Ingrid Bergman published in February by Harper & Row--Washingtonian-turned-Santa Monican Laurence Leamer has already set his eyes on his next subject. The object of his next literary intentions, Leamer reveals, will be none other than Marlon Brando.

KIMBALL AND KING: “Firewater Pond”(Putnam’s), Michael Kimball’s well-reviewed first novel, adds a new dimension to the over-the-transom publishing story. After finishing the manuscript, the one-time milkman, stevedore, health-food restaurant proprietor, grammar school music teacher and cable-television-comedy-show-star decided on a whim to send it off to fellow Maine novelist Stephen King. The fact that Kimball had never laid eyes on King--nor had King ever heard of Michael Kimball--was obviously no deterrent. Along with the novel, Kimball included an essay he had written in 1982 for CoEvolution Quarterly (now the Whole Earth Review). The piece was written in the manner of Charles Lamb’s “A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig,” only Kimball’s was called “On Farting.”

Said Kimball: “I knew he got thousands of manuscripts every week and I wanted to get his attention.”

Kimball not only got King’s attention, he also got his publisher. Forwarding the manuscript on to G. P. Putnam’s Sons, King described the author he had just discovered as “humane enough to capture our hearts and wicked enough to make us laugh our asses off.” Of “Firewater Pond,” King reported, “I laughed until I thought I was going to wet my pants. Just sitting here at the typewriter and recalling it, I’ve got a big grin spread on my face.”

With the movie rights to “Firewater” already sold, Kimball reveals he is at work on his next novel, a “weather comedy thriller” that will deal with a milkman and an Elvis impersonator with amnesia. “Firewater,” by the way, was typed in part on a word processor purchased with the insurance money awarded to Kimball’s wife after she was run over by a highway department trailer loaded with lawn mowers. Really.

AWARDS, AWARDS, AWARDS: Patricia McLachlan’s “Sarah, Plain and Tall” (Harper & Row) has won the 1985 Newberry Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. “Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun,” by Rhoda Blumberg (Lothrop, Lee & Shepard), and Gary Paulsen’s “Dogsong” (Bradbury Press) were selected as Newberry honor books.

And at the American Library Assn.’s midwinter meeting in Chicago, the Caldecott Medal for most distinguished picture book of 1985 was presented to Chris Van Allsburg, illustrator for “The Polar Express” (Houghton Mifflin). Caldecott honor awards went to “The Relatives Come,” illustrated by Stephen Gammell (Bradbury Press), and “King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub,” illustrated by Don Wood (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich).