Publishers Weekly articles from July 2004

Publishers Weekly archives from July 2004

Supreme Court rules against COPA: first amendment activists hail decision.(Child Online Protection Act)
July 5, 2004... THE CHILD ONLINE PROTECTION ACT, the six-year-old Web-policing legislation that has seen numerous legal challenges, was handed another setback last week when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an injunction against it and sent the case back to the...

Scholastic revamps continuities unit.(News)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... SCHOLASTIC IMPLEMENTED a major reorganization of its home continuity business last week, a move that included reducing the division's work force by 20% as well as appointing a new management team. Thirty-one positions have been eliminated...

Industry stocks: June performances.(Market Watch)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Market Watch Industry Stocks: June Performance Winners COMPANY MAY 28 JUNE 30 % CHANGE Hastings Entertainment 7.78 9.19 18.1% Advanced Marketing Srvc. 11.07...

Fenn to buy Porter; changes at M&S.(Canadian Publishing)(Key Porter Books)(H.B. Fenn and Company)(McClelland & Stewart)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... THE MUCH-RUMORED sale of Key Porter Books to H.B. Fenn and Company was confirmed last week when the two companies announced that they had signed a memorandum of understanding, under which Fenn will buy a controlling interest in Porter. Key...

Sales, earnings rise at Indigo.(Fiscal 2004 Results)(Indigo Books & Music)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... AN IMPROVED FOURTH quarter, growing online sales and better comp-store sales all contributed to gains in sales and earnings at Indigo Books & Music for the fiscal year ended April 3, 2004. For the full year, revenue rose 3.4%, to C$805.8...

Ruminator Books to close.(Retailing)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... DESPITE A YEAR-LONG effort to find a way to stay afloat, Ruminator Books will close its doors for good at the end of July, 34 years after David Unowsky opened the store in St. Paul, Minn. The end came June 25 when his landlord and neighbor,...

ABA gets $5.75 million for HQ.(Real Estate)(American Booksellers Association)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... The American Booksellers Association has sold its headquarters in Tarrytown, N.Y., for $5.75 million, to Diamond Properties of Valhalla, N.Y., a real estate company. The association, which paid $2.8 million in 1991 for the property, will remain...

Librarians weather the heat.(ALA Annual Meeting)
July 5, 2004... ORLANDO TEMPERATURES were sweltering during the American Library Association annual conference last week. Further heat arose from discussions prompted by a showing of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11; a keynote speech by former White House...

Hodder Headline sale heats up.(International)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... WH SMITH is negotiating with two parties for the sale of its publishing arm, Hodder Headline. French-owned Lagadere is the front-runner in the sale (News, May 31), and the other party is believed to be either Simon & Schuster or HarperCollins....

Big new deal for Burroughs.(hot deals)(Augusten Burroughs)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Augusten Burroughs's bizarre memoir Running with Scissors turned out to be one of the surprise bestsellers of 2002, and its success, and that of his subsequent Dry, were such that his St. Martin's editor, Jennifer Enderlin, has now made a major...

Knopf wins 'Moscow at War'.(hot deals)(Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Books on the WWII siege of Leningrad are not infrequent, but accounts of how the Russian capital weathered the war are. The gap is about to be filled by Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War, whose author, Rodric Braithwaite, served as the...

'7 Habits' gets a sequel.(hot deals)(The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People)(The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Fifteen years ago, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey began a hugely successful career, here and overseas, and ultimately racked up sales of 15 million copies; now its author, who has produced several spinoffs over the...

Two freed slaves' stories.(hot deals)(Rowing to Freedom: The Emancipation of John Washington and Wallace Turnage)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... The first-person accounts, by two slaves who were freed in the Civil War, about their life in slavery and later emancipation, caused a stir when they recently surfaced as documents in historical societies in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Now...

African-American author/dramatist Pearl Cleage has signed for another two novels with Ballantine's Nancy Miller, for the house's One World imprint.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... African-American author/dramatist Pearl Cleage has signed for another two novels with Ballantine's Nancy Miller, for the house's One World imprint. The first is Baby Brother Blues; the second is untitled. The world rights deal was signed with...

Michael Thurmond, who is a fitness expert on TV's Extreme Makeover, has signed with Warner Books' Diana Baroni for a book called 6-Day Body Makeover, which promises big weight loss in a week.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Michael Thurmond, who is a fitness expert on TV's Extreme Makeover, has signed with Warner Books' Diana Baroni for a book called 6-Day Body Makeover, which promises big weight loss in a week. It was a seven-figure buy from Barbara Lowenstein at...

