Publishers Weekly articles from June 2003

Publishers Weekly archives from June 2003

'Order of the Phoenix' debut smashes records: focus shifts to keeping books in stock; will it have legs? (News).
June 30, 2003... AFTER THE RECORD-BREAKING opening weekend for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Scholastic's emphasis last week was on resupplying customers that had run out of, or were on the verge of running out of, copies of the book. To help...

Sales jumping in June. (Good News).(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... The record-shattering opening-day sales for Order of the Phoenix was the climax of a steady progression in bookstore sales that began in early June. Visa reported that bookstore sales on the first Saturday of June rose 12% over the comparable...

ALA holds constructive meeting in Toronto. (Overcoming SARS).
June 30, 2003... DESPITE THE UNPRECEDENTED number of cancellations of attendees due to the SARS scare and budget cutbacks, the American Library Association's first joint meeting with the Canadian Library Association in more than 40 years was considered a...

High Court upholds filtering law. (First Amendment).(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... The six to three decision last week by the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the Children's Internet Protection Act was a major disappointment for the American Library Association, which had successfully challenged the constitutionality of the law...

Penguin pushing new display plan. (Strategy).
June 30, 2003... WITH THE BATTLE for display Space more furious than ever, Penguin is upping the stakes with a plan that rewards stores for making a significant commitment to its books. The program, which was quietly launched three years ago and is getting a...

Harlem Book Fair gets bigger, better. (Growing).
June 30, 2003... ON A SWELTERING SATURDAY in July 1999, about 8oo people braved the hot open plaza of the Harlem State Office building on 125th Street in Manhattan to listen to authors read and to line up for writers' autographs at the first Harlem Book Fair....

Millbrook looks for improvement. (3rd-Quarter Results).(Millbrook Press )(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... In what the company characterized as another transitional quarter, sales at Millbrook Press fell 24.4% in the period ended April 30, to $3.4 million, and the net loss increased to $238,000 from $172,000 in the comparable quarter in fiscal...

Freese named to head PGW. (People).(Rich Freese named president of Publishers Group West)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... PUBLISHERS GROUP WEST, which has been without a permanent leader since Charlie Winton left in January, has named Rich Freese president. The announcement was made by Michael Nicita, president of PGW's parent company Advanced Marketing...

Huge four-book deal for Deaver. (Hot Deals).(Jeffery Deaver )(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... A multimillion-dollar deal (with no one Saying how many) for four new books by bestselling thriller author Jeffery Deaver was put in place at Simon & Schuster by David Rosenthal and agent Deborah Schneider at Gelfman & Schneider. It will...

Ghost writes about Rudolph. (Hot Deals).( Eric Rudolph)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... A ghostwriter who has the remarkable record of two top bestsellers in two years (Living History by Hillary Clinton and Ice Bound with Dr. Jerry Nielson) is now doing a book of her own, and HarperCollins has it. She is Maryanne Vollers, who in...

Noah novel preempted at SMP. (Hot Deals).(St. Martin's)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... A novel about Noah and the ark, called The Preservationist by first novelist David Maine, was preempted as part of a two-book world rights deal by Jennifer Enderlin at St. Martin's. In his literary re-creation, Noe (as he is spelled) is...

New mag holds an auction. (Hot Deals).(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... Eric Rayman is a familiar figure around publishing, having served as counsel at Simon & Schuster for many years, then in a like capacity at the New Yorker, where he regularly arranged book deals for anthologies drawn from the magazine. He now...

Harper Entertainment. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... Maureen O'Brien at Harper Entertainment preempted a bio of stricken singer Luther Vandross by Atlanta music critic Craig Seymour; it was a world English deal with Caron Knauer at the Caron K agency.

NBC and Andrews McMeel. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... NBC and Andrews McMeel are getting together to do a pair of multimedia books this fall: one on the history of the Today Show, and another on Operation Iraqi Freedom: The Inside Story. Both will be packaged with a companion DVD. Andrews McMeeI...

How I Live Now. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... A British YA novel How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, was won at auction last week by Wendy Lamb Books at RH Children's. The tale of a New York teenager sent to live with eccentric English relatives was sold by agent Nancy Gallt on behalf of...

