Library Journal articles from June 2006

Library Journal archives from June 2006

The "end" of the book: don't write off sustained reading yet.(editorial)(Editorial)
June 15, 2006... THE "TEXT" WAS BOOKS, BUT THE SUBTEXT OF BookExpo America (BEA) was the future of print on paper. Despite the flood of printed books on display and the strong attendance, including 7,324 book buyers, more than a quarter of whom were...

ALC: "push leaders to boost libraries".(Americans for Libraries Council )(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... A new report on public attitudes toward libraries, by the research group Public Agenda, argues that elected leaders too often don't consider libraries a funding priority and even supportive library users don't recognize that libraries face...

Heard.(public libraries)(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... "If you don't like the superstores, it is easy enough to expand your viewing horizons through other means.... Spend more time in public libraries, which offer many of the best features of indie bookshops, including informed staff, diversity,...

Stat watch.(front desk)
June 15, 2006... 87/57 Percentages of college students who have visited the campus library in person and online. Source: College Students' Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources, OCLC

BEA in DC has political flavor: publishers get savvier about library market.(CONFERENCE REPORT)
June 15, 2006... You wouldn't know from the size of this year's BookExpo America (BEA) that the number of books being published had diminished, as R.R. Bowker figures released earlier in May indicated. Spread across 50 aisles and 100 rows on two levels at the...

"John Doe"s speak, finally.(lj news)
June 15, 2006... On May 30, four librarians from suburban and small-town Connecticut--dignified, conservatively dressed fiftysomethings gagged for nearly ten months under the USA PATRIOT ACT--finally got to speak publicly, At a press conference held at...

Day of dialog: from the street to the spirit.(lj news)(Library Journal's annual Day of Dialog)(Conference notes)
June 15, 2006... More than 300 librarians, publishers, and distributors met in a free-for-all at LJ's annual Day of Dialog, chewing over hot titles and trends in areas ranging from street lit to spiritual living. Hosted by LJ Editor-in-Chief Francine Fialkoff...

ALA Rebukes LC over changes.(LJ NEWS)(Library of Congress )(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... Says bibliographic work remains vital service to libraries The American Library Association (ALA) Executive Board has sharply criticized a decision by the Library of Congress (LC) to stop performing series authority work for the...

"No confidence" votes in WA, CA.(LJ NEWS)
June 15, 2006... Unions clash with directors over clustering grievances Union library workers at the King County Library System (KCLS), Issaquah, WA, have voted overwhelmingly (92 percent of those voting) to express "no confidence" in the management of...

Few guides from Project Vote Smart.(LJ NEWS)
June 15, 2006... Communications snafu with ALA strands most PLs until 2008 Project Vote Smart (PVS), a nonpartisan organization that supplies much-appreciated Voter Self-Defense Guides to libraries for distribution, won't be serving as many libraries this...

Congress may block EPA cuts.(LJ NEWS)(Environmental Protection Agency)(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... Library delegation tells agency it needs digitization plan The proposed 80 percent cut in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) library budget (see News, LJ 3/15/06, p. 16) is causing Congress to take notice, especially after a...

Medway, MA, may lose library.
June 15, 2006... Town officials prefer other agencies; Wellesley PL to close branches Medway Public Library (MPL), MA, is on track to close at the end of June, as town officials see the $280,000 savings as a way to help stem an $868,600 FY07 budget...

Calendar.(LJ NEWS)
June 15, 2006... AUGUST 9-12--Pacific Northwest Library Assn., Eugene, OR www.pnla.org 15-19--Nevada Library Assn., N. Las Vegas www.nevadalibraries.org SEPTEMBER 17-19--Maine Library Assn., Augusta mainelibraries.org 20-22--Georgia...

Contra Costa Library System.(Joyce Gunn retires)(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... Joyce Gunn, Manager of two branches in the Contra Costa Library System, Pleasant Hill, CA, has retired. Since 1991, she managed the San Ramon Library. More recently, she added Dougherty Station Library to her management duties. Her librarian...

University of Calgary.(Thomas Hickerson is Director of Information Resources)(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... Thomas Hickerson is appointed to a rive-year term as Director of Information Resources at the University of Calgary, Alta., effective August 1. He is Associate University Librarian for Information Technologies and Special Collections and...

