Publishers Weekly articles from December 2008

Publishers Weekly archives from December 2008

Double debut.(Pick of the week)(The Help)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... * The Help Kathryn Stockett. Putnam/Amy Einhorn, $24.95 (464p) ISBN 978-0-399-15534-5 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What perfect timing for this optimistic, uplifting debut novel (and maiden publication of Amy Einhorn's new imprint)...

As bad as it gets? Horrific third quarter could lead to decline for full year for chains.(Foreword)
December 1, 2008... Total sales for the nation's three largest bookstore chains fell 6.3% for the quarter ended November 1, with revenue falling to $1.93 billion. For the first nine months of the year, total sales were down 3.6%, and there is a strong chance that,...

Borders off the block.(Foreword)(Borders Group Inc.)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Accompanying the release of its third-quarter numbers, Borders announced that it is no longer considering selling the company. CEO George Jones said that after a review of its options, the company determined that it was best to "remain as we...

Random expands e-book offerings.(Random House)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Random House plans to add 6,000 backlist titles to its current e-book library. With these additions, Random will have nearly 15,000 titles available in the digital format. Random will also, for the first time, make its entire catalogue of both...

The Nation in Miami.(Miami Book Fair)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A number of Basic Books employees and authors headed south to celebrate the written word at the 2008 Miami Book Fair, now in its 25th year. Pictured (l. to r.), at the Nation Books booth, are Laila Al-Arian,...

Stop the presses?(Foreword)
December 1, 2008... When we heard last week that Houghton Harcourt had put a ban on acquisitions, it was hard not to feel that, finally, sky was about to fall. As disturbed as we've been for weeks about disappearing banks and a dead retail sector, this was the...

Random out of BEC.(Random House of Canada, BookExpo Canada)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Random House of Canada has decided not to attend BookExpo Canada in June 2009. According to RH, the publisher decided to exit BEC because it believes the show is no longer effective in helping sell books through booksellers.

Dayus leaving CBA.(Susan Dayus, Canadian Booksellers Association)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Susan Dayus is retiring from her role as executive director of the Canadian Booksellers Association. Dayus will officially end her 12-year run at the association on March 31, 2009. A search committee has been established to find a replacement.

Broccoli Books closing.(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Manga publisher Broccoli Books, the U.S. branch of Broccoli International, a Japanese international producer of anime, manga, games and pop culture merchandise, will close at the end of this year. Licenses will revert to Japanese publishers at...

Levy cancels sales conference.(Levy Home Entertainment)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Levy Home Entertainment has canceled its 2009 sales conference. Executive v-p and chief marketing officer Adam Zoldan sent a letter to the distributor's publishing clients last week, citing the downturn in the economy and publishers' plans to...

Silverman's history.(Al Silverman, The Time of Their Lives)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] St. Martin's publisher Sally Richardson turned out for the launch party for Al Silverman's The Time of Their Lives, which SMP released earlier this fall. In the book, the former head of Book-of-the-Month Club and...

Marwell tries to raise holiday spirits.(A Christmas Cheer)(Josh Marwell)(Poem)
December 1, 2008... It may not quite rank up there with the New York Sun's answer to Virginia about Santa Claus, but HarperCollins's president of sales, Josh Marwell, wrote the following stanzas to lift the morale of his troops as the industry faces its most...

Katie Capaldi, McLean & Eakin Booksellers, Petoskey, Mich.(Galley Talk)(A Day and a Night and a Day)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Glen Duncan's pen is surely dipped in gold, for the images he evokes in A Day and a Night and a Day (Ecco, Jan.) are unobtrusively woven amid the tapestry of disturbingly beautiful metaphors for human suffering. He confidently and disarmingly...

Money savvy.(Deals)(Zac Bissonette, A Year of Living Within Our Means)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Adrian Zackheim and Adrienne Schultz at Portfolio beat several other bidders in an auction for Zac Bissonette's first book via David Kuhn at Kuhn Projecrs. The author, a college sophomore and co-editor of AOL's WalletPop.com, will argue that...

SMP wins Lamm.(Deals)(St. Martin's Press Inc.)(Brad Lamm)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Jennifer Enderlin at St. Martin's beat nine other bidders in a four-day auction for Brad Lamm's How to Change Someone You Love; Todd Shuster at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth sold North American rights. In his first book, Lamm, a board-registered...

New series to Putnam.(Deals)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Capitalizing on the hot Scandinavian thriller trend, Kate Davis at Putnam has acquired two books in a new series by James Thompson via Nat Sobel, who sold North American rights at auction. The novels, Snow Angels and Dead of Winter, will...