Thriller author Colin Harrison has re-upped with editor John Glusman at FSG for two more of the same, the first about three women and a prominent New York doctor.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Thriller author Colin Harrison has re-upped with editor John Glusman at FSG for two more of the same, the first about three women and a prominent New York doctor; it was a world rights hard/soft deal, signed with ICM's Kris Dahl....

At HarperCollins, Terry Karten bought a new book from British Africa expert and journalist Michela Wrong, about the struggles of the small country of Eritrea as it battles the legacy of colonialism and present-day big power politics.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... At HarperCollins, Terry Karten bought a new book from British Africa expert and journalist Michela Wrong, about the struggles of the small country of Eritrea as it battles the legacy of colonialism and present-day big power politics. The...

An unusually large bid from illustrated books publisher Bulfinch was its seven-figure one to win popular TV personality and author Katie Brown, an expert in home decorating, gardening, cooking and entertaining.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... An unusually large bid from illustrated books publisher Bulfinch was its seven-figure one to win popular TV personality and author Katie Brown, an expert in home decorating, gardening, cooking and entertaining. Bulfinch publisher Jill Cohen...

Beloved children's author-illustrator Eric Carle is still active at 75, and just signed (personally) a deal for a new picture book.(Short Takes)(10 Little Rubber Ducks)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Beloved children's author-illustrator Eric Carle is still active at 75, and just signed (personally) a deal for a new picture book, 10 Little Rubber Ducks, with executive editor Antonia Markiet at HarperCollins Children's Books, for publication...

Lynne Palmer: filling publishing lobs for 40 years.(Resume of Success)
July 5, 2004... FOR, 40 YEARS--since before many middle-level publishing people of today were even born--the Lynne Palmer agency (now known as Lynne Palmer Executive Recruitment) has been finding jobs in book publishing for a multitude of eager applicants, and...

CrossGen files for bankruptcy.(End of the Road?)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... AFTER ALMOST A YEAR of well-publicized financial trouble, comics publisher CrossGen filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection June 18 in Tampa, Fla., and appears to have laid off all the remaining creative personnel from its staff. ...

Eisemann leaving Scribner.(People)(Pat Eisemann)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... SCRIBNER DIRECTOR OF publicity, Pat Eisemann will leave the company July 9. Eisemann has worked for the imprint for 10 years and for Simon & Schuster for much longer, and is known for campaigns for books by Don DeLillo, Frank McCourt and many...

Velocity, velocity.(behind the bestsellers)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Yes, that would be the word to describe the #1 national bestseller in the U.S. this week: Bill Clinton's My Life. Combined first-five-day sales at the three chains--Barnes & Noble, Borders and Waldenbooks--is close to 281,800. The BookScan...

It's 10 for the money.(behind the bestsellers)(Janet Evanovich's 10th book, Ten Big Ones is still top selling)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Janet Evanovich's 10th book, Ten Big Ones, lands at the top of the fiction charts during its first week in the stores--happily, the same week as the Clinton bonanza. Still, getting to #1 was a feat that she has accomplished with four of her...

A Stepanek tribute.(behind the bestsellers)(Obituary)
July 5, 2004... Many national shows paid tribute to Mattie Stepanek, the child poet whose inspirational verse made him a bestselling writer and a prominent voice for muscular dystrophy. He died June 22 at the age of 13, and many national shows--including Larry...

Bourne again.(behind the bestsellers)(Jason Bourne)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... The fourth bestseller featuring Jason Bourne, The Bourne Legacy, hits PW's fiction chart in the #8 spot with a 350,000-copy first printing from St. Martin's. Eric Van Lustbader was hired by Robert Ludlum's estate to continue writing the popular...

On Clinton's coattails: post-Father's Day dropoff outpaces gains from increased store traffic.(book news)(Industry Overview)
July 5, 2004... In the weeks before Bill Clinton's My Life went on sale, many in the industry hoped it would draw a tide of book buyers that might lift other titles. But while the memoir set a new nonfiction record--with sales of about 935,000 copies in the...

New life for poem-turned-slogan.(poetry used in political activities)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... When John Kerry began using a refrain from a 1938 Langston Hughes poem as a campaign slogan, Vintage editorial director Marty Asher pricked up his ears. "I thought it was interesting that a presidential candidate was quoting poetry. I haven't...

