Publishers Weekly articles from August 2004

Publishers Weekly archives from August 2004

Booksellers caught in 'Unfit' crossfire: shortage of copies brings charges of liberal conspiracy.(News)
August 30, 2004... A LACK OF COPIES kept booksellers at chains and independents alike explaining to customers why the controversial Unfit for Command was unavailable at their stores for most of last week. The supply shortage became a serious problem for many...

Profit margins improved in 2003.(News)
August 30, 2004... PUBLISHERS PROVED once again in 2003 to be adept at improving profits despite slow sales growth. Ten of the 14 publishers tracked by PW boosted operating margins in their most recent fiscal year, while margins fell at only four publishers....

Amazon enters China.(Deal)(Amazon.com Inc., Joyo.com)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... After a few false starts, Amazon.com has secured a toe-hold in China with the acquisition of Joyo.com. Founded in 2000, Joyo is one of China's largest online e-tailers, selling books, music and videos, with books its largest segment. Amazon...

Quarto posts solid gains.(Six-Month Results)(Quarto Group (UK))(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... THE QUARTO GROUP reported that revenue for the first half of 2004 rose 4.4%, to 31 million [pounds sterling] ($56 million), while operating income increased 15.8%, to 2.1 [pounds sterling] million ($3.8 million). The sales increase was...

Norton signs R. Crumb graphic nonfiction.(Norton Starts Truckin')(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... IN LINE WITH ITS commitment to publish the best contemporary creative artists, W.W. Norton has signed renowned comics artist R. Crumb to create a nonfiction graphic work. The deal was negotiated by Crumb's agent, Judith Hansen of the Kitchen,...

Civil War's last warship.(hot deals)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... Crown's newly arrived executive editor, Rick Horgan, made what he described as an "aggressive" six-figure offer to pre-empt a book about a Confederate warship in the Civil War that went on firing for months after the country was again at...

HM wins 'Refuseniks' tale.(hot deals)(Houghton Mifflin Co.)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... A book about the epic struggles of Jews in the Soviet Union to deal with a society basically hostile to them, and their eventual mass emigration, mostly to Israel but some also to the United States, was won by Houghton Mifflin's Jane Rosenman...

Advice from former book exec.(hot deals)(Mary Carlomagno )(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... Mary Carlomagno had a notable career as a book marketing exec in both publishing (Doubleday) and bookselling (Barnes & Noble) before going off on her own recently to establish her own consulting company to help people bring order into their...

A pair of entertainment-related titles were bought for the Three Rivers imprint at Crown by Carrie Thornton: 20 Years of Alternative Music from Spin Magazine.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... A pair of entertainment-related titles were bought for the Three Rivers imprint at Crown by Carrie Thornton: 20 Years of Alternative Music from Spin Magazine an anthology of pieces from the magazine with some original essays by Dave Eggers,...

A study of a famous teacher by a keen but critical student was won at auction by HM's recently arrived Amanda Cook.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... A study of a famous teacher by a keen but critical student was won at auction by HM's recently arrived Amanda Cook. It's The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost, a portrait of Yale professor (and former top Washington insider and diplomat) Charles...

Stephen S. Power at Wiley bought a book about the court of Russia's Nicholas II by Greg King, coauthor of The Fate of the Romanovs.(Short Takes)(Wiley Publishing Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... Stephen S. Power at Wiley bought a book about the court of Russia's Nicholas II by Greg King, coauthor of The Fate of the Romanovs. It's a detailed examination, based on unpublished sources and lavishly illustrated, of life at the last...

Melody Guy at Ballantine bought a book all about the booming Latino market in the U.S. by expert Chiqui Cartagena.(Short Takes)(Santana-Tasuuma Media International)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... Melody Guy at Ballantine bought a book all about the booming Latino market in the U.S. by expert Chiqui Cartagena. He got world, first serial and audio from Alfredo Santana of Santana-Tasuuma Media International.

MarySue Rucci at S&S took a book of stories called The Apple's Bruise by Lisa Glatt, whose A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That won glowing reviews this summer.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... MarySue Rucci at S&S took a book of stories called The Apple's Bruise by Lisa Glatt, whose A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That won glowing reviews this summer. World rights were bought from Andrew Blauner.

