Publishers Weekly articles from February 2004

Publishers Weekly archives from February 2004

Penguin Group USA begins online selling: company using Web to reach customers directly.(news)(Company Profile)
February 2, 2004... PENGUIN GROUP USA has become the first major U.S. publisher to offer all of its titles for sale directly through its own Web sites, allowing consumers to buy books either from penguingroup.com or us.penguinclassics.com. Although many midsize...

Six years of B&N.com.(Barnes & Noble.com)
February 2, 2004... Barnes & Noble.com, which was launched in 1997, posted sales of $61.8 million and losses of $83.1 million in its first full year of operation in 1998. Since that time, sales have grown steadily, hitting $424.8 million in 2003--an increase of...

M-H Education has soft 2003.(News)
February 2, 2004... THE MCGRAW-HILL EDUCATION group had a mixed year in 2003, Terry McGraw, chairman of parent company McGraw-Hill Companies told analysts in a conference call discussing year-end results. Total sales, excluding revenue from the divested children's...

Amazon.com book unit sales up 13%.(E-tailing)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Amazon.com reported that sales in its North America media segment which includes books, music, DVDs, magazines and software--rose 13.8%, to $2.27 billion, in 2003. Sales in the fourth quarter increased 15.7%, to $750.9 million. Sales in the...

Howard Publishing to do next Rick Warren title.(Opportunity)
February 2, 2004... HOWARD PUBLISHING, a West Monroe, La.-based CBA house, is gearing up for the biggest marketing campaign in its 35-year-history: a $300,000 prerelease promotional effort for Healing Choices, an August title by best-selling author Rick Warren and...

Dorchester pursues online sales.(Strategy)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... One of the many midsize publishers selling titles directly to customers from its Web site is Dorchester Publishing. Online sales have been part of the Dorchester site (www.dorchesterpub.com) since it launched in 1997 and are "constantly...

Times editor: review will change, but only slightly.(Reviewing the Review)(Bill Keller of New York Times Book Review)
February 2, 2004... THE EXECUTIVE EDITOR of the New York Times last week clarified his position on the new direction of the newspaper's book review, after a blogging site's interview with him was, as he put it, "badly misread." The interview, with the "Book Babes"...

Attempt begun to revive AB Bookman' as E-zine.(Old Is New)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... RICK RUSSELL, a longtime book dealer based in Tempe, Ariz., is attempting to revive the one-time bible of the antiquarian book world, AB Bookman, as an e-zinc. AB Bookman ceased publishing in 1999, and its assets were sold to Bookman's, a used...

Haights Cross looking at $25-million buy.(Shopping)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... HAIGHTS CROSS Communications has signed a nonbinding letter of intent to acquire "a print-based curriculum supplementary publisher" for $25 million to $30 million, the company announced last week. To help finance the transaction, HCC has begun...

Trump is back with TV tie-in.(hot deals)
February 2, 2004... Real estate magnate Donald Trump--now starring in the TV reality show The Apprentice--has been persuaded back between covers by Random's Jonathan Karp, who edited his Art of the Comeback in 1997. The new book, for which Trump negotiated his own...

First novel by Oscar winner.(hot deals)(Julian Fellowes)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... British screenwriter Julian Fellowes, who won an Academy Award for his Gosford Park screenplay, has returned to the world of high society for a first novel he calls Snobs, just bought at St. Martin's from its British publisher. It's about a...

Talk show host on 'Liberal Lunacy'.(hot deals)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... The brickbats continue to fly between right and left; now, to counter Moore's Stupid White Men and Franken's Lying Liars... conservative talk show host Mike Gallagher unleashes Surrounded by Idiots: Fighting Liberal Lunacy in America. Morrow...

Author moves, with translator.(hot deals)(Mayra Montero)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... The kind of creative partnership that has developed between Cuban-born novelist Mayra Montero and her celebrated translator from the Spanish, Edith Grossman, is not exactly common in publishing. In fact, it is so close that when Montero...

Houghton executive editor Jane Rosenman preempted a first novel by Australia's Anne Bartlett called Knitting, the story of an unlikely friendship between two women whose lives are defined by wool.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Houghton executive editor Jane Rosenman preempted a first novel by Australia's Anne Bartlett called Knitting, the story of an unlikely friendship between two women whose lives are defined by wool. It was a North American rights buy from Joy...