Mock travel guide takes flight.(Pre-pub buzz)(Molvania: A Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry)(Brief Article)
July 5, 2004... Among Overlook's fall titles at BEA this year--a spy novel, a self-help book, a coming-of-age tale--one stood out conspicuously. Part Lonely Planet, part the Onion and a smattering of Russian comic Yakov Smirnoff, Molvania: A Land Untouched by...

Sisters probe women's lives.(Radio Book Club)(Satellite Sisters Radio Book Club)
July 5, 2004... The dismantling of Oprah Winfrey's first book club in 2002 was reminiscent of the breakup of AT&T into many regional service providers in 1984. What had once been a dominant force disappeared, leaving smaller entities to carve out their own...

Talking heads: politics speak up on audiobooks.(audio)
July 5, 2004... Fourth of July fireworks and barbecue grills may have cooled, but when it comes to political books (and their audio counterparts) this is still one hot summer. And, this being an election year, with the country gearing up for what is expected...

Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
July 5, 2004... OLIVIA JOULES AND THE OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION HELEN FIELDING, READ BY JOSEPHINE BAILEY. Penguin Audio, unabridged, eight CDs, 9 hrs., $34.95 ISBN 0-14-280076-7 London freelance reporter Olivia Joules may just be imagining that sexy Pierre...

The Narrows.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
July 5, 2004... THE NARROWS MICHAEL CONNELLY, READ BY LEN CARIOU. Time Warner AudioBooks, unabridged, nine CDs, 11 hrs., $46.98 ISBN 1-58621-635-X Those who are familiar with the audio adaptations of Connelly's books will be delighted to see that Cariou...

The Rule of Four.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
July 5, 2004... THE RULE OF FOUR IAN CALDWELL AND DUSTIN THOMASON, READ BY JOSH HAMILTON. Simon & Schuster Audio, abridged, four cassettes, 6 hrs., $26 ISBN 0-7435-2972-3 This debut novel is written in the first person and in present tense, almost as if...

The Enemy.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
July 5, 2004... THE ENEMY LEE CHILD, READ BY DICK HILL. Brilliance Audio, unabridged, 12 CDs, 14 hrs., $39.95 ISBN 1-59355-794-3 Child (The Persuader, etc.) brings back his intrepid hero, Jack Reacher, for another excellent mystery, which steps back in...

Eventide.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
July 5, 2004... EVENTIDE KENT HARUF, READ BY GEORGE HEARN. Random House Audio, unabridged, seven CDs, 8.5 hrs., $39.95 ISBN 0-7393-0940-4 * Narrator Hearn, who won a Tony award for his performance in the Broadway musical Sunset Boulevard, proves to be a...

My Life.(Audiobook Review)
July 5, 2004... MY LIFE BILL CLINTON, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Random House Audio, abridged, six CDs, 6.5 hrs., $35 ISBN 0-7393-1706-7 # Condensing a 900-page text into a six-and-a-half-hour audiobook is no small challenge, but this production proves that it...

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
July 5, 2004... DRESS YOUR FAMILY IN CORDUROY AND DENIM DAVID SEDARIS, READ BYTHE AUTHOR. Time Warner Audiobooks, unabridged, five CDs, 6.5 hrs. $31.98 ISBN 1-58621-502-7 * Sedaris (Me Talk Pretty One Day, etc.) perfects his written essays by going on the...

Divorced From the Mob: My Journey from Organized Crime to Independent Woman.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
July 5, 2004... DIVORCED FROM THE MOB: My Journey from Organized Crime to Independent Woman ANDREA GIOVINO WITH GARY BROZEK, READ BY BARBARA ROSENBLAT. Blackstone Audiobooks, unabridged, eight CDs, 9.5 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 0-7861-8726-3 Veteran audiobook...

Audio bestsellers.
July 5, 2004... PUBLISHERS WEEKLY[R] Available online the Friday before issue date at: www.publishersweekly.com Audio Bestsellers Fiction [1] The Da Vinci Code (abr. CD). Dan Brown, Read by Colin Stinton. Random House Audio....

Love for sale: bundling, branding and breaking out of the box--publishers discuss ways of growing their audience.(Category closeup: romance)(NAL)(Medallion)
July 5, 2004... ATRIA "The best strategy for increasing market share is not to have so many boundaries around the marketplace. We're redefining and blurring what we would call romance," reports Judith Curr, publisher of Atria and Washington Square Press....