Crown's Rick Horgan bought a book called The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by journalist Stephan Taity, about the struggle with pirates, including the notorious Henry Morgan, for control of the Caribbean in the 17th century.(Short Takes)(Crown Books Corp.)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... Crown's Rick Horgan bought a book called The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by journalist Stephan Taity, about the struggle with pirates, including the notorious Henry Morgan, for control of the Caribbean in the 17th century. The North American...

STM Publishers fight open access proposal.(Technical Dispute)
August 30, 2004... THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN PUBLISHERS is mounting a vigorous campaign to defeat a proposal that would mandate online publication and free access to any research funded by the National Institutes of Health. Publishers first became aware of...

Perigee Books.(people)(Perigee Books)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... PERIGEE BOOKS Marian Lizzi, previously a senior editor at St. Martin's Press, has joined the company as a senior editor with a focus on self-help, including health, psychology, cooking, crafts and pop culture.

Perseus Books.(people)(Bullfinch Press)(Time Warner Book Group)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... PERSEUS BOOKS Bethan Patten, previously manager of special markets at the Time Warner Book Group, has been named international sales manager.... Amiee Munro, formerly marketing manager at Bullfinch Press, joins the company in the newly...

Cool Springs Press.(people)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... COOL SPRINGS PRESS Marlene Blessing, editor-in-chief of Fulcrum Publishing from 1998 to 2003, has been named acquisitions consultant for the state-specific and regional gardening product lines.

Andrews McMeel.(people)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... ANDREWS MCMEEL James Andrews has been promoted to v-p of licensing and will continue to be responsible for licensing for the book, calendar and PDG group.

HarperCollins Canada.(people)(HarperCollins Canada)(Thomas Allen Publishers)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... HARPERCOLLINS CANADA Jim Gifford, senior editor and managing editor at Thomas Allen Publishers for the last two years, has been named senior editor, nonfiction.

The Paulist Press.(people)(Union Seminary Quarterly Review)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... THE PAULIST PRESS Nancy de Flon, editor-in-chief of the Union Seminary Quarterly Review for five years, has been named an editor.... Kevin Carrizo di Camillo, previously an assistant editor, has been promoted to editor.

Plume.(people)(Plume)(Hudson Street Press )(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... PLUME Gretchen Swartley, who joined the marketing department in 2002, has been promoted to marketing coordinator.... Sarah Niersbach, previously with Vintage and Anchor, has been named senior marketing coordinator at Hudson Street Press and...

Silverback Books.(people)(Mi-5)(Silverback Books)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... SILVERBACK BOOKS Howard Cohl, former president of brand marketing company Mi-5, has been named executive v-p, and will oversee new business, branded content development and marketing.

Simon & Schuster.(people)(Touchstone Fireside, publicist, appointments)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... SIMON & SCHUSTER Geoff Kloske, an executive editor, has been named a v-p.... Ellen Silberman, formerly an associate director at John Wiley, has been named associate director at Touchstone Fireside.... Kimberly Brissenden, previously a senior...

O'Reilly Media.(people)(O'Reilly and Associates Inc.'s Rael Dornfest promoted)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... O'REILLY MEDIA Rael Dornfest, hacker, author, editor, blogger and program chair for the O'Reilly Emerging Technology conference, has been promoted to chief technology officer.

Reagent Press/RP Books Washington.(people)(Jeannie Kim promoted)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... REAGENT PRESS/RP BOOKS WASHINGTON Jeannie Kim has been named associate publisher, with management responsibility for RP children's books and Ruin Mist imprints.

Discovery Channel.(people)(Erica Jacobs Green is promoted to Discovery Consumer Products )(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... DISCOVERY CHANNEL Erica Jacobs Green, formerly manager of publishing at Discovery Consumer Products, has been promoted to director of publishing at Discovery Consumer Products.

Charisma House.(people)(Bill Conine appointed)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... CHARISMA HOUSE Bill Conine, formerly with Butterfly International Distribution, has been named v-p of sales.

