Publishers Weekly articles from July 2009

Publishers Weekly archives from July 2009

The Good Soldiers.(Pick of the week: The Surge: A Grunt's-Eys View)(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... * The Good Soldiers David Finkel. Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25 (304p) ISBN 978-0-374-16573-4 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A success story in the headlines, the surge in Iraq was an ordeal of hard fighting and...

Cracks in Amazon's e-book empire: Orwell fiasco, B&N e-bookstore endanger the company's dominance.(Foreword)(George Orwell's "Animal Farm", and Barnes and Noble)
July 27, 2009... With the launch of a new competitor and a public relations disaster, Amazon has endured one of the most difficult seven days in the e-books business since it launched its first Kindle in 2007. Amazon's removal on July 17 of 1984 and Animal Farm...

Media sales flat at Amazon.(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... Sales in Amazon's North America media group were flat in the second quarter, remaining at $1.15 billion. The e-taller attributed the results to a decline in video game and videogame console sales that was offset by gains in books. Sales growth...

Nichols named HMH publisher.(Bruce Nichols and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co.)(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... Bruce Nichols has been named senior v-p and publisher of adult trade & reference at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a post that has been vacant since Becky Saletan stepped down in early December. Nichols, who was most recently publisher of...

As 'Kindly Ones' sinks, 'Every Man Dies Alone' rises.(Expectations)
July 27, 2009... Jonathan Burnham's acquisition of Jonathan Littell's French bestseller, Les Bienveillantes, after 2006's Frankfurt Book Fair is almost the stuff of publishing legend. Burnham plunked down a rumored $1 million for a book that, despite being the...

Quebecor exits bankruptcy.(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... Quebecor World officially emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week and said it plans to change its name to World Color Press; World Color was one of the printers the company acquired as it was building up its printing assets.

Attributor adds Wiley.(John Wiley)(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... John Wiley has become the second book publisher to sign with Attributor and will use Attributor's online tracking service to help prevent unlawful use of its authors' content on the Web. Attributor's software monitors 35 billion Web pages to...

New duties for Cully, Nelson at B&T.(David Cully, Bob Nelson, and Baker and Taylor's)(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... Bob Nelson, who put together the partnerships that form the core of Baker & Taylor's new digital media services group, is taking on all retail sales activities for B&T to both U.S. and overseas customers. Nelson will report to David...

Lagardere Publishing up.(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... Revenue at Lagardere Publishing rose 11% in the first half of 2009, to just over one billion euros ($1.4 billion at current exchange rates) driven by Stephenie Meyer sales not only in the U.S. but in France and the U.K. as well. Hachette Book...

Clock watchers.(Deals)(rights to Lucy Kellaway's In Office Hours)(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... Deb Futter at Grand Central acquired U.S. rights to Lucy Kellaway's In Office Hours. In the novel Kellaway, a columnist for the Financial Times, follows two professional women who concurrently fall for the wrong guys--both of whom are office...

Perennial lands Henderson.(Deals)(Harper Perennial and Susan Henderson)(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Dan Conaway at Writers House sold world rights to Susan Henderson's debut, Henderson The Ruby Cup, to Carrie Kania and Brittany Hamblin at Harper Perennial. Henderson runs the lit blog Litpark.com and has twice won the...

Hyperion re-ups with the Dog.(Deals)(Duane "Dog" Chapman)(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... Hyperion has acquired a second book from Duane "Dog" Chapman, aka Dog the Bounty Hunter. Chapman's follow-up to his bestselling You Can Run but You Can't Hide, published by Hyperion in August 2007, is called Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given....

Seasonal baking.(Deals)(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... Mollie Glick at Foundry has just closed a deal for betterbaking.com creator, Marcy Goldman. Glick sold world rights to Goldman's The Baker's Four Seasons to Julia Cheiffetz at HarperStudio. Goldman's site is one of the largest independent baking...

On infidelity.(Deals)(The View from Here)
July 27, 2009... British author Deborah McKinlay arranged her own deal with Soho Press for her debut novel, The View from Here. In the book a wife who's ill learns of her husband's infidelity and, in doing so, reflects on her own trespasses in the marriage,...

