Publishers Weekly articles from June 2008

Publishers Weekly archives from June 2008

War theater of the absurd.(Publishers Weekly Pick of the week)(The Forever War)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * The Forever War Dexter Filkins. Knopf, $25 (384p) ISBN 978-0-307-26639-2 Pilkins, a New York Times prize winning reporter, is widely regarded as among the finest war correspondents of this generation. His...

Publishers slow to change printing preferences: domestic printers see more interest in moving back to U.S., but little action.(Foreword)
June 30, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The combination of higher costs in doing business with China, higher fuel and freight expenses and greater interest in environmentally friendly manufacturing practices has not yet resulted in a major shift in...

Two for lunch.(J.J. Salem and Jackie Collins)(Photograph)
June 30, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Tan Lines (St. Martin's Press) author J.J. Salem enjoyed an impromptu lunch with his idol, Jackie Collins, last week in Jackson, Miss. Collins was in town touring for her new book, Married Lovers (also St....

Krakauer pulls book.(Jon Krakauer's The Hero)(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... Bestselling author Jon Krakauer's book about Pat Tillman, The Hero, has been indefinitely delayed. Doubleday had planned to release the book this fall and had set a 500,000-copy first printing. Doubleday said Krakauer was unhappy with the...

E-dreaming.(Foreword)(e-book sales)
June 30, 2008... "Global e-book sales at Amazon could reach $2.5 billion by the year 2012." No, this hyperbole doesn't come from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has always been famously circumspect about discussing his business. Instead, it was the...

Goodkind moves to Putnam.(Putnamto publish Terry Goodkind's novels)(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... After selling more than 25 million copies of his fantasy titles with Tor, Terry Goodkind is moving to Putnam, which acquired U.S. hardcover and paperback rights in a joint venture with Berkley Books. Putnam will publish the novels--which will...

Lerner in pact with 'USA Today'.(Lerner Publishing Group has signed a licensing deal with USA Today )(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... Lerner Publishing Group has signed a licensing deal with USA Today to create several series of educational books targeted to upper elementary, middle and high school students. The first four titles--on Oprah Winfrey, Vera Wang, Bill Gates and...

RC2 Corp. bullish on toy-book connection.(New Player)(RC2 Corp.'s acquisition of the children's publishing division of Publications International Ltd.)
June 30, 2008... RC2 Corp.'s acquisition of the children's publishing division of Publications International Ltd. will allow the toy manufacturer to diversify the company's offerings while also providing more focus on its early-learning products, explained...

New Borders fiction buyer.(Jennifer Northcutt)(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... Borders has tapped its YA buyer, Jennifer Northcutt, to oversee fiction at the chain. Northcutt will head fiction buying for all Borders and Waldenbooks stores.

Judge denies ABFFE motion.(American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression)(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... A Portland, Ore., U.S. District Court judge denied a request from ABFFE to issue a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of Oregon's "harmful to minors" law until a trial can be held. ABFFE's Chris Finan said that while the organization...

Sailing away.(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: Hachette hosted a "bon voyage cassette party" to mark the end of releasing audiobooks on cassette. Hachette Audio, which will now release titles only on CD, published its final tape title, Sail by James...

Shaping the court.(Deals)(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... Laura Stickney and Ann Godoff at the Penguin Press have acquired a new book by presidential historian and Williams College professor James MacGregor Burns. Packing the Court will delve into the history of presidential Supreme Court "packing";...

Two years in Iraq.(Deals)(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... Collins executive editor Adam Bellow won an auction for North American rights to Owen West's The Advisors; Dan Mandel at Sanford Greenburger made the sale. West's account of an Iraqi battalion's two-year fight in the heart of Anbar province...

12 weeks to happiness.(Deals)(The Program: The 12-Week Method to Get Your Body in Sync with Your Brain for a Healthier, Happier You)(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... Judith Curr at Atria won a three-day auction for Dr. Kelly Traver's The Program: The 12-Week Method to Get Your Body in Sync with Your Brain for a Healthier, Happier You; Robin Straus sold world rights. Traver, global medical director for...

