Publishers Weekly articles from July 2003

Publishers Weekly archives from July 2003

University presses: 'Sleepless in St. Louis'; publishers, amid harsh times, brainstorm on ways to pursue their calling with less economic stress.
July 7, 2003... DESPITE WHAT SEVERAL speakers described as one of the toughest market environments they have ever faced, nearly 600 university press people gathered in St. Louis June 22-25 for their annual convention, a time for declarations of determination...

Willis Stein to acquire B&T. (Acquisition).(Baker & Taylor sold by Carlyle Group)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... The Carlyle Group, which acquired Baker & Taylor in 1992 from N.R. Grace, has sold the distribution company to the private investment group Willis Stein & Partners for $255 million. After completion of the deal, which is expected by the end of...

'Phoenix' sales remain strong in most channels. (Elixir).('Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix')
July 7, 2003... SALES OF Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix continued at a rapid pace in the first full week after the book's publication. The title's sales slipped during the week ending June 29, but that still meant Borders and Barnes & Noble combined...

Potter craze has dark lining for foreign houses. (Waiting is the Hardest Part).('Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix')
July 7, 2003... As THE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix continues to sell in record numbers, foreign-language publishers are encountering a tricky reality. The book's popularity has meant that publishers must fight illegal...

Changes coming at WH Smith. (New Leadership).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... IN A SURPRISE announcement, Martin Taylor, chairman of WH Smith, has told the company that he intends to quit by December 2003. The board of WH Smith is already searching for a replacement for CEO Richard Handover, who has made no secret of the...

Big deal for Erdrich kids' books. (Hot Deals).(Louise Erdrich )(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Bestselling and award-winning novelist Louise Erdrich has signed an extensive deal with HarperCollins Children's Books to write no fewer than eight titles for the division, with the first of them to appear in spring 2005. Editorial director...

Hyperion is young chef's dish. (Hot Deals).(David Lieberman)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... David Lieberman, a recent Yale graduate just featured in the New York Times for his Campus Cuisine show on a local New Haven TV channel, has signed with Hyperion's Mary Ellen O'Neill for a cookbook designed to appeal to a youthful readership,...

Karr signs with Fourth Estate. (Hot Deals).(Mary Karr signs with Fourth Estate)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Memoirist Mary Karr, another bestselling award winner, has signed with Fourth Estate's new editorial director, Courtney Hodell, for Tropic of Squalor, the third volume of the trilogy that began with The Liars' Club and continued with Cherry In...

'NY Times' books beginning. (Hot Deals).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Though maverick reporter Jayson Blair has yet to sell his story, signings are beginning for books about the recent meltdown at the New York Times that led to the departure of editor Howell Raines. At Random, editor-in-chief Dan Menaker signed...

In Ann Rule's backyard. (Hot Deals).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... The killer who slew more than four dozen women over a period of 20 years in Washington State, in what became known as the Green River Killings, created his carnage within a few miles of the home of America's premier true crime writer, Ann Rule,...

Treachery: How America's Friends and Foes Are Secretly Arming Our Enemies. (Short Takes).(Crown Forum)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Jed Donahue, busily building a conservative list at Crown Forum, signed Bill Gertz (Betrayal) for a book called Treachery: How America's Friends and Foes Are Secretly Arming Our Enemies; it was a world rights deal, signed with agent Joseph...

Crazy Money: Inside Investor's Business Daily. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Philip Turner at Avalon's Carroll & Graf bought a sardonic inside view of our second largest financial paper, called Crazy Money: Inside Investor's Business Daily, in which author Ivan Goldman, who worked there, portrays a highly eccentric...

Cipher. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Random's Lee Boudreaux bought a first novel by a young Iowa Writers Workshop grad, Curtis Sittenfeld, about the misadventures of a cocky teenager at a ritzy boarding school, It's called Cipher, and Shana Kelly at William Morris made the North...

Full Spectrum Disorder. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Stan Goff, who is, unusually, a former Special Forces sergeant turned radical army critic, is writing a book called Full Spectrum Disorder, about what he sees as the current shortcomings of the U.S. military, for publisher Richard Nash at...