Salary survey: difficult marketplace limits in annual compensation.(Industry Overview)
July 5, 2004... SLUGGISH INDUSTRY SALES growth in 2003 was reflected in a slight softening in pay raises last year, according to PW's annual salary survey. Although the average raise last year was 4.9%, only two-tenths of a percent down from 2002, some...

The Baltimore beat: Charmed City scribe Laura Lippman covers crime in her own way.(Innovators Series)(Interview)
July 5, 2004... WE SELL LAURA LIPPMAN before she sees us. The 45-year-old author of a crime series that has won the Edgar. Shamus, Agatha, Anthony and Nero Wolfe awards (some twice over) is standing in the waiting area of the Baltimore train station, scanning...

Mr. James's chronicler: Colm Toibin.(interview)
July 5, 2004... Colin Toibin is not your typical quiet writer, withdrawn from the world. He is closer to a more illustrious tradition of Irish writers, like George Bernard Shaw, turning out essays and plays, or W.B. Yeats, writing poems and leaflets. Not for...

The Inner Circle.(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... THE INNER CIRCLE T.C. BOWEL Viking, 525.95 (432p) ISBN 0-670-03344-8 * Released in the late 1940s and early '50S, the Kinsey Reports, the compilations of a scientific study that attempted to quantify male and female sexual behavior,...

The Disinherited.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... THE DISINHERITED HAN ONG. Farrar, Sties & Ciroux, $25 (384p) ISBN 0-374-28075-4 Charity proves complicated in MacArthur Fellow Ong's second novel (after 2001's Fixer Chao). After making a fortune in sugar production in the Philippines's...

The Secret Goldfish.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... THE SECRET GOLDFISH DAVID MEANS. HarperCollins/Fourth Estate, $22.95 (224p) ISBN 0-00-716489-0 * The characters in this imaginative and penetrating story collection--a man bounded by lightning strikes, a driver blown off the Mackinac...

Paradise City.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... PARADISE CITY LORENZO CARCATERRA. Ballantine, 524.95 (336p) ISBN 0-345-41097-1 Carcaterra has written extensively for television and it shows in this melodramatic tale of war between the New York branch of the Italian Mafia and a lone,...

The Falls.(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... THE FALLS JOYCE CAROL OATES. Ecco, $26.95 (496p) ISBN 0-06-072228-2 * Oates is not only on her authentically rendered home ground in this sprawling novel set in the city of Niagara Falls during the 1950s, she is also writing at the top of...

Admissions.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... ADMISSIONS NANCY LIEBERMAN. Warner, 523.95 (368p) ISBN 0-446-53303-3 "The Tuesday after Labor Day marked the official start of admissions season, the Manhattan parents' version of a blood sport." Readers in the know will groan in...

The Egyptologist.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... THE EGYPTOLOGIST ARTHUR PHILLIPS. Random, $24.95 (432p) ISBN 1-4000-6250-0 How was Phillips to follow up a debut as startlingly brilliant as Prague? By doing something completely different. His story, set mostly in Egypt in the early...

When the Nines Roll Over & Other Stories.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... WHEN THE NINES ROLL OVER & OTHER STORIES DAVID BENIOFF. Viking, $23.95 (251p) ISBN 0-670-03339-1 * Benioff is on a roll. His first novel, the crime drama The 25th Hour, was made into a critically acclaimed film directed by Spike Lee. He...

Inheritance.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... INHERITANCE LAN SAMANTHA CHANG. Norton, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 0-393-05919-7 A complicated sister bond echoes through generations in this somber follow-up to Chang's well-received debut novella and stories, Hunger. In China in the early 1930s,...

Brimstone.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... BRIMSTONE DOUGLAS PRESTON AND LINCOLN CHILD/ Warner, $25.95 (512p) ISBN 0-446-53143-X * Fans of cerebral action adventure novels know that, outside of Michael Crichton, no one delivers the goods like the veteran writing team of Preston and...

Pyro.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... PYRO EARL EMERSON. Ballantine, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 0-345-46288-2 A renegade in a stiff, uncaring fire department is the hero of this thriller by the author of 11 Thomas Black detective mysteries and two other firefighter novels (Vertical...

Hissy Fit.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... HISSY FIT MARY KAY ANDREWS. HarperCollins, $24.95 (432p) ISBN 0-06-056464-4 Interior decorator Keeley Rae Murdock has designed her whole life, right down to the antique Oriental mg planned for the foot of her bed. What she never counted on...