Azcel to Palgrave.(Deals)(Amir Azcel, Palgrave Macmillan )(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... Fermat's Last Theorem author Amir Azcel will move to Palgrave Macmillan for his next book, titled Uranium; editor Luba Ostashevsky bought world rights from Al Zuckerman at Writers Home. Azcers new book will tell the story of the scientists...

Chronicling the Celtics' rebound.(Deals)(Boston Celtics)(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... Da Capo editor Kevin Hanover acquired world rights to Peter May's Top of the World: The Inside Story of the Boston Celtics' Amazing One-Year Turnaround to Become NBA Champions; Colleen Mohyde at the Doe Coover Agency made the sale. May, who...

Family cooking.(Deals)(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... Globe Pequot editor Heather Carreiro preempted Yvette Moyo's Real Women Cook: A Celebration of Family with Recipes That Stir the Soul via Linda Konner. Moyo, president of Chicago-based marketing company Resource Associates International, will...

Calendar: July 6-12.(Brief article)(Calendar)
June 30, 2008... 7/6 Although PW found Nora Roberts's latest, Tribute (Putnam), "underwhelming" and its "terror tactics... half-baked," that doesn't mean it won't be a bestseller. 7/7 Julie Rose's new translation of Victor Hugo's sprawling...

Canada's key porter scores with Gordon Ramsay.(Independent Publishing)(Key Porter Books)
June 30, 2008... Persistence has paid off for Jordan Fenn, publisher of the Canadian independent house Key Porter Books, helping him land Gordon Ramsay, the fiery-tempered British celebrity chef who hosts Hells Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares, to a three-book...

Yale University Press at 100.(Milestones)
June 30, 2008... It started in 1908 under the leadership of three Yale classmates: two brothers and one of their friends. The Day brothers, George Parmly and Clarence S., along with Edwin Oviatt, got the blessing that year from their alma mater to publish The...

Frazier to Penguin.(People)(Felicia Frazier, Penguin Young Readers Group)(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... Felicia Frazier has been named senior v-p, director of sales at the Penguin Young Readers Group. Frazier, a 20-year publishing veteran, was most recently v-p and sales director for the national accounts, brand and category management team at...

Rose up at Houghton.(People)(Katie Rose, Houghton Mifflin Trade & Reference)(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... Katie Rose has been named v-p, director of marketing for adult books at Houghton Mifflin Trade & Reference. Rose, who will be based in Boston, was v-p of marketing for HM's college unit.

Promos, hire at McGraw-Hill.(People)(Emily Carleton hired, Kenya Henderson promoted along with Nicole LeBlanc and Heather Cooper)(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... At McGraw-Hill, Emily Carleton has been hired as an editor in the Consumer group; she arrives from Wiley, where she was an associate editor. Also at MH, Kenya Henderson has been promoted from publicist to senior publicist; Nicole LeBlanc from...

Wolff up at Grand Central.(People)(Rick Wolff of Business Plus)(Brief article)
June 30, 2008... Rick Wolff, v-p and executive editor at Grand Central, has been given the additional title of editor-in-chief of Business Plus. Wolff launched then-Warner's business book imprint in 2000; in 2007, the imprint was expanded into Business Plus.

Jaime Clarke, co-owner, Newtonville Books, Newton, Mass.(Galley Talk)(The 19th Wife)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... When I was 19, I joined the Mormon Church because I wanted to marry my high school girlfriend. Predictably, the whole thing went south and I ran away to the East Coast, leaving the Mormons behind. Or so I thought. Warren Jeffs's recent arrest...