Trailing Genghis Khan.(Deals)(In the Steps of the Nomad)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Anton Mueller at Bloomsbury beat three other bidders for world rights to Tim Cope's In the Steps of the Nomad via Gail Ross. Cope, a 29-year-old Australian adventurer, will describe his three-year-plus journey from Mongolia to Romania on...

In his own words.(Deals)(Jerry Orbach)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Michelle Howry at Touchstone/Fireside won an auction for world rights to Remember How I Love You by the late Jerry Orbach and his wife, Elaine Orbach; Alison Fargis at the Stonesong Press made the deal. Through Orbach's words, notes, poems and...

Sinsational party.(Vegas Confidential: Sinsational Celebrity Tales)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Norm Clarke, celebrity columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, recently celebrated the publication of his new book, Vegas Confidential: Sinsational Celebrity Tales (Stephens Press). Clarke is pictured here at the...

Britton settles in at the Getty.(Museum Publishing)(Greg Brirton, Getty Trust )
December 1, 2008... After a two-and-a-half--year search for a new publisher, the Getty Trust couldn't be happier with its selection of Greg Brirton to lead the publishing division of the famed art institute in Los Angeles and Malibu. "His innovative approach and...

Calendar: Dec. 7-10.(Foreword)(Calendar)
December 1, 2008... 12/7 Anniversary of bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. James Jones's debut novel, From Here to Eternity, sold 240,000 copies, making it PW's #1 bestselling fiction title of 1951. 12/8 PW said The Treasure, Iris Jehansen's sequel to...

Murder by the book keeps catching customers.(At 25)
December 1, 2008... In 1983, Jill Hinckley, a burnt-out urban planner, quit her job and decided to open a mystery bookstore. She had no experience as a bookseller, no experience in retail and almost no seed money. One year later, her friend and customer Carolyn...

Lectorum launch.(Foreword)(LibreriaLectorum.com)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A number of authors came out on November 19 to celebrate LibreriaLectorum.com, the new Spanish-language online bookstore. The site, which was launched by Lectorum Publications (now a division of Scholastic), is...

PowerHouse sees green with event space.(Retailing)(powerHouse Books)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A mid the swirl of bad industry news, powerHouse Books, the indie publisher/bookseller based in Brooklyn, is reporting that sales in its bookstore are up solidly. The powerHouse Arena, a two-tiered, 10,000-sq.-ft,...

Cooking the Books.(electronic newsletter)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Check out the first issue of PW's newest e-newsletter, Cooking the Books, at www.publishersweekly.com/ctb. In this issue:predictions from the major chains on holiday cookbook hits; an organizational chart of where...

Yomtov to Langenscheidt.(People)(Nel Yomtov )(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Nel Yomtov has been named executive editor of Hammond, a division of Langenscheidt Publishing Group. Yomtov has more than 30 years of industry experience; most recently, he was editorial director at the Rosen Publishing Group.

Batson leaves Direct Brands.(People)(Paula Batson)(Brief article)
December 1, 2008... Paula Batson has stepped down from her position as senior director of communications of Direct Brands Inc. and sister company Bookspan. Batson will continue to work as a consultant. Melinda Meals, new senior director of communications, will...

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Stephen King earned extra cash in the early 1970s writing short stories for men's magazines. "I wrote them fast and hard, rarely looking back after the second rewrite," he recalls in the introduction to Just After...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "'Outlier' is a scientific term used to describe things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience. In the summer in Paris, we expect most days to be somewhere between warm and very hot. But imagine if you had a...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In an interview on B&N.com, John Grisham talks about how he enjoys writing about lawyers much more than being one: "I closed my law office 13 years ago, and it was the happiest day of my life; I have not missed it...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It seems like a long time ago, but back in May at a town meeting in Boca Raton, Fla., Barack Obama referred to "a wonderful book by Doris Kearns Goodwin called Team of Rivals, in which [she] talked about [how]...

Comics bestsellers.
December 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Although it was created before the Dark Knight film, the Azzarello/ Bermejo Joker is chilling, brilliant and eerily reminiscent of Heath Ledger's performance. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Violent and...

John Freeman: book review crusader.(50 UNDER 40)(Interview)
December 1, 2008... In the past few years, space for book reviews has been steadily shrinking, leading some in the industry to worry that the age of the professional book critic could be at an end. But John Freeman, former president of the National Book...

Looking at who buys what where: examining book consumers with Bowker's PubTrack.
December 1, 2008... Teenagers largely bought their books at the national bookstore chains in 2007, while their grandparents shopped for books from a variety of outlets. That was one of the findings drawn from PubTrack Consumer, the R.R. Bowker service that uses a...

