FICTION

A CANNIBAL IN MANHATTAN by Tama Janowitz (Washington Square Press: $7.95). Suspected of reverting to his old ways, Mgungu Yabba Mgungu, a former cannibal and former husband of socialite Maria Fishburn, wrestles with the jungles of Manhattan.

FULL MEASURE: Modern Short Stories on Aging, edited by Dorothy Sennett (Graywolf Press: $10). Authors Joyce Carol Oates, Nadine Gordimer, Saul Bellow, et al, write of the dormant strength and renewal found in the elderly.

TRUK LAGOON by Mitchell Sam Rossi (Pinnacle Books: $3.95). The crew of a military submarine is tapped for a covert operation that brands them as traitors. Forty years later, an former naval officer is drawn into the story.

AFTER THE GARDEN by Doris Jean Austin (Plume: $7.95). Story of a young black woman’s maturation and raising a family in the urban North 1940s-1950s.

THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF CLASSIC SCIENCE FICTION: Short Novels of the 1930s, edited by Isaac Asimov, Charles G. Waugh and Martin H. Greenberg (Carroll & Graf: $8.95). An anthology of science fiction by some of the genre’s earliest apostles.

NONFICTION

POLITICS AND MEDIA: Essays by Renata Adler (St. Martin’s: $16.95). Government and media are surveyed by Adler, a former media critic whose writing is described by reviewers as “cool, precise, deft and, often, very funny.”

THE AUSTRALIANS by Ross Terrill (Touchstone: $8.95). Terrill, a Harvard research associate and writer, interprets the history of his native land when it began as a British penal colony.

ALIENATED AFFECTIONS: Being Gay in America by Seymour Kleinberg (St. Martin’s: $8.95). Kleinberg’s personal account is filtered through three levels: sexual orientation, radical politics and cultural influence.

ALBERTA HUNTER: A Celebration in Blues by Frank C. Taylor with Gerald Cook (McGraw Hill: $8.95). At age 82, Hunter, a blues singer, made a spectacular and rare comeback. This biography is based on her private collection of memorabilia, letters and papers.

SELF HELP / REFERENCE

FIT FOR LIFE II: Living Health by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond (Warner Books: $4.95). Food combinations are the underlying principle of this immensely popular but extremely controversial health regimen.

MEGALEARNING: A Course in Enhancing Learning Skills and Applying Knowledge by Ron Gross (Tarcher Books: $10.95). A guide to your personal style of absorbing new information and ideas.

GETTING THE MOST FROM SOCIAL SECURITY by the editors of Consumer Guide (Signet: $3.50). A handy reference to the current laws and regulations governing Social Security and Medicare benefits.