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
June 30, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Evanovich's Fearless Fourteen had the biggest first printing--two minion copies--since John Grishanfs The Appeal back in February (2.8 million). Fearless Fourteen was launched June 17 at the MGM Grand Hotel at the...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.(Table)(List)
June 30, 2008... During Scott McClellan's testimony about the Valerie Plame leak on Friday, June 20, before the House Judiciary Committee, the author was pressed (without success) by the panel to give information beyond the material in his bestselling book,...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
June 30, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Janet Evanovich takes the #1 spot on two lists this week: her new hardcover bestseller, Fearless Fourteen, and, in mass market, Lean Mean Thirteen. Beth books had two-million--copy first printings. A few months...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
June 30, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Shack is back in the #1 spot and author William Young has a very active speaking and autographing schedule. Windblown Media reports that he will be traveling to more than 30 cities before the end of the year....

Audio bestsellers/fiction.
June 30, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Brilliance Audio has been publishing Koontz's backlist on unabridged audio for some time now, but Odd Hours is the first in a new frontlist deal. The first three audiobooks featuring Odd Thomas were published by...

Audio bestsellers/nonfiction.
June 30, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If you're buying Walters's audiobook to hear her talk about the men in her life, you're out of luck. The author-approved abridgment doesn't contain the chapters "Fun and Games in Washington" and "Special Men in My...

Matt Norcross: manager of McLean & Eakin strives to make booksellers community leaders.(50 UNDER 40)
June 30, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Matt Norcross, 32, store manager for McLean & Eakin, Booksellers, believes he's in the right place, and it's the right time. "Buying local; being green; independent farmers. All these things seem to be swinging the...

On the road again.(Author Profile)
June 30, 2008... Paul Theroux lives in Hawaii and on Cape Cod... when he's not traveling. And Paul Theroux travels a great deal, having made his literary reputation on the road, starting with The Great Railway Bazaar (Houghton, 1975), the story of a train...

Remembering your first: there's nothing like the first novel, but then you keep on.(Fall '08 Fiction Debuts)
June 30, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If they're honest, most novelists will admit that despite any struggles, there's more ecstasy than agony involved in producing a first book. First novels tend to get written by voluntary, irrational submission to...

Fall 2008 hardcovers.
June 30, 2008... Maybe it's fall signaling the end of another year, or the prospect of yet another difficult year--politically, economically looming ahead. In any case, nostalgia seems to be key among the season's forthcoming titles, with publishers focusing...

Fall 2008 trade paperbacks.
June 30, 2008... ART & ARCHITECTURE ACTAR D Total Housing(Nov., $52) by Albert Ferre suveys the most compelling international contemporary housing projects. ALLWORTH PRESS Managing Design Strategies: Using Design to Achieve Key Business...

The World According to Bertie: A 44 Scotland Street Novel.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... The World According to Bertie: A 44 Scotland Street Novel Alexander McCall Smith. Anchor, $13.95 paper (368p) ISBN 978-0-307-38706-6 Smith delivers yet another delightful installment to his Scotland Street series. This time out, he...

The Drowned Life.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... The Drowned Life Jeffrey Ford. Harper Perennial, $13.95 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-143506-5 Following close upon the release of The Shadow Year, Edgar-winner Ford's third collection leads readers down dark and subtle passageways onto...

Gone Tomorrow.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Gone Tomorrow RE Kluge. Overlook, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 9781-59020-090-2 In Kluge's (Eddie and the Cruisers) thoughtful new novel, Mark May, a young professor at an Ohio college, is surprised to be named the literary executor of a recently...

Single with Benefits.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Single with Benefits Relentless Aaron. St. Martin's Griffin, $14.95 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-312-35937-9 Nineteen-year-old j-school student Shawn Hopkins learns some hard lessons after his "ride or die chick" rips him off in this raw...

The Bitter Taste of Time.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... The Bitter Taste of Time Bea Gonzalez. St. Martin's/Dunne, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-312-36467-0 Spanning from 1920 to 1997, Gonzalez's second novel follows five generations of a wealthy family in a small Galician town as their fortunes...

Cutting Loose.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Cutting Loose Nadine Dajani. Forge, $14.95 paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-7653-1943-2 Dajani's engrossing second novel (after Fashionably Late)chronicles the overlap in the lives of three dissimilar women working at a Miami magazine. Upon...

