Publishers Weekly articles from February 2002

Publishers Weekly archives from February 2002

Newcomb leaves S&S; Romanos named CEO: Publishing house now part of Viacom Entertainment Group.(Simon and Schuster Inc.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 4, 2002... JON NEWCOMB, who helped engineer the sale of Simon & Schuster's professional and educational publishing divisions to Pearson in 1998, has resigned as chairman and CEO of the publisher and has taken a position with the private equity firm of...

Barnes & Noble.com to integrate fatbrain. (Fixing).(Fatbrain.com Inc.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 4, 2002... BARNES & NOBLE.COM will consolidate Fatbrain.com, its corporate sales division, into its New York offices by the middle of the second quarter, Kevin Frain, v-p of finance for B&N.com told PW. While all the details of the consolidation have yet...

Acquisitions boost sales at MHC. (Results 2001).(McGraw-Hill Book Co.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 4, 2002... HELPED BY SALES of $318 million generated by the companies acquired in the purchase of Tribune Education, revenues in McGraw-Hill's education group rose 16.5% in 2001, to $2.3 billion. Operating profit fell 14.4%, to $263.4 million, a figure...

RD book group has another weak period. (2nd-Quarter Results).(Reader's Digest Association Inc., finance)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 4, 2002... A SOFT ECONOMY, the events of September 11 and the anthrax scare combined to reduce sales by 14%, to $210.9 million, in Reader's Digest's North America Books and Home Entertainment group for the second quarter ended December 31, 2001. Operating...

Questia trims even further. (Small Man on Campus?).(Questia Media Inc. lays off 40 employees)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 4, 2002... QUESTIA TOOK ANOTHER step backward last week when it laid off 40 employees, including Linda Cunningham, the Harper veteran who worked closely with publishers. The student-oriented Web site now has only 28 employees. As recently as eight months...

Gurr moves to Quarto. (Appointment).(Danny Gurr appointed President Quarto Group Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... DANNY GURR has been named to the newly created position of president of Guarto Holdings and will report directly to Quarto chairman Laurence Orbach. Gurt, who resigned as president of DK U.S. last July in the wake of organizational...

Whalen joins Trident Group. (People).(Kimberly Whalen, Trident Media Group)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... KIMBERLY WHALEN, the former St. Martin's subrights specialist, has taken a job with Robert Gottlieb's Trident Media Group. Whalen will serve as managing director of foreign rights for the firm, and will seek to sell Trident's diverse properties...

Ingram largest Amazon.com vendor. (Notes from the 10-k).(Ingram Book Group)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 4, 2002... IN AMAZON.COM'S 10-K filing with the SEC, the e-retailer reports that, while the company continues to increase its direct purchasing from manufacturers, it still sources a "significant" amount of inventory from "relatively few" vendors. Three...

The lesson of 'Lessons'. (Hot Deals).(Life's Greatest Lessons: 20 Things I Want My Kids to Know)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... This is one of those "little book that could" stories. It's called Life's Greatest Lessons: 20 Things I Want My Kids to Know, and the author is Hal Urban, a retired high school teacher from the Bay Area. His book, originally published by Nelson...

Moves for Hoffman, Mosley, Isaacs. (Hot Deals).(authors Alice Hoffman, Walter Mosley, Susan Isaacs change book publishers)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... Three popular bestselling authors, Alice Hoffman, Walter Mosley and Susan Isaacs, are moving to new publishers. Hoffman, a protegee of the late Faith Sale at Putnam, is following Stacy Creamer to the latter's new home at Doubleday, which has a...

WWII sea story big S&S buy. (Hot Deals).(All Brave Soldiers: The Sinking of the Anglo Saxons publishing contract to Simon and Schuster Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... The tale of a group of seven British sailors who spent more than two months on an open boat in the North Atlantic after their merchant ship was sunk in 1940 by the Germans, with only two surviving to stagger ashore in the Bahamas, will be told...

A lot of buzz for molly moon. (Hot Deals).(Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... She's the heroine of British actor-author Georgia Byng's Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism, a kids' book that made a big movie sale to David Heyman (who made the Harry Potter movie) before Christmas. Now the book has been won here at...

Christa Worthington. (Short Takes).(Broadway Associates Inc. contracts world publishing rights)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... The as-yet-unsolved slaying of fashion writer Christa Worthington in Cape Cod has made for frequent newspaper and magazine stories on both sides of the Atlantic. Now executive editor Charles Conrad at Broadway has bought world rights to a book...