Another preempt for a fiction debut was by Hyperion's Peternelle van Arsdale, for a book with the tentative title Goodbye, Stranger by Matt Bondurant, a short story writer.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Another preempt for a fiction debut was by Hyperion's Peternelle van Arsdale, for a book with the tentative title Goodbye, Stranger by Matt Bondurant, a short story writer. It's about a middle-aged, obsessive American Egyptologist attempting to...

Thriller author Gayle Lynds made a high-six-figures deal for two books with Keith Kahla at SMP.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Thriller author Gayle Lynds made a high-six-figures deal for two books with Keith Kahla at SMP. The first, The Coil, is due this spring; Henry Morrison is the agent, and several hefty foreign sales, including ones to Germany and France, have...

Kate Morgan at HarperCollins Children's Books signed the world's top female soccer player, Mia Hamm, for an inspirational picture book called Winners Never Quit, to be illustrated by Carol Jackson.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Kate Morgan at HarperCollins Children's Books signed the world's top female soccer player, Mia Hamm, for an inspirational picture book called Winners Never Quit, to be illustrated by Carol Jackson. Byron Preiss made the deal, and the book is...

A creator of successful videos on walking for fitness, Leslie Sansone, has done a first book, won by Warner's Rolf Zettersten in a five-publisher auction.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... A creator of successful videos on walking for fitness, Leslie Sansone, has done a first book, won by Warner's Rolf Zettersten in a five-publisher auction. It was a three-book deal worth three-quarters of a million, done by lawyer Nina Reznick...

Steerforth moves distribution to Random House.(Strategy)
February 2, 2004... RANDOM HOUSE DISTRIBUTION SERVICES has signed its first new client, 10-year-old Steerforth Press, which will move from Publishers Group West on June 1. The deal is one of several changes that have taken place since Random House announced the...

Reader's Digest "on track"; HQ for sale.(Reducing)
February 2, 2004... READER'S DIGEST reported that revenue fell 4% for the second quarter ended December 31, to $796.4 million, and net income dropped 21%, to $66.5 million. And in a dramatic illustration of how times have changed at the company, RD announced it...

Copy Cop starts publishing house using POD.(Vertical Integration)
February 2, 2004... THIRTY-SIX-YEAR-OLD Copy Cop, a privately held printing company with 14 locations in the Boston area, is turning to publishing to spur growth. Copy Cop Press, which will publish 16 regional titles this spring, is part of the company's...

Guideposts buys kids' publisher.(Acquisition)(Williamson Publishing)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... GUIDEPOSTS HAS ACQUIRED Williamson Publishing of Charlotte, Vt., and will merge it with its Ideals Publications subsidiary based in Nashville. Williamson primarily publishes educational activity paperbacks for children aged 3 to 13. The company...

Who's the leader?(behind the bestsellers)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... While our annual list of the books that sold the most copies (more than 100,000) in 2003 won't be published until March 22, it's easy to guess the #1 fiction and nonfiction hardcovers. Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code from Doubleday heads up...

Breaking the code.(behind the bestsellers)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... And if claiming the top fiction slot for 2003 isn't enough, Da Vinci is still way in the lead for unit sales so far in 2004. For the week ending January 26, it sold nearly twice as many as the #2 fiction book (The Five People You Meet in...

Oprah does it again.(behind the bestsellers)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... The book industry's greatest champion started off 2004 with what looks to be a winning pick for her classics book club. On January 22, she selected Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, hailing it as an entry to "a world where...

Zero works for him.(behind the bestsellers)(Brad Meltzer's The Zero Game)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Brad Meltzer's fifth bestselling thriller, The Zero Game, is also his fastest out of the gate. It lands in the #4 spot this week, and Warner has 300,000 copies in print after two trips to press. Meltzer kicked off his tour on January 20,...

Ingram teams up to offer DVDs, videos.(Retailing)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... INGRAM BOOK GROUP has made a deal with Ingram Entertainment to offer booksellers the chance to order DVD and video titles from Ingram Book. The book company already supplies DVDs and videos to libraries and was waiting until its ordering system...

Black book bible turns five: Black Issues Book Review survives on a shoestring budget and bookseller support.(bookselling)(Product/Service Evaluation)
February 2, 2004... As Black Issues Book Review begins celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, its three cofounders are attributing the magazine's longevity to a dedicated staff, a good niche market and the ability to operate on a shoestring budget. The...