Home.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... * Home Marilynne Robinson. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25 (336p) ISBN 978-0-374-29910-1 Robinson's beautiful new novel, a companion piece to her Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead, is an elegant variation on the parable of the prodigal son's...

Dream City.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Dream City Brendan Short. MacAdam/Cage, $22 (350p) ISBN 978-1-59692-318-8 Short's sprawling and mostly successful debut novel packs in 72 years of one family's troubles. In Depression-era Chicago, six-year-old Michael Halligan relishes...

The mayor of Rome writes a book.(Walter Veltroni's "The Discovery of Dawn")(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... And it's actually pretty bravissimo. The Discovery of Dawn Walter Veltroni, trans, from the Italian by Douglas Hofstadter. Rizzoli, $24.95 (152p) ISBN 978-0-8478-3109-8 The captivating first novel by Italian politician Vehroni (a...

The Heretic's Daughter.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... * The Heretic's Daughter Kathleen Kent. Little, Brown, $24.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-316-02448-8 A family's conflict becomes a battle for life and death in this gripping and original first novel based on family history from a descendant of a...

Other Lives.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Other Lives Andre Brink. Sourcebooks, $29.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-4022-1391-5 Brink's latest novel--essentially a collection of three novellas--is a vividly imagined if claustrophobic chronicle of the lives of three subtly connected men...

Tales of the Ten Lost Tribes.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Tales of the Ten Lost Tribes Tamar Yellin. Toby, $22.95 (200p) ISBN 978-1-59264-213-7 In Yellin's 10 serenely crafted stories, the plight of the wandering Jew is manifested in various outsiders, adventurers or those who are simply...

A Map of Home.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * A Map of Home Randa Jarrar. Other Press, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-59051-272-2 Jarrar's sparkling debut about an audacious Muslim girl growing up in Kuwait, Egypt and Texas is intimate, perceptive and very,...

Rhapsody in Red.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Rhapsody in Red Donn Taylor. Moody, $13.99 paper (306p) ISBN 978-0-8024-5116-3 Two professors accused of murder on a Christian college campus must find the killer in a whodunit that plays to the beat of a unique soundtrack. The main...

The Sunday Brunch Diaries.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... The Sunday Brunch Diaries Norma L. Jarrett. Broadway/Harlem Moon, $12.95 paper (302p)ISBN 978-0-7679-2143-5 Channeling Tyler Perry's tragicomic sensibility (there is even a Madea figure), Jarrett delivers the goods in this light,...

Ms. Hempel Chronicles.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Ms. Hempel Chronicles Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum. Harcourt, $23 (208p) ISBN 978-0-15-101496-5 A National Book Award finalist in 2004, Bynum returns with an intricate and absorbing collection of eight interconnected stories about Beatrice...

Wounded: A Love Story.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Wounded: A Love Story Claudia Mair Burney. David C. Cook, $13.99 paper (256p) ISBN 978-1-4347-9938-8 Burney's offbeat story, which explores what it might mean to literally share in Christ's suffering, demonstrates an edginess that both...

The Turnaround.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... * The Turnaround George Pelecanos. Little, Brown, $24.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-316-15647-9 In yet another gem of urban noir, bestseller Pelecanos (The Night Gardener) explores the possibility of making "the turnaround," of starting over and...

It Only Takes a Moment.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... It Only Takes a Moment Mary Jane Clark. Morrow, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-06-128609-4 New York City news anchor Eliza Blake, now back at the morning TV show KEY to America, pays a price for her high media profile in this riveting novel of...

Smoke Screen.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Smoke Screen Sandra Brown. Simon & Schuster, $26.95 (416p) ISBN 978-1-4165-6306-8 At the start of this scorching if somewhat formulaic thriller from bestseller Brown (Play Dirty), Charleston, S.C., TV reporter Britt Shelley wakes up in...

Old Devil Moon.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Old Devil Moon Christopher Fowler. Serpent's Tair, $14.95 paper (296p) ISBN 978-1-85242-925-6 British author Fowler, best known for his Bryant and May impossible crimes series (White Corridor, etc.), scores another triumph with his...

