Publishers Weekly articles from March 2002

Publishers Weekly archives from March 2002

Virden steps down; Gibson, Frost shift jobs: Major personnel, organizational changes at Random House. (News).(publishing industry)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... IN A MAJOR realignment of executive personnel and publishing operations, Random House Inc. announced that Chip Gibson, president of Grown Publishing Group, will take over as president and publisher of Random House Children's Books from Craig...

Harvard Book Store is PW's Bookseller of the year. (Award).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, Mass., has won Publishers Weekly's Bookseller of the Year award. The annual award is chosen by a panel of industry professionals as well as the previous year's Rep of the Year, who in this case is Peg O'Donnell of...

Industry sales flat in 2001 at $25.4 billion. (Numbers).(publishing industry)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... WITH DECLINES in the trade, professional, mass market paperback and mail order segments in 2001, industry sales for the year inched ahead 0.1% over 2000, to $25.36 billion, according to preliminary estimates from the Association of American...

Taunton Press reports 10% sales gain in 2001. (Independent Publishers).(publishing industry)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... AFTER A DIP in sales in September and October following the terrorist attacks, business came "roaring back" in November and December at the Taunton Press, book group publisher Jim Childs told PW. Childs had no doubt that the national mood swing...

B&T to use RealRead preview technology. (E-marketing).(Baker and Taylor)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... REALREAD INC., the animated online book preview service, has reached an agreement with Baker & Taylor to use the RealRead technology for close to 1,000 titles in its Title Source II database. RealRead technology offers a digital re-creation...

`Investment Biker' rides again. (Hot Deals).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... That was the title of the first book by Jim Rogers, who helped create the Quantum Fund with financier George Soros and who in that 1994 title combined tales of his adventures with observations on the world of finance and politics. Now he's been...

Cobain's journals snapped up. (Hot Deals).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... A lot of eager publishers lined up to take a look at what agent David Vigliano was showing of the unpublished journals of the late rock superstar Kurt Cobain of Seattle's Nirvana, and it was co-editorial director Julie Grau at Riverhead who...

Tiger woods as pop icon. (Hot Deals).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... That's the approach of the latest of the many books to be written around the golf celeb, and it's by a writer whose previous subject was singer Bob Dylan in the same pop role. He is Howard Sounes, and after finishing his Dylan study, Down the...

NPR's Adams on Wright Bros. (Hot Deals).(Noah Adams, author)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The cohost of NPR's All Things Considered, Noah Adams, is taking a leave of absence for a year to write a book on the aviation pioneers for editorial director Steve Ross at Crown. Ross bought world rights to The Flyers: Orville and Wilbur 1903...

William Gay, who began as a small-press author (at McMurray & Beck). (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... William Gay, who began as a small-press author (at McMurray & Beck), then went on to Doubleday for his novel Provinces of Night, has followed editor Amy Scheibe to the Free Press, where she has just signed a two-book deal for a collection of...

Nick Chiles and Denene Miller was bought by Laurie Chittenden at Dutton before their previous collaborative fiction effort was even published. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... A new novel by the husband-and-wife team of Nick Chiles and Denene Miller was bought by Laurie Chittenden at Dutton before their previous collaborative fiction effort was even published. The new one is In Love and War and was bought for six...

Matthew Goodman, a print and radio authority on Jewish food. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... Matthew Goodman, a print and radio authority on Jewish food, has now sold a book on the subject to Susan Friedland at HarperCollins, who preempted world rights for six figures from agent Bill Clegg at Burnes & Clegg.

Children's author/Illustrator Janell Cannon. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... Children's author/Illustrator Janell Cannon (the best-selling Stellaluna and others) has made a new six-figure, world rights sale to Harcourt Children's publisher Louise Pelan for an untitled new "critter" book in 2004; agent, Sandy Dijkstra.

Denneny leaves SMP. (Departure).
March 4, 2002... IN A DECISION HE DESCRIBED as "semimutual," longtime St. Martin's editor Michael Denneny has left the company and will take up freelance editing. The move raises the specter of cost cutting at von Holtzbrinck--Holt recently let five...