Melody Guy. (Short Takes).(signs book contract)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... Melody Guy at Villard's Strivers Row imprint has signed for a further two novels by African-American writer Travis Hunter, whose books are perennial Essence magazine bestsellers; she bought North American rights from agent Elaine Koster....

Meggin Cabot. (Short Takes).(publishing contract)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... No fewer than seven titles by the prolific Meggin Cabot were signed for Avon by Carrie Ferron: three historical romances under the Patricia Cabot byline and three contemporary romances under her own--plus a comic novel told in e-mails, The Boy...

Harlequin pushes to boost single-title sales. (Romance).(Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 4, 2002... HARLEQUIN WILL continue its efforts in 2002 to grow its single title business as part of its strategy to lessen its dependence on sales of its Harlequin romance series, executives at the publisher's parent company Torstar told analysts at a...

Pelan retiring from harcourt children's post. (Children's Publishing).(Louise Pelan, Harcourt Trade Publishers)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... AFTER 14 YEARS at Harcourt Trade Publishers, Louise Pelan, v-p and publisher of the children's books division, will retire from that post in early March. Pelan told PW that her decision to take early retirement was "purely personal" and...

'Chronicle' postpones S.F. book fair debut. (Wait 'Til Next Year).(San Francisco Chronicle)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... CITING TOUGH ECONOMIC conditions for both the newspaper and potential sponsors, the San Francisco Chronicle has pushed back plans to launch a major book fair scheduled for this fall and is instead focusing on holding the event in 2003. "We...

Jodere looks to new publishing model. (Crossing Over).(Jordere Group, publishing multimedia firm)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... MOST PUBLISHERS aren't content to "fly below the radar," as Jodere founder Debbie Luican says she is, but the executive with a "broad-based mission to find authors with a message" likes it that way. Luican, who has already published a...

Random house dominates NBCC nominations. (Eyes on the Prize).(National Book Critics Circle)
February 4, 2002... THE NATIONAL BOOK Critics Circle announced its shortlist last week, handing Random House nine nominations out of a total of 25 spots. Simon & Schuster, which won two National Book Awards, was shut out, which means David McCullough was, too. ...

Holt cuts five. (Downsizing).(Henry Coult, publishing company)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... HENRY HOUT HAS let go five employees, including managing editor Nancy Clemens. One person was cut in the children's division, while on the adult side, several assistants were let go. Holt director of publicity Elizabeth Shreve declined to give...

Winslow cuts staff, prepares for chapter 11. (Market Conditions).(Winslow Press)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... WINSLOW PRESS, the startup that marries children's books and the Web, has laid off more than half its staff and is planning to file for Chapter 11 "to protect what we have," explained company founder Diane Kessenich. Kessenich said that...

Myss takes and baer facts. (Behind the Bestsellers).(books)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... Eagle-eyed readers of today's charts will note a novel occurrence--or rather, no novel occurrence. No new fiction titles debuted this week, an unusual situation that happened only three times last year. Two of the three nonfiction new arrivals,...

A better balance. (Behind the Bestsellers).(Correction Notice)
February 4, 2002... We miscommunicated last week when we noted that Oprah pick #44, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, was "one of the poorest performing picks in the Oprah Collection." What we were referring to was how it performed on PWs charts and how rapidly...

An indie favorite. (Behind the Bestsellers).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... That was our headline back on December 11, 2000, for Susan Vreeland's Girl In Hyacinth Blue. We noted that it was selling very well at the indeperidents and that the Penguin trade paperback had 125,000 copies in print after three trips to...

Abrams names parr.(Steve Parr, new chief)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... HARRY ABRAMS has appointed Steve Parr as its new CEO. Parr succeeds Mark Magowan who left the company last November as part of a major overhaul at the art book publisher. Other personnel announcements are expected next week.

It's my flag, too. (My Say).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... (Ed. Note: We have been concerned about the effects of the post-September 11 wave of "patriotic correctness" on writers and publishers. Barbara Kingsolver wrote eloquently about the issue in the January 13 San Francisco Chronicle. We thank...

Hip-Lit 101: Trade originals set to wring riches from the tender sweat of youth. (Book News).
February 4, 2002... This spring Vintage, Anchor and HarperCollins are hoping to tap into the college market that propelled Dave Eggers's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius up the bestseller list, with paperback fiction published both as originals and...

