Publishers Weekly articles from April 2001

Publishers Weekly archives from April 2001

ABA Members Rally Around Settlement.(American Booksellers Association suit against Barnes & Noble and Borders)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... While disappointed not all goals were met, most members support association's action IN THE WEEK SINCE the settlement of the suit brought by the ABA against Barnes & Noble and Borders, reaction in the industry has varied widely, and many...

People.(Amy Rhodes joins Rodale Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Rhodes to Join Rodale As part of its effort to expand its trade publishing program, Ro dale Inc. has named Amy Rhodes v-p and publisher of its trade e books division. Rhodes, who will start her job May 14, will report to Rodale president...

Gemstar Deal to Buy Versaware Falls Through.(Gemstar-TV Guide)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... ACCORDING TO REPORTS in the Jerusalem Post and confirmed by PW, Gemstar-TV Guide has pulled out of a deal to acquire Versaware, an e-publishing services provider and software developer with offices in the U.S., Israel and India. Sources...

No Spinoff for PubEasy; Clifton Departs, Others to Follow.(Vista International to keep PubEasy; CEO Peter Clifton resigns)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... VISTA INTERNATIONAL has scrapped plans to spin off PubEasy, its e-commerce service, as a separate company. Last September, Vista said that in order to raise more capital to grow the company, it was talking to a number of parties about...

Revenues Rise 8% at Simon & Schuster.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... A REVENUE INCREASE of 8%, to $121.9 million, helped Simon & Schuster rebound from a loss before taxes, depreciation and amortization of $1.7 million in the first quarter of 2000, to a positive EBITDA of $2 million for the first quarter ended...

Amazon.com Focuses On Profitability.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... REVENUES IN AMAZON.COM'S book/music/video group rose 2% in the first quarter ended March 31, 2000, to $409.6 million, the slowest growth rate posted by the group to date. But company executives were quick to note that the group's gross profit...

Fromm to Shut NYC Office.(Fromm International closing office in New York, New York)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... FROMM INTERNATIONAL will close its U.S. office May 31 when company founder and publisher Leo Fromm retires. The German-based Fromm International established an office in New York City in 1980 and Fred Jordan has served as its executive...

Government Sets Terms in Indigo-Chapters Merger.(Canadian)
April 30, 2001... THE POTENTIAL MERGER of Chapters Inc. and Indigo continues to move forward now that Canada's Competition Bureau has filed an application for a consent order with the Competition Tribunal dealing with concerns raised by the proposed merger....

'Solid Year' Predicted for MHC Education Group.(McGraw-Hill Companies)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... MCGRAW-HILL COMPANIES chairman Terry McGraw told analysts in a conference call earlier this month that a "solid year is shaping up" in the company's education business. Revenues in the education group rose 30.2% in the first quarter ended...

Nelson Weighs Sale of Gift Unit.(Thomas Nelson's C.R. Gibson unit)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... As part of what it said is a plan to focus on its core publishing businesses, Thomas Nelson has hired UBS Warburg to help the company evaluate strategic alternatives for its C.R. Gibson gift division, including the possible sale of the unit....

Bennett New President Of Of iUniverse.com.(Doug Bennett)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... DOUG BENNETT, longtime executive with Macmillan, has been named president and chief operating officer of iUniverse.com. In his new position, Bennett will oversee the day-to-day operations of the digital content technology and services...

Patterson Deal: All for Ballantine.(Richard North Patterson signs hardcover book contract with Ballantine)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Richard North Patterson, one of the brand names among thriller writers, with seven consecutive bestsellers to his credit, is shifting his prime allegiance from Knopf to Ballantine, which has done all his books in paperback. Ballantine...

Wall Street Warnings from Levitt.(former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt, Jr. signs book contract)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission Arthur Levitt will write his first book, for Pantheon, warning of the dangers lurking for the unwary investor, according to an announcement by Knopf Publishing Group president Sonny...

Home on the Range with Sandra.(Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor signs contract for book)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... A memoir by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor that describes the history of her cattle-ranching family over three generations, and her early life on her family's Lazy B ranch in Arizona, has been signed at Random House, where...