Better life awards. (News).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The sixth annual Books for a Better Life Awards ceremony was held in New York City February 12. Proceeds from the event provide services for people with MS. Pictured (I. to r.) are Ray Chambers, presenter; Deborah Tannen, winner for...

Arsenal pulp looks to U.S. (Expansion).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... VANCOUVER-BASED Arsenal Pulp Press has changed distributors, joining Consortium Books Sales and Distribution in a move the company hopes will increase its penetration into the U.S. market. "We've seen unprecedented growth over the last few...

Total sports, assets bought. (Liquid Sports?).(publishing industry)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... WAYNE PARRISH, an Internet entrepreneur and former Quebecor executive, has bought all the assets of bankrupt publisher Total Sports for $350,000 and is deciding what to do with them. Parrish said that it's too early to determine how much,...

Traffic down, orders rise at Toy Fair. (Mass Market Appeal).
March 4, 2002... AMID THE SWIRL of war toys, rescue heroes, dueling tops, robotic creatures and karaoke machines that are helping drive the $25 billion toy industry this year, nearly 70 companies--including many of the leading juvenile mass market and trade...

Sherrod to start agency. (Literary Agency).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... THE EXODUS OF EDITORS from the publishing side of the negotiating table continues. Pocket Book senior editor Tracy Sherrod is decamping S&S after four years to set up her own literary agency. The new agency will be called Tracy Sherrod...

Audio's Grammy Gold. (Awards).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences awarded Grammys on February 27 to notable audiobook recordings released between October 1, 2000 and September 30, 2001. The audiobook awards were presented prior to the star studded TV...

HM, Explore Learning ink pact. (Digital Textbooks).(Houghton Mifflin, publishing company)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... EXPLORELEARNING, the three-year-old Charlottesville, Va.-based provider of online learning solutions for middle school, high school and introductory college courses, announced a partnership with McDougal Littell, a division of Houghton Mifflin....

Shreve's Post-O Numbers. (Behind the Bestsellers).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... While an Oprah Book Club pick always goes on to sell in huge numbers, sales figures for subsequent books by the same writer have seldom met anticipated higher numbers. Not so, however, with Anita Shreve. When Oprah chose The Pilot's Wife in...

218 and Still Gaining. (Behind the Bestsellers).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... Practically a fixture on the mass market bestseller charts, Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution is marking its 218th week on the PW chart; Avon reports more than 8.3 million copies in sales after 73 trips to press (those numbers reflect sales of...

Takes one to know one? (Behind the Bestsellers).
March 4, 2002... First he skewered General Motors in the movie Roger & Me (the highest-grossing documentary film ever), then he took on America's corporate culture in Downsize This! (four weeks on our nonfiction list back in 1996). Now Michael Moore goes after,...

This Pigeon is flying. (Behind the Bestsellers).(Hunting Season climbs in sales)(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... Nevada Barr's 10th Anna Pigeon novel, Hunting Season, lands on PW's fiction list in the #8 slot with more than 78,000 copies in print. Putnam has sent the author on a 23-city book-signing and publicity tour, and the early stops have drawn...

Milia 2002: Books as the basis for software. (Electronics Fair).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... THE TECHNOLOGY changes, but there is a constant in electronic publishing, and Milia, the annual pre-spring fair in Cannes, has learned how to exploit it. The Reed Midem group now subtitles its baby "The World's Interactive Content Marketplace."...

A bumper crop of Irish novels: Fourteen new hardcovers and reprints indicate a mature market for Irish fiction. (Book News).
March 4, 2002... One editor has called it the "Green Season," the time around St. Patrick's Day when books by and about the Irish take center stage in bookstores across the U.S. This year, the publication of 14 original novels and reprints by Irish-born...

Literary imposter lands agent, on video. (Book News).(Jamie Campbell, dups publisher and gets a deal on tape)(Interview)
March 4, 2002... Last summer, a 24-year-old British man came to New York with a cameraman in tow, claiming to be Alex Garland, the bestselling English author of The Beach. The impostor, Jamie Campbell, engaged a prominent literary agent to represent an...

Everybody's talking volumes: A three-tiered partnership launches a successful Minnesota reading program. (Bookselling).
March 4, 2002... The question is both simple and grandiose: what if everybody in the region read the same book at the same time? The notion of a community or regional book club has been gaining popularity around the country, but in Minnesota the Talking Volumes...