After Himalayas, road to success isn't so steep. (Self-Publishing).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... It's no secret that self-published authors are the Rodney Dangerfields of book publishing. It's even harder for a work of self-published first fiction to get any respect. But after novelist Craig Danner appeared at regional trade shows in the...

A Single Shard. (Spoken Word).(Children's Review)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... LINDA SUE PARK, READ BY GRAEME MALCOLM. Listening Library, unabridged, three cassettes, 3 hrs., 12 mins., $25 ISBN 0-8072-0701-2 British actor Malcolm initially seems an odd choice of narrator for Park's novel set in 12th-century Korea, but...

A Step from Heaven. (Spoken Word).(Young Adult Review)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... AN NA, READ BY JINA OH. Listening Library, unabridged, three cassettes, 3 hrs., 35 mins., $25 ISBN 0-8072-0721-7 Oh's appropriately girlish voice and measured reading bring to life Young Ju, quiet heroine of debut novelist Na's dark tale of...

Movies in my Mind Vol. 1: The Voyage of the Endeavor/A Flight into History. (Spoken Word).
February 4, 2002... PERFORMED BY A FULL CAST. Imagination Development Group (800-546-4440), CD, cassette and booklet, 60 mins., $19.95 ISBN 1-931184-00-3 * Designed as "movies without pictures," this new series of audio dramas combines old-fashioned...

The Firebird. (Spoken Word).
February 4, 2002... KEITH BILDERBECK AND A FULL CAST. Baba Yaga Records (877-302-1739), 68 mins., $8 cassette, $12 CD In Bilderbeck's hands, the Russian folktale of the gleaming firebird becomes a snappy original musical, complete with topquality...

Notes.(Angel Face/Antarctic Antics/Sing-Along Songs: Miss Mary Mack, The Lady With the Alligator Purse and Skip to My Lou)(Review)
February 4, 2002... Books into Songs, Songs into Books Author, singer and composer Sarah Weeks adapts one of her original tunes as a picture book in Angel Face, illustrated with swirling, evocative pastels by David Diaz. This tale of how a mother's love makes her...

Children's audio/video for spring.(audiobook listings)(Bibliography)
February 4, 2002... AUDIO ATORI P.O. Box 125, Olyphant, Pa. 18447; (570) 383-2579 Finny Finds Friends in the Forest by the Tini sisters, illus. by Erin Marie Mauterer. Hardcover book and CD, $18.95, ages 3-up, Apr. AUDIO BOOKSHELF 174...

Classic Women's Short Stories. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... KATHERINE MANSFIELD, KATE CHOPIN AND VIRGINIA WOOLF; READ BY CAROLE BOYD, LIZA ROSS AND TERESA GALLAGHER. Naxos Audiobooks, unabridged, two cassettes, 3 hrs., $13.98 ISBN 9-62634-738-4 This fine collection of classic tales by women is...

Girl in Hyacinth Blue. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... SUSAN VREELAND, READ BY LOREN LESTER, SHERYL BERNSTEIN, MARTIN FERRERO, GIGI BERMINGHAM, JENNIFER BAUM, J.D. CULLUM, TOM FITZPATRICK AND JANELLEN STEININGER. HighBridge, unabridged, three cassettes, 5 hrs., $24.95 ISBN 1-56511-543-0 As...

Jackdaws. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... KEN FOLLETT, READ BY KATE READING. Penguin, unabridged, 10 cassettes, 14 hrs., $44.95 ISBN 0-14-280003-1 Time is running out. With D-Day rapidly approaching, the Nazis are actively trying to quash the French resistance. Meanwhile,...

Futureland: Nine Stories of an Imminent World. (Fiction).
February 4, 2002... WALTER MOSLEY, READ BY RICHARD ALLEN. Brilliance Audio, unabridged, seven cassettes, 10 hrs., $32.95 ISBN 1-58788-985-4 Although Allen brings a distinctly human touch to a cold world of computers and corporations, his relaxed style seems...

Gunman's Rhapsody. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... ROBERT B. PARKER, READ BY ED BEGLEY JR. New Millennium, unabridged, four cassettes, 6 hrs., $25 ISBN 1-59007-081-X This retelling of the famous rivalry between Wyatt Earp and the cowboys is a minimalist's dream, but it doesn't offer much in...