University of Michigan.(Jeffrey Martin is named head)(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... Jeffrey Martin is named Head of the South Asia Division at the Hatcher Graduate Library's Area Programs Libraries, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Martin formerly was Special Collections Librarian at the Cleveland Public Library.

Blackwell North America.(Susan Peterson is CEO)(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... Susan Peterson is the new CEO of Blackwell North America. Peterson has held senior executive roles at Lightning Source and Baker & Taylor (B&T), serving as Vice President of Digital Business and Publisher Digital Business at B&T from 2002 to...

Mary Rasenberger Library of Congress.(Mary Rasenberger has been named Director of Program Management)(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... Mary Rasenberger has been named Director of Program Management for the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program at the Library of Congress (LC). She joined LC in 1992 as a Policy Planning Adviser in the U.S....

Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC).(Mark Sandler is director)(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... Mark Sandler has been appointed Director of the Center for Library Initiatives of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), effective July 17. CIC is the academic consortium of the Big Ten universities and the University of Chicago....

Sacramento Public Library.(Rick Teichert appointed)(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... Rick Teichert is the new Deputy Director of Administration at the Sacramento Public Library, CA, handling finance, facilities, human resources, and information technology functions. Most recently, Teichert served as Chief Operations Officer,...

Obituary.(people)(Obituary)(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... Mary Jane Anderson, former Executive Director of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, has died. Anderson lead ALSC from 1974 to 1982 and was Editor of the ALSC journal from...

Ebooks struggling to find a niche: lack of content and standards and a plethora of platforms are stumbling blocks, but is the future in phones?(infotech)
June 15, 2006... While ebooks in various incarnations have been on librarians' radar screens for roughly a decade, publishers, designers, and business execs speaking at the International Digital Publishing Forum: Connected & Mobile 2006 in New York City, May...

ProQuest "moving forward"--prexy.(INFOTECH)(Interview)(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... To combat the half-truths being bandied about in the press about the company's financial situation and its future, ProQuest president Skip Prichard, in an exclusive interview with LJ, said he "wants librarians to have a clear understanding...

New WorldCat Selection service.(INFOTECH)(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... OCLC and Cornell University are working in tandem on a WorldCat Selection service that they attest "will help libraries save time and money by streamlining the selection and ordering process for new library materials and delivering the...

Turabo University chooses Ex Libris.(Brief article)
June 15, 2006... Puerto Rico's Turabo University, Gurabo, has contracted with Ex Libris for the SFX link resolver to be used in the territory's first virtual library, now in development. The contract marks the vendor's first SFX foray into Puerto Rico and the...

Inmagic best practices Study.(Be Ready: Best Practices for Managing Critical Information Assets)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Inmagic Inc. released on May 17 a white paper, Be Ready: Best Practices for Managing Critical Information Assets (www.inmagic.com/news/press_room/ white_papers/BeReady-WP.pdf), offering seven themes for effective management that it claims to...

One for the Anthropologists.(E-VIEWS AND REVIEWS)
June 15, 2006... SOMETHING IS ROTTEN in the State of Deep-Linking, and in the words of Paddy Chayefsky's Network, "We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore!" It is ridiculous that easy deep-linking to the full text of e-journal articles is...

Fixing library discovery.(DIGITAL LIBRARIES)
June 15, 2006... REGULAR READERS OF THIS COLumn know that I've often taken library catalogs to task for being the "wrong solution" for most user needs ("Library Catalogs: The Wrong Solution," LJ 2/15/03, p. 28). I also haven't taken kindly to making small...

Where democracy happens: Thomson Gale/Library Journal Library of the Year: Salt Lake City Public Library.(LIBRARY OF THE YEAR 2006)
June 15, 2006... The building was the catalyst. "The affirmation of the bond issue vote was huge, with its 68 percent approval margin," says Nancy Tessman, director of the Salt Lake City Public Library (SLCPL). The vote was in November 1998, and the new...

A DIY collection.(YOUR SINE TOOL KIT)
June 15, 2006... Chris Dodge, a renowned alternative pressologist and the librarian at Utne magazine, has been known to say, "Every library should be a special library." At Barnard College, in order to meet this challenge, we decided in summer 2003 to start a...

Liblit.(YOUR SINE TOOL KIT)(Directory)
June 15, 2006... Since becoming addicted to zincs, I have discovered a subset that has consumed my affections far more than any other: those made by and about library workers. These intriguing publications offer a great look into the lives of working...

