Publishers Weekly articles from May 2009

Publishers Weekly archives from May 2009

The Dark Side of Love.(Pick of the Week: Classic Do-Over)(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... * The Dark Side of Love Rafik Schami, trans, from the German by Anthea Bell. Interlink, $24 (864p) ISBN 978-1-56656-780-0 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Like the mythopoeic India of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, the main protagonist...

Mild surprise from B&N, BAM: first-quarter comps fell, but results top expectations.(Foreword)(Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million)
May 25, 2009... Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million both did slightly better than expected in the first quarter ended May 2, although B&N still lost money in the period, while BAM managed to increase both sales and earnings. Executives at both retailers...

Books flat at Hastings.(Hastings Entertainment)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Same-store sales of books inched ahead 0.2% at Hastings Entertainment in the first quarter ended April 30. Used and value books plus the Stephenie Meyer titles and The Shack topped sales in the period, Hastings reported. For the entire company,...

Michigan, Google in deal.(University of Michigan)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... The University of Michigan has signed an expanded agreement with Google that, among other things, provides the school a subsidized subscription to Google Book Search and allows it, as well as Google's other library partners, to challenge the...

Your guide to interesting times.(Foreword)
May 25, 2009... Welcome to the golden age of PW. Sheer hubris? We don't think so. After all, we can't help it if change is happening in our industry at such a frenzied rate that PW is more necessary now than ever. From the relationship between authors and...

Getty cuts 10.(Getty Publications)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Getty Publications recently laid off 10 employees, 20% of its staff, in a move to compensate for a 24% reduction in revenue last year from the endowment that partly subsidizes its publication program. Three of those employees were able to...

Chinese goosebumps.("Goosebumps" books )(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Author R.L. Stine recently signed Goosebumps books in Chinese in Xian, China. Few American children's authors have been invited to China, but Stine toured schools, libraries and bookstores in five cities and spoke to...

Ludlum franchise keeps growing.(Branding)(Robert Ludlum)
May 25, 2009... Earlier this month, Grand Central signed a new contract for one of its bestsellers, Robert Ludlum. The deal was for two more thrillers featuring the amnesiac hit man Jason Bourne, as well as two books with the retired government operative...

AAP March sales report.(Foreword)(Association of American Publishers)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... AAP March Sales Report % CHANGE % CHANGE CATEGORY March YTD Adult Hard (17) * -19.4% -19.3% Adult Paper (18) -35.8 -33.1 Mass Market (9) -4.3 -11.9 Juvenile...

Williamson forms worth media.(Byron Williamson)(Worthy Media)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Byron Williamson, former president of Word Publishing, Nelson/Word Publishers and Integrity Publishers, has formed Worthy Media, a privately funded holding company that will start new business units and acquire Christian content, marketing and...

Customized Obama book set.(Barack Obama)(The Obama Time Capsule)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Rick Smolan is teaming up with Hewlett-Packard to publish customized editions of The Obama Time Capsule. The coffee-table book will feature photos and text documenting President Obama's run to the White House plus his administration's first 100...

Landesman seen as good fit for NEA.(Consensus)(Rocco Landesman)(National Endowment for the Arts)
May 25, 2009... President Barack Obama's recent announcement that he will nominate 61-year-old Broadway producer Rocco Landesman, president of Jujamcyn Theaters, to chair the National Endowment for the Arts was met with enthusiasm by many independent presses,...

Scribd starts online store.(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Scribd, the online site that posts all types of written documents, has launched the Scribd Store as part of its effort to help authors and publishers generate revenue from their works that are posted on the site. Rightsholders will get 80% of...

Harrison sticks with Morrow.(Deals)(Kim Harrison)(William Morrow and Company)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... William Morrow/Eos has reinvested in bestseller Kim Harrison in a big way, with the HarperCollins imprint closing a six-book deal with Harrison, brokered by her longtime agent, Richard Curtis. Executive director Diana Gill bought world rights to...

