Publishers Weekly articles from February 2007

Publishers Weekly archives from February 2007

Regional wholesalers cope with flat market: new technology, new titles part of the solution.(Foreword)
February 5, 2007... While the fate of one of the country's largest wholesalers, Advanced Marketing Services, continues to play out in bankruptcy court in Delaware, its smaller regional wholesaling competitors are finding ways to negotiate a bookselling landscape...

AMS bankruptcy by the numbers.(Foreword)(Advanced Marketing Services Inc.)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... $41.5 million: Amount owed banks at the time of Chapter 11 filing $147.5 million: Value of AMS accounts receivable $72.5 million: Value of AMS inventory (excluding PGW books) $180 million: Value of PGW inventory $20.3 million:...

Potter to appear July 21.(Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final volume in the wildly popular series, will be released July 21. No page count has been announced, but Deathly will be priced at $34.99. Following last Thursday's announcement, Deathly shot to #1 at...

Media sales up at Amazon.(North America)(online book seller)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... North America media sales in 2006 rose 15%, to $3.58 billion, at Amazon.com. The fourth quarter was the media group's strongest, with sales up 21%, to $1.25 billion. Sales of books were up by more than 10% in the last quarter, Amazon reported....

Cat's Pajamas acquired.(acquired by The Media Services Group Ltd.)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... The Media Services Group Ltd. (MSGL), provider of publishing and event management software, has acquired the Cat's Pajamas, creator of the popular Cat's Pajamas book publishing system. Based in Burlington, Wash., Cat's Pajamas provides...

When in Taipei ...: Sara Nelson.(Foreword)(15th Annual Taiwan Book Fair)(Industry overview)
February 5, 2007... But for the proliferation of calligraphy and the almost entirely Asian population, the 15th annual Taiwan book fair could be taking place in Frankfurt or London or even New York. For five days last week, the local Taipei convention center was...

Holiday up at indigo.(Indigo Books Music and More Inc.)(Financial report)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Sales rose 3.4%, to C$320.5 million, in the third quarter ended Dec. 30, 2006, at Canada's Indigo Books & Music. Profit was up 3%, to C$41.0 million. Same-store sales increased 2.5%, to C$206.5 million, in superstores, while total sales at...

LHE opens in San Diego.(Levy Home Entertainment)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Levy Home Entertainment has opened an office in San Diego, Calif., to accommodate six former AMS employees who have joined the company. LHE is rumored to be interested in acquiring AMS, but a Levy spokesperson limited his comments to noting...

Lightning heads to Pa.(Lightening Source to open in Allentown, Pennsylvania)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Print-on-demand leader Lightning Source will open a new facility near Allentown, Pa., in June. The plant, Lightning's third, will house 16 b&w presses, 10 web-fed color presses, five sheet-fed color presses and 12 binding lines, and within...

Industry stocks: January performances.(Market Watch)(Statistical table)(Financial report)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... The 2007 edition of the PWSI is considerably smaller than last year. Three companies--Thomas Nelson, Banta Corp. and Reader's Digest--have been or about to be acquired, and two companies, MediaBay and AMS, have been delisted. For the remaining...

RH value shifts.(Sheryl Stebbins to resign Random House)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Sheryl Stebbins will leave her position as v-p and publisher of Random House Value Publishing in June, and the operation will be supervised by Susan Hettleman, sales marketing manager. In addition to repackaging backlist works, the division...

RD second quarter up.(Reader's Digest Association Inc.)(Financial report)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... In its final quarterly filing before it is acquired by the private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings, Reader's Digest reported that total revenue for the second quarter ended December 31 rose 5%, to $802 million, and the company had operating...

Loving Canada.(Chapters launches "More Canada" in promtion of Canadian authors)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Publishing entrepreneur Morty Mint (left) and assistant store manager Kevin Marusic inspect the first "More Canada" table at a Chapters in Toronto. The promotion features Canadian authors published by Canadian-owned houses.

Intelligent design--not just for book jackets.(Hot Topic)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... One can't help wonder what Charles Darwin--whose birthday is February 12--would've made of the 2005 intelligent design case Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. And more importantly, what would he think of the outbreak of books it spawned?...