Aperture.(people)(Nancy Grubb and Kristian Orozco are appointed)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... APERTURE Nancy Grubb, previously publisher of art books at Princeton University Press, has been appointed executive managing editor.... Kristian Orozco, formerly sales director at PowerHouse Books, has been named foreign rights and special...

Cornell Univ. Press.(people)(Mahinder S. Kingra appointed)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... CORNELL UNIV. PRESS Mahinder S. Kingra, formerly an associate editor at Johns Hopkins University Press, has joined the press as marketing manager.

Hastings overcomes weak book sales.(Second-Quarter Results)(Hastings Entertainment Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... SALES AND EARNINGS rose at Hastings Entertainment for the second quarter ended July 31, although comparable store sales in the book segment fell 1.2% in the period. The drop in the book category was attributed to the high sales of Harry...

Mandel to new FSG post.(People)(Andrew Mandel, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX has created the new position of deputy publisher and named Workman's Andrew Mandel to fill it. The company said Mandel will be "responsible for the company's finance, operations, production, sales, and marketing...

Smith to Ingram.(People)(Pamela Smith, Ingram Library Services )(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... PAMELA SMITH has joined Ingram Library Services as v-p for sales. Smith, who succeeds Shannon McGuire, most recently served as senior v-p and chief marketing officer at Baker & Taylor. She will report to Peter Clifton, president of Ingrain...

Brissie tabbed by Citadel Press.(People)(Gene Brissie)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... GENE BRISSIE, A veteran publishing figure most recently president of the James Peter Associates Literary Agency, has been named editor-in-chief of Kensington Publishing's Citadel Press effective immediately. Brissie's specialty is...

Spiritual Classics due from Harper SF.(Opportunity)(SAN FRANCISCO)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... HARPER SAN FRANCISCO has long been known for its solid backlist in religion, popular among academics and other serious students of theology. But in a bid to move closer to the front of the store with such titles, the company has launched a...

State of the book-movie union.(screenings)(book to film business)
August 30, 2004... The Callamaro Literary Agency is one of the few independent boutique literary agencies in Los Angeles that specializes in selling books to film and TV. Principal Lisa Callamaro started working for the Elaine Markson Agency in New York, then...

NEA ready to lead reading initiative.(Issues)(National Education Association)
August 30, 2004... THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT for the Arts chairman, Dana Gioia, hopes the organization can soon take the lead in creating private-public partnerships that will promote reading. In the nearly two months since the NEA released its "Reading at Risk"...

Weatherhill selling assets.(Liquidating)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... Shambhala Publications in Boston, Mass., has agreed in principle to purchase the publishing assets of Weatherhill, the publishing and distribution company that specialized in books on art, the martial arts and culture. The Trumble,...

Sound room launches new imprint.(Audio)(Sound Room Publishers, Pocket University)
August 30, 2004... FALLS CHURCH, VA.-based Sound Room Publishers has launched Pocket University, a nonfiction imprint that company president Joseph Langenfeld describes as "a convenient way to learn." Pocket University kicked off in late July with The Year of...

Titular stars.(behind the bestsellers)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale by Jenna Jameson, from Regan Books, makes it onto the PW chart with 100,000 copies in print after three trips to press. Jameson is touring through August (the big book chains wouldn't...

How-to, Redux.(behind the bestsellers)(The Abs Diet: The Six-Week Plan to Flatten Your Stomach and Keep You Lean for Life )(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... Back on the chart is The Abs Diet: The Six-Week Plan to Flatten Your Stomach and Keep You Lean for Life by Men's Health editor-in-chief David Zinczenko and Ted Spiker. About a month ago, Rodale was reporting 72,500 copies in print after three...

"Familiar fiction faces.(behind the bestsellers)
August 30, 2004... Four fiction hardcovers from bestseller veterans debut this week. Sandra Brown has had more than 50 bestsellers, and now her latest, White Hot from Simon & Schuster, lands in the #5 slot with more than 375,000 copies in print after three...

Might on the right: in the conservative market, with rivals small and large, Regnery still holds its own.(book news)
August 30, 2004... Last summer, when Random House began publishing conservative books under the Crown Forum logo and Penguin announced its nascent Sentinel imprint, the unanswered question was whether right-wing boutiques at the major New York publishers could...

