Publishers Weekly articles from April 2002

Publishers Weekly archives from April 2002

Reader's Digest to acquire Reiman Publications: Addition brings $68 million in book sales, 19 million customers. (News).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... IN A MOVE to reinvigorate Reader's Digest's core magazine and Books and Home Entertainment businesses, the slumbering giant has reached an agreement to acquire Reiman Publications for $760 million, the largest purchase in RD's history. Reiman,...

The Coriolis Group closed down. (Market Conditions).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... HAIGHTS CROSS COMMUNICATIONS, majority owner of the Coriolis Group, shut clown the Scottsdale, Arix., computer book publisher March 29. Peter Quandt, Haights Cross chairman, said the deep slump in the computer book market left the company with...

Riggio presses ahead with price reform. (The Price is Right).(Barnes & Noble)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... BARNES & NOBLE chairman Len Riggio's crusade to convince publishers to lower book prices is beginning to be heard by publishers, although some are confused exactly how they can please the head of the nation's largest bookselling company. "The...

Publishing Mills merges with New Millennium. (Audio Publishing).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... THE PUBLISHING MILLS, the independent spoken-word audio producer founded by Jessica Kaye, is merging its operations into New Millennium Entertainment. Under the agreement, the Publishing Mills will continue its own publishing program as an...

Soft Library market weakens sales at Millbrook. (2nd-Quarter Results).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... A DECLINE IN school and library sales that Millbrook Press first began to see in the quarter ended October 31,2001, accelerated in the second period and, as a result, total revenues in the quarter ended January 31 fell 19.6%, to $4.3 million....

Sales up, losses cut at WRC media. (Results 2001).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... WRC MEDIA INC., the holding company whose primary properties are CompassLearning and Weekly Reader, reported that total revenues for 2001 rose 5.8%, to $231.5 million. The loss from operations was cut to $13 million, from $26.4 million, while...

Literary lion. (News).
April 1, 2002... Caption: New York Public Library president Paul LeClerc awarded the NYPL's Young Lions fiction award for 2001 to Colson Whitehead for his novel John Henry Days at a ceremony at the library March 20 Pictured are LeClerc and whitehead

Firefly Books stays hot. (Canadian Publishing).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... As IT BEGINS its 25th year, Toronto-based Firefly Books Ltd. is coming off "the best year in our history," founder Lionel Koffler told PW. The company's core library business had a very good" gain in sales, while the trade division had an...

The road to Durham. (News).
April 1, 2002... Caption: Author Tim Cockey ended a recent 10-day road trip from Massachusetts to North Carolina with a reading at the Regulator in Durham, N.C., to promote his new book, The Hearse Case Scenario (Hyperion).

AAP takes on Bush executive order. (Litigation).('Controlling History: Presidential Historians Discuss the Craft of Biography and the New Limits on Archival Access' panel discussion; Association of American Publishers)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN Publishers, PEN American Center and the Authors Guild are co-sponsoring a panel discussion organized in response to an executive order by President Bush, which the three organizations claim will limit access to...

Quirk looks for best-case scenario. (Camp Sells).(Quirk Productions)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... DAVID BORGENIGHT should know a little about worst-case scenarios. After all, he wrote the book about them. But the author who created what has become one of Chronicle Books' best-known series thinks his decision to start a publishing company in...

Bertelsmann sales hit $8.6 billion in 'stub period'. (Finance).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2002... IN A CONTEXT of persistent speculation that its Mohn family owners and chairman/CEO Thomas Middelhoff were in the process of clearing the decks prior to taking Bertelsmann into the market, the group has released six-month results indicating...

People.(promotion)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY Claire Zion was named editorial director. She was editorial director of iPublish.com at AOL Time Warner. Previously, Zion edited at Pocket Books, Popular Library and NAL/Signet; authors she has worked with include Jayne Ann...

'Jabez' enlarges Multnomah's 'Territory'. (Multiplying).(books)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... THE BIBLICAL character Jabez, whose plea to God provided inspiration for Multnomah's The Prayer of Jabez, asks Jehovah to "enlarge my territory." By all accounts, the pocket-sized book by Bruce Wilkinson has done the same thing for the small...