Nelson's W Publishing. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... A book celebrating the president as a convinced Christian was signed at Nelson's W Publishing. It's A Man of Faith: The Spiritual Journey of George W. Bush by former Time correspondent David Aikman, bought for world rights from agent Kathryn...

Red Dress Ink. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... Margaret Marbury at Red Dress Ink has bought an anthology by a group of top "chick lit" writers whose sale will aid a charity called War Child. Planned for publication in fall 2004, Girls' Night In was sold by Deborah Schneider at Gelfman &...

Crown Forum. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... Jed Donahue, who has just joined the new Crown Forum imprint, made his first buy with Hard America, Soft America by Michael Barone of U.S. News & World Report, whose thesis is that American youngsters are growing up with little accountability...

Heart of the Hunter. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... Little, Brown's Judy Clain made a three-book deal for work by widely published South African novelist Deon Meyer not published here before. It was a North American rights deal with Isobel Dixon at U.K.'s Blake Friedmann agency; first to...

Despite tough market, energy high at licensing show. (Dealing).(t)
June 30, 2003... THE AISLES of Licensing 2003, he]d June 10-12 at the Javits Center in New York City, crackled with more energy than publishers have felt the last several years of the show. And while many trends continued from the recent past--notably...

M-H Education revamps supplementary unit. (Strategy).(MCGRAW-HILL EDUCATION)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... MCGRAW-HILL EDUCATION has restructured its alternative basal and supplementary publishing operations into a single unit that will be known as the McGraw-Hill Learning Group. The new organizational structure, which goes into effect July 1,...

The trouble with Harry. (Behind the Bestsellers).(Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... Where is he, some might wonder? It is the fastest selling book in the land; it was the book to buy on Saturday, June 21. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix would certainly be the #1 book on PWs charts this week if it weren't for the...

'East' heads North. (Behind the Bestsellers).(East of Eden )(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... When John Steinbeck's East of Eden was first published (summer 1952), the author called its initial printing--110,000 copies--"one hell of a big first edition." By that November, the novel was the country's #1 bestseller. We can't help...

Pathway to success. (Behind the Bestsellers).(The Pathway: Follow the Road to Health and Happiness)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... Speaking of Oprah's influence--though The Pathway: Follow the Road to Health and Happiness was published by Regan Books last January, it's just now debuting on our nonfiction list. The reason? You guessed it: a one-hour appearance (June 16)...

Clive: alive at five. (Behind the Bestsellers).(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... Ah, that Potter lad's influence is everywhere. For Putnam's release of White Death, the fourth entry in Clive Cussler's NUMA Files series (written with Paul Kemprecos), the on-sale date was moved forward--from June 23 to June 20--to...

Right turn: conservative publishing comes of age. (Book News).
June 30, 2003... Between now and December, scores of books on conservative topics will be published by houses large and small -- the most ever produced in a single season. Already, 2003 has been a banner year for such books, with at least one and often two...

Flying starts: six first-time children's authors and illustrators talk about their road to publication.(Interview)
June 30, 2003... Jeanne DuPrau Jeanne DuPrau grew up in the 1950s and 1960s with a fear of the world coming to an end. "People were building bomb shelters, and I was afraid of the idea that we could wipe out the human race," she says, citing one...

Going, going, gone!(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... Mary Pope Osborne, author of the bestselling Magic Tree House series, became a bestseller in her own right last month when, at a fundraising auction, she was auctioned off for the highest bid of the night--$36,000. The auction took place...

Reaching for the stars: fantasy is overtaking the more traditional SF novels, but it's still a tough solar system out there.
June 30, 2003... ACCORDING TO A FEBRUARY 2003 report in Locus magazine, science fiction and fantasy titles represent nearly 10% of all trade books sold. Last year, 2,241 such books were published, an increase of 4% over 2001, which was up by 12%. In...

Beyond the wizard's wand: A look at the growing field of fantasy books for children.
June 30, 2003... IT'S UNANIMOUS: children's fantasy literature is a booming business. Unanimous, certainly, among the editors PW spoke with who have strong track records in acquiring and editing books in this genre. They also concurred that one exceedingly...