The Song Is You.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... The Song Is You Arthur Phillips. Random, $25 (272p) ISBN 978-1-4000-6646-9 A television commercial director strikes up a bizarre relationship with the object of his infatuation in Phillips's enthralling fourth novel. Behind his hipness...

Tunneling to the Center of the Earth.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Tunneling to the Center of the Earth Kevin Wilson. Harper Perennial, $13.95 paper (240p) ISBN 978-0-06-157902-8 Wilson's captivating debut collection paints an everyday world filled with characters obsessed by weird impulses. Whether...

The Catch.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... The Catch Louisa McCormack. Key Porter, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-1-55263-817-0 McCormack (Six Weeks to Toxic) throws 40-year-old, hard-driving Toronto TV producer Minnie Gallant a curve in this sprightly Canadian import when her boss...

The Weight of Heaven.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... * The Weight of Heaven Thrity Umrigar. Harper, $25.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-147254-1 Umrigar (The Space Between Us) continues her exploration of cultural divides in this beautifully written and incisive novel about an American couple's...

Gladiatrix.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Gladiatrix Russell Whitfield. St. Martin's Griffin, $14.95 paper (448p) ISBN 978-0-312-53488-2 An ancient pillar depicting two female gladiators gives Whitfield the inspiration for his first novel, an action-packed, blood-soaked and...

PW talks with Jesse Ball: Yarnspinner.(Q&A)(Interview)
December 1, 2008... Jesse Ball's second novel, The Way Through Doors (Reviews, Oct. 14), comprises a series of stories within stories told by a municipal inspector who has to keep the woman he loves awake all night so she doesn't slip into a coma. Why are you...

Sonata for Miriam.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Sonata for Miriam Linda Olsson. Penguin, $15 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-14-311470-3 Olsson (Astrid and Veronika) explores the hard-won wisdom that can come through grief. When classical musician Adam Anker (ne Lipski) stumbles upon a WWII...

The Alexander Cipher.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... The Alexander Cipher Will Adams. Grand Central, $24.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-446-40468-6 Daniel Knox, a dive instructor and former archeologist, is just one of many characters searching for Alexander the Great's lost tomb in British author...

Patient Zero.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Patient Zero Jonathan Maberry. St. Martin's Griffin, $14.95 paper (432p) ISBN 978-0-312-38285-8 While raiding a terrorist cell at the start of this exciting thriller from Stoker-winner Maberry (Dead Man's Song), Baltimore PD Det. Joe...

The Sacred Well.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... The Sacred Well Antoinette May. Harper, $14.95 paper (400p) ISBN 978-0-06-169555-1 May (Pilate's Wife) tells the story of two American reporters from different eras caught up in Mexican intrigue. In 1923, real-life reporter Alma Reed...

Fifty Is Not a Four-Letter Word.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Fifty Is Not a Four-Letter Word Linda Kelsey. Grand Central/5 Spot, $13.99 paper (360p) ISBN 978-0-446-19590-4 Kelsey's middling midlife crisis tale follows the travails of British magazine editor Hope Lyndhurst-Steele, whose 50th...

The Renegades.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... * The Renegades T. Jefferson Parker. Dutton, $26.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-525-95095-0 In this crackling follow-up to L.A. Outlaws (2008), bestseller Parker brings the Wild West to Southern California. After helping to bring down a corrupt...

Corner Shop.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Corner Shop Roopa Farooki. St. Martin's, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-312-37556-0 Aspirations and family ties play out across three generations of the Khalil family in Farooki's fine new novel (after Bitter Sweets). Lucky Khalil is a...

Almost Home.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Almost Home Pam Jenoff. Atria, $25 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4165-9069-9 Taking a break from WWII historical romance, Jenoff (The Diplomat's Wife) delivers a cool, contemporary romantic thriller. Ten years have passed since American Jordan...

We'll Always Have Paris: Stories.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... We'll Always Have Pads: Stories Ray Bradbury. Morrow, $24.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-06-167013-8 A nostalgic collection of stories by the celebrated author finds humor and tenderness in unexpected encounters. A few of these brief tales...

The Seance.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... * The Seance John Harwood. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25 (352p) ISBN 978-0-15-101203-9 Set in Victorian England, Harwood's spellbinding second novel (after The Ghost Writer) pays homage to such 19th-century suspense masters as Wilkie...

An Accidental Light.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... An Accidental Light Elizabeth Diamond. Other Press, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 978-1-59051-301-9 Diamond's debut is a heartbreaking journey into the aftermath of tragedy. Jack Philips is driving home one night outside of London when he...