Correction.(Deals)(Correction notice)
July 27, 2009... In last week's column, the rights Avery/ Gotham bought to Kidder Kaper's sex manual written in graphic novel form, Sex Is Fun, were incorrectly cited. The Penguin imprint bought North American English rights.

Appeal filed in Salinger case.(J.D. Salinger)(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... Lawyers for Swedish author Fredrik Colting and his U.S. distributor, SCB Distribution, filed an appeal on July 23 with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in New York, arguing that a July 1 injunction barring publication of Colting's 60 Years...

Omission.(Correction notice)
July 27, 2009... Last week's photo of Scott Westerfeld, in our author profile, was taken by Theo Black.

Cambridge's 425-year evolution.(Institution)(Cambridge University Press )
July 27, 2009... Looking back at the vast list of influential authors Cambridge University Press has published over the course of its long history--Isaac Newton, John Milton, Albert Einstein--one in particular stands out: Charles Darwin, the Cambridge-educated...

Copyright industries by the numbers.(Foreword)(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... $837.3 billion: Value added * by copyright industries to GDP (Gross Domestic Product), 2006 $889.1 billion: Value added by copyright industries to GDP, 2007 6.4: Percentage of GDP generated by copyright industries, 2007 7.2: Percentage...

Scholastic says profits will rise in 2010.(Transformed)(Scholastic Inc.)
July 27, 2009... Increased operating efficiencies, higher gross margins in its children's book business and $50 million in incremental revenue for its educational technology products will result in an additional $30 million to $70 million of operating income in...

New Crown editors.(People)(Vanessa Mobley and Lorraine Glennon joins Random House Inc. Crown Publishing Group)(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... Crown Publishing Group has added two senior editors: Vanessa Mobley, most recently a senior editor at the Penguin Press, and Lorraine Glennon, former senior articles editor and books editor at Ladies' Home Journal.

Kelleher joins Basic.(People)(Basic Books adds T.J. Kelleher)(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... T.J. Kelleher has joined Basic Books as executive editor, focusing on acquisitions in the hard and behavioral sciences. Kelleher held previous positions as senior editor at Smithsonian Books and editor at Seed magazine. Also at Basic, Brandon...

Ko joins S&S.(People)(Simon & Schuster adds Jessica Ko)(Brief article)
July 27, 2009... Jessica Ko has joined Simon & Schuster as national account manager for Atria, Pocket, SSE and Kaplan, selling their titles to Borders. Ko was most recently at HarperCollins, selling Collins, HarperStudio, and TokyoPop to Borders.

Scavenger hunt set for Twin Cities.(Events)(Twin Cities Book Festival)(Graywolf Press, the Loft, Coffee House Press, and Milkweed Editions )
July 27, 2009... It's a year of milestones for four of Minnesota's most prominent literary entities, with Graywolf Press marking its 35th anniversary, the Loft literary center and Milkweed Editions their 30th anniversaries, and Coffee House Press its 25th...

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.(List)
July 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Jennifer Weiner's doing okay. Her novels have more than 11 million copies in print in 36 countries; her latest has 300,000 copies in print after three trips to press. She launched her blog, "A Moment of Jen," in 2002,...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
July 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Halperin's book (copies in print: 350,000) launched with two Today interviews on July 7, the day of Jackson's memorial; an encore followed on the July 14 on-sale date. Other media: multiple segments on Entertainment...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
July 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Medical bulletin: Janet Evanovich is on the mend. As noted in our July 6 Fiction column, the author broke her foot during a bookstore signing in Toronto--but fulfilled the rest of her obligations like a bona fide...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
July 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Three Cups of Tea is required reading for U.S. senior military commanders, for officers in the Norwegian War College, Forsvarsnett, for U.S. Special Forces deploying to Afghanistan, Pentagon officers in...

Children's series and tie-ins bestsellers.(List)
July 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] More than 20 million Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are in print, and Amulet Books is gearing up for more. Last week it revealed the title and cover art for book #4, Dog Days. It arrives on October 12 in a one-day laydown,...