A miniguide.(zine collection planer)
June 15, 2006... Starting a zine collection at your library is not complicated, but it takes time, teamwork, and planning. The Baltimore County Public Library (BCPL) Zine Collection is in its first year, so this guide focuses on early steps. Although many...

Making "E" visible: to draw patrons past the Googles of the world, we need to revolutionize how electronic resources are promoted.
June 15, 2006... This summer, I helped a Yale grad student writing her dissertation on African American life in the Chicago suburbs. We spent hours adjusting microfilm, photocopying census records and city directories, looking for oral history collections,...

Think trends, not types.(NEXTGEN)
June 15, 2006... WHAT IS IT ABOUT GENERATIONAL issues that gets people's hackles up? To see the email and blog fury fly, all I have to do is drop a word like NextGen or Millennial. It seems like we often run into the same problems trying to wrap our brains...

Look beyond technolust.(BACKTALK)
June 15, 2006... THE LIBRARY FIELD IS OFTEN INordinately entranced by new technological developments. As new gizmos, devices, and software appear in rapid succession, libraries scramble to put them into service, many times before we've even assessed their...

Prepub alert.(Bibliography)
June 15, 2006... FICTION Aboulela, Leila. The Translator. Black Cat: Grove. Oct. 2006. 208p. ISBN 0-8021-7026-9 [ISBN 978-0-8021-7026-2]. pap. $13. Alone in overcast Aberdeen, where she works as a translator, Sudanese widow Sammar falls for Scottish...

Romance.(Awakening)(Plain Jane: A Novel of Jane Seymour)(The Stork Reality)(Four Steps to the Altar)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... AT THE EDGES: IS IT OR ISN'T IT? Though the myth that "romances are all alike" still persists among the unenlightened, those in the know realize that romance is, and possibly always has been, the most inclusive and varied of all fiction...

Arana, Marie. Cellophane.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... * Arana, Marie. Cellophane. Dial: Random. Jun. 2006. c.384p. ISBN 0-385-33664-0. $24. F On the banks of the Peruvian Amazon in the late 1940s, Don Victor Sobrevilla presides over a paper factory and farm, a small village of his workers,...

Ball, Margaret. The Duchess of Aquitaine: A Novel of Eleanor.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Ball, Margaret. The Duchess of Aquitaine: A Novel of Eleanor. St. Martin's. Jun. 2006. c.384p. ISBN 0-312-20533-3 [ISBN 978-0312-20533-1]. $25.95. F Eleanor is just 15 when her father, the Duke of Aquitaine, dies, leaving her Europe's...

Barnett, Jill. The Days of Summer.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Barnett, Jill. The Days of Summer. Atria: S. & S. Jun. 2006. c.368p. ISBN 0-67103535-5 [ISBN 978-0-671-03535-8]. $24.95. F In Barnett's (Sentimental Journey) first novel in four years, the effects of a car accident reverberate across...

Beres, Michael. The President's Nemesis.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Beres, Michael. The President's Nemesis. Medallion. Jul. 2006. 382p. ISBN 1-93281573-2 [ISBN 978-1-932815-73-3]. $24.95. F Forced into early retirement and then fired from his last menial job, Stanley Johnson is at loose ends. His life...

Bird, Sarah. The Flamenco Academy.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Bird, Sarah. The Flamenco Academy. Knopf. Jun. 2006. c.400p. ISBN 1-4000-4084-1. $25. e In this novel about two young women caught up in the world of flamenco, Bird (The Yokota Officers Club) never quite manages the ambitious task of...

Bonilla, Juan. The Nubian Prince.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Bonilla, Juan. The Nubian Prince. Metropolitan: Holt. Jul. 2006. c.258p, tr. from Spanish by Esther Allen. ISBN 0-8050-7781-2 [ISBN 979-0-8050-7781-0]. $24. F The author of three novels, four story collections, a children's book, and...

Coelho, Paulo. The Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Coelho, Paulo. The Devil and Miss Prym. HarperCollins. Jul. 2006. c.224p, tr. from Portuguese by Amanda Hopkinson & Nick Caistor. ISBN 0-06-052799-4 [ISDN 978-006-052799-0]. $24.95. F Tormented by past tragedy and now searching to...

Deaver, Jeffery. The Cold Moon.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Deaver, Jeffery. The Cold Moon. S & S. Jun. 2006. c.416p. ISBN 0-7432-6093-7. $26. F Lincoln Rhyme and his partner, Amelia Sachs, find themselves literally running out of time in Denver's (The Twelfth Card) latest, in which they must...