Drawing children by the hundreds. (Grassroots Hit).
March 4, 2002... When Ila Wallen first began the story that became her book The Moon in My Room, released last month by Bent Willow Publishing, she was simply a student working on a college project. Now, just halfway into her tour of Borders Books and Music...

Moving on up: A look behind some current children's bestsellers. (Children's Books).
March 4, 2002... Selling Like Clockwork Children's literature has long been awash in cute and kindly mice characters. Many of those good-natured rodents have even become superstars--Stuart Little, Lilly, Martin the Warrior. Now there's a new varmint...

Obituaries.(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... Virginia Hamilton 1936-2002 VIRGINIA HAMILTON, author of many highly regarded children's books, died of breast cancer at a Dayton, Ohio, hospital on February 19. She was 65. Over the course of her career, Hamilton received a number of...

A golden audio anniversary: PW looks at Caedmon's history as the venerable spoken-word imprint celebrates 50 years. (Audio).
March 4, 2002... For many audiobook and literature aficionados, the story is legendary. In January 1952, two bright and determined young women, Barbara Cohen and Marianne Roney, recent graduates of Hunter College, attended a reading by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas...

Spring audio addendum. (Audio).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... NEW MILLENNIUM 301 North Canon Dr., Ste. 214, Beverly Hills, Calif. 90210; 310-273-7755 The Company by Robert Littell. Read by Scott Brick. Simultaneous Overlook Press hardcover. Abridged, 12 cassettes, 18 hours, $39.95; 16 CDs,...

Listeners invited to Writers' Block Party: It's a magazine...It's a CD! (Audio).(Brief Article)(Interview)
March 4, 2002... One of the newest magazines on the block isn't a traditional magazine at all, but rather an amalgam of music (including its own theme song), poetry, short stories and other prose, all collected in the premiere issue of Writers' Block Party: An...

Evil Under the Sun: A Hercule Poirot mystery. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... AGATHA CHRISTIE, READ BY DAVID SUCHET. AudioEditions, unabridged, six CDs, 6.5 hrs., $39.95 ISBN 1-57270-248-6 Considered by many to be one of the very best Agatha Christie mysteries, this macabre tale has lost none of its crisp intrigue...

The Jazz Bird. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... CRAIG HOLDEN, READ BY BOYD GAINES. Simon & Schuster Audio, abridged, four cassettes, 6 hrs., $26 ISBN 0-7435-2035-1 With a gruff, streetwise voice that would make a perfect narrator for any good film noir, veteran reader and Tony...

Lost in Yonkers. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... NEIL SIMON, READ BY A FULL CAST. L.A. Theatre Works, unabridged, two CDs, 2 hrs., $24.95 ISBN 1-58081-226-0 Simon's 1991 Pulitzer Prize--and Tony Award--winning play about two young boys who are forced to live for a year with their...

The Eyre affair: A novel. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... JASPER FFORDE, READ BY ELIZABETH SASTRE. Highbridge, abridged, six cassettes, 10 hrs., $34.95 ISBN 1-56511-545-7 This novel might be called "James Bond Meets Harry Potter in the Twilight Zone. In fact, the reader plays "name that literary...

The mountain of the women: Memoirs of an Irish Troubadour. (Nonfiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... LIAM CLANCY, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Random House Audio, abridged, five CDs, 6 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 0-553-71505-4 Now in his 60s, acclaimed Irish folk musician Clancy masterfully recounts more than "40 years of acting, singing and great...

The rime of the ancient Mariner. (Nonfiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, READ BY JAMES MASON. The Publishing Mills, unabridged, one CD, 1 hr., $12.95 ISBN 1-57511-100-4 "It is an ancient Mariner, and he stoppeth one of thee...." Although these ominous lines perennially instill fear of...

My country versus me: The first-hand account by the scientist who was falsely accused. (Nonfiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... WEN HO LEE WITH HELEN ZIA, READ BY FRED STELLA. Brilliance, unabridged, eight cassettes, 11 hrs., $34.95 ISBN 1-58788-765-7 In a story that would seem fantastic even if it were fictional, the Taiwan-born Lee relates his traumatic saga of...