I am an Oil Tanker: Travels with My Radio. (Nonfiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... FI GLOVER, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Random House UK Audio (Trafalgar Sq., dist.), abridged, two cassettes, 3 hrs., $13.95 ISBN 1-85686-665.3 A seasoned BBC Radio presenter, Glover is no stranger to the audio medium. Her friendly, clown-to-earth...

George Harrison: A Tribute. (Nonfiction).
February 4, 2002... GEOFFREY GIULIANO, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Random, unabridged, two cassettes, 1.5 hrs., $18 ISBN 0-553-52589-1 Recently deceased rock icon Harrison, known as the "Quiet Beatle," stands out both musically and spiritually as a true man of his...

Restoring Faith: America's Religious Leaders Answer Terror with Hope. (Nonfiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... EDITED BY FORREST CHURCH, READ BY VARIOUS READERS. Audio Partners, abridged, two cassettes, 2.5 hrs., $15.95 ISBN 1-57270-272-9 This compilation of sermons and talks by religious leaders around the country following the events of September...

Vernon Can Read!: A Memoir. (Nonfiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... VERNON E. JORDAN WITH ANNETTE GORDON-REED, READ BY JORDAN. Public Affairs, unabridged, 10 cassettes, 14 hrs., $39.95 ISBN 1-58648-126-6 Dismayed that his daughter, Vickee, showed little true comprehension of the world of the Deep South in...

Spoken audio for spring.(audiobook listings)(Bibliography)
February 4, 2002... AUDIO BOOK CONTRACTORS P.O. Box 40115, Washington, D.C. 20016; (202) 363-3429 Unabridged Series. All read by Flo Gibson. Jan. titles: The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens (12 cassettes, 18 hours, $77.95); The Adventures of Don...

Audio bestsellers.(book lists)(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... Audio Bestsellers Fiction Nonfiction [1] The Followship of [1] John Adams (abr.).David the Ring (CD). McCullough. J.R.R. Tolkien. Read by Rob ...

Dear Bennett, Dear Don, Dear Bob. (Bob Loomis).(Random House Inc., history, executives and light)
February 4, 2002... Each time Bob Loomis peers over his half-glasses toward a visitor, he glimpses a black-arid-white photograph directly in line with the computer screen on his desk. It hangs in a niche of his Random House office, a private corner unseen from the...

Spies. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... MICHAEL FRAYN. Metropolitan, $23 (261p) ISBN 0-8050-7058-3 By the author of the bestselling Booker Prize finalist Headlong, this dark, nostalgic and bittersweet parable evokes the childhood escapades of an isolated and hapless young boy...

Real Time: Stories and a Reminiscence. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... AMIT CHAUDHURI. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $22 (192p) ISBN 0-374-28169-6 Small slices of life in Bombay and Calcutta, intensely observed and exquisitely described, characterize the stories in Chaudhuri's first collection, after the highly...

Everything is Illuminated. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER. Houghton Mifflin, $24 (288p) ISBN 0-618-17387-0 * What would it sound like if a foreigner wrote a novel in broken English? Foer answers this question to marvelous effect in his inspired though uneven first novel. Much...

Funnymen. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... TED HELLER. Scribner, $25 (464p) ISBN 0-7432-1263-0 This mock oral history by Heller (Slab Rat) is a comedic roller-coaster ride based on the partnership of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. New England dock worker Vic Fountain uses his striking...

A Cup of Light. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... NICOLE MONES. Delacorte, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0-385-31937-1 Mones's second novel, after Lost in Translation, twins a conventional romance with an unconventional and intriguing art world mystery. Lia Frank, a specialist in Chinese porcelain...

Black Water. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... T. JEFFERSON PARKER. Hyperion, $23.95 (352p) ISBN 0-7868-6804-X After 10 California noir cop thrillers, Parker may have finally settled on a series character to anchor at least a portion of his work: Merci Rayborn, a single mom consumed by...

Gum's Story. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... RICK TURNBULL. Harbor House (BookWorld, dist.), $24.95 (229p) ISBN 1-891799-22-3 A Vietnam veteran is out to avenge the death of a little boy in Turnbull's ham-handed debut. Phillip Turner's long-suppressed memory of a horrifying...