New Phoenix backer.(Kenin Spivak appointed Chairman, Phoenix New Millennium)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Kenin Spivak, an entrepreneur with a background in the entertainment and media fields, has acquired a significant interest in Phoenix Books and Audio and has been named chairman of the company, which has been renamed Phoenix New Millennium....

DeMille goes clubbing.(novelist Nelson DeMille at Bookspan, Garden City)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Bestselling author Nelson DeMille dropped by Bookspan's Garden City headquarters last week. where he spoke to 150 employees about his life as a novelist. After the talk. DeMille posed with Bookspan CEO Markus Wilhelm.

Two S&S preempts.(DEALS)(Simon & Schuster)("Oxygen" and "Attack on the Liberty")(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Marysue Rucci at S&S has preempted Oxygen by Carol Wiley Cassella in a two-book deal with Kim Witherspoon and David Forrer at Inkwell, who sold world English rights. Oxygen is a novel of psychological suspense about an anesthesiologist who must...

More from Marchetto.(DEALS)(Marisa Acocella Marchetto)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Cancer Vixen author and New Yorker and Glamour cartoonist Marisa Acocella Marchetto has a new, untitled project in the works, and Robin Desser at Knopf has just bought U.S. rights from Elizabeth Sheinkman at Curtis Brown UK. This is to be a...

At Atlas.(DEALS)("Frog in a Well")(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... James Atlas has acquired the first book for his new Atlas Books. It is Frog in a Well by Lijia Zhang, a Beijing-based translator who will write a memoir of her life as a factory worker; Atlas bought world rights from Hong Kong agency Creative...

Mystery winners.(DEALS)(St. Martin's Press has acquired U.S. rights to Three Pines mystery series by Louise Penny)(Harcourt has acquired world rights to Mickey Spillane novels)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Hope Dellon at St. Martin's Press has acquired U.S. rights to three new titles in the Three Pines mystery series by Canadian writer Louise Penny from agent Patty Moosbrugger. Set in a deceptively quiet Quebecois village just north of the U.S....

Standup deals.(DEALS)("Pardon My Spanglish: Como Que Why? Porque Because!" by Bill Santiago)("I Licked the Big C" by Robert Schimmel)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Agent Laura Dail just sold comedian Bill Santiago's Pardon My Spanglish: Como que why? Porque Because! to Mindy Brown at Quirk Books, who acquired world "Spanglish" rights. This humor book takes on the unofficial, all-American language, beloved...

Calendar: Feb. 11-14.(Foreword)(Calendar)
February 5, 2007... 2/11 R.T. Jordan's rollicking comedic mystery Remains to Be Scene (Kensington) features a Carol Burnett--like TV star turned sleuth. PW said it's "the start of a promising series." 2/12 The third of four Lifetime TV movies based...

Gunn 'makes it work' for Abrams.(Bravo)("Tim Gunn's Guide to Style" television series)("Tim Guide to Quality, Taste and Style" book)
February 5, 2007... After three much-watched seasons as Heidi Klum's sage sidekick on Bravo TV's hit Project Runway, Tim Gunn is getting his moment in the limelight. The Parsons New School of Design department head will headline the cable net's upcoming series Tim...

Leslie Hawkins, owner, Spellbound Books, Asheville, N.C.(Galley Talk)(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Lauren Tarshis's wonderful middle-grade novel Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree (Dial, Mar.) features girl characters, but it is something that boys would enjoy, too. Emma-Jean is fresh and interesting, and the situations she finds herself...

Toews to Rodale.(People)(Douglas Toews appointed)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Douglas Toews has been named senior v-p and president of marketing, communications and branding at Rodale. Toews, who will handle the company's brand positioning, arrives from L'Oreal Paris, where he was chief image officer of the company's...

Hire, promo at S&S children's.(People)(Amy Chin appointed marketing assistant at Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing)(Susan Burke appointed editor at Atheneum Book for Young Readers)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Amy Chin has been named marketing assistant at Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. Susan Burke has been promoted to editor at the Atheneum Book for Young Readers imprint. Burke joined Atheneum in 2000.