Leaving textbooks behind: Stacey's: no cafe, no music or movies--just 24,000 square feet of general-interest books.(bookselling)
August 30, 2004... Sometimes it's hard to outrun your past. For more than 75 years Stacey's Bookstore, in the heart of San Francisco's busy financial district, was known for selling technical/professional books. After some substantial renovations and expansions...

Tatnuck to open new store.(New England)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... Twenty-nine-year-old Tatnuck Bookseller, New England's largest independent bookstore, announced the opening of a new store in November in Westborough, Mass., less than 15 miles from its flagship location in Worcester. "We're doing...

NEBA launches Web site to promote events.(Readaround.com)(New England Booksellers Association)
August 30, 2004... Two years after initiating Read Around New England, a monthlong celebration of New England books and authors, the New England Booksellers Association is expanding the concept into a year-round promotion via the Web. Starting this week,...

Mobile Writer's Digest workshops.(Road Trip)
August 30, 2004... This summer, Writer's Digest Books, an imprint of F+W Publications, romped through a 1G-week road trip to promote its writers' resource books. The "Great American Writing Road Trip Adventure" featured a writing workshop at each of the 22...

Mainely general bookstore for Searsport.(Left Bank Books)(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... At the beginning of August, the coastal town of Searsport, Maine, population 2,100, will have its first store specializing in new books, Left Bank Books. "It will be a little primitive at first," said co-owner Lindsay McGuire, who is opening...

Out and about: optimism is the order of the day--along with a whopping number of titles about gay marriage.(Category closeup: gay & lesbian)
August 30, 2004... THERE'S SO MUCH VITALITY now in the gay, and lesbian market," says Carroll & Graf editor Don Weise. "There is definitely a gay/lesbian book community in place." Although not everyone involved in publishing books of interest to GLBT...

They'll take romance.(Brief Article)
August 30, 2004... Once upon a time--well, about three and a half years ago--Scott Whittier and Scott Pomfret started dating. Romance was in the Boston air, and so was another amorous notion. "Scott had the general idea five years ago or more, because his...

Shelf talkers.
August 30, 2004... To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of the gay bookstore have been greatly exaggerated. In January 2003, the New York Times ran an article lamenting the closing of the Oscar Wilde Bookshop in New York City, as well as the demise...

The inn thing.(February 2004 title Wonderlands: Good Gay Travel Writing)
August 30, 2004... A boutique hotel chain and a university press might seem like strange bedfellows, but the 18 W Hotels and the University of Wisconsin Press have joined forces to promote the February 2004 title Wonderlands: Good Gay Travel Writing and the...

Fresh Insights.
August 30, 2004... Launched a mere three years ago, the InsightOut Book Club, the gay and lesbian book club that's part of the Bookspan family of about 30 such clubs, hit the 50,000-member mark this summer. "Reaching that threshold was very important, and...

Lee Stringer: from homeless to arts club.(Interview)
August 30, 2004... On a warm July evening, Lee Stringer relaxes with a smoke outside lush Gramercy Park. In an hour, the first leg of an intense media campaign for his second memoir, Sleepaway School: A Boy's Life, will culminate with a James Lipton--like,...

Banishing Verona.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... BANISHING VERONA MARGOT LIVESEY, Holt, $24 (320p) ISBN 0-8050-7462-7 * Livesey's lovely fifth novel tells the story of Zeke, a 29-year-old London housepainter with "the face of a Raphael angel" and an autism-like difficulty relating to...

About Grace.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... ABOUT GRACE ANTHONY DOERR. Scribner, $25 (416p) ISBN 0-7432-6182-8 The majesty of nature, the meaning of courage, the redemptive power of love and the pathos of isolation--all are gracefully explored in Doerr's story of the price paid for...

Author, Author.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... AUTHOR, AUTHOR DAVID LODGE. Viking, $24.95 (390p) ISBN 0-670-03749-9 Lodge's (Thinks) meticulously researched but disappointingly tepid "docu-novel" opens in 1915, with Henry James on his death bed, and quickly establishes the context of...