The Disappearing Body. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... DAVID GRAND. Doubleday/Talese, $24.95 (416p) ISBN 0-385-50034-3 This new book by the author of the Howard Hughes novel Louse is a kind of postmodern thriller in which genre elements--a gritty, unnamed American city in the 1930s; sleaze and...

Unsung Heroes of American Industry. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... MARK JUDE POIRIER. Talk Miramax, $22 (144p) ISBN 0-7868-6827-9 Poirier (Coats) takes his readers for a walk on the wild side of working life in this collection, a brief but wide-ranging affair consisting of five stories about some bizarre...

Excessive Joy Injures the Heart. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... ELISABETH HARVOR. Harcourt, $25 (336p) ISBN 0-15-100894-9 Canadian short story writer Harvor (Let Me Be the One) casts a cool, observant eye on an aberrant facet of romantic obsession in her debut novel. Claire Vornoff is in her late 30s,...

The Strength of the Sun. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... CATHERINE CHIDGEY. Holt, $23 (288p) ISBN 0-8050-6931-3 In this spellbinding take on "six degrees of separation" (originally published as Colden Deeds in the writer's native New Zealand), Chidgey conducts a symphony of crossed destinies with...

Rispondimi. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... SUSANNA TAMARO, TRANS. FROM THE ITALIAN BY JOHN CULLEN. Doubleday/Talese, $23.95 (224p) ISBN 0-385-50351-2 In this provocative collection of three novellas set in modern-day Italy, Tamaro (Follow Your Heart) skillfully explores themes of...

The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... SUZANNE KINGSBURY. Scribner, $24 (304p) ISBN 0-7432-2303-9 Secrets as oppressive as Mississippi heat weigh down Kingsbury's debut novel. At the very beginning, 16-year-old Haley Ellyson of Houser Banks, Miss., lets her skeletons out of the...

The Floating City. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... PAMELA BALL. Viking, $23.95 (262 p). ISBN 0-670-89472-9 A chilling calm pervades this intriguing tale of imminent revolution, set in 1890s Hawaii. When the body of a wealthy island man is discovered on a Honolulu beach, locals nominate...

In this Block there Lives a Slag... (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... BILL BROADY. HarperCollins/Flamingo Trafalgar Sq., dist.) $17.95 paper (242p) ISBN 0-00-225947-8 Broady (Swimmer) literately and artistically probes the dark corners of blue-collar British life in his first short story collection, deftly...

Leaving. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... RICHARD DRY. St. Martin's, $24.95 (464p) ISBN 0-312-28331-8 Dry covers plenty of political and historical ground in this epic, multigenerational debut novel, an earnest but derivative saga that chronicles the efforts of an African-American...

The Book of Shadows. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... JAMES REESE. Morrow, $25.95 (480p) ISBN 0-06-621015-1 A sinuous plot studded with uncanny surprises snakes through this nontraditional period gothic. Its first-person narrator, Herculine, seems cut from the same cloth as the heroines of...

Blue Hope. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... ROBERT WALDRON. Paraclete, $12.95 paper (l28p) ISBN 1-55725-290-4 In its first attempt at literary fiction, Paraclete Press offers this brief and uneven novella in which an academic's battle with depression reveals the redemptive power of...

Body of Lies. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... IRIS JOHANSEN, Bantam, $24.95 (340p) ISBN 0-553-80097-3 Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan is neither the cleverest fictional female detective nor the most original, but the meticulous care she devotes to her profession despite the emotional...

By Dawn's Early Light. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... PHILIP SHELBY. Simon & Schuster, $25 (416p) ISBN 0-684-84263-7 With each new book, Shelby (who co-wrote The Cassandra Compact with Robert Ludlum) nicks away at one of fiction's last male bastions -- the foreign intrigue thriller -- using...

The Red Dancer: The Life and Times of Mata Hari. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... RICHARD SKINEER. Ecco, $23.95 (224p) ISBN 0-06-621366-5 The life of WWI spy Mata Han is examined from the perspective of the historical figures who knew her in this intriguing first novel by a British journalist. Beginning in 1895, when...

Stones of Jerusalem. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... BODIE AND BROCK THOENE. Viking, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 0-8499-1631-3 In this fifth book in the Zion Legacy series, the award-winning Thoenes use the setting of Jerusalem in 1948 as a portal to take the reader back to biblical times for a fresh...