McGraws, Pere et Fils, to S&S.(Phillip McGraw and Jay McGraw sign book deals with Simon and Schuster)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... In an unusual pair of buys, different imprints at the same publisher have made multibook deals with a famous father and his slightly less famous son. Dad is Dr. Phillip McGraw, an Oprah! regular, whose Life Strategies and Relationship Rescue...

Jennifer Lyons.(Writers House agent signs contract with Grove/Atlantic for book by Banana Yashimoto)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Jennifer Lyons at Writers House has sold a new novel by Japanese novelist Banana Yashimoto to Morgan Entrekin at Grove/Atlantic, where it will be edited by Amy Hundley. It's called Tsugumi, and is already a bestseller in Japan; Entrekin took...

Wendy Hubbert.(Putnam buys book by Katharine Fishman)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Wendy Hubbert at Putnam has bought a book about a year in the life of five young students at the Alvin Ailey Dance School, world rights, from agent Paul Cirone at Aaron Priest. It's by journalist Katharine Fishman and Hubbert bought it within...

Judge Blocks 'Wind Done Gone'; HM Appeals.(copyright infringement allegations; Houghton Mifflin Co.)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... DESPITE THE SUPPORT of various literary figures and industry organizations backing the publication of Alice Randall's The Wind Done Gone, the controversial forthcoming novel based on Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, a district court...

'Good Start' at HM.(Houghton Mifflin financials)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... THE YEAR got off to a "good start" at Houghton Mifflin, and company chairman and CEO Nader Darehshori observed that the "educational publishing environment remains favorable," with state funding staying strong despite the weakening economy....

Daly Named BISG Director.(Frank Daly of Book Industry Study Group)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Frank Daly has been named of the new executive director of the Book Industry Study Group, succeeding longtime BISG director Sandy Paul, who stepped down earlier this year. Daly has spent the bulk of his career at Baker & Taylor, where he most...

Arion Press Survives And Thrives.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... FINE-PRESS publisher Arion Press, and its sister company M&H Type, the nation's last fully functioning type foundry, moved to new digs at the former steam plant in San Francisco's Presidio Park earlier this year, bringing to an end a saga of...

SMP Author Copies Kingsolver Text.(book written by Melany Neilson and published by St. Martin's Press has similarities to work by Barbara Kingsolver)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... ST. MARTIN'S PRESS has acknowledged that Melany Neilson's novel The Persia Cafe contains a number of passages that appear to be copied from sections of Barbara Kingsolver's bestselling novel The Bean Trees. Frances Goldin, Kingsolver's...

Mackey V-P of Content at Franklin.(Elizabeth Mackey; Franklin Electronic Publishers)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... FRANKLIN ELECTRONIC PUBLISHERS has appointed Elizabeth Mackey v-p of content. In her newly created position Mackey will oversee the acquisition of electronic rights to books and periodicals for Franklin's line of e-books, including the...

New Author Initiatives Set.(author autograph sessions at BookExpo America)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... THE TRADITIONAL author autographing sessions held during BookExpo America will be loosely grouped by genre this year, in order to give booksellers and other attendees the chance to plan their day around meeting particular authors. Children's...

Correction.(dates for World Education Market)(Correction Notice)
April 30, 2001... The correct dates for the World Education Market conference are May 21-24, not May 18-21 as reported in our March 12 issue.

Prose Prize Profits.(how well Pulitzer Prize winning books are doing)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Winning the Pulitzer Prize almost always offers more than just literary glory. It can also have a very strong effect on a book's bottom line. Three of the 2001 winners are proof. The fiction winner, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay...

Clark's Spark Marks.(Mary Higgins Clark's 'On the Street Where You Live' tops best-seller list)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Clark's Spark Marks...the #1 spot. You can set your bestseller clock each spring for a new Mary Higgins Clark winner. The bestselling mystery author regularly lands a book on the top of the charts in the late April/early May time span. Her...

Somers No Bummer.(book by Suzanne Somers enters best-seller list)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Following the old adage, one could say that the third time's a charm for Suzanne Somers's diet book #3. One could say it, that is, if it weren't for the fact that her first two books have already demonstrated that they've got, er, legs. Eat...