Budapest.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... BUDAPEST CHICO BUARQUE, TRANS. FROM THE PORTUGUESE BY ALISON ENTREKIN. Grove, $19.95 (192p) ISBN 0-8021-1782-1 Jose Costa, a vain ghostwriter and inveterate amateur linguist in his late 30s, is the narrator of this potent cross-cultural...

Honored Guest.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... HONORED GUEST JOY WILLIAMS. Knopf, $23 (224p) ISBN 0-679-44647-8 * "To live was like being an honored guest," muses a teenage girl whose mother is dying. While death, loss and the likelihood of losing touch with reality are the focus of...

Sacred Stone.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... SACRED STONE CLIVE CUSSLER AND CRAIG DIRGO. Berkley, $15 paper (416) ISBN 0-425-19848-0 Eric the Red's A.D. 1000 discovery of a radioactive meteorite has present-day life-or-death ramifications in Cussler and Dirgo's second novel (after...

Shade.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... SHADE NEIL, JORDAN. Bloomsbury, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 1-58234-482-5 Elegantly sober narration from beyond the grave (George killed me with his gardening shears.... He held the shears to my neck in the glasshouse, and with quite spectacular...

The Dark Tower VII: the Dark Tower.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... THE DARK TOWER VII: The Dark Tower Stephen King. Scribner/Donald M. Grant, $35 (864p) ISBN 1-880418-62-2 * A pilgrimage that began with lone man's to save multiple worlds from chaos and destruction unfolds into a tale of epic...

21: The Unfinished Twenty-First Novel in the Aubrey/Maturin Series. .(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... 21: The Unfinished Twenty-First Novel in the Aubrey/Maturin Series PATRICK O'BRIAN, AFTERWORD BY RICHARD SNOW. Norton, $21.95 (144p) ISBN 0-393-06025-X For Aubrey/Maturin addicts, there could be no better gift: a new, albeit...

The Little White Car.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... THE LITTLE WHITE CAR DANUTA DE RHODES. Canongate, $22 (272p) ISBN 1-84195-289-2 How's this for a night out? You drink yourself silly, dump your experimental-music--loving stoner boyfriend, get in your parent's car and promptly kill a...

Are You Afraid of the Dark?(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? SIDNEY SHELDON. Morrow, $25.95 (352p) ISBN 0-06-055934-9 Two gorgeous widows go up against a nefarious multinational think tank in this airbrushed but goofily entertaining thriller by perennial bestseller...

We Should Never Meet.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... WE SHOULD NEVER MEET AIMEE PHAN. St. Martin's, $22.95 (256p) ISBN 0-312-32266-6 This graceful, spare debut collection of eight loosely connected short stories follows the lives of four Vietnamese-American orphans, three of them evacuated...

Playing with Boys.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... PLAYING WITH BOYS ALISA VALDES-RODRIGUEZ. St. Martin's, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 0-312-33234-3 Three very different Latina women vow to bring Los Angeles to its collective knees in this funny, guilty pleasure of a novel, which bears some...

Last Night of a Damned Soul.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... LAST NIGHT OF A DAMNED SOUL SLIMANE BENAISSA, TRANS. FROM THE FRENCH BY JANICE AND DANIEL GROSS. Grove, $24 (272p) ISBN 0-8021-1780-5 A young Arab-American raised in the Bay Area is seduced by dreams of martyrdom in this sobering novel,...

Uncle Peretz Takes Off.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... UNCLE PERETZ TAKES OFF YAAKOV SHABTAI, TRANS. FROM THE HEBREW BY DALYA BILU. Overlook, $24.95 (240p) ISBN 1-58567-340-4 At their best, the stories in this collection by Shabtai (1934-1981) are masterful, ironically drawn character studies...

Mackerel Sky.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... MACKEREL SKY NATALEE CAPLE. St. Martin's, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 0-312-33024-3 Poor Guy Vidoq: he has no idea what he's in for when he returns to Canada after 20 years. He wants to meet his daughter, Isabelle, and see his old love, Martine,...

