Charles Frazier, author of the best-selling novel "Cold Mountain," agreed to sell the Random House Trade Group the rights to publish a new novel for an advance of more than $8 million, people close to the negotiations said Friday. An advance that large is extraordinary for a literary author like Mr. Frazier, and it is even more unusual because he has written only one previous book and presented only a one-page outline of his next work. In addition, the producer Scott Rudin and Paramount Pictures, part of Viacom, have agreed to pay $3 million for the film rights to the...