Final Arrangements. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... MILES KEATON ANDREW. St. St. Martin's/Dunne, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 0-312-27462-9 Apprentice mortician Casey Kight is reminded that "the first three letters in 'funeral' are f-u-n" in this wonderfully bizarre, irreverent and graphic look at...

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. (Fiction).
February 4, 2002... CHRISTOPHER MOORE. Morrow, $25.95 (400P) ISBN 0-380-97840-7 Achildhood pal of the savior is brought back from the dead to fill in tile missing 30-year "gap" in the Gospels in Moore's latest, an over- the-top festival of sophomoric humor...

Love Don't Live here Anymore. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... DENENE MILLNER AND NICK CHILES. Dutton, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 0-525-94641-1 The husband-and-wife team who penned the successful What Brothers Think, What Sistahs Know nonfiction series take their interpersonal skills to a different level in...

Too Much Temptation. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... LORI FOSTER. Kensington/Brava, $14 paper (288p) ISBN 0-7582-0084-6 The fact that its contrived plot sounds more like a fabricated story for a sex column in a glossy mag than anything that might happen in the real world -- pleasingly plump,...

Winter's Secret. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... LYN COTE. Tyndale, $9.99 paper (325p) ISBN 0-8423-3556-0 In this first book in the projected Northern Intrigue trilogy, Cote plaits together faith, love and suspense for an inspirational romance set against the snowy backdrop of Steadfast,...

Absolute Zero. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... CHUCK LOGAN. HarperCollins, $24.95 (400P) ISBN 0-06-018572-4 * Ex-cop Pilh Broker, hero of Logan's previous three thrillers (The Big Law, etc.), takes a break from managing his small Minnesota resort in this latest outing and fills in for...

Ode to Lata. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... GHALIB SHIRAZ DHALLA Really Great Books (SCB, dist.), $22.95 (288p) ISBN 1-893329 13-5 Los Angeles, "the natural and human disaster capital of the world," is the setting for Dhalla's debut, an occasionally witty but somewhat stale...

Rest Area. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... CLAY McLEOD CHAPMAN. Hyperion/Theia, $21(192p) ISBN 0-7868-6737-X This debut collection reveals a playwright's fondness for edgy, frightening setups. Chapman-who got his start as a playwright at the age of 12 and later honed his one-man act...

The Varieties of Romantic Experience. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... ROBERT COHEN. Scribner, $23 (224p) ISBN 0-7432-2962-2 Cohen explores the unexpected twists and turns of love and lust in his first short story collection, an introspective and illuminating series in which he sidesteps the usual cliches of...

Living Parallel. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... ALEXANDER KLIMENT, TRANS. FROM THE CZECH BY ROBERT WECHSLER. Catbird, $21 (222p) ISBN 0-945774-51-6 A nimble translation ably conveys the simple beauty of Kliment's complex novel, published in Czech in 1977, which ponders the impact of...

Bound for Canaan: Standing on the Promises, Book 2. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... MARGARET BLAIR YOUNG AND DARIUS AIDAN GRAY. Deseret/Bookcraft, $19.95 (432p) ISBN 1-57008-791-1 Just in time for Black History Month comes this second novel in a trilogy of historical fiction about black Mormon pioneers. The first book...

The Ice Curtain. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... ROBIN WHITE. Delacorte, $24.95 (448p) ISBN 0-385-33316-1 * This bone-chilling thriller set in the waning days of Yeltsin's tenure pits a low-ranking Siberian politico and a Moscow-based FSB (the new KGB) major against the world's most...

Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... PATRICIA SANTANA. Univ. of New Mexico, $19.95 (276p,) ISBN 0-8263-2435-5 Seasoned with salty dashes of Spanish and radiant with family warmth and affection, Santana's 1999 Chicano/Latino Literary Contest-winning first novel tells the...

The Arabian Nightmare. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... ROBERT IRWIN. Overlook, $14.95 paper (282p) ISBN 1-58567-217-3 Irwin's reissued 1983 classic combines the genres of travelogue, fable, dream narrative, novel and confessional into one beguiling whole. Balian, an English spy hired by France...

The Summons. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
February 4, 2002... JOHN CRISHAM. Doubleday, $27.95 (348p) ISBN 0-385-50382-2 Last year's historical family drama A Painted House and the Christmas satire Skipping Christmas demonstrated that Crisham is willing to take risks. But fans of his legal thrillers...