The Next New Hope?(print-on-demand services offered by booksellers)
April 30, 2001... The benefits of print-on-demand are numerous for this bookseller/midlist author Susan Taylor Chehak has a unique perspective on the publishing industry. She is not only the owner of her own five-year-old bookstore, inxpot, in Keystone,...

Last Columbus Little Professor Closes.(Columbus, Ohio; Little Professor Book Centers)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... For more than 30 years, brothers John and George Gaylord were the first and last word in bookselling in the Columbus, Ohio, area. At one point, the two owned seven Little Professor Book Centers in Columbus and Cincinnati. On Monday, the Lane...

The Book's the Ticket.(marketing success of Malaprop's Bookstore and Cafe, Asheville, North Carolina)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... The folks at Malaprop's Bookstore & Cafe in Asheville, N.C., like those at many other independents, find author appearances to be an important tool for generating sales and interest. But although the store has gained national notice with two...

PMA Report Shows Returns Total $7.1 Billion.(Publishers Marketing Association report on book returns)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Returns total $7.1 billion annually for the book business as a whole, and small publishers alone account for $1.95 billion in returns, according to a new 41-page report on book returns and their impact on small presses commissioned by...

Sidelines With a Twist.(sideline products made for books, to be sold at bookstores)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... A tantalizing sampling of traditional and alternative sideline products What's a bookmark, journal, message board and reading lamp all in one? The new Audio Itty Bitty Book Light, of course. Those clever folks at Zelco Industries, Inc.,...

A Busy Bologna.(Bologna Children's Book Fair)
April 30, 2001... Fiction stirs worldwide interest, as publishers convene for the 38th annual children's book fair With 1,449 publishers exhibiting from a total of 75 countries, this year's Bologna Book Fair got off to a strong start, with the spring...

Where Do We Go from Here?(computer publisher conferenc)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... At Waterside, computer publishers consider the next step: not books, but customer services Computer publishers and authors came to the 11th Annual ,Waterside Conference in San Diego April 5 dazed and down-hearted, and left three days...

Computer Bestsellers.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
April 30, 2001... Operating Systems 1 Windows 98 for Dummies. Andy Rathbone. Hungry Minds, $19.99 ISBN 0-76450-261-1 2 Windows Millennium: The Missing Manual. Pogue. O'Reilly & Associates, $19.95 ISBN 0-59600-009-X 3 Mastering Windows 2000...

On Becoming (and Remaining) Handy.(book publishing)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
April 30, 2001... Pricing, the Internet, a weakening economy--these topics and more are discussed by a variety of industry mavens Betty Rice Fluff Has Lost Its Appeal For Betty Rice, editorial director of Hearst Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, the...

Charles Nurnberg Once Ugly Ducklings, Now Swans.(Sterling Publishing Co. executive discusses improvements in publishing of craft books)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... If there's one thing that's changed tar the better in craft book publishing, believes Sterling executive v-p Charles Nurnberg, it's the look of the books themselves. "We used to do some of the ugliest craft books known to man," remembers...

Jane Hamada Crafts Books Attract a Passionate Audience.(books published by Martingale and Co.)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... From the viewpoint of Martingale & Company, a leading publisher of high-end quilting-instruction books, the major market change in recent years has been not the Internet (which it views as a strong but friendly force), but where the company...

Lauren Shakely Author Branding Is Big Business.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... "At Clarkson Potter," says senior v-p and editorial director Lauren Shakely, "we've been doing lifestyle/decorating books for 20 years." During that time, one of the biggest changes she's observed is that Clarkson Potter books have become a...

Todd Hensley Providing "a Ton of Content" on the Web.(C&T Publishing)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Quilting is hot, hot, hot. According to the recent Quilting in America 2000 survey, notes Todd Hensley, publisher of C&T Publishing, American quilters spend some $1.84 billion annually on their hobby -- a whopping 51% increase since...

Harriet Pierce Publishing into a Strong Demographic.(Watson-Guptill Publications publishes craft books)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... This particular corner of the market has always been an integral part of Watson-Guptill Publications' program, says Harriet Pierce, v-p of marketing and associate publisher. "We started out over 60 years ago doing books on art...

