Coming to your local bookstore soon...

In publishing, where imitation is one way to climb the best-seller list, the search is on for the next America (The Book) — or at least something like it.

Currently in the works:

• Rodale Books plans a September release of New Rules by Bill Maher, based on the segment of his HBO show, Real Time, and filled with sarcastic observations on politics and culture.

• HarperCollins signed a deal this week with two comedians from liberal radio network Air America to take on President Bush, the religious right and the mainstream media. Working title: America (The Nightmare), to be published in the fall.

Sam Seder, co-host of Air America's The Majority Report, and Stephen Sherrill, the show's producer, are the authors of the book.

• Franken, who took on conservative media in his 2003 best seller, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, is writing a satire aimed at the right. Yet untitled, it's to be published in the fall.