Hastings posts a profit on 3% sales gain. (Results 2001).(Hastings Entertainment)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... HASTINGS ENTERTAINMENT completed a successful turnaround for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2002, with revenues up 3%, to $471.8 million, and net income of $4 million. In the previous year, Hastings had a loss of $14.6 million. Total...

Poetry rules April. (National Poetry Month).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... THE SEVENTH ANNUAL National Poetry Month will kick off this week following a change of leadership at the Academy of American Poets, the principal sponsor of the annual celebration. Tree Swenson, a former publisher and arts administrator,...

Still with us. (Behind the Bestsellers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Just as the terrorist attacks of September 11 continue to reverberate throughout the media, new books document the events from a multitude of perspectives. Beginning with its moving dedication ("to those 403 brave souls who went in to help...

No parking for Parker. (Behind the Bestsellers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... For Robert Parker's latest Spenser novel (#29, for those counting), Widow's Walk, Putnam's taking him to more than 15 bookstore appearances around the country, including some that were canceled in the wake of September 11. After stops in...

A tense clarification. (Behind the Bestsellers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Last week we reported on several international fiction hits from 2001, noting that a few of them "never graced a U.S. national chart." In the case of Umberto Eco's Baudolino, there's a good reason for that--the book hasn't yet been published...

Correction.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Barnes & Noble's co-op revenues for 1997 were misstated in our March 25 issue. The $113 million was for only the first quarter; for the first, second and fourth quarters of the year, the chain received $385 million. Co-op revenue for the third...

'That Girl' is back: S&S launches its Atria imprint with a celebrity bang. (Book News).(Marlo Thomas)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Last summer, Marlo Thomas got to thinking about how certain words, spoken by an important person at a key moment, have resonated throughout her life. "We all carry around in our heads these little phrases that people have said to us in our...

Keeping an Eye on the Ball. (Inner Traditions).('Pilates on the Ball' selling well)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Submissions that arrive over the transom can sometimes pay off in big sales, as Inner Traditions/Bear & Co. in Rochester, Vt., is learning with one of its fastest-selling titles, Colleen Craig's Pilates on the Ball ($18.95 paperback original),...

A tribute and a turning point. (Flannery O'Connor Award Series).(plans for 20th anniversary of Flannery O'Connor Award)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Hailed by NPR reviewer Alan Cheuse as "one of the most prestigious series in university press publishing," the University of Georgia's Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction program turns 20 this year. In addition to the publication of Gina...

Self-pubbed author opens doors for UP. (Persistence Pays Off).(Mary Sojourner's 'Bonelight: Ruin and Grace in the New Southwest' from University of Nevada Press)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... "Out here, light can be the raw calcium of old bone," writes Mary Sojourner in her first collection of essays, Bonelight: Ruin and Grace in the New Southwest (Univ. of Nevada Press, Mar.), which chronicles her transformation from...

The old-fashioned way: The 34-year-old Book Shop of Beverly Farms has its best year yet. (Book Selling).(Boston store)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Bigger isn't always better, at least when it comes to bookstores. That's what Pam Price, and her partners Lee Brown, Becky Jaques, Wendy Slater, Deb Twining and Mary Warner, have found at the 1,200-square-foot The Book Shop of Beverly Farms on...

Louise Rennison. (Spring Attractions).(author of popular teen book series)(Brief Article)(Interview)
April 1, 2002... Georgia Nicolson memorably burst upon the literary scene two years ago, star of Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging. Her self-obsessed, keenly observant, gleefully teenage persona strikes at the heart of adolescence, for teenagers and...

Jack Gantos. (Spring Attractions).(on writing new autobiography, 'Hole in My Life')(Brief Article)(Interview)
April 1, 2002... Somewhere in the library of Ashland Federal Prison in Ashland, Ky., there still may exist an aging copy of The Brothers Karamazov with a 20-year-old inmate's journal scrawled between the lines of print. The words were written by children's book...

Wendelin Van Draanen. (Spring Attractions).(author of 'Flipped' and other middle-grade novels)(Brief Article)(Interview)
April 1, 2002... The biographical blurb on the back flap of Wendelin Van Draanen's novel Flipped (Knopf, Sept. 2001) is a definite attention grabber, asserting that the writer "has been everything from a forklift driver to a high school teacher." The...