Margo Baldwin: Chelsea Green publisher successfully mixes politics and sustainability.(CHANGE MAKERS)
July 27, 2009... "Transforming Chelsea Green into a socially active company was really just returning to our roots," says president and publisher Margo Baldwin, who has given the press a distinct political edge since she took the helm seven years ago. With...

What's behind religion's fall from (sales) grace? The party's over but all is not lost.(sales drop of books on religion)
July 27, 2009... When I first began covering the religion category for PW in the early 1990s, it had become the fair-haired child of publishing, posting sales figures that made many in the industry shake their heads in amazement. This was especially true in the...

Religion publishing in these times: working smarter, harder.(Religion Update: Feature)
July 27, 2009... It's bad out there in religion publishing. Sales are dropping; jobs are evaporating. That's the downside of the story, and it's familiar. But what about the upside? What works in this category right now? How are religion publishers changing...

Margot Starbuck: seeking a different kind of dad.(parent-child relations in the autobiography 'In The Girl in the Orange Dress: Searching for a Father Who Does Not Fail' )
July 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Since the age of seven, freelance writer and speaker Margot Starbuck says she's been chronicling her journey of overcoming rejection in journals, in speeches and now in her first book. In...

Samir Selmanovic: teaching about God through discomfort.(It's Really All About God: Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian )
July 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Samir Selmanovic never gave God or religion much thought as a young man. Raised by culturally Muslim and loving parents who were essentially atheists, like many of their friends and neighbors...

Fall religion.(religion books this coming fall)
July 27, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Time to hedge your bets. High-profile authors enter (Pantheon) or return (Mulmomah) to religion publishing. Publishers are also playing it safe by sticking with known draws like the Dalai Lama (Doubleday) or spinoffs of...

Don't call it a comeback: Richard Nash looks back at his Soft Skull days--and forward to a radical new venture.(New Ventures)
July 27, 2009... In March of this year, a few weeks after I left Soft Skull Press--the independent publishing company I revived in 2001 and ran for six years before selling and semirunning it for another two--I was contacted by a journalist from the New York...

Blind Eye.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... * Blind Eye Stuart MacBride. Minotaur, $26.99 (496p) ISBN 978-0-312-38264-3 Det. Sgt. Logan McRae, who's still recovering from the bloody events of 2008's Flesh, investigates a series of brutal attacks on Polish immigrants in MacBride's...

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall Kazuo Ishiguro. Knopf, $25 (240p) ISBN 978-0-307-27102-0 This suite of five stories hits all of Ishiguro's signature notes, but the shorter form mutes their impact. In "Crooner," Tony Gardner,...

The Boy Next Door.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... The Boy Next Door Irene Sabatini. Little, Brown, $23.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-316-04993-1 Sabatini debuts with a love story set against the backdrop of Mugabe's Zimbabwe, from its independence in the 1980s to the decline of democracy in the...

The Million Dollar Demise.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... The Million Dollar Demise RM Johnson. Simon & Schuster, $24 (320p) ISBN 978-1-4165-9626-4 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The crazed conclusion of Johnson's Million Dollar trilogy opens with a literal bang. Freddy Ford shoots millionaire...

Beneath the Bleeding.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Beneath the Bleeding Val McDermid. Harper, $14.99 paper (496p) ISBN 978-0-06-168897-3 McDermid's exhilarating fifth novel to feature Det. Chief Insp. Carol Jordan and Dr. Tony Hill (after The Torment of Others) finds Tony in the hospital...

Spartan Gold.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Spartan Gold Clive Cussler with Grant Blackwood. Putnam, $26.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-399-15421-8 At the start of this engaging first in a new series from bestseller Cussler (Inca Gold) and Blackwood (An Echo of War), Sam Fargo and his wife,...

The Golden City.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... The Golden City John Twelve Hawks. Doubleday, $25.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-385-51430-9 The final volume in Hawks's fantasy thriller series, the Fourth Realm trilogy, brings to an end the struggle between the forces of evil, the Brethren-run...