Regel, McHugh in two-fers.(Deals)(Jessica Regel and Katie McHugh)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Jessica Regel at Jean V. Naggar has closed on two books. The first, Jillian Cantor's debut novel, The Transformation of Things, about a woman who sees the half-truths in her life after examining the lives of her loved ones, was acquired by Lucia...

King to Macmillan.(Deals)(Martin Luther King Jr. book)(Palgrave Macmillan)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Alessandra Bastagli, executive editor at Palgrave Macmillan, acquired world English rights, in a six-figure deal, to a currently untitled book by Clayborne Carson about Martin Luther King Jr. and the March on Washington. Sandra Dijsktra brokered...

Potter wins cooking and fashion contests.(Deals)(Clarkson Potter)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Minnesota Public Radio duo Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift--Kasper hosts the popular radio show The Splendid Table and Swift is her producer--have closed on their second cookbook, The Splendid Table's How to Eat Weekends. Following 2008's...

Harmony gets 'nature'-al.(Deals)(Harmony Books)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... John Glusman at Harmony acquired American rights to Stephen Moss's U.K.-published The Bumper Book of Nature. Moss, a documentary producer for the BBC, will Americanize his illustrated guide to the wonders of nature for the U.S. market. Broo...

eMusic adds titles.(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... eMusic's audio book catalogue has surpassed 7,000 titles. The expansion is due to new agreements to sell DRM-free audiobooks from Recorded Books and HighBridge Audio. eMusic has also recently added Sounds True, Gildan Media, Oasis Audio and...

Scholastic trims 11.(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Scholastic, which has been steadily reducing its workforce for about 18 months, eliminated 11 positions in its trade and Klutz divisions. The move comes less than two months after Debra Lande was named publisher of Klutz, Scholastic's "books...

OverDrive in China deal.(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... OverDrive is partnering with digital publisher ChineseAll to supply Chinese-language e-books and audiobooks to public libraries in North America. The collection will include more than 20,000 titles, with 8,000 e-books and 3,000 audiobooks to be...

A literary feast from the luncheon society.(McNuggets)(Bob McBarton's Luncheon Society)
May 25, 2009... At a recent gathering of Bob McBarton's Luncheon Society, Dr. Helen Fisher sat in a private room at the Napa Valley Grille in Los Angeles surrounded by 25 fellow diners who had come to hear her discuss her new book, Why Him? Why Her? (Holt) at...

Delbourgo Associates staffs up.(People)(Joelle Delbourgo Associates)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Jacqueline Flynn has joined Joelle Delbourgo Associates as an agent. Flynn, most recently executive editor at Amacom Books, will represent nonfiction. Carrie Cantor will head the agency's editorial services division, and Jennifer Post, of...

New site for self-published books.(IndieReader.com)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Public relations professional and author Amy Edelman is launching IndieReader.com, a Web site devoted to marketing and selling self-published books. The site will launch in early June and offers self-publishers their own Web page as well as 75%...

Wohl to Radical Comics.(People)(David Wohl)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Former Top Cow president David Wohl has been named editor-in-chief at Radical Comics. Radical editor-in-chief Dave Elliott will be special projects editor.

On-demand printing drove title output in '08.(Change)
May 25, 2009... That book publishing is becoming more accessible to authors and independent publishers was reflected in the book production statistics released last week by Bowker. While the number of traditional titles fell in 2008 by 3%, the number of...

Children's series and tie-ins bestsellers.
May 25, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Rick Riordan is the rock star du jour of children's books, having just wrapped up a 15-day, 18-city tour for his fifth and final Percy Jackson title. Over 4000 fans came to BookPeople's launch event for the tour in...

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
May 25, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A May 10 front page feature in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Arts section noted John Sandford's varied tastes and interests: "His... passions range from art and photography to golf and hunting. He funds a...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
May 25, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] How's this for an unlikely transition? Before Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto (copies in print: 1 million), syndicated radio talk show host Mark Levin wrote Rescuing Sprite: A Dog Lover's Story of Joy and...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
May 25, 2009... "'Tie her up good!' urged Captain Steve as the tail of the tuna was wrapped with double-braided rope.... On the count of three, she was hoisted high into the air. The crowd oohed and ahed appreciatively. This was some fish. Six hundred... seven...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
May 25, 2009... Call it What to Expect When Writing a Book. Emily Giffin has a history of getting pregnant while writing even-numbered books. After her first, Something Borrowed, she found out she was pregnant while writing book two, Something Blue. That was...