Andrew Clements. (Spring Attractions).(author of children's and teen books)(Brief Article)(Interview)
April 1, 2002... With four books appearing on publishers' spring lists and two more slated for fall publication, Andrew Clements has obviously been spending a good deal of time at his keyboard. These most recent and upcoming releases by the author, whose 1996...

Margaret Peterson Haddix. (Spring Attractions).(author of popular series for young readers)(Brief Article)(Interview)
April 1, 2002... When Margaret Peterson Haddix wrote Among the Hidden, about Luke, a third child raised in biding because the government only allows families two kids, she wasn't planning to continue the story. But she kept hearing from people, including her...

Announcements Addendum. (Children's Books).(upcoming children's titles)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The following titles were not included in our Spring Children's Announcements issue (Feb. 11). CRICKET BOOKS Robert and the Weird & Wacky Facts by Barbara Seuling, illus. by Paul Brewer ($15.95). The adventures of a boy who goes on a...

Confab in the Desert: the second Audiobook Buyers Conference explores markets, technologies. (Audio).(Industry Overview)
April 1, 2002... It's perhaps fitting that Las Vegas -- a town famous for flaunting all that money can buy -- was the setting for the Audio Publishers Association's second annual Audiobook Buyers Conference held February 27-March 1 at the recently opened Palms...

Three Fates. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... NORA ROBERTS, READ BY BERNADETTE QUIGLEY. Brilliance, unabridged, 10 cassettes, 14 hrs., $34.95 ISBN 1-58788-693-6 This book-Roberts's fifth new one released this year-features all the romance, drama and intrigue that fans have come to...

The Nanny Diaries: A Novel. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... EMMA MCLAUGHLIN AND NICOLA KRAUS, READ BY JULIA ROBERTS. Random House Audio, abridged, three cassettes, 5 hrs., $25 ISBN 0-553-71475-9 A blistering satire based on the real-life experiences of former New York City nannies McLaughlin and...

If Death Ever Slept: A Nero Wolfe Mystery. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... REX STOUT, READ BY MICHAEL PRICHARD. Audio Editions, unabridged, four cassettes, 6 hrs., $24.95 ISBN 1-57270-252-4 This latest entry in the estimable Nero Wolfe audio canon is a veritable time machine, transporting listeners back not only...

The Summons. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... JOHN GRISHAM, READ BY MICHAEL BECK. Random House Audio, unabridged, eight CDs, 8.5 hrs., $39.95 ISBN 0-553-71463-5 Beck offers a fine performance in this no-frills production of Grisham's latest, despite its lack of overall narrative zip....

MOB: Stories of Death and Betrayal from Organized Crime. (Nonfiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... EDITED BY CLINT WILLIS, READ BY TERENCE ASELFORD, RICHARD ROHAN AND GARY TELLES. Listen & Live, unabridged, four cassettes, 6 hrs., $24.95 ISBN 1-885408-66-8 Anyone fascinated by the gritty mobster world fictionalized by The Godfather or...

The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression. (Nonfiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... ANDREW SOLOMON, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Simon & Schuster Audio, abridged, four cassettes, 6.5 hrs., $26 ISBN 0-7435-2321-0 Calling depression the "flaw of love," 2001 National Book Award--winner Solomon (A Stone Boat) brings a stunning breadth...

Every Breath you Take: A True Story of Obsession, Revenge, and Murder. (Nonfiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... ANN RULE, READ BY BLAIR BROWN. Simon & Schuster Audio, abridged, four cassettes, 6 hrs., $26 ISBN 0-7435-0824-6 As in her previous true-crime accounts, Rule presents the facts of a murder case with all the intrigue, suspense and...

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Dating and Sex. (Nonfiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... JOSHUA PIVEN, DAVID BORGENICHT AND JENNIFER WORICK, READ BY LAURA HAMILTON. Listen & Live, unabridged, two cassettes, 2.5 hrs., $16.95 ISBN 1-885408-79-X In The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook (1999), Piven, Borgenicht and Worick...

Audio Bestsellers.(April 1, 2002)(audiobooks)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Audio Bestsellers April 1, 2002 Available online the Friday before issue date at: www.publishersweekly.com Fiction Nonfiction 1 The Summons (unabr.). John 1 Self...