Jersey Janet takes on the world: The creator of the Stephanie Plum series branches out. (Innovators Series).(Janet Evanovich)(Interview)
June 30, 2003... ON A BRIGHT SPRING DAY, PW travels to New Hampshire to visit Janet Evanovich, the author of the bestselling comic crime series starring wise-cracking New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum. Evanovich greets us at the door of a long, sleek...

Securing the ties that bind: publishers find perennial success with faith-based relationship books. (Religion Update).
June 30, 2003... "BLEST BE THE TIE THAT BINDS" begins an old hymn that praises the virtues of faith-based relationships. Religion publishers and retailers can also sing the praises of relationships in a down-turned economy. Books on the topic continue to form...

Tending hungry hearts and unsettled minds: A new crop of popular psychology titles keeps pace with the national malaise. (Religion Update).
June 30, 2003... WHETHER THEY'RE CALLED RELIGIOUS self-help, pop psychology, or--as in some CBA stores -- Christian living, books that deal with psychological issues from a spiritual point of view continue to appeal to those seeking deeper answers to life's...

Coping with loss and tragedy: though these titles may be few in number, their impact can be powerful. (Religion Update).
June 30, 2003... THE INEVITABILITY OF DEATH AND THE eternal need for consolation mean that new books flow each season to people in need of inspiration and information. Many new and recent titles speak quietly about private losses, experiences that while...

Sing Me to Heaven: The Story of a Marriage. (Books in Brief).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... MARGARET KIM PETERSON. Brazos, $19.99 (225p) ISBN 1-58743-047-9H When most young people take vows of "in sickness and in health," they imagine that the "sickness" part will be decades down the road. But Peterson, who married her husband...

Covenant Marriage: Building Communication and Intimacy. (Books in Brief).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... GARY CHAPMAN. Broadman & Holman, $19.99 (224p) ISBN 0-8054-2576-4 Chapman, bestselling author of The Five Love Languages and other books on relationships, here addresses the components of a healthy, Christ-centered marriage. A strong...

Loving Your Relatives Even When You Don't See Eye to Eye. (Books in Brief).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... DAVID & CLAUDIA ARP AND JOHN & MARGARET BELL. Tyndale, $19.99 (208p) ISBN 1-58997-107-8 The impossible mother-in-law. The prodigal son. The garrulous uncle. Every extended family has its share of difficult people, who we may only see a...

Fight Fair! Winning at Conflict Without Losing at Love. (Books in Brief).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... TIM AND JOY DOWNS. Moody, $12.99 (208p) ISBN 0-8024-1424-9 All married couples have conflicts, say the Downses (The Seven Conflicts); the question is how they handle them. In this practical manual, the authors explore common sources of...

Values, Prosperity, and The Talmud: Business Lessons from the Ancient Rabbis. (Books in Brief).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... LARRY KAHANER. Jossey-Bass, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 0-471-44441-3 The Talmud, says Kahaner, is a "hand-book for today's business world": a reminder of balance in a workaholic culture, a treatise on personal responsibility and a call to charity...

Faithful Finances 101: From the Poverty of Fear and Greed to the Riches of Spiritual Investing. (Books in Brief).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... GARY MOORE. Templeton Foundation, $24.95 (228p) ISBN 1-932031-30-8 Move over, prosperity gospel. According to Moore, a former v-p at Paine Webber, those Christians who make an idol of money violate biblical precepts and risk destroying...

In profile: authors demonstrate "self-help's" range. (Religion Update).
June 30, 2003... TARA BRACH: A Radical Path to Peace When Tara Brach was introduced to Buddhism in high school, she "dismissed it out of hand," she writes. "It seemed irrelevant to my life.,.. Sure, maybe we all suffer, but why dwell on it?" That...

All faiths calendar: selected observances for July and August 2003. (Religion Update).(Calendar)
June 30, 2003... July 13-15 BON (Shinto and Buddhism) During this "festival of souls," people in Japan visit the graves of their ancestors and offer them food and gifts, invoking their benevolent guardianship. At the beginning of the three-day...