Falling Off Air.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... FALLING OFF AIR CATHERINE SAMPSON. Mysterious, $22.95 (320p) ISBN 0 89296-81 At the start of journalist Sampson's smooth debut novel, Robin Ballantyne, a single mother of infant twins, sees a neigbbor she knows by sight plunge to her death...

Brazil Red.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... BRAZIL RED JEAN-CHRISTOPHE RUFIN, TRANS. FROM THE FRENCH BY WILLARD WOOD. Norton, $24.95 (429p) ISBN 0-393-05207-9 A page-turner that won the Prix Goncourt in 2001, Rufin's third offering (after The Abyssinian and The Siege of Isfahan) fits...

The Lovers of Algeria.(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... THE LOVERS OF ALGERIA ANOUAR BENMALEK, TRANS. FROM THE FRENCH BY JOANNA KILMARTIN. Graywolf, $16 paper (288p) ISBN 1-55597-404-X * This captivating novel set in late 20th-century Algeria entwines the country's tumultuons politics with the...

No Dark Valley.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... NO DARK VALLEY JAMIE LANGSTON TURNER. Bethany, $12.99 paper (400p) ISBN 0-7642-2730-0 Although there is much to like in this latest novel from Turner, one of the best writers in the Christian market, it's marred by slow pacing, unnecessary...

Osprey Island.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... OSPREY ISLAND THISBE NISSEN. Knopf, $24 (304p) ISBN 0-375-41146-1 After a story collection about the dilemmas of individuals (Out of the Girls Room and into the Night) and a debut novel about the difficulties of a modern family (The Good...

The Voyage Home.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... THE VOYAGE HOME JANE ROGERS. Overlook, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 1-58567-509-1 The measured pace of Rogers's narrative is perfectly suited to the brooding style of this psychological exploration of past sins and present-day guilt. Anne...

Strange But True.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... STRANGE BUT TRUE JOHN SEARLES. Morrow, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0-688-17571-6 * The world Searles (Boy Still Missing) presents in his second novel is exquisitely odd yet instantly recognizable, as strange but true as the hidden life of one's...

In the Hope of Raising Again.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... IN THE HOPE OF RISING AGAIN HELEN SCULLY. Penguin Press, 5 (320p) ISBN 1-59420-025-4 >From the post-Civil War era to the Great Depression, this gently ambitious debut follows a prominent Alabama family through victory and loss, fortune and...

A Kiss of Fate.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... A KISS OF FATE MARY JO PUTNEY. Ballantine, $23.95 (352p) ISBN 0-345-44916-9 Love and magic prove to be comfortable bedfellows in this enchanting mid-18th-century romance front Putney (A Twist of Fate; The Bartered Bride), which launches a...

True but Strange: author found.(PW Talks with John Searles)(Interview)
July 5, 2004... PW met with John Searles, author of Strange but True (reviewed on p. 37) and senior book editor at Cosmopolitan, at BEA in Chicago. PW: How has having written two novels [Boy Still Missing, Searles's first, was published by Morrow in 2001]...

Cruisers.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... CRUISERS CRAIG NOVA. Crown/Shaye Areheart, $24 (320p) ISBN 1-4000-4536-3 Nova's muted, somewhat bleak novel, set in a Vermont mill town, hints at disaster from its first pages. The product of a catastrophic childhood, Frank Kohler is a...

For the Dogs.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... FOR THE DOGS KEVIN WIGNALL. Simon & Schuster, $22 (224p) ISBN 0-7432-4756-6 In this slim, fast-paced page-turner, Wignall returns to one of the themes of his well-received first novel, People Die--the sympathetic hit man who has, if not...

Rain Storm.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... RAIN STORM BARRY EISLER. Putnam, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0-399-15192-3 * Eisler adds a fine new entry to his standout series starring freelance assassin John Rain, who tracks quarry across the Asian capitals of the Pacific Rim. In the third...

Fiction Notes.(Dead Sexy, Shelly)(Plumber of Souls)(The Daguerreotype)(The Book of Proper Names)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... In Kathy Lette's wicked comic novel Dead Sexy, Shelly, a comely music teacher, swoons unexpectedly for Kit Kincaid, the roughneck American Adonis she's matched with on a British reality show. Tickled by Kit's sexual prowess, Shelly impulsively...