Lazy B: Growing up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest. (Nonfiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR AND H. ALAN DAY, READ BY O'CONNOR. Random House Audio, abridged, five CDs, 5 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 0-553-71469-4 Windswept plains, herds of cattle, ornery horses and hard-bitten cowboys fill the childhood memories of...

Fast food nation: The dark side of the All-American meal. (Nonfiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... ERIC SCHLOSSER, READ BY RICK ADAMSON. Random House Audible, abridged, six cassettes, 9 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 0-553-52900-5 In this fascinating sociocultural report, Schlosser digs into the deeper meaning of Burger King, Auggie's, The...

Audio Bestsellers.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 4, 2002... PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Audio Bestsellers Fiction Nonfiction 1 The Summons (unabr.). 1 Self Matters (abr.) John Grisham. Phillip C. McGraw. Read by Michael...

Independently growing: Increased productivity and tight inventory management are key elements.(Statistical Data Included)(Industry Overview)
March 4, 2002... WHILE INTERNET startups and electronic publishing ventures captured the headlines over the past few years, a group of independent publishers have quietly established profitable businesses, overcoming difficult economic conditions in the book...

The sound of the trees. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... ROBERT GATEWOOD, Holt, $25 (304p) ISBN 0-8050-6802-3 Taking its title from a Robert Frost poem, this engrossing, lyrical novel marks the debut of a writer of great promise. Set during the Depression, the narrative follows 18-year-old Trude...

The Monk Downstairs. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... TIM FARRINGTON. Harper San Francisco, $22.95 (276p) ISBN 0-06-251785-6 An independent, "unremarkable" single mother of one and an introverted exmonk are the unlikely couple sharing the spotlight in this delightful, Anne Tyler-ish third...

Little casino. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... GILBERT SORRENTINO. Coffee House, $14.95 paper (220p) ISBN 1-56689-126-4 Often poetic in its digressive excursions into the minds of postwar Brooklyn denizens, this slender novel by Sorrentino (Mulligan Stew) zooms across time and...

This blinding absence of light. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... TAHAR BEN JELLOUN, TRANS. FROM THE FRENCH BY LINDA COVERDALE. New Press, $22.95 (208p) ISBN 1-56584-723-7 Based on an incident involving starvation and torture in Morocco, Prix Goncourt-winner Jelloun's latest novel is a disturbing, grisly...

Spy's fate. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... ARNALDO CORREA. Akashic (akashicbooks. corn), $24.95 (340p) ISBN 1-888451-28-9 This first novel written in English by a veteran Cuban author who worked on "projects" in Angola and elsewhere is a captivating thriller based on the murky...

Acrobat. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... GONZALO LIRA. St. Martin's, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-312-28694-5 The conventional CIA thriller is given a hip-hop twist in this high-tech tale about a young CIA "secret work-group" at deadly odds with Agency brass. Agency veteran Tom Carr has...

The dive from Clausen's Pier. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... ANN PACKER. Knopf, $24 (384p) ISBN 0-375-41282-4 Packer's engrossing debut novel begins without ostentation. On Memorial Day, Carrie Bell and her fiance, Mike Mayer, drive out to Clausen's Pier for their annual ritual, a picnic with their...

The idea of perfection. (Fiction).
March 4, 2002... KATE GRENVILLE. Viking, $24.95 (402p) ISBN 0-670-03080-5 The fifth novel by Australian author Crenville (Lilian's Story, Joan Makes History) won Britain's prestigious Orange Prize last year and, at its best, it's easy to see why. It is an...

Female trouble. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... ANTONYA NELSON. Scribner, $24 (256p) ISBN 0-7432-1871-X Uneven but deeply affecting, Nelson's fourth story collection (she's also written three novels) maps the dimensions of the human -- usually female -- heart, both in Love and in grief....

A tortoise for the Queen of Tonga. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... JULIA WHITTY. Houghton Mifflin/Mariner $12 paper (208p) ISBN 0-618-11980-9 Promising, elegant, yet of mixed quality, this short story collection takes full advantage of the author's intimate perspective on the natural world, a by-product,...