What becomes an editor most? (Interview).
June 30, 2003... I fit's titles, try Confessions of a Gynecologist; An Expert Shows You How Heavy Can Be Happy; Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?; Movers and Shakers in Georgia; Miller's High Life; Sherlock Bones, Tracer of Missing Pets. If it's...

Lucky Girls: Stories. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... NELL FREUDENBERGER. Ecco, $22.95 (240p) ISBN 0-06-008879-6 Freudenberger saw her first story, "Lucky Girls," published in the New Yorker's 2001 debut fiction issue and subsequently received a reported six-figure sum to round out the...

The Madam. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... JULIANNA BAGGOTT. Atria, $24 (288p) ISBN 0-7434-5457-X Baggott again explores family dysfunction in this fictionalized account of her own great-grandmother's bordello in 1920s West Virginia, though the mannered style is a departure from...

Everyone Dies. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... MICHAEL McGARRITY Dutton, $23.95 (336p) ISBN 0-525-94761-2 The questions and concerns of relationships, both everyday and extraordinary, personal and professional, lie at the heart of McGarrity's ninth entry in his Kevin Kerney series of...

Ghost Eater. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... FREDERICK HIGHLAND. St. Martin's! Dunne, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0-312-30671-7 Set in 19th-century Dutch-controlled Sumatra, this is a swashbuckling, seafaring novel with mystical overtones. American Ulysses Drake Vanders is commissioned to...

Secret Father. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... JAMES CARROLL. Houghton Muffin, $25 (384p) ISBN 0-618-15284-9 The heart of this fine novel, Carroll's first in nine years, is spelled out in the book's epigraph, a line from Dostoyevski: "Real love, compared to fantasy, is a harsh and...

Breaking Her Fall. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... STEPHEN GOODWIN. Harcourt, $24 (416p) ISBN 0-15-100806-X Goodwin's first novel in over two decades (after Blood of Paradise, 1979) is psychologically acute, if somewhat overplotted. Tucker Jones is a 44-year-old divorced father of two...

Mirror Lake. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... THOMAS CHRISTOPHER GREENE. Simon & Schuster, $22 (256p) ISBN 0-7432-4427-3 Greene tells a predictable story of infidelity, love, loss and male bonding in this well-crafted but somewhat stale first novel. Nathan Garter is the 30-something...

Justice. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... DAN MAHONEY. St. Martin's, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 0-312-30957-0 * Ex-cop Mahoney's eighth masterful police procedural (after The Protectors) again brings together New York's most famous sleuth, the brilliant but unassuming Det. Brian MeKenna,...

Done for a Dime. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... DAVID CORBEIT. Ballantine, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 0-345-44753-0 Corbett (The Devil's Redhead) again uses some of the traditional tools of genre fiction in bold new ways in his sharp and exceptionally poignant second suspense novel. The...

Pastries. (Fiction).(Book Review)
June 30, 2003... BHARTI KIRCHNER. St. Martin's, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 0-3 321-28988-X Cookbook author turned fiction write Kirchner (Darjeeling) gives us a glimpse intd the tumultuous life of a contemporary Seattle bakery owner in this sweet but uneven nove...

Girl Cook. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... HANNAH McCOUCH. Villard, $22.95 (256p) ISBN 1-4000.6042-7 First-time novelist McCouch adds an intriguing element to an otherwise typical contemporary romance plot: she takes readers inside the New York restaurant scene, where men rule the...

Shifting Calder Wind. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... JANET DAILEY. Kensington, $24 (304p) ISBN 0-7582-0067-6 Dailey, veteran author of more than 100 romance novels, seven of which belong to the Calder family saga (Green Calder Grass, etc.), adds another immensely readable installment to...

For Matrimonial Purposes. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... KAVITA DASWANI. Putnam, $23.95 (336p) ISBN 0-399-15070-6 Matchmaking Indian-style collides with love "Umrican"-style in Daswani's giddy debut featuring a privileged but rebellious young woman who moves to New York after her family fails...

