After a two-week break, I'm resuming the hunt for the interesting books of the fall. It's shaping up as the busiest season for new releases ever.

The list of upcoming fiction is both broad and deep, particularly in new titles by old names. Here's the list, starting with a very familiar name:

"The Widows of Eastwick" by John Updike (Knopf, $24.95). Oct. 31.

A writer comfortable with sequels (the "Rabbit" novels), the 76-year-old Updike resurrects the story of "The Witches of Eastwick," his scandalous and sexy 1984 best-seller, by sending his coven back to the town of its misdeeds.

"Songs for the Missing" by Stewart O'Nan. (Viking, $23.95). November.

A year after his "Last Night at the Lobster" was received with high praise, Pittsburgh's O'Nan, 47, comes right back with his 11th novel set closer to home, the Lake Erie shore in Ohio. Some echoes of Calvary Camp are in this story of a missing girl, a place well-known to kids who grew up in the East End, like O'Nan.

"Golden Grove" by Francine Prose (Harper, $24.95). Sept. 16.

The place is a lake in summer, the main character a teenage girl, the action the loss of a sibling. Shades of O'Nan's novel, but Prose ("Blue Angel") is sure to bring her own subtle approach.

"The Whiskey Rebels" by David Liss. (Random House, $26). Oct. 2.

Also close to home (our back yard, as a matter of fact) is the new historical novel by Liss ("A Conspiracy of Paper"). The Western Pennsylvania rye distillers are up in arms over a federal tax, creating drama on the frontier.

"The Given Day" by Dennis Lehane. (Morrow, $27.95). Sept. 28.

The publisher's betting the farm on the latest from Lehane ("Mystic River"). This 700-page fictional account of Boston is set in 1919, when the police force went on strike, Babe Ruth was still with the Red Sox, a flood of molasses paralyzed the town and postwar unrest sparked violence. Publicity campaign is massive.

"Fine Just the Way It Is" by Annie Proulx. (Scribner, $25). September.

Is there another "Brokeback Mountain" in her latest short-story collection? A selection I read in a recent New Yorker, "Tits-Up in a Ditch," was under-whelming.

"I See You Everywhere" by Julia Glass (Pantheon, $24). October.

Glass ("Three Junes") has mastered the novel of manners, American-style. Her new one also deals with two sisters a la O'Nan and Prose, but covers 25 years in their lives.

"American Wife" by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random House, $26). Sept. 2.

Noses are allegedly twitching at the White House in dread of Sittenfeld's novel about a first lady who sounds a lot like Laura Bush, including a fatal car accident, a president who reads children's books, and religious fundementalism. Sittenfeld's first novel, "Prep," was a popular success.

"The School on Heart's Content Road" by Carolyn Chute. (Atlantic Monthly Press, $24). November.

With "The Beans of Egypt, Maine" in 1985, the sad-faced Chute proved that rednecks flourish north of the Mason-Dixon Line, too. The book was a surprise hit and now she's back with another weird tale in the Maine woods.

"The Eleventh Man" by Ivan Doig (Harcourt, $26). October.

Teammates on a Montana college football team go off to World War II with one of their own ordered to follow their fates. Doig has become the modern-day Stegner of Western literature in some camps, a skilled soap-opera writer in others.

"The English Major" by Jim Harrison. (Grove Press, $24). October.

A self-publicizing foodie dilettante specializing in the game of his native Michigan when he's not writing fiction or poetry, Harrison has fans in several camps. Here he sends his 60-ish hero on the road after his wife dumps him.

"Happy Families: Stories" by Carlos Fuentes. (Random House, $27). Sept. 30.

Former Mexican ambassador to France, the elegant Fuentes is one of his nation's major cultural figures as a diplomat and writer. These 16 stories are inspired by Tolstoy's famous comment on families.

"Man in the Dark" by Paul Auster. (Holt, $23). August.

A retired book critic dreams of a nightmare America, then he has to wake up. Auster is again creating an offbeat universe.