The serious game. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... HJALMAR SODERBERG, TRANS. FROM THE SWEDISH BY EVA CLAESON. Marion Boyars, $14.95 paper (242p) ISBN 0-7145-3061-1 Although the story of misguided Love, adultery and despair told in this turn-of-the-last-century Swedish novel is relatively...

Wild Ginger. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... ANCHEE MIN. Houghton Mifflin, $23 (224p) ISBN 0-618-06886-4 A happy ending is relative to what precedes it -- in this case, it stands in contrast to a horrific, true-to-life story about two girls growing up in Shanghai during the Cultural...

Warning of war. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... JAMES BRADY St. Martin's/Dunne, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-312-28018-1 A Marine veteran of the Korean conflict, Brady (The Marines of Autumn) has stormed publishing high ground to become, arguably, our foremost novelist currently writing on the...

In my sister's country. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... LISE HAINES. Putnam/BlueHen, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 0-399-14857-4 Readers will have a difficult time deciding who is the more self-destructive sister in this darkly comic debut novel of sibling rivalry and family dysfunction. Perhaps...

Quicksilver. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... NADINE MCINNIS. Raincoast (Advanced Global Distribution, dist.), $14.95 paper (248p) ISBN 1-55192-482-X Suburbia can be a dangerous place, according to this debut story collection by Canadian poet McInnis. Alongside the traditional woes of...

Lullaby. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... JANE ORCUTT. Tyndale, $12.99 (200p) ISBN 0-8423-5405-0 Unlike most Christian fiction with prolife themes, this sweet, inspirational novella gently unfolds a tale of how God redeems tragedy for three people in difficult circumstances,...

City of bones. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... MICHAEL CONNELLY. Little, Brown, $25.95 (400p) ISBN 0-316-15405-9 * Harry Bosch is at the top of his form -- which is great news for Connelly fans who might have been wondering how much life the dour, haunted LAPD veteran had left in him....

The Kingfisher's call. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... JOHN REED. Sourcebooks/Landmark, $22 (284p) ISBN 1-57071-796-6 In this scrappy, hard-working tale of espionage, a former navy SEAL leads a daring rescue mission into China to save a woman who has worked as a U.S. spy for decades. Tuck...

Moon of bitter cold. (Fiction).
March 4, 2002... FREDERICK J. CHIAVENTONE. Forge, $26.95 (400p) ISBN 0-765-30093-1 With this follow-up to his award-winning first novel, A Road We Do Not Know, about Custer's fight at Little Bighorn, Chiaventone delivers a stirring tale of the only frontier...

Heart of glass. (Fiction).
March 4, 2002... DIANE NOBLE. WaterBrook, $11.99 paper (384p) ISBN 1-57856-400-X As chaotically patched together as a crazy quilt, this tale of love and Christian faith set in the late 19th century begins effectively, but soon becomes mired in confusing...

Crow Lake. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... MARY LAWSON. Dial, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 0-385-33611-X Four children living in northern Ontario struggle to stay together after their parents die in an auto accident in Lawson's fascinating debut, a compelling and lovely study of sibling...

Amazonia. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... JAMES ROLLINS. Morrow, $24.95 (432p) ISBN 0-06-000248-4 The use of mass market originals as a farm team for hardcovers has lost popularity, but still works occasionally, as with Rollins, whose three mass markets (Deep Fathom, Excavation and...

Alexander volume II: The sands of ammon. (Fiction).
March 4, 2002... VALERIO MASSIMO MANFREDI, TRANS. FROM THE ITALIAN BY lAIN HALLIDAY. Pocket/Washington Square, $14 paper (41 6p) ISBN 0-7434-3437-4 Manfredi (Alexander: Child of a Dream) turns his attention to the Persian campaign of Alexander the Great in...

A spy's life. (Fiction).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... HENRY PORTER. Simon & Schuster, $25 (304p) ISBN 0-7432-1560-5 The mysterious crash of a private UN plane at New York's La Guardia airport gets this second spy novel by British author Porter (Remembrance Day) off to a rousing start. The only...

Dollmaker. (Mystery).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... J. ROBERT JANES. Soho, $23 (272p) ISBN 1-56947-285-8 In this murky police procedural from Canadian author Janes (Kaleidoscope, etc.), the mystery world's most bizarre partnership--Jean-Louis St-Cyr, a Vichy France policeman, and Hermann...