How to Paint a Dead Man.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... How to Paint a Dead Man Sarah Hall. Harper Perennial, $14.99 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-06-143045-9 Stunning visual descriptions link the stories of four artists in crisis in Hall's fourth novel (after Daughters of the North), but marginal,...

Brecht at Night.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Brecht at Night Matt Unt, trans, from the Estonian by Eric Dickens. Dalkey Archive, $13.95 paper (222p) ISBN 978-1-56478-532-9 The late Estonian novelist is notable for his irrepressibly playful and idiosyncratic writing style, and...

Call Me Ahab: Stories.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Call Me Ahab: Stories Anne Finger. Univ. of Nebraska, $17.95 paper (176p) ISBN 978-0-8032-2533-6 In this marvelously original collection, Finger (Basic Skills) explores the nature and function of legendary outcasts, from Goliath, initially...

How to Leave Hialeah.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... How to Leave Hialeah Jennine Capo Crucet. Univ. of Iowa, $16 paper (194p) ISBN 978-1-58729-816-5 In this engrossing collection--sometimes intense, at other times darkly humorous--debut author Crucet portrays the daily challenges,...

The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... The Private Papers of Eastern Jewel Maureen Lindley. Bloomsbury, $14 paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-5969-1703-3 Based on the life of a Qing dynasty princess, this engrossing debut gives the rebellious Eastern Jewel a sensuous, unsentimental voice...

The Sari Shop Widow.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... The Sari Shop Widow Shobhan Bantwal. Kensington, $15 paper (300p) ISBN 978-0-7582-3202-1 Young, headstrong widow Anjali Kapadia runs her parent's chic boutique in New Jersey's "Little India," but she's the last to find out that their store...

Border Town.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Border Town Shen Congwen. Harper Perennial, $13.99 paper (192p) ISBN 978-0-06-143691-8 Congwen writes movingly of rural China in this newly translated "modern pastoral" coming-of-age tale (first published in English in 1936, and banned in...

PW talks with Joseph Kanon: when Hollywood's star began to dim: Joseph Kanon's fifth novel, Stardust (Reviews, July 6), like his first four, takes place in the 1940s.(Q&A)(Publishers Weekly)(Interview)
July 27, 2009... Why did you decide to set Stardust in 1945 Hollywood? I find the whole postwar setting fascinating. Unlike James Ellroy or Raymond Chandler, who write about a provincial town taken over by criminal elements, this book is about workaday...

More.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... More Austin Clarke. Amistad, $25.99 (320p)ISBN 978-0-06-177240-5 Prolific Canadian novelist Clarke finally found fame with his 2003 novel, The Polished Hoe. In this follow-up, Clarke stays true to his politically charged style, reporting...

God Ain't Blind.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... God Ain't Blind Mary Monroe. Dafina, $24 (304p) ISBN 978-07582-1221-4 Hilarious, raunchy soul sistahs Annette Davis and Rhoda O'Toole return in this latest wacky adventure in Monroe's God series (God Don't Play, etc.). This time, Rhoda...

Going Away Shoes: Stories.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Going Away Shoes: Stories Jill McCorkle. Algonquin, $22.95 (272p) ISBN 978-1-56512-632-9 A lack of narrative distance and interchangeable protagonists sink McCorkle's latest short story collection. The constant barbs aimed at the siblings...

The Fruit of Her Hands: The Story of Shira of Ashkenaz.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... The Fruit of Her Hands: The Story of Shira of Ashkenaz Michelle Cameron. Pocket, $25 (448p) ISBN 978-1-4391-1822-1 With a powerful immediacy, Cameron's meticulously researched historical is told by Shira, an anomalous 13th-century woman...

For Grace Received.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... For Grace Received Valerie Parrella, trans, from the Italian by Antony Shugaar. Europa (Penguin, dist.), $15 paper (144p) ISBN 978-1-933372-94-5 The plucky women in Parrella's second collection of short stories populate a Naples tipping...