Elfquest: the Searcher and the Sword.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... ELFQUEST: The Searcher and the Sword WENDY AND RICHARD PINI. DC Comics, $24.95 (96p) ISBN 1-4012-0187-0 The first new Elfquest story in years from the original creators returns readers to the ongoing saga of the Wolfriders, a tribe of feral...

Traversing genres, inspired by life.(PW Talks With Craig Nova)(Interview)
July 5, 2004... PW: Although you've written some thrilling novels [The Good Son; Tornado Alley; Trombone; The Universal Donor; Wetware and now Cruisers, reviewed on p. 39], none have been bestsellers. Has that made approaching each new novel difficult? ...

Drawn and Quarterly Showcase: Book Two.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... DRAWN AND QUARTERLY SHOWCASE: Book Two EDITED BY CHRIS OIJVFROS. Drawn & Quarterly, $14.95 paper (96p) ISBN 1896597-81-5 The second volume in Drawn & Quarterly's ongoing young cartoonists' showcase features three stories from three very...

The Ultimates: Homeland Security.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... THE ULTIMATES: Homeland Security MARK MILLAR AND BRYAN HITCH. Marvel, $17.99 paper (192p) ISBN 0-7851-1078-X Following their nihilistic run on The Authority, Millar and Hitch turn their attention to reinventing the Avengers, the Mightiest...

The Devil Lives in Glasgow.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... THE DEVIL LIVES IN GLASGOW GILLES BORNAIS; TRANS. BY CARRY WHITE. Carnot, $21.95 (312p) ISBN 1-59309-040-0 French journalist Bornais's flawed first novel, a murkily plotted thriller, begins with some promise. In 1887, young Joe Hackney, a...

Dead Water.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... DEAD WATER BARBARA HAMBIX. Bantam, $25 (320p) ISBN 0-553-10964-2 * Hambly's brilliantly crafted eighth historical (after 2003's Days of the Dead) brings the antebellum South so alive you could swear the author traveled back in time to...

Such Vicious Minds: a Murder Mystery Featuring Elvis Presley.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... SUCH VICIOUS MINDS: A Murder Mystery Featuring Elvis Presley DANIEL KLEIN. St. Martin's Minotaur, $22.95 (240p) ISBN 0-312-31940-1 Set in 1965, Klein's fourth diverting Elvis mystery (after 2003's Viva Las Vengeance) takes us to the center...

Dies the Fire.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... DIES THE FIRE S.M. STIRLING. Roc, $23.95 (496p) ISBN 0-451-45979-2 What is the foundation of our civilization? asks Stirling (Conquistador)in this rousing tale of the aftermath of an uncanny event, "the Change," that renders electronics and...

Horizon Storms: the Sage of Seven Suns: Book 3.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... HORIZON STORMS: The Saga of Seven Suns: Book 3 KEVIN J. ANDERSON. Warner Aspect, 24.95 (464p) ISBN 0-446-52872-2 * The interstellar conflict between hydrogues (aliens that live at the core of gas-giant planets) and faeros (fire entities...

Iron Council.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... IRON COUNCIL CHINA MIEVILLE. Del Rey, $24.95 (496p) ISBN 0-345-46402-8 * In this stunning new novel set mainly in the decadent and magical city of New Crobuzon, British author Mieville (The Scar) charts the course of a proletarian...

Hot and Bothered.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... HOT AND BOTHERED SUSAN ANDERSEN. Mira, $6.99 (384p) ISBN 0-7783-2021-9 A classic plot lilac receives a fresh, fun treatment in the final book in Andersen's trilogy (Head over Heels; Getting Lucky) featuring hunky former Marine buddies who...

Leave It To Cleavage.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... LEAVE IT TO CLEAVAGE WENDY WAX. Bantam, $6.50 (368p) ISBN 0-553-58614-9 When 38-year-old Miranda Smith comes across a photo of her husband of 15 years in a black lace teddy and thong panties with another woman's hand on his butt, her life...

Naked Airport: a Cultural History of the World's Most Revolutionary Structure.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... NAKED AIRPORT: A Cultural History of the World's Most Revolutionary Structure ALASTAIR GORDON. Holt/Metropolitan, $27.50 (352p) ISBN 0-8050-6518-0 To today's air passenger--patiently removing his or her shoes for the third time that day,...

Outwitting History: the Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
July 5, 2004... OUTWITTING HISTORY: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books AARON LANSKY. Algonquin, $24.95 (328p) ISBN 1-56512-429-4 * Lansky was a 23-year-old graduate student in 1980 when he came up with an idea that would...