Posted to death: A Simon Kirby-Jones mystery. (Mystery).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... DEAN JAMES. Kensington, $22 (256p) ISBN 1-57566-885-8 * Amateur sleuth Simon Kirby-Jones, who has appeared in short stories by Edgar-nominee and Agatha-winner James (Closer than the Bones), is sure to revolutionize the traditional British...

Simpson's Homer. (Mystery).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... JOHN MALCOLM, Allison & Busby, $25.95 (240p) ISBN 0-7490-0586-6 On first looking into Simpson's Homer, one finds that this intelligent, well-plotted story is the 13th in the series (Into the Vortex, etc.) to feature art historian and...

The Mummy's Ransom. (Mystery).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... FRED HUNTER. St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 0-312-27123-9 Murder, mummies and shady real estate dealings haunt this solid entry in Hunter's Ransom series (after 2000's Ransom at the Opera). Real estate baron and Chilean...

The safe room. (Mystery).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... BARBARA SHAPIRO. Five Star, $25.95 (300p) ISBN 0-7862-3012-6 The New England suspense author's (Blind Spot; See No Evil; etc.) first venture into hardcover fiction blends several themes and genres into a melange that may have a difficult...

The pale green Horse: A J.J. Donovan mystery. (Mystery).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... MICHAEL I. LEAHEY. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $22.95 (240p) ISBN 0-312-27813-6 Reading Leahey's second contemporary mystery/medical thriller (after 2000's Broken Machines) to feature private consultant J.J. Donovan is like watching a...

Code sixty-one. (Mystery).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... DONALD HARSTAD. Doubleday, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 0-385-50118-8 * A call to a Peeping Tom incident starts Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman on his strangest case yet in this nicely low-key but compelling page-turner. True, the Iowa lawman...

April publications. (Mystery Notes).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... Shamus-winner Max Allan Collins and crime-novel king Mickey Spillane team up to co-edit A Century of Noir: Thirty-two Classic Crime Stories, a collection that includes tales by the aforementioned as well as by luminaries such as Chester Himes,...

March publications. (Mystery Notes).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... In his dark--and, it must be said, rather warped--Private Justice, attorney and former PI Richard Sand presents a second Lucas Rook mystery after 2000's Tunnel Runner. Having avenged his brother's death in the first book, Rook has retired from...

The Great Escape. (SF/Fantasy/Horror).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... IAN WATSON. Golden Gryphon, $23.95 (283p) ISBN 0-930846-09-6 This collection of 19 stories by Hugo- and Nebula-finalist Watson showcases the author's knack for contemporary dark fantasy, often blended with an SF chaser. In "Caucus Winter"...

Dead roses for a blue lady. (SF/Fantasy/Horror).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... NANCY COLLINS. Crossroads (P.O. Box 10422, Holyoke, Mass. 04041), $55 (208p) ISBN 1-892300-07-9 In her debut novel, Sunglasses After Dark (1989), no-nonsense nosferatu Sonja Blue is a punk vampire vigilante with a Clint Eastwood swagger...

A caress of twilight. (SF/Fantasy/Horror).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... LAURELL K. HAMILTON. Ballantine, $23.95 (336p) ISBN 0-345-43527-3 In the second R-rated outing (after 2000's A Kiss of Shadows) from bestseller Hamilton to feature bright and winsome faery princess Meredith Gentry, the unlikely shamus, who...

Jenna Starborn. (SF/Fantasy/Horror).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... SHARON SHINN. Ace, $14.95 paper (400p) ISBN 0-441-00900-X The author of the Samaria trilogy (Archangel, etc.) offers a moving, if somewhat less introspective, retelling of Jane Eyre that is sure to appeal to SF readers with a taste for...

The golden age: A romance of the far future. (SF/Fantasy/Horror).(Brief Article)
March 4, 2002... JOHN C. WRIGHT. Tor, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 0-312-84870-6 * This dazzling first novel is just half of a two-volume saga, so it's too soon to tell if it will deliver on its audacious promise. It's already clear, however, that Wright may be this...