Probable Claus.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Probable Claus Jon L. Breen. Five Star, $25.95 (274p) ISBN 978-1-59414-734-0 Santa Claus goes on trial for shooting his brother in this zany legal thriller from Edgar-winner Breen (Eye of God). Of course, he's not really Santa, he's...

Numbers.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Numbers Dana Dane. Ballantine/One World, $14 paper (256p) ISBN 978-0-345-50605-4 The major player in this intense thriller by seminal rapper and radio show host Dane is a gifted mathematician who gives up a possible career with the...

My Mother Never Dies: Stories.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... My Mother Never Dies: Stories Claire Castillon, trans, from the French by Alison Anderson. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $21 (176p) ISBN 978-0-15-101426-2 Punchy, brief takes on complicated mother-daughter relationships dominate French...

The Lost Witness.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... * The Lost Witness Robert Ellis. St. Martin's Minotaur, $25.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-312-36615-5 In Ellis's scorching sequel to City of Fire (2007), LAPD robbery and homicide detective Lena Gamble is surprised when she's handed a...

Supermarket.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Supermarket Satoshi Azuchi, trans, from the Japanese by Paul Warham. St. Martin's/Dunne, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-38294-0 Azuchi's 1981 post-WWII novel, a perennial favorite in Japan, focuses on the then-new concept of the...

Nothing Right.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Nothing Right Antonya Nelson. Bloomsbury, $25 (304p) ISBN 978-1-59691-574-9 In this powerful collection of 11 short stories, Nelson's brilliantly constructed characters negotiate love, family, home and truth. Nelson consistently pays...

PW talks with Abraham Verghese: across continents.(Q&A)(Interview)
December 1, 2008... After two searing memoirs, Abraham Verghese writes Cutting for Stone (Reviews, Oct. 27), an epic novel following twin brothers born to a South Indian nun in Ethiopia who grow up to become doctors. What made you turn to fiction after such...

Lessons in Heartbreak.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Lessons in Heartbreak Cathy Kelly. Pocket/Downtown, $16 paper (512p) ISBN 978-1-4165-8624-1 Kelly (Past Secrets) brings a strong voice and deft hand with character to this engaging story about repairing three generations of broken...

Asta in the Wings.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... * Asta in the Wings Jan Elizabeth Watson. Tin House (PGW, dist.), $14 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-9802436-1-1 With this, her excellent debut novel, Watson makes quick work of a setup that could prove challenging for even seasoned authors....

Galway Bay.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Galway Bay Mary Pat Kelly. Grand Central, $26.99 (576p) ISBN 978-0-446-57900-1 In this scattered retelling of her own family's struggles during the Great Irish Starvation, Kelly captures the suffering but neglects the inner lives of...

A Dangerous Affair.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... A Dangerous Affair Caro Peacock. Avon, $13.95 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-144748-8 Liberty Lane returns in Peacock's newest Victorian London melodrama. Worried about funds, the industrious Liberty (last seen in A Foreign Affair) accepts...

Fireflies in December.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... * Fireflies in December Jennifer Erin Valent. Tyndale, $12.99 paper (350p) ISBN 978-1-4143-2432-6 When her best friend Gemma's parents are killed in a house fire, Jessilyn Lassiter's parents take the girl in. Trouble is, the year is...

Havana Lunar.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Havana Lunar Robert Arellano. Akashic, $14.95 paper (200p) ISBN 978-1-933354-68-2 In the weeks before Hurricane Andrew sweeps down on Cuba in 1992, Dr. Mano Rodriguez is caught up in intrigue in this thoughtful, lushly detailed...

Whisper to the Blood: A Kate Shugak Novel.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... * Whisper to the Blood: A Kate Shugak Novel Dana Stabenow. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-36974-3 In Edgar-winner Stabenow's excellent 16th Kate Shugak novel (after 2007's A Deeper Sleep), feisty, independent Kate...

Cat Playing Cupid: A Joe Grey Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Cat Playing Cupid: A Joe Grey Mystery Shirley Rousseau Murphy. Morrow, $16.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-06-112397-9 Murphy's diverting 14th mystery to feature talking feline gumshoe Joe Grey (after 2008's Cat Deck the Halls) finds Joe a...

Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon Nancy Atherton. Viking, $24.95 (232p) ISBN 978-0-670-02050-8 The charm has begun to wear a bit thin in Atherton's 14th paranormal cozy to feature U.S. ex-pat Lori Shepherd (after 2008's Aunt Dimity: Vampire...

No More Dying.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... No More Dying David Roberts. Soho Constable, $25 (272p) ISBN 978-1-56947-539-3 A foreign plot to assassinate Winston Churchill drives Roberts's disappointing ninth mystery to feature Lord Edward Corinth and journalist Verity Brown...