Isle of Palms. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... DOROTHEA BENTON FRANK. Berkley, $22.95 (432p) ISBN 0-425-19136-2 * Honey, you think you've got a dysfunctional family. Anna Lutz Abbot wants you to sit yourself down with a glass of sweet tea and hear all about why her family takes the...

Ice Hunt. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... JAMES ROLLINS. Morrow, $24.95 (432p) ISBN 0-06-052156-2 While Clive Cussler maintains the gold standard in action lit, Rollins has a firm grasp on the silver. Some astonishing threat or daring feat explodes into print on nearly every...

After the Fire. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... DANIEL ROBINSON. Lyons, $19.95 (224p) ISBN 1-58574-760-2 A 12-year veteran of a wildfire suppression crew, the author of this touching debut traces a week in the life of Fort Collins, Colo., firefighter Barnes, who can't recover after...

Young Men on Fire. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... HOWARD HUNT. Scribner, $13 paper (256p) ISBN 0-7432-4173-8 Hunt updates the jaded, full-throttle party attitude that made Bright Lights, Big City such a shocker, offering an analogous take on the dot-com boom in a book long on hip...

Blindside. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... CATHERINE COULTER. Putnam, $25.95 (384p) ISBN 0-399-15056-0 The newest installment in historical romance author Coulter's FBI series (Eleventh Hour, etc.) delivers some of the things her fans have come to expect--a fast-moving...

Psychopath. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... KEITH ABLOW. St. Martin's, $19.95 (336p) ISBN 0-312-26671-5 Ablow doesn't mince words when it comes to titles (Compulsion; Projection; Denial), and the name of this entry, number four in the Frank Clevenger series, says it all. The...

In the Name of Ishmael. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... GIUSEPPE GENNA, TRANS. FROM THE ITALIAN BY ANN GOLDSTEIN. Miramax, $25 (448p) ISBN 0-7868-6940-2 A terrorist gang headed by the mysterious Ishmael of the title is the target of two police investigations, one in 1962 and the other in...

The King is Dead. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... JIM LEWIS. Knopf, $24 (272p) ISBN 0-375-41417-7 Every act is fraught with significance in this intermittently powerful but overwrought novel, set between 1950s Tennessee and present-day New York. Like an American passion play, Lewis's...

The Truth About Celia. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... KEVIN BROCKMEIER. Pantheon, $22 (240p) ISBN 0-375-42135-1 In his well-received story collection (Things That Fall from the Sky), Brockmeier was hailed as a writer of sinuous, startling prose. That skill is on full display again in this...

The Killing Hour. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... LISA GARDNER. Bantam, $23.95 (336p) ISBN 0-553-80252-6 * A cold case grows hot again in Gardner's sixth high-octane page-turner, a romantic thriller that features rookie FBI agent Kimberly Quincy. Kimberly is the daughter of Pierce...

Four to Midnight. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... Scorr FLANDER. Morrow, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0.06-018898-7 Flander certainly knows his Philadelphia and his cops. As in his highly praised FIRST novel (Sons of the City), the Philadelphia Daily News reporter plunges readers directly into...

The Lost Souls' Reunion. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... SUZANNE POWER. St. Martin's, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 0-312-31383-7 Power's debut novel about an impoverished Irish family includes all the usual cast members-- the alcoholic, brutish husband; the unloved and unloving wife; the pregnant teenage...

Seven Days and Seven Sins. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... PAMELA DITCHOFF. Crown/Shaye Areheart, $23 (256p) ISBN 0-609-60979-3 Using the biblical sins and the days of the week as a framework, this collection of interlocked stories about a smalltown neighborhood is faintly surreal and...

A Fractured Truth. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... CAROLINE SLATE. Atria, $25 (352p) ISBN 0-7434-1890-5 Slate's crisply written second novel (following The House on Sprucewood Lane) comes on like a high-stakes thriller, yet turns out to be more of a searching character study. The novel...

Downhill Chance. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... DONNA MORRISSEY. Houghton Muffin/Mariner, $24 (448p) ISBN 0-618-18927-0 Morrissey's sprawling second novel (after Kit's Law) once again takes readers to a fishing community on the coast of Newfoundland. There, life for the Gale...