Canadian book sales up 9.4% in 2000-2001. (Survey Says).
July 7, 2003... THE CANADIAN BOOK industry saw significant growth in 2000-2001, with increases in revenue, earnings and the number of new titles issued for that period, according to a long-awaited report published by Statistics Canada. The Survey of Book...

Industry stocks: June performances. (Market Watch).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Market Watch Industry Stocks: June Performances Winners COMPANY MAY 30 JUNE 30 % CHANGE Franklin Electronic Publishers 3.35 4.00 20.0% Advanced...

Gieskes resigns from Houghton Mifflin. (People).(Hans Gieskes)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... HANS GIESKES, who took over as president and CEO of Houghton Mifflin a little over one year ago, resigned last week. Sylvia Metayer has been named HM's interim CEO until a permanent replacement for Gieskes can be found. Metayer joined HM in...

Buck moves to Simon Pulse. (People).(Bethany Buck)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing has announced the appointment of Bethany Buck to v-p and editorial director of Simon Pulse, its teen paperback imprint. In her new position, Buck will oversee the acquisition and development of original...

North goes to HC Canada. (People).(Christopher North named chief operating officer of Harper Collins Canada)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... CHRISTOPHER NORTH has been named to the newly created position of chief operating officer of HarperCollins Canada. North, who will start his new job July 7, joined HC in 1999 after a stint at Booz Allen Hamilton. Before the current promotion,...

LeBien to succeed Sifton at Hill & Wang. (People).(Thomas LeBien named to succeed Elisabeth Sifton)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... THOMAS LEBIEN, a senior editor at Hill & Wang, has been named to succeed Elisabeth Sifton as publisher of the Farrar, Straus & Giroux division. Sifton, publisher of Hill & Wang since 1993, is stepping down to focus on her role as a senior v-p...

Bookspan's Gatti retires. (People).(BILL GATTI)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... BILL GATTI, senior v-p of human resources and administration at Bookspan, retired July 1 and was succeeded by Janet Wolf, former senior v-p of marketing services at the book club. Gatti joined Doubleday in 1967, and in addition to human...

Possible settlement in Stuart, Wynn suit. (Litigation).(publishing Lyle Stuart, casino owner Steve Wynn )(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... AFTER MORE THAN seven years of litigation, the defamation lawsuit filed against Barricade Books and its 81-year-old maverick publisher, Lyle Stuart, by Las Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn may be on the verge of a settlement. David Blasband,...

International sales led growth at AMS. (Notes From the 10-k).(Advanced Marketing Services)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... INTERNATIONAL SALES INCREASED 33% at Advanced Marketing Services, to $84.5 million, for the year ended March 31, while domestic sales increased 19.5%, to $827 million, the company stated in its year-end filing with the Securities and Exchange...

Troll to close after asset sale. (Gone).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... A U.S. bankruptcy court has approved the sale of a majority of Troll Communications' inventory to Scholastic. The deal was expected to be completed on July 3. Troll, once a major force in the book club and book fair market, filed for Chapter 11...

Obituary.(Sara Ann Freed)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
July 7, 2003... Sara Ann Freed, 57 SARA ANN FREED, an award-winning editor-in-chief at Mysterious Press and a senior editor at Warner Books, died in New York City while receiving treatment for leukemia. She was 57. Freed began her career in religious...

Potter--everywhere but here. (Behind the Bestsellers).('Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix')(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... We have been fielding many phone calls and e-mails wondering why the latest Harry Potter is not leading PW's weekly bestseller charts. No worries--it will be the #1 bestseller on our monthly children's bestseller list (July 21 issue). When we...

Not a conservative launch. (Behind the Bestsellers).(Crown Forum's book by Ann Coulter)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... The folks at Crown Forum are crowing about the excellent launch of Ann Coulter's Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terrorism, the first book for the new imprint for conservative readers and #3 on our hardcover...