The Love Potion Murders in the Museum of Man.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... The Love Potion Murders in the Museum of Man Alfred Alcorn. Zoland, $14.95 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-58195-231-5 At the start of Alcorn's entertaining second Norman de Ratour mystery (after 1997's Murder in the Museum of Man), Norman, now...

Can't Never Tell: A Southern Fried Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Can't Never Tell: A Southern Fried Mystery Cathy Pickens. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-312-35444-2 Summertime and the living is frightful for South Carolina lawyer Avery Andrews in Pickens's fifth Southern...

The Joys of My Life: A Hawkenlye Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... The Joys of My Life: A Hawkenlye Mystery Alys Clare. Severn, $27.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6695-0 Set in 1199, Clare's compelling 12th mystery to feature Sir Josse d'Acquin (after 2008's The Paths of the Air) takes the knight and his...

Lamentation.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... * Lamentation Ken Scholes Tor, $25.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-7653-2127-5 Scholes's mesmerizing debut novel, the first installment of the five-volume Psalms of Isaak saga, hunches him into the stratosphere of contemporary epic fantasy....

Men of the Otherworld.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Men of the Otherworld Kelley Armstrong. Bantam Spectra, $22 (384p) ISBN 978-0-553-80709-7 Armstrong expands her Women of the Otherworld series (following 2008's Living with the Dead) with these tales of the male werewolves of the...

Steal Across the Sky.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Steal Across the Sky Nancy Kress. Tor, $25.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-7653-1986-9 Nebula and Hugo-winner Kress (Dogs) presents a fascinating mystery in classic SF style. The alien Atoners come to Earth with a startling message: some 10,000...

Horizon: The Sharing Knife, Volume Four.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Horizon: The Sharing Knife, Volume Four Lois McMaster Bujold. Eos, $25.95 (464p) ISBN 978-0-06-137536-1 Bujold's Sharing Knife series concludes on a cheerful note that will please fans of fantasy romance. The Lakewalkers have been...

Dead Right.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Dead Right Gate Noble, Zebra, $6.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-8217-7633-9 Noble's impressive romantic thriller debut introduces hot CIA operative Dante Johnson in the first of a steamy new series. Dante almost rots in a Thailand prison after a...

Evil without a Face.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Evil Without a Face Jordan Dane. Avon, $7.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-06-147412-5 This intense thriller establishes Dane (No One Lives Forever) as a diva of the flawed, baggage-laden but likable heroine. Putting romance on the back burner and...

Seeing Red.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Seeing Red Susan Crandall. Grand Central/Forever, $6.99 (432p) ISBN 978-0-446-17857-0 Crandall (Pitch Black) opens this tense thriller with a 15-year flashback. When teen Ellis Greene's cousin Laura was kidnapped and assaulted, Ellis...

Undone: Outcast Season, Book One.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Undone: Outcast Season, Book One Rachel Caine. Roc, $7.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-451-46261-9 This fast-paced series opener spins off from Caine's Weather Warden series (Gale Force, etc.), with plenty of excitement to draw in new readers....

08: A Graphic Diary of the Campaign Trail.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... 08: A Graphic Diary of the Campaign Trail Michael Crowley and Dan Goldman. Three Rivers, $17.95 paper (160p) ISBN 978-0-307-40511-1 For everyone who didn't get quite enough coverage and analysis of the longest presidential campaign in...

Last One Standing.('Without Warning', 'Enclave' )(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Two powerful novels explore the plight of isolated survivors of global disaster. Without Warning John Birmingham. Del Rey, $26 (528p) ISBN 978-0-345-50289-6 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Australian author Birmingham (Axis of Time)...

Rocky, Volume 2: Strictly Business.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Rocky, Volume 2: Strictly Business Martin Kellerman. Fantagraphics, $12.95 paper (112p) ISBN 978-1-56097-852-7 This second English-language collection of the lighthearted, loosely autobiographical Swedish comic strip gives readers an...

Lulu and Mitzy: Best Laid Plans.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Lulu and Mitzy: Best Laid Plans S. Eddy Bell. SLG (www.slgcomic.com), $10.95 paper (128p) ISBN 978-1-593621-37-7 The grimy streets of San Francisco prove to be no place for a lady in this impressive debut about a pair of illegal...

Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2008... Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo Mahiro Maeda with Yura Ariwara and Gonzo. Del Rey, $10.95 paper (224p) ISBN 978-0-345-50520-0 Based on the anime series by the same name, which is derived from the novel The Count of Monte Cristo...