Computing sales.(distribution daybook)(O'Reilly and Associates Inc. )(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... After two decades in book publishing, O'Reilly & Associates in Sebastopol, Calif., known for its plain white computer books decorated with line drawings of mammals, is putting a new animal into its reps' bags. As of last month, O'Reilly's reps...

Spring forward.(distribution daybook)
February 2, 2004... Many distributors are springing forward with new clients that have signed on beginning last month. SCB Distributors inked a deal with Black Inc., an imprint of Schwartz Publishing in Australia, which SCB marketing director Lance Tilford...

Grolier stays afloat ... for now.(Poetry Bookshop)(Louisa Solano owner of Grolier Poetry Book Shop)(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... Louisa Solano, owner of the Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Cambridge, Mass., a 404-square-foot poetry-only bookstore that has been a mecca for poets since its founding in 1927, admits that she probably should close the store. "The economy of the...

Celebrating Dr. Seuss: Random House launches a Horton-sized, year-long tribute to Ted Geisel.(children's books)
February 2, 2004... On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Theodor Seuss Geisel (better known as Dr. Seuss), Random House Children's Books decided to throw a party for its all-time bestselling author. This ongoing celebration (aka a...

Geronimo! A bestselling mouse comes to U.S.(Geronimo Stilton children's book series)
February 2, 2004... Move over, Harry. There's a new big cheese on the Scholastic menu, and his name is Geronimo Stilton. Stilton, a bespectacled mouse journalist, is both author and star of a new series for middle-grade readers about his adventures on colorful...

Adirondack Kids: a family affair.(publisher Gary VanRiper)(independent children's book publishing)(Interview)
February 2, 2004... Basically, anyone today can get anything printed," said Gary VanRiper, founder and publisher of the Camden [N.Y.] Times & Beach Journal and half of the father-son writing team/publishers of the Adirondack Kids series, which began in February...

By Sorrow's River.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
February 2, 2004... LARRY MCMURTRY, READ BY ALFRED MOLINA. Simon & Schuster Audio, unabridged, eight cassettes, 11.5 hrs., $39.95 ISBN 0-7435-2788-7 Molina keeps the bar raised high with his latest performance of McMurtry's third Berrybender Narrative. As with...

The Big Bad Wolf.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
February 2, 2004... JAMES PATTERSON, READ BY PETER JAY FERNANDEZ AND DENIS O'HARE. Time Warner Audiobooks, unabridged, seven CDs, 8 hrs., $39.98 ISBN 1-58621-580-9 Unlike the original Big Bad Wolf, Patterson's newest and arguably most fear-inspiring villain...

Love.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
February 2, 2004... TONI MORRISON, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Random House Audio, unabridged, seven CDs, 8 hrs., $34.95 ISBN 0-7393-0698-7 More a tapestry than a novel, Morrison's newest weaves the past into the present using perspectives as threads and voices as...

The Pleasure of My Company.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
February 2, 2004... STEVE MARTIN, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Hyperion Audiobooks, unabridged, three cassettes, 3 hrs., $25.98 ISBN 1-4013-9757-0 As one would expect from an actor and comedian of Martin's caliber, his reading perfectly captures the quirky,...

Fool Moon.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
February 2, 2004... JIM BUTCHER, READ BY JAMES MARSTERS. Buzzy Multimedia Audio, unabridged, eight CDs, 8.5 hrs., $47.95 ISBN 096572550-2 As in the audio adaptation of Butcher's first Dresden Files novel, Storm Front, Marsters (who played Spike on Buffy, the...

Black Like Me.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
February 2, 2004... JOHN HOWARD GRIFFIN, READ BY RAY CHILDS. Audio Bookshelf, unabridged, six CDs, 7 hrs., $49.95 ISBN 0-9741711-1-5 Griffin's (The Devil Rides Outside) mid-century classic on race brilliantly withstands both the test of time and translation to...

The Partly Cloudy Patriot.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
February 2, 2004... SARAH VOWELL, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Simon & Schuster Audio, unabridged, four cassettes, 5 hrs., $26 ISBN 0-7475-3347-X Few narrators could sound complimentary when calling Al Gore a "big honking herd," but Vowell (Take the Cannoli), a...

Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
February 2, 2004... MOLLY IVINS AND Lou DUBOSE, READ BY MOLLY IVINS. Random House Audio, abridged, four cassettes, 6 hrs., $25.95 ISBN 0-7393-0748-7 "If y'all had've read the first book, we wouldn't've had to write this one," says Ivins, a columnist who,...