Mikyla Bruder Teen Arena's the Current Hot Spot.(Chronicle Books publishes craft books)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... What Chronicle brings to the table in terms of crafts and home decor "is this great combination of affordability and style," says editor Mikyla Bruder. "We publish beautiful books at an affordable price, and I think that's to a certain extent...

Jim Childs Partnering with His Authors.(Taunton Press)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Taunton Press, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last fall, is experiencing what publisher Jim Childs characterizes as "very nice growth. In the four years since I've been here, our sales have doubled. In recent years, the whole home area...

Dorsey Mills Books Complement the Crafts Magazines.(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... The "Martha Stewart phenomenon" has had an enormous impact on the crafts world, says Dorsey Mills, associate editor at St. Martin's Press, describing the publisher's backlist as a "wonderful" collection of mainly knitting and origami titles...

Club Scouts.(book clubs devoted to crafts)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Adding a really creative punch to the phrase "America the Beautiful," nearly a half-million people fill their time with the artistic activities that B.J. Berti and Denise McGann suggest. Editorial directors, respectively, of Crafter's Choice...

Paul Feldstein Boomers Are Broadening This Market.(home decoration books)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... "We have a unique perspective here in North Pomfret, Vermont," begins Paul Feldstein, managing director of Trafalgar Square Publishing. "We are both a publisher and a distributor of British publishers. We don't originate any crafts or...

The Wandering Journalist.(Bruce Feiler discusses his research techniques)(Interview)
April 30, 2001... Bruce Feiler has made a career out of joining other people's worlds, then writing books to report to the rest of us on his stints of honorary citizenship. Learning to Bow chronicled his year teaching high school in a small Japanese town in...

ARROYO.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... SUMMER WOOD. Chronicle, $22.95 (300p) ISBN 0-8118-3094-1 Willie Lee Woolston, a down-and-out blues singer, hopes to retrieve something she left behind in Los Fuegos, a small New Mexican town she once hitchhiked through. What she...

THE UP AND COMER.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... HOWARD ROUGHAN Warner, $23.95 (327p) ISBN 0-446-52666-5 The strain of living an excessive, brazen, lavishly upper-tier Manhattan life in an incredibly self-centered, every-man-for-himself world" takes a disastrous toll on the narrator of...

MISCONCEPTION.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... ROBERT L. SHAPIRO AND WALT BECKER. Morrow, $25 (320p) ISBN 0-688-17685-2 Best known as a member of O.J.'s Dream Team, attorney Shapiro now teams up with fiction writer Becker (Link) for this issue-driven legal thriller. Though the plot...

BATTLE LINES.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... JAMES REASONER. Forge, $24.95 (384p) ISBN 0-312-87345-X It's January 1941, and four young friends are getting ready to enlist at the beginning of this fictional equivalent of a TV miniseries, a novel that feels like exactly what it...

SADIE'S SONG.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... LINDA HALL. Multnomah, $10.99 paper (300p) ISBN 1-57673-659-8 In this haunting tale, a seasoned author (Margaret's Peace) explores the mind of a domestic violence victim, inviting readers to peer in at Sadie's "marriage full of...

VISIBLE SPIRITS.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... STEVE YAREROUGH. Knopf, $23 (288p) ISBN 0-375-41 159-3 * The South depicted in Steve Yarbrough's haunting new novel irresistibly calls to mind Yeats's famous lines, "the best lack all conviction, while the worst/are frill of passionate...

CHALKTOWN.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... MELINDA HAYNES. Hyperion/Theia, $23.95 (336p) ISBN 0-7868-6656-X Undisciplined floods of off-kilter prose choke this fitfully lyrical second novel of affliction and redemption in early 1960s Mississippi. Haynes, a Mississippi native and...

LOVE AND MODERN MEDICINE: Stories.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... PERRI KLASS. Mariner, $13 paper (240p) ISBN 0-618-14946-5 The frustrations and rewards of modern domestic life provide the context for the 11 stories in this collection. Most of the characters are parents--new or...