Bringing up Baby, 2002-style: Today's parents need a great deal more than Dr. Spock-and publishers are heeding their call.(parenting books)(Industry Overview)
April 1, 2002... No QUESTION ABOUT IT: the needs of kids, parents, teachers, etc. are becoming greater and more diverse every year-or maybe we should say with every passing grade. If the goal of parenting and childeare books is to make life better, easier,...

The business of verse moves forward: Unbowed by Wadsworth's departure, September 11 or recession, National Poetry Month is as popular as ever.(includes related article on new poetry releases)(Industry Overview)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... "WHEN IT GETS to be, oh, February, people start to say, 'What are you guys doing during poetry month? I don't know, what are you doing?'" Jennifer Bosveld is not talking about the buzz in New York City, or San Francisco, or Cambridge....

Children's Poetry in bloom: Bolstered by promotional campaigns, publishers are calling attention to spring poetry titles.(Children's Book Council)(Young People's Poetry Week)(Industry Overview)(Product Announcement)
April 1, 2002... ENCOURAGING YOUNGSTERS to read, write and enjoy poetry is at the heart of the Children's Book Council-sponsored Young People's Poetry Week (April 15-21), as well as a major thrust of National Poetry Month, In the spirit of this worthy endeavor,...

The allure of intelligence. (PW Interview).(Daniel Silva)(Interview)
April 1, 2002... The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal runs from Georgetown, in Washington, D.C., to Cumberland, Md. In D.C., it's the sort of location ideal for Ralph Lauren photo shoots: quaint without being kitschy, with babies and dogs strolling comfortably among...

Hunted Past Reason. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... RICHARD MATHESON. Tor, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 0-765-30271-3 * Testosterone, envy and smoldering psychopathology transform a weekend hiking trip into a lean, mean Darwinian struggle for survival. Making the most of his trademark less-is-more...

The Winter Zoo. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... JOHN BECKMAN. Holt, $25 (368p) ISBN 0-8050-6904-6 A young man abandons his newborn baby in an Iowa delivery room to join his cousin for a series of adventures in Poland in Beckman's wildly unfocused, over-the-top debut novel, which features...

Mad Toy. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... ROBERTO ARLT, TRANS. FROM THE SPANISH BY MICHELE McKAY AYNESWORTH Duke Univ., $45.95 (120p) ISBN 08223-2911-5; paper $15.95-2940-9 Seemingly plotless but still engaging, this wild, whirling novel of Buenos Aires, originally published in the...

Sixty Minutes for St. George. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... ALEXANDER FULLERTON. Soho, $24 (320p) ISBN 1-56947-293-9 In the grand tradition of authors of naval fiction like Brian Callison and Dudley Pope, Fullerton continues with his blood and guts action series featuring Royal Navy Lt. Nick...

Motoo EETEE: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... I.C. ROGERS. McBooks (LPC Group, dist.), $24.95 (400p) ISBN 1-59013-018-9 A man battles both nature and his fellow man on a tiny island in the South Pacific in Rogers's gripping and grim debut. The year is 1820, and the Dove, loaded with...

Ghost Warrior: Lozen of the Apaches. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... LUCIA ST. CLAIR ROBSON. Forge, $27.95 (496 p.) ISBN 0-312-87186-4 Golden Spur Award--winner Robson (Ride the Wind) is long on frontier history and Indian lore, but short on drama in this latest, lengthy novel of life in the Old West....

Flashover. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... SUZANNE CHAZIN. Putnam, $25.95 (352p) ISBN 0-399-14850-7 In this eagerly anticipated but disappointing follow-up to The Fourth Angel, whatever foundations Chazin might have laid for a good thriller get buried beneath an exasperatingly...

Luck. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... GERT HOFMANN, TRANS. FROM THE GERMAN BY MICHAEL HOFMANN. New Directions, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 0-8112-1502-4 The late Hofmann (The Parable of the Blind) explores the dissolution of a family from the viewpoint of an adolescent German boy in...

The Phantom Limbs of The Rollow Sisters. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... TIMOTHY SCHAFFERT. Putnam/BlueHen, $23.95 (240p) ISBN 0-399-14900-7 Schaffert's heartfelt debut features two young misfit sisters left alone to run a junk shop in rural Nebraska. Mabel and Lily Rollow (21 and 18, respectively) have...

Walk Through Darkness. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... DAVID ANTHONY DURHAM. Doubleday, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 0-385-49925-6 * Powerfully written and emotionally devastating, this new novel by Durham (Gabriel's Story) tells the parallel tales of two men in antebellum America: William, a young...