When the Buddha Met Bubba.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... When the Buddha Met Bubba Richard "Dixie" Hartwell. Turner Publishing/ Iroquois (www.iroquoispress.com), $11.95 paper (177p) ISBN 978-1-59652-527-6 Hartwell, aka John Lee (The Flying Boy: Healing the Wounded Man), has penned an odd yet...

Wildflowers.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Wildflowers Lyah Beth LeFlore. Broadway, $13.99 paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-7679-2119-0 LeFlore's expressive prose captures the diverse and eloquent perspectives of the soulfully satisfying Davis women who gather to help L.A. PR whiz Chloe...

Crush: A Karen Vail Novel.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Crush: A Karen Vail Novel Alan Jacobson. Perseus/Vanguard, $25.95 (336p) ISBN 978-1-59315-548-3 In Jacobson's addictive second Karen Vail thriller (after The 7th Victim), a serial killer spoils the FBI profiler's romantic Napa Valley...

The Jade Cat.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... The Jade Cat Suzanne Bragger, trans. from the Danish by Anne Born. Overlook, $26.95 (400p) ISBN 978-1-59020-230-2 Brogger's lively and insightful novel chronicles the fates of the Jewish Lovin family as they endure the tragicomic events of...

Waiting for Rescue.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Waiting for Rescue Lucy Honig. Counterpoint (PGW, dist.), $14.95 paper (240p) ISBN 978-1-58243-527-5 Honig's latest reads like a treatise on the failures of international aid masquerading as fiction. Insufferable narrator Erika, a writing...

Pieces of Happily Ever After.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Pieces of Happily Ever After Irene Zutell. St. Martin's Griffin, $13 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-312-54009-8 Journalist Zutell debuts with a sassy, sweet tale of love lost and found. When Hollywood entertainment lawyer Alex Hirsh starts...

Evenings at the Argentine Club.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Evenings at the Argentine Club Julia Arnante. Grand Central, $13.99 paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-446-58162-2 In Amante's warmhearted if flat debut, the Argentine Club provides a place for Argentinean immigrants living in Southern California to...

Shoplifting from American Apparel.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Shoplifting from American Apparel Tao Lin. Melville (Consortium, dist.), $13 paper (120p) ISBN 978-1-933633-78-7 The Internet has spawned a generation exceedingly more awkward, apathetic and lost than any that has come before--at least,...

On the Winding Stair: Stories.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... On the Winding Stair: Stories Joanna Howard. BOP, (Consortium, dist.), $14 paper (132p) ISBN 978-1-934414-25-5 Howard (In the Colorless Round) upends some traditional literary conventions in these 14 tales of startling description and...

Breaking the Bank.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Breaking the Bank Yona Zeldis McDonough. Pocket/Downtown, $15 paper (368p) ISBN 978-1-4391-0253-4 McDonough third novel hurls a series of highly implausible events at its conventional urban heroine, to predictable and disappointing...

Many and Many a Year Ago.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Many and Many a Year Ago Selcuk Altun, trans. from the Turkish by Clifford and Selhan Endres. Telegram (Consortium, dist.), $13.95 paper (238p) ISBN 978-1-84659-067-2 Altun's second novel to be made available in the U.S. has a premise almost...

A Good Death.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... A Good Death Gil Courtemanche, trans. from the French by Wayne Grady. Douglas & McIntyre, $14.95 paper (207p) ISBN 978-1-55365-215-1 French-Canadian Courtemanche opens his flawed second novel (after Sunday at the Pool in Kigali) with a...

Girl Mary.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Girl Mary Petru Popescu. Simon & Schuster, $15 paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-4165-3263-7 Another entry into the popular biblical-figures-are-just-like-us genre, Popescu's chronicle looks at the life of the Virgin Mary. A hard-working Jewish...

Collision of Evil.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Collision of Evil John J. Le Beau. Oceanview (Midpoint, dist.), $25.95 (336p) ISBN 978-1-933515-54-0 Le Beau, who served for more than 25 years in the CIA as a clandestine operations officer, offers few surprises and a mundane plot in his...