Franklin and Winston: an Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
February 2, 2004... JON MEACHAM, READ BY LOU CARIOU. Random House Audio, abridged, four cassettes, 6 hrs., $32.95 ISBN 0-7393-0676-6 Drawing on interviews with surviving staffers and offer previously untapped sources, Newsweek managing editor Meacham delves...

Goldwyn.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
February 2, 2004... A. SCOTT BERG, READ BY RODDY MCDOWALL. New Millennium Audio, abridged, two cassettes, 3 hrs., $18 ISBN 1-59007-167-0 Samuel Goldwyn (born Schmuel Goldfisz) will be known throughout history for his films--which include The Best Years of Our...

Audio bestsellers.
February 2, 2004... Audio Bestsellers Available online the Friday before issue date at: www.publishersweekly.com Fiction [1] The Da Vinci Code (abr. CD). Dan Brown. Read by Colin Stinton. Random House Audio. Five CDs, six hours, $29.95...

Come on Seabiscuit!(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Audiobook Review)
February 2, 2004... RALPH MOODY, READ BY JIM WEISS. Blackstone Audio, unabridged, 3.5 hrs., three cassettes, $23.95; four CDs, $32; MP? CD, $24.95,0-7861-2607-8; -8931-2; -8762-X Long before Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit: An American Legend became a...

Hobart.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)(Children's Review)
February 2, 2004... ANITA BRIGGS, READ BY THE AUTHOR AND A FULL CAST. Full Cast Audio, unabridged, two cassettes, 40 mins., $8.95 ISBN 1-932076-30-1 Much like E.B. White's Wilbur, who was "some pig," Briggs's Hobart proves a memorable porcine character and...

A Great and Terrible Beauty.(Brief Article)(Young Adult Review)(Audiobook Review)
February 2, 2004... LIBBA BRAY, READ BY JO WYATT. Listening Library, abridged, four CDs, 5 hrs., $26.95 ISBN 0-8072-2386-7 * British actress Wyatt has already proved herself keenly adept at handling a complex audiobook role, as Lyra in the His Dark Materials...

Leonardo Da Vinci (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists).(Video Recording Review)
February 2, 2004... MIKE VENEZIA. Kiki & Associates (www.gettingtoknow.com), VHS, 24 mins., $24.95 * Beginning with the peppy, funny sequence that opens all the videos in this popular series and features such masters as Van Gogh, Monet, Warhol and Rembrandt...

Sing, play, learn.(Notes)(sound recordings)(Children's Review)(Sound Recording Review)
February 2, 2004... A number of new releases emphasize learning by listening, doing and singing along. Time to Sing! II is the third release in this popular series designed by music educators and speech and language experts. These titles feature familiar...

Spring is in the air: audiobook publishers carry momentum into early 2004.
February 2, 2004... AFTER WHAT AUDIOBOOK publishers (and retailers) characterize as a "difficult" period in early 2003, the year saw a strong finish, with most audiobook companies racking tip very merry fourth quarter/holiday sales. Spirits and expectations were...

Spoken audio for spring.(Bibliography)
February 2, 2004... AUDIO BOOKSHELF Black Like Me by John I toward Griffin. Read by Ray Childs. Unabridged, four cassettes, seven hours, $39.95; six CDs, $49.95, Jan. AUDIO PARTNERS The Book on Bush: How George W. Bush (Mis)leads America by Eric...

Children's audio/video for spring.
February 2, 2004... AUDIO BOOKSHELF The Fifth of March by Ann Rinaldi. Read by Melissa Hughes. Unabridged, six cassettes, eight hours, $39.95; six CDs, $49.95, ages 12-up, Jan. The Three Documents that Made America: The Declaration of Independence, The...

Here come the brides: publishers are saying "I do" to new titles--and frequent revisions of backlist books--to meet this growing market.
February 2, 2004... MARRIAGES BETWEEN publishers and wedding-related titles are often prosperous and long-term. But is this enough to satisfy a publisher? Hah! A book becomes a steady backlist seller beloved by tens of thousands of brides and how does a publisher...

Bringing back John Gardner: Barry Silesky.(PW interview)(Interview)
February 2, 2004... After spending the day with Barry Silesky, it does not surprise PW in the least that he would immerse himself in the life of a rebel like the late John Gardner, author of such critically acclaimed works as The Art of Fiction, Grendel and The...