No Bones. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... ANNA BURNS. Norton, $13.95 paper (272p) ISBN 0-393-32303-X A young woman struggles with growing up in Belfast during the Troubles in this darkly humorous, sexually twisted debut. It starts off solidly as a coming-of-age story about Amelia...

PW talks to David Anthony Durham. (Fiction).(Brief Article)(Interview)
April 1, 2002... PW: What inspired you to write your latest novel, Walk Through Darkness, an account of a fugitive slave's agonizing search for his lost love? DD: My mother, a historian, discovered during her research that there were many interracial...

Crooked. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... LOUISA LUNA, MTV/Pocket, $12.95 (320p) ISBN 0-7434-3995-3 Luna's second novel is a crisply written, incisive story about a violent, troubled young woman struggling to rebuild her life and come to terms with her crime after being released...

The Summer they Came. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... WILLIAM STORANDT. Villard, $12.95 paper (272p) ISBN 0-375-75909-3 The Rhode Island shore plays host to an invasion of sorts in Storandt's comical tale (after Outbound: Finding a Man, Sailing an Ocean) of a seaside town that is discovered...

Uncle Max. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... CHRIS KENRY, Kensington, $23 (304p) ISBN 1-57566-847-5 A wacky, long-lost relative instructs a nerdy Denver teenager on gay life, love, rock-climbing and larceny in Kenry's zippy second addition (after Can't Buy Me Love) to gay fiction's...

The Yeare's Midnight. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... ED O'CONNOR. Carroll & Craf, $24 (304p) ISBN 0-7867-1028-4 First-time novelist O'Connor scores points for his inventive premise--which marries the poetry of John Donne with cold-blooded serial murders--even if other elements of his...

Long Lost. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... DAVID MORRELL. Warner, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 0-446-52940-0 Like Robert Ludlum, Morrell began his bestselling career with short, tough action yarns (First Blood; Testament), then moved into very long, very complex conspiracy thrillers (The...

Night Sounds and Other Stories. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... KAREN GETTERT SHOEMAKER. Dufour, $14.95 paper (160p) ISBN 0-8023-1337-X The 16 stories in this debut collection offer a comprehensive look at pivotal events in the lives of women and girls in the rural Midwest. Shoemaker is at her best...

Three Fates. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... NORA ROBERTS. Putnam, $25.95 (450p) ISBN 0-399-14840-X Acts of thievery ultimately lead to justice in the wildly prolific Roberts's latest romantic suspense novel. The little silver statues representing Greek mythology's Three Fates are an...

Heart and Soul. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... SALLY MANDEL. Ballantine, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 0-345-42892-7 As in her deservedly popular Out of the Blue, Mandel here displays her talent for establishing a strong female lead in an appealing milieu with an equally intriguing love interest....

SummerHouse, Later. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... JUDITH HERMANN, TRANS. FROM THE GERMAN BY MARGOT BETTAUER DEMBO. Ecco, $23.95 (224p) ISBN 0-06-000686-2 Stalled communication and the vagaries of memory are the familiar themes woven through the nine spare stories in Hermann's debut...

Small Rocks Rising. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... SUSAN LANG. Univ. of Nevada, $17 paper (248p) ISBN 0-87417-504-6 With an unconventional pioneer woman as its heroine, Lang's earnest, nostalgic debut novel explores the satisfactions of learning how to tame the wilderness. A homesteader in...

Confessions of An Ex-Girlfriend. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... LYNDA CURNYN. Red Dress Ink, $12.95 paper (288p) ISBN 0-373-25015-0 First-time novelist Curnyn pens an easy, breezy first novel that's part Sex in the City with more heart, and part Bridget Jones with less booze. A frustrated would-be...

The Miss America Family. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... JULIANNA BAGGOTT. Pocket, $24 (288p) ISBN 0-7434-2296-1 Baggott takes family dysfunction to a new level in a sophomore effort (after last year's Girl Talk) full of kookiness and calamity. It's 1987, in suburban Delaware, and Pixie Stocker,...

The Bondwoman's Narrative. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Hannah Crafts, edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. Warner, $24.95 (416p) ISBN 0-446-53008-5 * Nothing intrigues quite the way an old manuscript does: there's the story told in its pages, but there's also the story of the pages. In this...