HIGH MAINTENANCE.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... JENNIFER BELLE. Riverhead, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 1-57322-185-6 Brimming with Gotham references, weird but lovable characters and typical urban scenes, Belle's second novel (after Going Down, which won her the title of Entertainment Weekly's...

THE ROAD BUILDER.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... NICHOLAS HERSHENOW. Putnam/Blue Hen, $25.95 (528p) ISBN 0-399-14754-3 Carefully detailed yet hazily dreamlike, this lengthy first novel convincingly depicts life in a remote and isolated Central African village, as told by an intelligent...

THE DARK ROOM.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... RACHEL SEIFFERT. Pantheon, $24 (336p) ISBN 0-375-42104-1 Three harrowing stories of people caught in the violent snare of Nazi Germany make up this evenly and unemotionally narrated first novel by an English woman living in Germany. Each...

A SOLDIER'S DUTY.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... THOMAS E. RICKS. Random, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0-375-50544-X In this brisk and assured fiction debut, set in a near-future Washington, D.C., Washington Post Pentagon correspondent Ricks (author of Making the Corps, an account of boot-camp...

ONYX.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... FELIC PICANO. Alyson, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 1-55583-640-2 In the 20 years since the emergence of AIDS as a national health crisis, few writers have chronicled the disease's enormous impact on the nation's social and cultural landscape as has...

FIVE QUARTERS OF THE ORANGE.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... JOANNE HARRIS. Morrow, $25 (320p) ISBN 0-06-019813-3 If Harris's previous novel, Chocolat, was an adorably sweet morsel of French village lore, then this, her third, is a richer, more complex dessert wine. Still using her arsenal of...

CARRY ME ACROSS THE WATER.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... ETHAN CANIN. Random, $23.95 (224p) ISBN 0-679-45679-1 August Kleinman, the protagonist at Canin's (For Kings and Planets) latest novel, is 78 years old, rich and wise from a life filled with accomplishments and heartache. Yet as this...

THE UNKNOWN SIGRID UNDSET: Jenny and Other Works.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... SIGRID UNDSET, EDITED BY TIM PAGE, TRANS. FROM THE NORWEGIAN BY TIINA NUNNALLY AND NAOMI WALFORD. Steerforth (PGW, dist.), $30 (424p) ISBN 1-58642-021-6 Norwegian writer Undset (1882-1949) won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928...

OUR LADY OF THE LOST AND FOUND.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... DIANE SCHOEMPERLEN. Viking, $24.95 (338p) ISBN 0-670-89977-1 Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary have numbered in the millions over the 2,000 or so years since she gave birth to Jesus Christ. This hook, which the author assures us is...

THE HORUS ROAD.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... PAULINE GEDGE. Soho, $26 (528p) ISBN 1-56947-236-X Chronicling the struggle between Egypt's native kings and the foreign Setiu rulers during the 12th dynasty, Gedge's Lords of the Two Lands trilogy sweeps to completion in this hefty final...

BAD GIRL CREEK.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Jo-ANN MAPSON. Simon & Schuster, $24 (336p) ISBN 0-7432-0256-2 The bestselling author of such hits as Hank & Chloe and Blue Rodeo launches a trilogy with this sentimental novel of communal life and reinvented family, centering on four...

FINAL TARGET.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... IRIS JOHANSEN. Bantam, $24.95 (340p) ISBN 0-553-80094-9 At the center of Johansen's latest suspense thriller (after The Search) is the Wind Dancer, a priceless gold statue of the winged horse Pegasus. The statue has been in the...

THE BOOK OF CAIN.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... HERB CHAPMAN. Carroll & Graf, $25 (396p) ISBN 0-7867-0849-2 Delving into the pathology of violent crime and victimization, Chapman creates a memorable psychopath in this suspenseful debut. The killer is Isaac Drum, a misfit who suffers...

GUILTY MIND.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... IRENE MARCUSE. Walker, $23.95 (240p) ISBN 0-8027-3354-9 Was Benno Servi having an affair with his babysitter, Ellen Chapman? That's what the police suspect after Benno's wife, Anita, finds grad student Ellen with a screwdriver plunged...

