Thanks to a friend of DCist, who passed along the info that “Dog Days”, the debut novel of Ana Marie Cox, has been moved from an October 2005 release back to January 2006. The word from Riverhead Books, Cox’s publisher, is that she is “behind.” But given the timing of the normal publishing cycle, “Dog Days” should have been sent to the printer some time in the next four weeks — with the complete manuscript delivered for editing a month or so ago. Perhaps Riverhead are more liberal with their deadlines, but we wonder if the final draft turned in by Cox needed heavier editing than expected. Another possibility is that Riverhead have delayed the book’s publication in order to drum up publicity independent of that other D.C. blogger-turned-author. Everything about this seems a little fishy, especially given Ana Marie Cox’s month-long hiatus to write back in February. DCist emailed Ms. Cox directly, but has not received a reply.

In other book news, be sure to check out this coming Sunday’s New York Times Book review. We’re told that it contains a very, very positive review of “The Washingtonienne”, so positive that it had Ms. Cutler in tears. Jessica, they like you, they really like you!