Palms up. (Behind the Bestsellers).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Berkley is very excited about the sales performance of Dorothea Benton Frank's hardcover debut, Isle of Palms--her first two novels, Sullivan's Island and Plantation, were mass-market originals. Total copies in print: 160,000. Last week in...

Here, chick, chick, chick. (Behind the Bestsellers).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... The "very robust" sales of Brit author Jane Green's Bookends, Broadway Books publicity director David Drake told PW, "indicate to us that she is now firmly established at the top of the chick-lit category." He added that the current trade...

Latina lite: Hispanic fiction meets the mainstream. (Book News).
July 7, 2003... St. Martin's Press was banking on a hit when it released The Dirty Girls Social Club on April 22. The publisher deemed the tale of six American-born Latina women who stay friends after college so compelling that it gave first-time novelist...

It's not just about love: five bookstore owners on the risks and rewards of running an independent bookstore. (Bookselling).
July 7, 2003... What does it take for an independent bookstore to stay in business these days? Well, some old-fashioned luck never hurts (such as a chain store not opening two doors down), but some hard-nosed business savvy goes a long way, too, along with a...

A bear of a project for Martin & Carle: the bestselling children's book duo returns with a third title. (Children's Books).
July 7, 2003... In the mid 1960s, former educator Bill Martin Jr. was an editor at Holt, Rinehart and Winston, where his responsibilities included writing books in a paper-over-board series entitled The Sounds of Language, which the publisher marketed directly...

Robert McCloskey 1914-2003.(Brief Article)(Biography)
July 7, 2003... Children's author-illustrator Robert McCloskey passed away on June 30 in Deer Island, Maine, after a long illness. He was 88. Trained in art at both the Vesper George Art School in Boston and the National Academy of Design in New York City,...

A fresh look at YA literature. (Children's Books).
July 7, 2003... Michael Cart, award-winning author and recognized expert in the field of young adult literature, has taken a leap into what he hopes will be considered a new way of thinking about the YA genre. Beginning next April, a semi-annual journal...

A book series with a sense of place. (Children's Books).(Milkweed Editions )
July 7, 2003... With its Stories from Where We Live series, Milkweed Editions has been trying to restore a feeling of community to the country, one region at a time. The series began in 2000 with the publication of The North Atlantic Coast, and the fifth...

Joan Lowery Nixon 1926-2003.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
July 7, 2003... Prolific children's mystery writer Joan Lowery Nixon passed away on June U 30, of cancer. She was 76. After graduating with a degree in journalism from the University of Southern California at Los Angeles, the author found there were no...

Tokyopop targets tots. (Licensing Hotline).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Manga publisher Tokyopop is making its first foray into titles for young children, releasing a line of picture and board books tied to its new property Stray Sheep. Based on a series of animated short films running on late-night television in...

Lizzie rules. (Licensing Hotline).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... A recent tie-in success from Disney Publishing Worldwide has been its series of Lizzie McGuire titles, based on the Disney Channel show. The company has more than 2.5 million Lizzie books in print, released through Hyperion's Disney Press and...

Bendon breaks in. (Licensing Hotline).(Bendon Publishing International)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... The new kid on the block in the coloring and activity market, Bendon Publishing International has signed eight new licenses this year. Its roster now includes everything from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers titles to Brainy Baby...

Wolff meets Little Piggy. (Licensing Hotline).(Wolff)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... New York artist and licensor Nancy Wolff is about to make her debut in children's books, illustrating Kathryn Madeline Allen's This Little Piggy's Book of Manners, set for a fall release from Henry Holt. She'll follow that up in spring 2005...

Elf. (In Brief).(Penguin Putnam to publish illustrated books for film)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Penguin Putnam will publish illustrated books, juvenile novelizations and story books for New Line's November 2003 film Elf, and will release a Mad Libs title tied to Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes.

Modern Publishing. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Modern Publishing's newly acquired licenses for coloring and activity titles include Bratz (from MGA Entertainment), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (4Kids) and Beyblades (Nelvana).