Shopaholic and Sister. (Book Review)
August 30, 2004... SHOPAHOLIC & SISTER SOPHIE KINSELLA. Dial, $23 (368p) ISBN 0-385-33809-0 Becky Brandon (nee Bloomwood) returns with a vengeance in bestseller Kinsella's fourth Shopaholic novel. Her 10-month globe-trot with hubby Luke was a shopping...

Tonight I Said Goodbye.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... TONIGHT I SAID GOODBYE MICHAEL KORYTA. St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 0-312-33245-9 A pair of PIs investigate the murder of one of their own in Koryta's sharp, fast-paced debut. Crusty old John Weston hires partners Lincoln...

Love and Honor.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... LOVE AND HONOR RANDALL WALLACE. Simon & Schuster, $25 (416p) ISBN 0-7432-6519-X In this overwrought drama by novelist and screenwriter Wallace (Braveheart; Pearl Harbor; etc.), America is pitted against the European powers--only it's not...

Wanted.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... WANTED KIM WOZENCRAFT. St. Martin's, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-312-28959-6 At New York's Sundown prison, two cell mates, convicted political activist Gail Rubin and former Bolton, Tex., police officer Diane Wellman, discover a mutual interest...

Renegade.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... RENEGADE DIANA PALMER. Harlequin, $16.95 (304p) ISBN 0-373-77004-9 Palmer's new romance catches up with small-town Jacobsville, Tex., police chief Cash Grief and fashion model--turned-film star Tippy Moore, who crossed paths in the...

Just Trust Me.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... JUST TRUST ME JUDy MARKEY. Mira, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 0-7783-2062-6 Lies threaten to tear a family apart in this second novel by Chicago radio personality Markey (The Daddy Clock). Radio host Kate Lerner hasn't heard from her first husband,...

Ida B.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... IDA B KAREN E. QUINONES MILLER. Simon & Schuster, $22 (240p) ISBN 0-7432-6001-5 Three residents of Harlem's fictitious Ida B. Barrett Wells Tower lead different but intersecting lives in this charming, paint-by-the-numbers novel from...

Birds Without Wings.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... BIRDS WITHOUT WINGS Louis DE BERNIERES. Knopf, $25.95 (560p) ISBN 1-4000-4341-7 It's been nearly a decade since Captain Corelli's Mandolin became a word-of-mouth bestseller (and then a major feature film), and devotees will eagerly dig...

Le Colonial.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... LE COLONIAL KIEN NGUYEN. Little, Brown, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0-316-28501-3 A quest to convert lost souls turns into a battle for survival for three French missionaries in 18th-century Vietnam, or Annam, in Nguyen's richly detailed,...

Owly.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... OWLY ANDY RUNTON. Top Shelf, $10 paper (160p) ISBN 1-891830-62-7 In this charming series by mini-comics specialist Runton, Owly and Wormy carry out their dialogue-less but absorbing activities in classic best-friend fashion. They live...

Texarkana.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... TEXARKANA PATRICK NEIGHLY AND DONNY HADIWIDJAJA. Mad Yak Press (Diamond Comics, dist.), $12.95 paper (114p) ISBN 0-9717995-3-9 In a future world where the Wild West heritage of the Southwest has taken over, self-styled legal squads roam...

The Maxx, Vol. 3 (Book Review)
August 30, 2004... THE MAXX: Vol. 3 SAM KIETH AND WILLIAM MESSNER-LOEBS. DC Comics/Wildstorm, $17.95 paper (160p) ISBN 1-4012-0298-5 This volume collects seven issues of what's surely one of the weirdest "mainstream" comics ever published. The Maxx is a...

Louis: Dreams Never Die.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... LOUIS: Dreams Never Die METAPHROG. Metaphrog (www.metaphrog.com), $14.99 paper (48p) ISBN 095459840-7 Despite this work's soft, delicate art and cartoon characters, mature readers may appreciate its story more than children will. It's...

Princess Ai: Volume 1.(Book Review)
August 30, 2004... PRINCESS AI: Volume 1 MISAHO KUJIRADOU, COURTNEY LOVE AND D.J. MILKY. Tokyopop, $9.99 paper (192p) ISBN 1-59182-669-1 A petulant, doll-faced amnesiac named Ai finds herself on the streets of Tokyo, wondering why she is on Earth at all....