Fforde, Katie. Restoring Grace.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Fforde, Katie. Restoring Grace. St. Martin's. Jun. 2006. c.352p. ISBN 0-312-35877-6 [ISBN 978-0-312-35877-8]. $24.95. F Grace lives on a lovely but crumbling English estate. Newly divorced, she has no prospects for getting the money it...

Finley, Karen. George & Martha.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Finley, Karen. George & Martha. Verso, dist. by Norton. 2006. 112p. illus. ISBN 1-84467064-3. pap. $15. F "Now say goodnight, Martha, to your housekeeping Gestapo and give the president a blowjob before I invade another country." The...

French, Marilyn. In the Name of Friendship.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... French, Marilyn. In the Name of Friendship. Feminist Pr., dist. by Consortium. Jul. 2006. c.416p. ISBN 1-55861-521-0. $24.95. F In 1977, French made waves with The Women's Room, a novel about women and the strides they had made toward...

The erogenous book zone: four erotic titles that go beyond romance.(Book review)
June 15, 2006... What pushes a romance over the line from simply sexy to outright erotic? You guessed it--sex. While some romances might feature explicit sex scenes between the protagonists, the act usually reflects the larger emotional adventure the couple...

Gien, Pamela. The Syringa Tree.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Glen, Pamela. The Syringa Tree. Random. Jul. 2006. c.320p. ISBN 0-375-50755-8 [ISBN 978-0-375-50755-7]. $24.95. F Six-year-old Lizzie Grace sits in the syringa tree in her South African backyard whenever she's troubled. From there, she...

Hyland, M.J. Carry Me Down.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Hyland, M.J. Carry Me Down. Canongate, dist. by Grove/Atlantic. 2006. c.352p. ISBN 1-84195-740-2. $23. F Reminiscent of Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, this work is a worthy successor to Hyland's...

Jackson, Dot. Refuge.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Jackson, Dot. Refuge. Novelle Festival, dist. by John F. Blair. 2006. c.380p. ISBN 0-9760963-5-8. $24.95. F With its descriptions of the hardships of rural mountain life in an historical setting and a strong Southern woman survivor theme,...

Koontz, Dean. The Husband.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Koontz, Dean. The Husband. Bantam. 2006. c.416p. ISBN 0-553-80479-0. $27. F Mitch Rafferty is just an ordinary guy with a landscaping business until the day he gets the chilling call from kidnappers who have taken his wife, Holly. And to...

Kraft, Eric. Taking Off.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Kraft, Eric. Taking Off: Book One of Flying. St. Martin's. Jul. 2006. c.208p, illus. ISBN 0-312-31884-7 [ISBN 978-0-312-31884-0]. $23.95. F Kraft's (Passionate Spectator) latest pseudo-memoir by Peter Leroy, a quirky, intelligent, and...

Lippi, Rosina. Tied to the Tracks.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Lippi, Rosina. Tied to the Tracks. Putnam. Jun. 2006. c.304p. ISDN 0-399-15349-7. $23.95. F When documentary filmmaker Angelina Mangiamele's production company, Tied to the Tracks, is contacted by Ogilvie College in Georgia to produce a...

Lustbader, Victoria. Hidden.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Lustbader, Victoria. Hidden. Jun. 2006. c.464p. ISBN 0-765-31556-4 [ISBN 976-0-465-31556-4]. $24.95. F Readers who enjoy epic, historical family sagas will not be disappointed with Lustbader's debut, which spans three generations and...

Mitgutsch, Anna. House of Childhood.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Mitgutsch, Anna. House of Childhood. Other. Aug. 2006. c.312p. tr. from German by David Dollenmayer. ISBN 1-59051-186-3 [ISDN 978-1-59051-168-6]. $24.95. F Max Berman's family fled Austria prior to the onset of World War II, leaving...

Nelson, Dorothy. In Night's City.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Nelson, Dorothy. In Night's City. Dalkey Archive. 2006. 114p. ISBN 1-56478-418-5. pap. $11.95. F Published in Ireland in 1982, this work is a brutal, lyrical meditation on the history of abuse shared by Esther and Sara Kavanagh, mother...