Past Due.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... WILLIAM LASHNER. Morrow, $24.95 (480p) ISBN 0-06-050817-5 Lashner's latest, his fourth and longest, is another big and beautifully written saga, narrated by righteous, melancholy Philadelphia lawyer Victor Carl. Though the book is nominally...

Flying Crows.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... JIM LEHRER. Random, $2L95 (256p) ISBN 1-4000-6197-0 A Kansas City police detective tries to untangle the curious pasts of two asylum patients in this touching novel about lost souls, loneliness and life's small triumphs. Lt. Randy Benton,...

Q.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... LUTHER BLISSETT, TRANS. FROM THE ITALIAN BY SHAUN WHITESIDE. Harcourt, $26 (768p) ISBN 0-15-101063-3 Rich religions history is turned into bloated, tedious fiction in this Reformation-age epic produced by four anonymous writers lurking...

Have You Heard.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... ANDERSON FERRELL. Bloomsbury, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 1-58234-189-3 Jerry Chiffon, protagonist of this funny, poignant tragicomedy, is something of a gay prodigy. Born to poor tobacco fanners, Jerry is blessed from the cradle with a penchant for...

I Am No One You Know.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... JOYCE CAROL OATES. HarperCollins, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 0-06-059288-5 Never one to shy away from grim or sensational themes, Oates writes about murder, rape, arson and terrorism in her latest collection of short fiction. In these a9 stories,...

Bergdorf Blondes.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... PLUM SYKES. Miramax, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 1-4013-5196-4 They're ravenous. They're ruthless. They live in a strictly hierarchical, alpha-dog, eat-or-be-eaten world. No, it's not a rerun of Wild America; it's the world of dressed-to-the-nines...

The Priestly Sins.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... ANDREW M. GREELEY. Forge, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 0-765-31052-X Greeley's experience as both a priest with 50 years of service to the Catholic Church and as a bestselling storyteller (The Cardinal Sins, etc.) perfectly equips him to take on the...

A Season for the Dead.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... DAVID HEWSON. Delacorte, $21.95 (400p) ISBN 0-385-33722-1 U.K. novelist and journalist Hewson (Solstice) presents the first in a line of thrillers set in Italy and features detective Nic Costa and an ensemble cast drawn from the ranks of...

Celestial Harmonies.(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... PETER ESTERHAZY, TRANS. FROM THE HUNGARIAN BY JUDITH SOLLOSY. Ecco, $29.95 (864p) ISBN 0-06-050104-9 * Splicing the fine-grained nostalgia of Nabokov's Speak, Memory with the anarchic spirit of Looney Toons, Esterhazy has created a vast...

A Very English Agent.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... JULIAN RATHBONE. Abacus (Trafalgar Square, dist.), $13.95 paper (437p) ISBN 0349-11508-7 A work of literary devilry, this latest political thriller by veteran Rathbone (The Last English King, etc.) is the tale of Charlie Boylan, a dwarf...

Delicate: Stories.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... MARY SOJOURNER. Scribner, $13 paper (272p) ISBN 0-7432-29703 Sojourner, an essayist and NPR commentator, regularly evokes the fragile beauty of the American Southwest in her work. Here, she writes about "the great sisterhood of single aging...

Triple Cross.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... BRIAN FREEMANTLE. St. Martin's/Dunne, $23.95 (336p) ISBN 0-312-31551-1 Taking a hiatus from MI6 operative Charlie Muffin (Kings of Many Castles, etc.), this gripping intrigue revisits the savvy teamwork of veteran FBI agent William Cowley...

Breaking the Tongue.(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... VYVYANE LOH. Norton, $24.95 (448p) ISBN 0-393-05792-5 * Nothing symbolized the internal decay of the British Empire more than the fall of its crown jewel in the East, Singapore, "the impregnable fortress," to a relatively small force of...

Fair is the Rose.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... LIZ CURTIS HIGGS. WaterBrook, $13.99 paper (480p) ISBN 1-57856-127-2 In this sequel to Thorn in My Heart, Higgs, a popular inspirational author, continues her 18th-centnry Scottish love story paralleling the biblical saga of Jacob and...

The Last Juror.(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... JOHN GRISHAM. Doubleday, $27.95 (356p) ISBN 0-385-51043-8 * Grisham has spent the last few years stretching his creative muscles through a number of genres: his usual legal thrillers (The Summons, The King of Torts, etc.), a literary novel...