Last Year's Jesus. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... ELLEN SLEZAK. Hyperion/Theia, $22.95. (256p) ISBN 0-7868-6741-8 Don't be fooled by the playful title: the Polish-Catholic working class in Detroit and its environs, as depicted in Slezak's debut collection, is a largely gloomy heritage....

Palermo Story. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... GABRIELLE MARKS. St. Martin's/Dunne, $22.95 (248p) ISBN 0-3`2-27864-0 Elegant in the telling, rich in detail, Marks's debut brings the city of Palermo and its inhabitants to life in a novel that blends an exploration of the complications...

Gone for Good. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... HARLAN COBEN. Delacorte, $23.95 (342p) ISBN 0-385-33558-X "We never forget our first love. Mine ended up being murdered." Newcomers and fans alike will know they're deep in Coben country with the author's ninth book, in which a counselor of...

Searching for Johnny. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... JAMES GiaBiNs. St. Martin's/Dunne, $25.95 (388p) ISBN 0-312-28184-6 British-born Gibbins's U.S. debut is an imaginative tale of an impossible love, a stylish fantasy that can be compared favorably to the \vork of Jack Finney. Amanda, a...

The Rail. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... HOWARD OwEN. Permanent Press, $26 (237p) ISBN 1-57962-043-4 In his sixth novel, Owen (Fat Lightning; Harry & Ruth) draws on 20 years of experience as a newspaper sports editor to fashion a touching story of fathers, sons and baseball that...

The Kid Who Batted 1.000. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... TROON MCALLISTER. Doubleday, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 0-385-50337-7 Thriller writer Lee Gruenfeld's latest pseudonymous sports novel (after golf-centered The Foursome and The Green) is a mildly amusing baseball comedy whose abundance of clever...

April Publication. (Fiction Notes).('In the Stacks: Short Stories About Libraries and Librarians')(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Contributions from such major figures as Borges, Cheever, Alice Munro and Ray Bradbury carry the day in In the Stacks: Short Stories about Libraries and Librarians, assembled by former librarian Michael Cart (My Father's Scar). Borges's...

March Publications. (Fiction Notes).(four books)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Gwendoline Y. Fortune's Growing up Nigger Rich is appealing, but considerably less provocative than its title suggests. Black professor Gayla Turner returns during a sabbatical to the small Southern town where she grew up, haunted by memories...

Funny Money: A Tony Valentine Novel. (Mystery).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... JAMES SWAIN. Pocket, $24 (304p) ISBN 0-7434-3686-5 * The same warmth, honesty and inside expertise that made Grift Sense (2001) a memorable crime debut is back--in spades--in Swain's second book about ex-cop Tony Valentine, who advises...

A Watergate Tape. (Mystery).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... ROY HOOPES. Forge, $24.95 (384p) ISBN 0-312-87899-0 In this plodding mystery set in the spring of 1973 against the backdrop of the unfolding Watergate scandal, Hoopes's second after Our Man in Washington (2000), freelance journalist Ray...

Flesh and Blood: Dark Desires. (Mystery).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... EDITED BY MAX ALLAN COLLINS AND JEFF GELB. Mysterious, $12.95 paper (368p) ISBN 0-446-67858-9 The good news is that the first, relatively weak anthology in this series sold well enough to call for a follow-up, but the bad news is that,...

The Shape of Water. (Mystery).
April 1, 2002... ANDREA CAMILLERI, TRANS. FROM THE ITALIAN BY STEPHEN SARTARELLI. Viking, $20.95 (202p) ISBN 0-670-03092-9 Urbane Sicilian police inspector Salvo Montalbano, whose exploits have sold more than four million copies in Europe, makes his long...

Disquiet Heart. (Mystery).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... RANDALL SILVIS. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 0-312-26248-5 Atmospheric and cleverly researched, this shaky sequel to Silvis's well-received On Night's Shore (2001), which introduced precocious street urchin Augie Dubbins...

The Gathering. (Mystery).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... WILLIAM X. KIENZLE. Andrews McMeel, $22.95 (288p) ISBN 0-7407-2229-8 The 24th, and presumably final, Father Koesler "mystery" from the recently deceased Kienzle is a convoluted ramble through the lives of six adolescents who set out to...