Nemirovsky, Irene. Suite Francaise.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... * Nemirovsky, Irene. Suite Francaise. Knopf. 2006. 416p. tr. from French by Sandra Smith. ISBN 1-4000-4473-1. $25. F Nemirovsky (1903-42), a Sorbonne-educated Jewish emigre born into a wealthy Russian family, had planned to write a...

Parsipur, Shahrnush. Touba and the Meaning of Night.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... * Parsipur, Shahrnush. Touba and the Meaning of Night. Feminist Pr., dist. by Consortium. 2006. c.369p. tr. from Persian by Havva Houshmand & Kamran Talattof. ISBN 1-55861-519-9. $25.95. F This book was a best seller when it was published...

Rollins, James. Black Order.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Rollins, James. Black Order. Morrow. (Sigma Force). Jul. 2006. c.488p. illus. ISBN 0-06-076388-4 [ISBN 978-0-06-076388-6]. $24.95. F Ancient philosophies clash with major scientific discoveries in Rollins's (Map of Bones) latest...

Rubenfeld, Jed. The Interpretation of Murder.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... * Rubenfeld, Jed. The Interpretation of Murder. Holt. Sept. 2006. c.384p. ISBN 0-6050-8098-8. $26. F This is a gloriously intelligent exploration of what might have happened to Sigmund Freud during his only visit to America. The tortured...

Scott, Susan Holloway. Duchess.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Scott, Susan Holloway. Duchess. NAL: Penguin. Aug. 2006. c.384p. ISBN 0-451-21855-8. pap. $14. F To some, being maid of honor to the heir's wife might seem like the ultimate in luxury and influence. For Sarah Jennings, whose family has...

Sharratt, Mary. The Vanishing Point.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Sharratt, Mary. The Vanishing Point. Mariner: Houghton. Jun. 2006. c.384p. ISBN 0-618-46233-3 [ISBN 978-0-618.46233-9]. pap. $12.95. F When beautiful, promiscuous May leaves 17th-century England to marry an unknown distant cousin in the...

Shelton, Sandi Kahn. A Piece of Normal.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Shelton, Sandi Kahn. A Piece of Normal. Shaye Areheart: Harmony. Jun. 2006. c.304p. ISBN 1-4000-9731-2. $21. F Eccentric but somehow familiar multilayered characters fill the pages of this richly textured, insightful novel by Shelton...

Summer escapes.(24-Karat Kids)(The Secret Desires of a Soccer Mom)(Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA)(Flirting with Forty)(Class Mothers)(And God Created the Au Pair)(Around the Next Corner)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... With long hot days ahead, the push is on for great summer reading. From sassy novels about PTA housewives to bittersweet tales of midlife love, there's mommy lit for every taste. Goldstein, Judy & Sebastian Stuart. 24-Karat Kids. St....

Smith, Scott. The Ruins.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... * Smith, Scott. The Ruins. Knopf. Jul. 2006. c.336p. ISBN 1-4000-4387-5. $24.95. F A group of young twentysomething tourists vacationing in Cancun impetuously agrees to make an expedition into the wilds when one of their group fails to...

Standridge, Dana. Lessons in Essence.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Standridge, Dana. Lessons in Essence. Shoemaker & Hoard: Avalon, dist. by Publishers Group West. Jun. 2006. c.256p. ISBN 1-59376-109-0 [ISBN 978-1-59376-109-7]. pap. $15. F Teeming with ideas and fresh vistas, this first novel offers up...

Trotter, William R. Warrener's Beastie: A Novel of the Deep.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Trotter, William R. Warrener's Beastie: A Novel of the Deep. Carroll & Graf. Jul. 2006. c.704.p. ISBN 0-76671-328-3. pap. $16.95. F This is two-time Bram Stoker Award nominee Trotter's (The Sands of Pride) third novel and 15th book. Here...

Tyree, Omar. What They Want.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Tyree, Omar. What They Want. S. & S. Jul. 2006. c.432p. ISBN 0-7432-2869-3. $21.95. F Tyree's (Boss Lady) latest novel features male model Terrance Mitchell, who is past 30 but still in peak condition. Gorgeous women throw themselves at...

Winston, Lolly. Happiness Sold Separately.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... * Winston, Lolly. Happiness Sold Separately. Warner. Aug. 2006. 296p. ISBN 0-446-53306-8. $21.99. F Corporate lawyer Elinor Mackey, now 40, wonders why she didn't try to have kids earlier. She and podiatrist husband Ted have only been...