Adam Lerner: adapting his father's vision to a new marketplace.(CHANGE MAKERS)
May 25, 2009... "We kind of have the best of both worlds," Adam Lerner, president and publisher of Lerner Publishing Group for the past decade, says as we sit by the huge window in his office, overlooking a busy intersection in downtown Minneapolis. Lerner was...

Deal or no deal: what if the Google settlement fails?(Google's library scanning program)(Cover story)
May 25, 2009... The deal was almost done. In June, a tense four-year period of legal conflict between publishers, authors and Google over its library scanning program was poised to end with the approval of a visionary class action settlement. But just one week...

When love is strange: romance continues its affair with the supernatural.(Romance Books)
May 25, 2009... Think of a writer known for creating one of the most popular and memorable vampire series in history--one with 17 million copies of her books in print in 35 countries, one whose fans are so devoted that in 2008 the annual convention honoring her...

Why I write ...(Romance Books)(Viewpoint essay)
May 25, 2009... First and foremost, I consider myself a storyteller. And I'm endlessly fascinated with people, with what they do and why... and how they feel about it. Which means I'm interested in romance fiction. I was drawn to it, as both a reader and a...

The elegance of Muriel.(Author Profile)(Muriel Barbery)
May 25, 2009... Muriel Barbery is lovely, not unlike the exquisite prose of her runaway hit novel, the Elegance of the Hedgehog. Why a hedgehog? She shakes her head. "The whole time [the novel] was just called 'Renee' [the name of the narrator, the concierge...

The Anthologist.(Bar review)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... * The Anthologist Nicholson Baker. Simon and Schuster, $25 (256p) ISBN 978-1-4165-7244-2 In Baker's lovely 10th novel, readers are introduced to Paul Chowder, a "study in failure," at a very dark time in his life. He has lost the two...

The Devil's Punchbowl.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... * The Devil's Punchbowl Greg Iles. Scribner, $26.95 (480p) ISBN 978-07432-9251-1 Bestseller Iles's stellar third suspense novel to feature Penn Cage (after Turning Angel) finds the former prosecutor and bestselling novelist serving as the...

All the Dead Voices.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... All the Dead Voices Declan Hughes. Morrow, $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-168988-8 In Shamus-winner Hughes's solid fourth crime thriller to feature Dublin PI Ed Loy (after The Price of Blood), Anne Fogarty hires Loy to re-examine the facts...

The Lace Makers of Glenmara.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... The Lace Makers of Glenmara Heather Barbieri. Harper, $24.99 (270p) ISBN 978-0-06-172155-7 Barbieri (Snow in July) sets her latest in a small Irish town, Glenmara, where a heartbroken American tourist, Kate Robinson, finds her one-night...

The Night Counter.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... The Night Counter Alia Yunis. Crown/Shaye Areheart, $24 (384p) ISBN 978-0-307-45362-4 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In this captivating debut, Yunis takes readers on a magic carpet ride examining the lives of Fatima Abdullah and her huge...

Bad Things Happen.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... * Bad Things Happen Harry Dolan. Putnam/Amy Einhorn, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-399-15563-5 Dolan gets everything right in his debut, a suspense novel that breathes new life into familiar themes. The enigmatic David Loogan, who's recently...

Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It Maile Meloy. Riverhead, $25.95 (208p) ISBN 978-1-59448-869-6 Meloy (Liars and Saints) hits some high notes in these stories of people juggling conflicting emotions with varying shades of success. In "The...

The Penny Pinchers Club.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... The Penny Pinchers Club Sarah Strohmeyer. Dutton, $25.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-525-95117-9 Strohmeyer's bubbly farce finds a shopaholic New Jersey wife worried about hanging on to her husband and trying to curb her lavish lifestyle. Katarina...