Gather partners with 'PW,' Sony, others.(Ventures)(Website overview)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Over the next two months, Gather.com will roll out a series of partnerships with a diverse collection of companies, ranging from Sony to PW, to populate its nine content channels. Gather Essentials--the name for the site's nine branded...

Corner to Book TV.(People)(Cleve Corner appointed C-SPAN's Book TV)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Cleve Corner has been named a producer at C-SPAN's Book TV. Corner, who was most recently the event coordinator at the Washington, D.C. indie bookseller Politics & Prose, will work on the channel's weekend programming, which is dedicated to...

Why did Weisberg leave.(Guessing Game)(Don Weisberg, Random House of Canada)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... The amount of industry speculation surrounding the departure of Don Weisberg as executive v-p and COO North America is usually reserved for exiting publishers and top editors. Although Weisberg oversaw Random House of Canada, he is best known...

Titan to expand in U.S.(Opportunity)(Titan Books)(Company overview)
February 5, 2007... Moving to further expand its presence in the American book market, U.K. publisher Titan Books, specializing in high-profile licensed TV and film book properties, is switching its U.S. distribution from Perseus/CDS to Random House, effective...

Zoro up at Bantam Dell.(People)(Teresa Zoro promoted at Bantam Dell)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Teresa Zoro has been promoted from director of publicity at Bantam Dell to v-p. Zoro, who's worked in book publicity for 15 years, has worked at Delacorte and Pocket Books.

Lawson to Davies-Black.(People)(Laura Lawson appointed Davies-Black Publishing)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Laura Lawson has joined Davies-Black Publishing as senior acquisitions and development editor. Lawson is a 20-year veteran of the industry, having worked for both academic and professional organizations, and was most recently manager of book...

Hayes up at Scribner.(People)(Elizabeth Hayes promoted at Simon & Schuster's Scribner)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Elizabeth Hayes has been promoted from director of publicity to v-p, director of publicity at the Simon & Schuster's Scribner imprint. Hayes, who's been at S&S since 1994, started her career at Ballantine Books.

Promos at Rizzoli.(People)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... A flood of promotions were announced this week at Rizzoli: Pam Sommers has been promoted to executive director of publicity; Jerry Hoffnagle has been bumped up to international sales manager; Gerard Nudo has moved from Rizzoli bookstore manager...

Fairy tale ending.(Hollywood Reader)(movie making)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Good things come to those who wait. That's not a philosophy Hollywood lives by, but it certainly applies to Claire Messud, author of The Emperor's Children (Knopf, 2006). Since publishing her first novel, When the World Was Steady, in 1995,...

The vision thing.(Hollywood Reader)(selling book rights)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... When Cornerstone Literary Agency's Helen Breitweiser sold The Archangel Project (HarperCollins, Feb. 2008), a first novel by retired army intelligence officer Steven Graham, last May, the veteran romance and children's literary agent wasn't...

Infinite deals.(Hollywood Reader)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... David Foster Wallace, author of the always-optioned 1,097-page Infinite Jest, doesn't have to write big to get Hollywood's attention. Bonnie Nadell and Brillstein-Grey's Kassie Evashevski have set up three of Wallace's short works--all to...

Golden to Pearson.(Foreword)(L. Michael Golden)(Pearson School Companies)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... L. Michael Golden has been named v-p of administration and planning at Pearson School Companies. Golden was a deputy secretary in the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Promo, hire at NBN.(Foreword)(Dave Bolen)(National Book Network)(Brief article)
February 5, 2007... Dave Bolen has joined NBN as national accounts manager. Bolen arrives from Levy Entertainment. Jason Brockwell has been promoted to national accounts manager for B&N.