Peter Pan. (In Brief).(Universal Consumer Products announces licensees for live-action film)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Universal Consumer Products announced the first licensees for the live-action film based on J .M. Barrie's Peter Pan. Products for North America will include sleepwear, cake decorating kits, plush, blankets, party goods and posters; Simon &...

Cyberchase. (In Brief).(Scholastic will produce title tied to Nelvana's series )(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Scholastic will produce one title tied to Nelvana's educational public television series Cyberchase.

How to Cook Everything. (In Brief).(Wiley signs Franklin-Covey for day planners)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Wiley signed Franklin-Covey as the licensee for Frommer's day planners. It also launched a licensing effort for Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, for kitchen-related products.

Monsters Inc. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Disney granted rights to Tokyopop to create a Cine-manga title based on Monsters Inc.

Olivia games. (In Brief).(Silver Lining Productions authorizes marketing to Briarpatch and Wink)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Silver Lining Productions authorized Briarpatch to market Olivia games and puzzles and Wink to market Olivia wooden furniture accessories.

The Fairly OddParents, Jimmy Neutron, Rocket Power, Rugrats, SpongeBob SquarePants and The Wild Thornberrys. (In Brief).(Nickelodeon signs Scholastic-at-Home)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Nickelodeon signed Scholastic-at-Home for continuity book clubs tied to its TV series The Fairly OddParents, Jimmy Neutron, Rocket Power, Rugrats, SpongeBob SquarePants and The Wild Thornberrys.

L'il Pet Hospital. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Kenn Viselman Presents... signed a license with Barnes & Noble for four paper-over-board concept books tied to the toy line L'il Pet Hospital.

Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Brown Shoe Company is among the latest licensees for Universal's upcoming film, Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat.

Humphrey's Corner. (In Brief).(licensees granted by The Sharpe Co.)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... New licensees granted by The Sharpe Company for Humphrey's Corner, the children's book line by Sally Hunter, include Sandylion (stickers and scrapbooking) and Scene Weaver (throws).

Newton's Law. (In Brief).(Wildflower Group will license bedtime book)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... The Wildflower Group will license Newton's Law, a U.K. literary property with [pounds sterling]4 million in book and product sales. Created by the Rory Tyger Group, the bedtime book has 20 licensees in the U.K; Barron's published a co-edition...

Berlitz: Airborne Entertainment. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... The Joester-Loria Group signed two licensees for Berlitz: Airborne Entertainment for mobile phone alert messaging and DTI Software for in-flight learning applications....

The Kyss Family Mysteries, Softi's Adventures and The Little Stories of Manoosh and Baloosh. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Lavinia's World is licensing three of its new book series, The Kyss Family Mysteries, Softi's Adventures and The Little Stories of Manoosh and Baloosh. A display featuring books and products will appear in U.S. supermarkets in spring 2004.

JEB. (In Brief).(Geonopolis licensing multicultural book)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Geonopolis is licensing JEB, a multicultural coloring/song/reading book that teaches geometry. It is seeking a publisher as well as educational product licensees.

Out of the gate: Hillary and Harry race to bestsellerdom. (Audio).
July 7, 2003... Forget brides, grads and dads; June was one swell month for books-and notably, a pair of audiobooks. Just like their print counterparts, the audiobook versions of Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton (Simon & Schuster Audio) and Harry...

Flirting with Pete. (Fiction).(Audiobook Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... BARBARA DELINSKY, READ BY LINDA EMOND. Simon & Schuster Audio, abridged, four cassettes, 5 hrs., $26 ISBN 0-7435-2989-8 Narrator Emond effectively performs two intertwining stories in Delinsky's latest. The product of a one-nightstand,...

The Dogs of Babel: A Novel. (Fiction).(Audiobook Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... CAROLYN PARKHURST, READ BY ERIK SINGER. Time Warner AudioBooks, unabridged, five cassettes, 7.5 hrs., $29.98 ISBN 1-58621-510-8 Consumed with grief and obsessed with unlocking the mystery of wife Lexy's fatal fall from a backyard apple...