Water Wings.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... KRISTEN DEN HARTOG. MacAdam/Cage, $23 (270p) ISBN 1-931561-61-3 Set in a small town in Ontario, this delicately wrought family drama opens as Darlene Olepke, mother to Vivian and Hannah, prepares for her wedding to Reg Sinclair, the shoe...

Mountain R.(Brief Article)
February 2, 2004... JACQUES JOUET, TRANS. FROM THE FRENCH BY BRIAN EVENSON. Dalkey Archive, $12.95 paper (147p) ISBN 1-56478-330-8 A novel written entirely in dialogue, without conventional punctuation or a single traditionally described physical scene: is...

Charming Grace.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... DEBORAH SMITH. Little, Brown, $24.95 (3841)) ISBN 0-316-80587-4 Smith's beguiling brand of Southern contemporary romance (Sweet Hush, etc.) takes a satirical turn in her ninth novel. When Schwarzeneggeresque action star Stone Senterra...

Her Mother's Shadow.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... DIANE CHAMBERLAIN. Mira, $23.95 (384p) ISBN 0-7783-2017-0 Chamberlain (Kiss River; Keeper of the Light; etc.) bridges the gap between romance and relationship novels in another tale of lost family and found love on North Carolina's Outer...

The Duet.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... ROBERT ELMER. WaterBrook, $12.99 paper (304p) ISBN 1-57856-740-8 In this sweet, well-written contemporary Christian novel about a romance between a widow and a widower, Elmer (the author of several popular CBA youth series) shows he can pen...

Every Night is Ladies' Night.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... MICHAEL JAIME-BECERRA. HarperCollins/ Rayo, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 0-06-055962-4 Intimate and sweetly slangy, this collection of to interconnected stories set in the hardscrabble, blue-collar town of El Monte captures the essence of Latino...

Booty Nomad.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... SCOTT MEBUS. Miramax, $23.95 (400p) ISBN 1-4013-5204-9 Yet another hollow Nick Hornby knockoff, Mebus's charm-impaired first novel tells the story of David, a 20-something living in Manhattan who spends most of his time trying to get over...

The Saga of Seven Suns: Veiled Alliances.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... KEVIN J. ANDERSON AND ROBERT TERANISHI WITH WENDY FOUTS-BROOME. WildStorm/DC Comics, $24.95 (96p) ISBN 1-56389-902-7 Anderson has written bestselling Star Wars and Star Trek books and coauthored the expanded Dune series, so he's adept at...

Sleeper: Out in the Cold.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... ED BRUBAKER AND SEAN PHILLIPS. WildStorm/DC Comics, $17.95 paper (160p) ISBN 1-4012-0115-6 Holden Carver is a double agent, working in deep cover among some very bad people. He's become more and more morally compromised in his work as the...

The Punisher Vol. 5: Streets of Laredo.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... GARTH ENNIS, CAM KENNEDY, TOM MANDRAKE AND STEVE DILLON. Marvel Comics, $17.99 paper (168p) ISBN 0-7851-1096-8 Soon to be starring in his own major motion picture, the Punisher (aka Frank Castle) has an agenda for instilling his own brand...

Mad About Comic Strips.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... EDITED BY NICK MEGIIN AND JOHN FICARRA, INTRO. BY TED RALL. Warner/ Mad Books, $12.95 paper (128p) ISBN 14012-0095-8 >From Andy Capp to Ziggy, no comic strip, classic or new, is safe from the MAD Magazine treatment. Containing 40 years'...

Mysterious Pleasures: a Celebration of the Crime Writers' Association 50th Anniversary.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... EDITED BY MARTIN EDWARDS. Little, Brown (Trafalgar Sq., dist.), $17.95 paper (770t)) ISBN 0-316-72563-3 Did you know that the much-prized Gold Dagger Award given out by the British Crime Writers' Association was known as the "Crossed Red...

Cat Fear No Evil: a Joe Grey Mystery.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... SHIRLEY ROUSSEAU MURPHY. HarperCollins, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 0-06-620949-8 * Once again sleek feline sleuth Joe Grey and his tabby partner, Dulcie, prove to be the best snitches the Molena Point, Calif., police ever had in this superior cat...

An Intimate Ghost: A Jane Lawless Mystery.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
February 2, 2004... ELLEN HART. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0-312-31747-6 An urgent message summons Jane Lawless to an unexpected psychedelic spectacle--the entire wedding party of a schoolteacher acquaintance tripping out--in Lambda...