THE WIDTH OF THE SEA.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... MICHELLE CHALFOUN. HarperCollins/Cliff Street, $25 (336p) ISBN 0-06-019908-3 Earnest and closely observed, Chalfoun's second novel (after Roustabout) chronicles the lives of a small crew of fishermen and their families, who endure...

THE LONG JOURNEY BACK.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... ROBERT MENDELSOHN. Prion (Trafalgar, dist.), $12 paper (218p) ISBN 1-85375-199-5 A bizarre kidnapping leads to a series of startling revelations for a successful businessman in Mendelsohn's latest (after The Parting Gift, etc.)--a murky,...

FORT BENNING BLUES.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... MARK BUSBY. Texas Christian Univ., $24.50 (256p) ISBN 0-87565-238-7 Like his protagonist, Jefferson Bowie Adams II, Busby attended Officer Candidate School in Fort Benning, Ca., in the early 1970s. His first novel presents Vietnam from an...

THE BLUE NOWHERE.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... JEFFERY DEAVER. Simon & Schuster, $26 (432p) ISBN 0-684-87127-0 * How do you write a truly gripping thriller about people staring into computer screens? Many have tried, none have succeeded--until now. Leave it to Deaver, the most clever...

ROUGH MUSIC.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... PATRICK GALE. Ballantine, $25 (368p) ISBN 0-345-44236-9 Gale (Tree Surgery for Beginners) is an English novelist with a particular gift for family dynamics. Cleverly structured and sophisticated in its treatment of time, his latest novel...

THE SONG OF THE EARTH.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... HUGH NISSENSON. Algonquin, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 1-56512-298-4 Nissenson (The Tree of Life, etc.) creates a Rimbaud-like figure for the 21st century in a bizarre mock biography that supports the notion that art can't be taught--although...

NEVER COUNT OUT THE DEAD.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... BOSTON TERAN. St. Martin's/Minotaur, $23.95 (366p) ISBN 0-312-27115-8 Award-winning crime novelist Teran jars the soul with this chaotic, murderous tale set in a sunbaked, nightmarish Los Angeles County. Dee Storey is a 28-year-old speed...

THE BOMBER.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... LIZA MARKLUND. Pocket, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 0-7434-1783-6 The problem with a lot of thrillers is that the main characters seem to exist in a world in which thriller novels don't exist, so suspicious actions that send off loud alarm bells in...

SHARK MUTINY.(Review)
April 30, 2001... PATRICK ROBINSON. HarperCollins, $25 (480p) ISBN 0-06-019631-9 The fifth in a series of naval technothrillers that includes Nimitz Class and H.M.S. Unseen, Robinson's latest offers little more than tired anti-Beijing paranoia and...

THE BEARDLESS WARRIORS.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... RICHARD MATHESON. Forge, $13.95 paper (320p) ISBN 0-312-87831-1 Originally published in 1960, this early novel by bestseller-list veteran Matheson (What Dreams May Come; I Am Legend) was probably inappropriately classified upon its...

PARTING GIFTS.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... CHARLOTTE VALE ALLEN. Mira, $19.95 (384p) ISBN 1-55166-853-X A poignant story of parental love propels bestselling author Allen's 35th novel. A newly widowed British costume designer, Kyra Latimer, 38, is confronted, on the day of her...

THE GARDENS OF COVINGTON.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... JOAN MEDLICOTT. St. Martin's/Dunne, $23.95 (352p) ISBN 0-312-27555-2 The ladies are at it again in this sequel to Medlicott's successful debut, The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love. Amelia, Grace and Hannah are now happily ensconced...

THIS SIDE OF ETERNITY.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... ROSALYN MCMILLAN Free Press, $24 (320p) ISBN 0-684-86288-3 Racial bigotry, poverty, infidelity, mental illness, murder, life-threatening illness, alcoholism and gambling addiction figure prominently in McMillan's latest chronicle...

May Publications.(Review)(Brief Article)
April 30, 2001... Japanese novelist and essayist Yokomitsu Riichi (1898--1947) first published Shanghai serially between 1928 and 1931. Filled with beautiful and disturbing imagery, it focuses on the lives of a group of Japanese expatriates living in Shanghai,...