. (Fiction).(Audiobook Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... P.G. WODEHOUSE, READ BY JONATHAN CECIL. Audio Editions, unabridged, six cassettes, 7 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 1-57270-318-0 * Wodehouse and Cecil are a terrific pair. Cecil's narration is marvelous, as he perfectly evokes the character of...

Winterkill: A Joe Pickett Novel. (Fiction).(Audiobook Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... C.J. Box, READ BY RAY GAUTREAU. Brilliance, unabridged, eight cassettes, 11 hrs., $32.95 ISBN 1-59086-946-X Box's stalwart prison warden, Joe Pickett, is put to the test in his third grueling adventure in the Wyoming mountain wilderness....

Choke: A Novel. (Fiction).(Audiobook Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... CHUCK PALAHNIUK, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Random House Audible, unabridged, six CDs, 7 hrs., $31.95 ISBN 0-7393-0402-X While it's always interesting to hear authors read their own work, this production is not likely to prompt a narrating career...

Dry: A Memoir. (Nonfiction).(Audiobook Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Audio Renaissance, unabridged, seven CDs, 9 hrs., $32 ISBN 1-55927-901-X Imagine coming home to find hundreds of empty scotch bottles and 1,452 empty beer bottles in your apartment. This is what...

Sex and the Married Girl: From Clicking to Climaxing--The Complete Truth About Modern Marriage. (Nonfiction).(Audiobook Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... MANDI NORWOOD, READ BY THE AUTHOR. New Millennium, unabridged, nine cassettes, 13 hrs., $36.95 ISBN 1-59007-402-5 Norwood's voice-vivacious, friendly, sometimes giggly, with a lovely British accent-is perfect for the frank "girl talk"...

A Million Little Pieces. (Nonfiction).(Audiobook Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... JAMES FREY, READ BY OLIVER WYMAN, High Bridge, abridged, eight CDs, 10 hrs., $34.95 ISBN 1-56511-778-6 For as long as he can remember, Frey has had within him something that he calls "the Fury," a bottomless source of anger and rage that...

Audio bestsellers.(Illustration)
July 7, 2003... Audio Bestsellers Fiction 1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (unabr.). J.K. Rowling. Read by Jim Dale Random House Audio/Listening Library. 17 cassettes, 26.5 hours, $45 ISBN 0-8072-2028-0 2 Harry...

Comic-con gets bigger, better: the San Diego show is a pop-culture extravaganza of comics, films, animation, gaming, toys. (Comics).(San Diego Comic-con)
July 7, 2003... It's the BookExpo America for comics nerds, a head-spinning circus of pop culture with comics at the core. Every year it seems that the San Diego Comic-con (officially known as Comic-con International: San Diego, or CCI-SD) can't top itself,...

Jam-packed MoCCA Fest. (Indie Comics Show).(Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival)
July 7, 2003... On Sunday, June 22, New Yorkers lined up for hours to buy a big blue brick of a book--but it wasn't Harry Potter. The must have book of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art's second annual MoCCA Art Festival was Craig Thompson's...

'The League,' 'Far Side' go deluxe. (New Books).('The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the Absolute Edition Volume One' and 'The Complete Far Side' to be published)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... Two forthcoming boxed collections of comics will knock your socks off with their exquisite production--and with their prices. Arriving just in time for the release of the forthcoming film, DC Comics and America's Best Comics are releasing...

Salary survey: average pay raise remained at 5% for second consecutive year.(publishing industry)(Industry Overview)
July 7, 2003... DESPITE EFFORTS BY publishing companies to cut costs in 2002 to cope with sluggish sales in many sectors of the industry, the average salary increase rose 5.1% last year, only marginally below the 5.4% gain reported in 2001. The overwhelming...

Stars in the ascendant: from a publishing debutante to romantic veterans, these dozen authors are poised for the next big step. (Category Closeup Romance).
July 7, 2003... Heather Lowell Like Mother, Like Daughter Even after I-leather Lowell finally slowed clown long enough to write the romance novel she always wanted to write, there was still something nagging her. While concentrating on her debut book, When...