Foreign Body.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Foreign Body Robin Cook. Putnam, $25.95 (448p) ISBN 978-0-399-15502-4 Bestseller Cook (Critical) stumbles in this formulaic thriller about the timely subject of medical tourism, the trend in which U.S. citizens seek to save costs on...

The Mercedes Coffin.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... The Mercedes Coffin Faye Kellerman. Morrow, $25,95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-122733-2 In bestseller Kellerman's uneven 17th novel to feature LAPD Lt. Peter Decker and wife Rina Lazarus (after 2007's The Burnt House), Decker must solve a...

Land of a Hundred Wonders.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Land of a Hundred Wonders Lesley Kagen. NALAccent, $14 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-451-22409-5 Set in Cray Ridge, Ky., in 1973, Kagen's winsome second novel (after Whistling in the Dark) offers laughter and bittersweet sighs. As a child, NQR...

The Ancient Ship.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... The Ancient Ship Zhang Wei, trans, from the Chinese by Howard Goldblatt, Harper Perennial, $14.95 paper (464p) ISBN 978-0-06-143690-1 In his epic novel, originally published in 1987, Zhang explores China's upheaval in the decades after...

Family Sold Separately.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Family Sold Separately Kate Long. Ballantine, $14 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-345-47967-9 According to family legend, members of Katherine Millar's family "get the key of the door and the hammer of doom at the same time" when they come of...

Grave for a Dead Gunfighter.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Grave for a Dead Gunfighter Kent Conwell. Avalon, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-8034-9910-2 Conwell's 25th western (after Atascocita Gold) is a fast-paced hayburner loaded with gunplay, powder smoke and a wagonload of perforated corpses....

Walking the Dog.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Walking the Dog Charles Davis. Permanent, $26 (164p) ISBN 978-1-57962-167-4 Davis's strained second novel takes place on the fictional island of Santa Margarita y Los Monies, a magical place where anything is possible. The narrative...

House of Wolves.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... House of Wolves Matt Bronleewe. Thomas Nelson, $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-59554-250-2 Betrayals, secret societies, the quest for an ancient artifact of great religious significance--all the familiar elements of countless Dan Brown...

Commonwealth.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Commonwealth Joey Goebel. MacAdam/Cage, $24 (521p) ISBN 978-1-59692-279-2; $13.95 paper ISBN 9781-59692-296-9 Goebel's third novel (his first was The Anomalies), a tepid satire of contemporary politics in "Middle America," hinges on Blue...

The King of Ragtime.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... The King of Ragtime Larry Karp. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (308p) ISBN 978-1-59058-526-9 Set in Manhattan in 1916, Karp's well-crafted second homage to ragtime (after 2006's The Ragtime Kid) charts Scott Joplin's race against time and the...

Cold in Hand.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... * Cold in Hand John Harvey. Harcourt/Penzler, $26 (384p) ISBN 978-0-15-101462-0 In 10 novels over 10 years (1989-1998), Charlie Resnick, the jazz-loving police detective, made Nottingham's turf familiar to readers who never came within...

Murder on the Eiffel Tower.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Murder on the Eiffel Tower Claude Izner, trans, from the French by Isabel Reid. St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-38374-9 Fans of quality historicals will welcome Izner's debut, the first of a series to feature an...

The Lover's Knot: A Someday Quilts Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... The Lover's Knot: A Someday Quilts Mystery Clare O'Donohue. Plume, $13 paper (304p) ISBN 978-0-452-28979-6 A stitch above most craft cozies, O'Donohue's sweet debut introduces Nell Fitzgerald, a Manhattan publishing professional whose...

Borderlands: An Inspector Devlin Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Borderlands: An Inspector Devlin Mystery Brian McGilloway. St. Martin's Minotaur/ Dunne, $23.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-312-38406-7 When the body of 15-year-old Angela Cashell is found straddling the border between the Republic of Ireland and...