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
February 5, 2007... The popularity of the paranormal romance genre continues, with Krentz's latest landing high on the weekly national charts. From PW's review: "Krentz delivers another evocative romance, complete with engaging dialogue and explicit sex scenes,...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
February 5, 2007... "One cannot ignore the Holocaust's impact on Jewish identity and the history of the Middle East conflict. When an Ahmadinejad or Hamas threatens to destroy Israel, Jews have historical precedent to believe them. Jimmy Carter either does not...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
February 5, 2007... A new addition to the popular contemporary paranormal genre is Blood Bound. It's the second in Briggs's series starring sexy, shape-shifting mechanic Mercy Thompson. Said Ace editor Anne Sowards: "We've been seeing huge growth in the urban...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
February 5, 2007... After a one-year hiatus, Oprah has resurrected her book club, selecting Sidney Poitier's The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography. Harper San Francisco kept the 56th Oprah pick under wraps for about two months, all the while gearing up...

Comics bestsellers.
February 5, 2007... "With dramatic goth art by Hino ramping up the intensity, fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will find much that's comfortable--the young woman tasked with an unusual and solitary mission, the school setting, the question whether to love or kill...

Booksellers: tips for building new business.(Retailing)
February 5, 2007... Cash flow is crucial for small business owners who must constantly make payroll, launch new products, pay vendors and run costly advertising. Entrepreneurs also often face the same personal economic woes confronting most American...

Colorado.(United States of Bookselling)
February 5, 2007... From his burial site atop Lookout Mountain above Denver, Buffalo Bill, should he hop back in the saddle, would look down upon a blanket of nontraditional book outlets. He would be pleased, for the trick-shooting showman was one of the first...

S&S Pulls Out of the CBC: says "it's not about the money".(Children's Book)(Simon and Schuster Inc.)(Children's Book Council)
February 5, 2007... Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, whose president and publisher Rick Richter expressed hopes last fall that the Children's Book Council would beef up its marketing efforts, has not renewed its membership. While Richter declined to speak...

Kenyan kinship.(Children's Books)("Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship", "Owen and Mzee: The Language of Friendship" and "Owen and Mzee: Best Friends")(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Last March Scholastic Press released the picture book Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship, the story of an extremely unlikely pairing. Owen, a young hippo who became separated from his mother when the devastating 2004 tsunami...

Seductive dishes: Texas house scores with cookbook for lovers.(Indepedent Publishing)("InterCourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook" by Martha Hopkins and Randall Lockridge)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Nothing goes better together than food and sex. Consider the success of the cookbook InterCourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook by Martha Hopkins and Randall Lockridge published by Terrace Publishing of Waco, Tex. The book has sold more than 225,000...

A comic crime writer.(Author Profile)("What's So Funny?")
February 5, 2007... One of the most admired American crime writers, Donald E. Westlake has won Edgar Awards in three categories--for best novel, God Save the Mark (1968); best short story, "Too Many Crooks" (1990); and best motion picture screenplay, The...

What's for summer?(new book releases)(Bibliography)
February 5, 2007... Pulitzer-winner Michael Chabon leads off a strong literary fiction lineup with his much-delayed, much-anticipated new novel. On its heels are big books from The Kite Runner's Khaled Hosseini, Armistead Maupin, Don DeLillo, Michael Ondaatje and...

Sound bytes: going digital is all the craze, but cost savings are not what you'd think.(DOWNLOAD)(Industry overview)(Financial report)
February 5, 2007... The proliferation of all things digital continues to resound throughout the audio industry. An industry founded on audiotape moved smoothly into the compact disk age and is now embracing the consumer penchant for digitally downloading product....

Spring 2007 audio: the upcoming audio season gets a fresh look as we highlight titles likely to spark interest and hopefully make some noise for booksellers, publishers and listeners this spring.(DOWNLOAD)(List)
February 5, 2007... FICTION This spring brings new recordings from a stellar roster of heavy hitters among them Janet Evanovich. David Baldacci. Anita Shreve, James Patterson. Nora Roberts (as J.D. Robb). John Sanford, W.E.B. Griffin. Dean Koontz, Lisa...

The Maytrees.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... * The Maytrees Annie Dillard. HarperCollins, $24.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-06-123953-3 Lou Bigelow meets her husband-to-be, Toby Maytree, when Toby returns to Provincetown following WWII. In the house Lou inherits from her mother, they read,...