Norman Rush: a novelist out of Africa. (Interview).(Interview)
July 7, 2003... There's no mistaking that Norman Rush is a writer of serious fiction. He embodies the image: in person, he's earnest, focused and controlled. Words like "obsessed" and "driven" pervade his conversation. Tall, meticulously groomed, with a neat...

Daughter's Keeper. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... AYELET WALDMAN. Sourcebooks Landmark, $24 (352p) ISBN 1-4022-0096-X Waldman, author of the Mommy Track mystery series, here takes a more serious tack, telling the story of a young woman who battles the American legal system's...

Hello, Darkness. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... SANDRA BROWN. Simon & Schuster, $25.95 (416p) ISBN 0-7432-4552-0 Cue another run up the charts for best-selling Brown (The Crush), who knows just the right mix to spin: a second-chance-at-love theme rocked by the rhythms of...

Slow Way Home. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... MICHAEL MORRIS. Harper San Francisco, $22.95 (280p) ISBN 0-06-056898-4 A Southern boy becomes a pawn in a dicey custody battle in Morris's uneven second novel, which begins when eight-year-old Brandon Willard's drug addict mother, Sophie,...

The Namesake. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... JHUMPA LAHIRI. Houghton Muffin, $24 (304p) ISBN 0-395-92721-8 One of the most anticipated books of the year, Lahiri's first novel (after 1999's Pulitzer Prize--winning Interpreter of Maladies) amounts to less than the sum of its parts....

I Was Howard Hughes. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... STEVEN CARTER. Bloomsbury, $14.95 paper (240p) ISBN 1-58234-375-6 Carter offers a cheeky look at the relationship between biographer and subject in his sly debut novel about an unconventional, egotistical author who takes on a Howard Hughes...

Every Secret Thing. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... LAURA LIPPMAN. Morrow, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 0-06-050667-9 With this engrossing mystery/suspense stand-alone novel, Lippman, winner of the Edgar, Shamus and Agatha awards for her series featuring likable heroine Tess Monaghan (Baltimore Blues;...

Finding Alice. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... MELODY CARLSON. WaterB rook, $11.99 paper, (256p) ISBN 1-57856-573-1 The award-winning Carlson has penned more than 90 books for the CBA market, and her experience is in full evidence here. Using the allegorical characters and imagery of...

Diary. (Fiction).(Book Review)
July 7, 2003... CHUCK PALAHNIUK. Doubleday, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 0-385-50947-2 * With a first page that captures the reader hook, line and sinker, Palahniuk (Choke; Lullaby) plunges into the odd predicament of Waytansea Island resident and ex-art student...

Last Citadel. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... DAVID L. ROBBINS. Bantam, $24.95 (432p) ISBN 0-553-80177-5 Tigers and T-34s lock horns in this dramatization of the 1943 battle for Kursk, in southwestern Russia, the greatest tank battle in the history of armored warfare. In his fifth...

Barracuda 945. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... PATRICK ROBINSON. HarperCollins, $25.95 (448p) ISBN 0-06-054854-1 Terrorists lay siege to the West Coast in this engrossing if frustratingly digressive naval thriller that features a turncoat British officer matching wits with Robinson's...

Yoga Hotel: Stories. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... MAURA MOYNIHAN. Regan Books, $13.95 paper (304p) ISBN 0-06-055932-2 East meets West in Moynihan's wry, knowing debut collection, so evocative of modern-day India that readers can smell the temple incense. The six stories feature bungling...

First Light. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... BODIE AND BROCK THOENE. Tyndale, $29.99 (393p) ISBN 0-8423-7506-6 Although Jerusalem's Hope, book six in the Zion Legacy series with Viking, was supposedly the conclusion, this new offering from Tyndale picks up the same basic story line...

The Last Nazi. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2003... STAN POTTINGER. St. Martin's, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 0-312-27676-1 It's difficult to come tip with a fresh Nazi scenario without resorting to the cloning gambit, but Pottinger (The Fourth Procedure; A Slow Burning) succeeds admirably in this...