Brooks, Terry. Armageddon's Children.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Brooks, Terry. Armageddon's Children. Del Rey: Ballantine. Sept. 2006. c.384p. ISBN 0-345-48408-8. $26.95. FANTASY In the latter part of the 21st century, the world collapses from environmental neglect and the manipulations of greedy men....

Carey, Jacqueline. Kushiel's Scion.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... * Carey, Jacqueline. Kushiel's Scion. Warner. Jun. 2006. c753p. ISBN 0-446-50002-X. $26.95. FANTASY Born the son of two of the Kingdom of Terre d'Ange's most infamous traitors, Imriel de la Courcel has grown to near-manhood under the...

Duchamp, L. Timmel. Renegade.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Duchamp, L. Timmel. Renegade. Aqueduct. (The Marq'ssan Cycle Bk. 2). Jun. 2006. c.630p. ISBN 1-933500-04-2. pap. $19. SF The invasion of the alien Marq'ssan disrupts the global infrastructure and economy, wreaking havoc among the world's...

Duncan, Dave. Children of Chaos.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Duncan, Dave. Children of Chaos. Tor. Jun. 2006. c.368p. ISBN 0-765-31483-5. $25.95. FANTASY The Bloodlord of the Hrag dynasty of Vigaelia has conquered its rival realm, Florengia, and taken the doge of Celebre's four children as...

Farren, Mick. Conflagration.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Farren, Mick. Conflagration. Tor. 2006. c.400p. ISBN 0-765-31363-4. $27.95. FANTASY Coming from both Eastern Europe and the Middle East and fueled by alien twin gods, the armies of the Mosul now wage war on the rest of the world,...

Huff, Tanya. Smoke and Ashes.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Huff, Tanya. Smoke and Ashes. DAW, dist. by Penguin. Jun. 2006. c.400p. ISBN 0-7564-0347-2. $24.95. FANTASY Rescued from life on the streets by 500-year-old vampire Henry Fitzroy, former street hustler Tony Foster now lives in Vancouver...

Inside and Other Short Fiction: Japanese Women by Japanese Women.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Inside and Other Short Fiction: Japanese Women by Japanese Women. Kodansha, dist. by Oxford Univ. Jun. 2006. 256p. ed. by Cathy Layne. ISBN 4-7700-3006-1. $22.95. F This anthology opens with a foreword by Japanese American author Ruth...

Knight, E.E. Valentine's Exile: A Novel of the Vampire Earth.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Knight, E.E. Valentine's Exile: A Novel of the Vampire Earth. ROC: NAL. Jun. 2006. c.304p. ISBN 0-451-46087-1. $23.95. SF The year is 2072 and the vampiric alien race known as the Kurians, who draw their sustenance from their human...

Modesitt, L.E., Jr. The Hammer of Darkness.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Modesitt, L.E., Jr. The Hammer of Darkness. Tor. Jun. 2006. c.288p. ISBN 0-765-31567-X. pap. $13.95. SF With the discovery of his paranormal powers, Martin Martel is exiled from his home planet, Karnak, and sent to the peaceful planet of...

Monette, Sarah. The Virtu.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Monette, Sarah. The Virtu. Ace: Berkley, dist. by Penguin Group (USA). Jul. 2006. c.448p. ISBN 0-441-01404-6. $24.95. FANTASY Since the destruction of the artifact Virtu--central to the power of the wizards of Melusine--by his sadistic...

The Space Opera Renaissance.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... * The Space Opera Renaissance. Tor. Jul. 2006. c.944p. ed. by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. ISBN 0-765-30617-4. $34.95. SF From the nonstop action and unlikely science of Edmond Hamilton's space adventure, "The Star Stealers," to...

Stross, Charles. Glasshouse.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Stross, Charles. Glasshouse. Ace: Berkley, dist. by Penguin Group (USA). Jul. 2006. c.352p. ISBN 0-441-01403-8. $24.95. SF Demobilized after the latest civil war, Robin awakens in a clinic with most of his memories gone, a new identity,...

Waggoner, Tim. Godfire.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 15, 2006... Waggoner, Tim. Godfire. Five Star: Gale. (The Orchard of Dreams, Bk. 1). Jul. 2006. c.331p. ISBN 1-59414-445-1. $25.95. FANTASY A sudden slumber overtakes the entire population of Athymar. Upon awakening, each person discovers a unique...