Her Fearful Symmetry.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Her Fearful Symmetry Audrey Niffenegger. Scribner, $26.99 (416 p) ISBN 978-1-4391-6539-3 Niffenegger follows up her spectacular The Time Traveler's Wife with a beautifully written if incoherent ghost story. When Elspeth Noblin dies, she...

A Wee Christmas Homicide.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... A Wee Christmas Homicide Kaitlyn Dunnett. Kensington, $22 (288p)ISBN 978-0-7582-1647-5 Using Tiny Teddies, highly collectible bears, to launch a Twelve Days of Christmas marketing ploy should be a totally benign means of attracting...

Baby Shark's Jugglers at the Border.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... * Baby Shark's Jugglers at the Border Robert Fate. Capital Crime (www.capitalcrimepress.com), $14.95 paper (287p) ISBN 978-0-9799960-2-3 At the start of Fate's masterful fourth 1950s PI novel (after 2008's Baby Shark's High Plains...

Skull Duggery.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Skull Duggery Aaron Elkins. Berkley Prime Crime, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-425-22797-8 What sounded like an idyllic winter getaway at relatives' Oaxacan dude ranch turns into a bonesman's holiday for Gideon Oliver and his wife, Julie, in...

Treasure of the Golden Cheetah: A Jade del Cameron Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Treasure of the Golden Cheetah: A Jade del Cameron Mystery Suzanne Arruda. NAL/Obsidian, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-451-22789-8 Arruda's over-the-top fifth historical to feature photojournalist and former army nurse Jade del Cameron (after...

The Silent Spirit.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... The Silent Spirit Margaret Coel. Berkley Prime Crime, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-425-22976-7 In Coel's absorbing if relatively sedate 14th Wind River mystery to feature Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden and Fr. John O'Malley (after 2008's The Girl...

The Errand Boy.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... The Errand Boy Don Bredes. Three Rivers, $14 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-307-23743-9 When Canadian businessman Harold Tuttle buys property in Tipton, Vt., clear-cuts 50 acres and erects a huge egg farm, the residual problems--pollution, flies,...

Swan Dive.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Swan Dive Michael Burke. Pleasure Boat Studio (SPD, dist.), $15 paper (180p) ISBN 978-1-929355-50-1 The swan nuzzling a naked woman on the cover telegraphs the Greek myth conceit of Burke's debut, a contemporary crime novel set in an...

Pix.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Pix Bill James. Countryman, $23.95 (208p)ISBN 978-0-88150-882-6 Humor, dry and wry, distinguishes James's 24th police procedural to feature Det. Chief Supt. Colin Harpur and Asst. Chief Constable Desmond Iles (after 2007's Girls). Harpur...

In the Blood.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... In the Blood Fay Sampson. Severn, $27.95 (208p)ISBN 978-0-7278-6776-6 British author Sampson (Daughters of Tintagel) introduces Suzie Loosemore Fewings, a keen family genealogist, in the engaging first in a new series. Suzie, a married...

Bar None.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Bar None Tim Lebbon. Night Shade (www.nightshadebooks.com), $13.95 paper (208p) ISBN 978-159780-097-6 Six months after a plague wipes out most of the world's population, several survivors follow the advice of a mysterious stranger and...

The Mere Future.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... The Mere Future Sarah Schulman. Arsenal Pulp Press (Consortium, dist.), $22.95 (184p) ISBN 9781-55152-257-9 Author-activist Schulman (The Child) painstakingly crafts this meditation on the trajectory of society in the 21st century, but it...

Dreamwish Beasts and Snarks.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... * Dreamwish Beasts and Snarks Mike Resnick. Golden Gryphon, $24.95 (278p) ISBN 978-1-930846-60-9 Those familiar with five-time Hugo winner Resnick only from his recent comic PI novels (Stalking the Vampire, etc.) will be delighted by this...

Spook City.(Brief article)(Book review)
July 27, 2009... Spook City Edited by Angus Mackenzie. PS Publishing (www.pspublishing.co.uk), $37.50 (293p) ISBN 978-1-84863-025-3 In this anthology featuring Liver-pudlian horror writers' stories of their hometown, first-time editor Mackenzie attempts to...