Indigo Christmas: A Hilda Johansson Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Indigo Christmas: A Hilda Johansson Mystery Jeanne M. Dams. Perseverance ($CB, dist.), $14.95 paper (256p) ISBN 978-1-880284-95-7 Hilda Johansson Cavanaugh finds herself caught between the world of her past as a housemaid and her new role...

Stuff Dreams Are Made Of.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Stuff Dreams Are Made Of Don Bruns. Oceanview (Midpoint, dist.), $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-933515-16-8 At the start of Bruns's talky second mystery to feature best friends Skip Moore and James Lessor (after 2007's Stuff to Die For), the...

Separate from the World: An Ohio Amish Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Separate from the World: An Ohio Amish Mystery RL. Gaus. Ohio Univ., $24.95 (212p) ISBN 9780-8214-1814-7; $12.95 paper (212p) ISBN 978-0-8214-1815-4 In Gaus's excellent sixth Ohio Amish mystery (after 2006's A Prayer for the Night), Enos...

PW talks with Michael Walters: Mongolian noir.(Q&A)(Publishers Weekly; Michael Walters' 'The Shadow Walker')(Interview)
June 30, 2008... Michael Walters's first novel, The Shadow Walker (Reviews, June 16), is a mystery set in modern Mongolia, to which the British author has traveled as a management consultant. When did you first visit Mongolia? In the early 1990s,...

The Hanged Man: A Tarot Card Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... The Hanged Man: A Tarot Card Mystery David Skibbins. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $23.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-312-37783-0 Paraplegic computer whiz Sally McLaughlin, the girlfriend of Berkeley, Calif., tarot reader Warren Ritter, is shocked...

Vi Agra Falls: A Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Vi Agra Falls: A Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery Mary Daheim. Morrow, $23.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-06-135154-9 Cozy buffs who've yet to encounter Dahelm's popular Pacific Northwest series will find this entertaining 24th installment (after 2007's...

The Alchemy of Stone.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... * The Alchemy of Stone Ekaterina Sedia. Prime (www.prime-books.com), $12.95 paper (304p) ISBN 978-0-8095-7284-7 Sedia's evocative third novel, a steam-punk fable about the price of industrial development, follows Mattie, an emancipated...

The Last Theorem.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... The Last Theorem Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl. Del Rey, $27 (336p) ISBN 978-0-345-47021-8 Grand Masters Pohl (Gateway) and the late Clarke (1917-2008, best known for 2001) collaborated on a can't-put-down adventure that focuses on...

The Viper of Portello.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... The Viper of Portello James C. Glass. Fairwood (www.fairwoodpress.com), $17.99 paper (268p) ISBN 978-0-9789078-7-7 Glass (Shanji) provides only a tenuous science fiction background for this otherwise excellent novel of intergenerational...

Love in the Time of Fridges.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Love in the Time of Fridges Tim Scott. Bantam Spectra, $12 paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-553-38441-3 Scott (Outrageous Fortune) sets his absurdist sophomore effort in near future New Seattle, where ex-cop Huckleberry Lindbergh has just...

Futile Efforts.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... * Futile Efforts Tom Piccirilli. Cemetery Dance (www.cemeterydance.com), $40 (500p) ISBN 978-1-58767-166-1 In this disturbing, often grotesque and ultimately mesmerizing collection, Piccirilli (The Cold Spot) reprints 17 stories and 45...

The Divine Talisman: Book Three of the Legend of Asahiel.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... The Divine Talisman: Book Three of the Legend of Asahiel Eldon Thompson. Eos, $25.95 (544p) ISBN 978-0-06-074154-9 The gory final Legend of Asahiel novel (after 2006's The Obsidian Key) brings this grim fantasy epic to conclusion with...

Shades of Dark.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 30, 2008... Shades of Dark Linnea Sinclair. Bantam, $6.99 (448p) ISBN 978-0-553-58965-8 RITA winner Sinclair's sequel to 2005's Gabriel's Ghost mixes space opera with romance, carrying forward the story of tough ex-Fleet Capt. Chasidah "Chaz"...