The Last Chinese Chef.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... The Last Chinese Chef Nicole Mones. Houghton Mifflin, $24 (288p) ISBN 978-0-618-61966-5 A recently widowed American food writer finds solace and love--and the most inspiring food she's ever encountered--during a visit to China in Mones's...

The Big Question.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... The Big Question Chuck Barris. Simon & Schuster, $24 (288p) ISBN 978-1-4165-3525-6 Answer the quiz show's final question correctly, and you win $100 million; get it wrong, and you're executed on live television. The premise is as...

Imposture.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... * Imposture Benjamin Markovits. Norton, $13.95 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-393-32973-5 Markovits's latest (after 2005's Fathers and Daughters) is a masterful chronicle of a doomed 19th-century romance that begins in deception and ends in...

The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue Manuel Munoz. Algonquin, $12.95 paper (256p) ISBN 978-1-56512-532-2 Munoz delivers another book of short stories colored by the heat of California's Central Valley and shot through with despair and a hint...

A whole new person: the author of acclaimed restaurant memoir Stuffed returns with two fictional sleuths in to My Dearest Friends (Reviews, Jan. 1).(PW Talks to Patricia Volk)(Interview)
February 5, 2007... Your protagonists are two women, 62 and 59, on the trail of their late mutual friend's secret lover. Is this the first time you've written at length about characters at midlife? It is. I had something I really, really wanted to say--I...

Like Son.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Like Son Felicia Luna Lemus. Akashic, $14.95 paper (270p) ISBN 978-1-933354-21-7 Chaos and fate are hopelessly intertwined in this exuberant second novel from Lemus (Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties). Frank Cruz--born as a girl named...

The Secret Lives of People in Love: Stories.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... The Secret Lives of People in Love: Stories Simon Van Booy. Turtle Point, $14.95 paper (176p) ISBN 978-1-9335-2705-5 A breadth of experience and setting distinguishes this somber first collection of 18 very short stories by New York-based...

Lone Creek.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... * Lone Creek Neil McMahon. HarperCollins, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-06-079221-3 McMahon (Revolution No. 9 and three other thrillers starring Dr. Carroll Monks) delivers his finest achievement to date with this beautifully written...

American Outrage.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... American Outrage Tim Green. Warner, $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-446-57743-4 Bestseller Green (Kingdom Come) introduces a tough, appealing hero in his action-packed 12th thriller. Jake Carlson, a correspondent for the tabloid TV news show...

Promise Not to Tell.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Promise Not to Tell Jennifer McMahon. Harper, $13.95 paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-06-114331-1 Part mystery-thriller and part ghost story, McMahon's well-paced debut alternates smoothly between past and present. In the fall of 2002, 41-year-old...

Sleeping with Strangers.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... * Sleeping with Strangers Eric Jerome Dickey. Dutton, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-525-94999-2 After a brutal hit in Tampa on high-profile rapper Big Bad Wolf, contract killer Gideon, the star of this fast-paced thriller from bestseller...

White Walls: The Collected Stories.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... * White Walls: The Collected Stories Tatyana Tolstaya, trans from the Russian by Jamey Gambrell and Antonina W. Bouis. New York Review Books, $16.95 paper (416p) ISBN 978-1-59017-197-4 Angels, imaginary friends, near-saints, shades and...

The Dead Room.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... The Dead Room Heather Graham Mira, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-7783-2430-0 At the start of this chilling paranormal thriller from bestseller Graham (Kiss of Darkness), anthropologist Leslie MacIntyre eagerly accepts an invitation to work on...

Liszt's Kiss.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Liszt's Kiss SUSANNE DUNLAP. Touchstone, $14 paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-7432-8940-5 Dunlap's latest (after Emilie's Voice) is an uneven but spirited mystery-cum-romance set in 1830s Paris. After cholera claims her mother, the Countess Anne de...

The Various Haunts of Men: A Simon Serrailler Crime Novel.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... The Various Haunts of Men: A Simon Serrailler Crime Novel Susan Hill. Overlook, $24.95 (438p) ISBN 978-1-58567-876-1 Weaving together a variety of subtly interrelated narratives, British author Hill (Air and Angels) embeds a thoughtful...