A Love Noire. (Fiction).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... ERICA SIMONE TURNIPSEED. HarperCollins/-Amistad, $19.95 (320p) ISBN 0-06-053679-9 Love blossoms for an unlikely couple in this provocative debut, a romance embroidered with outspoken treatment of issues of race and class. Noire Demain is...

From fiction to nonfiction and back. (PW Talks with James Carroll).(Interview)
June 30, 2003... PW: In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, you were publishing a novel every two years. Secret Father [reviewed above] is your first in nine years. Is there a reason you chose not to write fiction during that period? James Carroll:...

From history to mystery: A genre-jumper explains. (PW Talks with Catherine Coulter).(Interview)
June 30, 2003... PW: You started out writing historical romances, then you tried your hand at romantic suspense novels, and now you're writing FBI thrillers like Blindside [reviewed above]. Was this a natural progression? Catherine Coulter: My shtick at...

Stalking the wild Eco-killer. (PW Talks with Lisa Gardner).(Interview)
June 30, 2003... PW: What inspired The Killing Hour's [reviewed above] depraved but environmentally concerned "Eco" serial killer? Lisa Gardner: In thrillers right now, serial killers are kind of a dime a dozen and the majority of the books, the ones I've...

Aria: The Soul Market. (Comics).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... BRIAN HOLGUIN AND BRIAN HABERLIN. Image, $26.95 (144p) ISBN 1-58240-282-5 The second Aria album collects all six chapters of an Image mini-series in an oversized volume that demands as much attention for the art as for the story--a good...

The Great Comic Book Heroes. (Comics).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... JULES FEIFFER. Fantagraphics, $8.95 paper (80p) ISBN 1-56097-501-6 Feiffer ends his fabulous 1965 essay on comic book history with an argument that comics are "junk," but that junk is good, even necessary. Taken on their own terms, comics...

Shade, The Changing Man: The American Scream. (Comics).(Book Review)
June 30, 2003... PETER MILLIGAN, ILLUS. BY CHRIS BACHALO AND MARK PENNINGTON. Vertigo/DC Comics, $17.95 paper(112p) ISBN 1-4-012-0046-X This collection of the first six issues of Milligan's Shade, The Changing Man tell s the story of Rae Shade and Kathy...

The Interman: Volume One. (Comics).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... JEFF PARKER. Octopus, $19.95 paper (128p) ISBN 0-9725553-07 When the CIA rediscovers decades-old records of Interman, a genetic experiment aimed at producing perfectly adaptable Gold War secret agents, panic erupts. Without more...

Road to America. (Comics).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... BARU AND JEAN-MARC THEVENET. Drawn & Quarterly, $14.95 paper (96p) ISBN 1-896597-52-1 Set mainly in late 1950s Algeria and France during Algeria's war of independence, this work tells of young, working-class Algerian Said Boudiaf, whose...

No Graves as Yet: A Novel of World War I. (Mystery).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... ANNE PERRY. Ballantine, $25.95 (352p) ISBN 0-345-45652-1 * This absorb ing mystery/spy thriller, set in tranquil Cambridge just before the onset of the Great War, marks a powerful start to bestseller Perry's much anticipated new series....

The Vagabond Clown: An Elizabethan Theater Mystery Featuring Nicholas Bracewell. (Mystery).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... EDWARD MARSTON. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-312-30789-6 Edgar nominee Marston sends in the clowns in his 13th Nicholas Bracewell mystery (after 2002's The Bawdy Basket), once again providing an engaging look at the life...

The Mingrelian Conspiracy: A Mamur Zapt Mystery. (Mystery).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... MICHAEL PEARCE. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (208p) ISBN 1-59058-069-9 In Pearce's latest entertaining historical (after 2003's The Snake Catcher's Daughter), set in 1908 colonial Egypt, Captain Gareth Owen, aka the Mamur Zapt who heads the...

Lovers Crossing. (Mystery).(Book Review)(Brief Article)
June 30, 2003... JAMES C. MITCHELL. St Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 0-312-31530-9 Set along the Arizona/Mexico frontera, Mitchell's impressive, well-crafted debut captures the gritty reality of border life. Roscoe Brinker, a Tucson-based private...