We Shall not Sleep.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... * We Shall Not Sleep Anne Perry. Ballantine, $21.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-345-45660-1 The depth and passion of Perry's fifth and final volume in her acclaimed WWI series won't disappoint readers who have followed this engrossing and moving...

Lies.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Lies Enrique de Heriz, trans. from the Spanish by John Cullen. Doubleday/ Talese, $26 (544p) ISBN 978-0-385-51794-2 De Heriz's debut is a humid family drama. Isabel Garcia Luna, a world-traveling anthropologist specializing in "rituals of...

God's Spy.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... God's Spy Juan Gomez-Jurado, Trans. from the Spanish by James Graham. Dutton, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-525-94994-7 A routine plot doesn't do justice to the intriguing premise of this debut thriller, a bestseller in Spain, about a serial...

Foolish Notions.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Foolish Notions Aris Whittier. Five Star, $26.95 (255p) ISBN 978-1-59414-584-1 A creepy, obsessive protagonist darkens Whittier's latest, an uneven and unconvincing romance. James Taylor, an arrogant, well-off CEO of a consumer electronics...

Before I Forget.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Before I Forget Andre Brink. Sourcebooks, $26 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4022-0866-9 Chris Minnaar is a South African novelist who recounts his many loves in this long, melancholy second-person confession to his dead friend and would-be lover,...

Dark Room.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Dark Room Andrea Kane. Morrow, $23.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-06-074134-1 Thriller readers who prefer a heavy dose of romance will most appreciate this contemporary whodunit from bestseller Kane (Run for Your Life). Morgan Winter, after the...

Lawd, Mo' Drama.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Lawd, Mo' Drama Tina Brooks McKinney. Atria/ Strebor, $13 paper (288p) ISBN 978-1-59309-052-4 McKinney's mediocre sequel to All That Drama (2004) checks in on wily Sammie Davis and introduces her friend Leah Simmons just as their lives get...

This Time of Dying.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... This Time of Dying Reina James. St. Martin's, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-36444-1 British writer James assays the impact of the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic on a disparate lot of Londoners in her ambitious debut novel. Told through the...

Portrait of an Unknown Woman.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Portrait of an Unknown Woman Vanora Bennett. Morrow, $24.95 (432p) ISBN 978-0-06-125927-2 British journalist Bennett (Crying Wolf: The Return of War to Chechnya) makes her fiction debut with a sweeping reinterpretation of Sir Thomas More's...

Where Bones Dance: An English Girlhood, an African War.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Where Bones Dance: An English Girlhood, an African War Nina Newington. Univ. of Wisconsin/Terrace, $26.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-299-22260-4 Newington fires off short, scattershot chapters to tell a sincere coming-of-age story in this debut...

Patient 002.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Patient 002 Floyd Skloot. Rager Media (SPD, dist.), $19.95 paper (288p) ISBN 9780-9792091-6-1 Medical research subjects get the shaft before striking back in Skloot's latest, an amusing and absorbing novel that pits a motley crew of Davids...

The Land of Mango Sunsets.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... The Land of Mango Sunsets Dorothea Benton Frank. Morrow, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-06-089238-8 A middle-aged woman's self-discovery is predictable but not pedestrian in Frank's (Full of Grace; Pawleys Island) latest. A divorce has stalled...

Forever a Hustler's Wife.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Forever a Hustler's Wife Nikki Turner. Ballantine/One World, $13.95 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-34549385-9 Yarni Taylor, a successful lawyer who has dedicated herself to helping "minority men caught up in the wrath," fights to keep her hustler...

The Winter Prince.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... The Winter Prince Cheryl Sawyer. Signet Eclipse, $14 paper (400p) ISBN 978-0-451-220448 Hardcore history buffs will appreciate the fly-on-the-turret view of the dramas besieging the British royal court in 1642, when, though the country is...

Certainty.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 5, 2007... Certainty Madeleine Thien. Little, Brown, $23.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-316-83499-5 Thien's debut novel draws its meager impetus from the tale of Matthew and Ani, two 10-yearolds in the village of Sandakan in Japanese-occupied Borneo during...