Girl in a Blue Dress: A Novel Inspired by the Life and Marriage of Charles Dickens.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Girl in a Blue Dress: A Novel Inspired by the Life and Marriage of Charles Dickens Gaynor Arnold. Crown, $25.99 (432p) ISBN 978-0-307-46226-8 Longlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize, Arnold's accomplished debut is a fictionalized take on...

Total Immunity.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Total Immunity Robert Ward. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Penzler, $26 (368p) ISBN 978-0-15-101480-4 In Ward's overblown crime novel, two Los Angeles FBI agents, Jack Harper and Oscar Hidalgo, are thrilled when their successful sting brings...

Last Known Address.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... * Last Known Address Theresa Schwegel. Minotaur, $24.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-312-36427-4 Recently transferred from homicide to sex crimes, Chicago police detective Sloane Pearson pursues a serial rapist in Edgar-winner Schwegel's gritty...

The Goodbye Cousins.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... The Goodbye Cousins Maggie Leffler. Bantam, $14 paper (384p) ISSN 978-0-385-34047-2 In her sophomore effort, Leffler spins another heartfelt tale about the search for love and acceptance, focusing on minor characters from her debut, The...

Some Dream for Fools.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Some Dream for Fools Faiza Gubne. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $20 (176p) ISBN 978-0-15-101420-0 In her second novel, Guene poignantly chronicles the lives of Algerian immigrant Ahleme and her family in their adopted France, delicately...

Little Fingers.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Little Fingers Filip Florian, trans, from the Romanian by Alistair Ian Blyth. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24 (208p) ISBN 978-0-15-1514-6 Florian, a Romanian journalist and Radio Free Europe reporter, weaves together several...

The Mist.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... The Mist Carla Neggers. Mira, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 9780-7783-2624-3 Bestseller Neggers's third FBI romantic suspense novel lacks the Celtic charm and passion of its predecessor, 2008's The Angel. Norman Estabrook, "a thrill-seeking...

Deadly Intent: An Anna Travis Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... * Deadly Intent: An Anna Travis Mystery Lynda La Plante. Touchstone, $15 paper (416p) ISBN 978-1-4165-8831-3 At the start of La Plante's excellent fourth crime drama to feature London Det. Insp. Anna Travis (after 2008's Clean Cut), wanted...

Where the Dead Lay.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Where the Dead Lay David Levien. Doubleday, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-385-52367-7 Indianapolis PI Frank Behr juggles two cases in Levien's disjointed follow-up to City of the Sun. When Behr's Brazilian jujitsu instructor is shot to death...

Trust Me.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Trust Me Jeff Abbott. Dutton, $25.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-525-95121-6 Luke Dantry, while working as an intern for his stepfather's think-tank in Austin, Tex., stumbles on a group of home-grown terrorists known as the Night Road (because of...

America Libre.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... America Libre Raul Ramos y Sanchez. Grand Central, $13.99 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-446-50775-2 Sanchez's debut is a sweeping, intense novel of extremism, fear and consequences. In Los Angeles in the near future, tensions run high between...

A Better View of Paradise.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... A Better View of Paradise Randy Sue Coburn. Ballantine, $25 (368p) ISBN 978-0-345-49036-0 In Coburn's third novel (after Owl Island), mid-30s landscape architect Stevie Pollack has just fled a failed project in Chicago and a failed...

One Good Affair.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... One Good Affair Tess Stimson. Bantam, $12 paper (374p) ISBN 978-0-385-34127-1 Pediatrician Ella Stuart has it all--a loving husband, a great career and a devoted lover, William Ashfield. For his part, William has a troubled wife, Beth, and...

Old Girlfriends.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Old Girlfriends David Updike. St. Martin's, $24.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-312-55001-1 Author of the collection Out on the Marsh and several YA titles, a son of John returns with another collection that examines the many sides of romantic and...

Last Light over Carolina.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Last Light over Carolina Mary Alice Monroe. Pocket, $25 (384p)ISBN 978-1-4165-4970-3 From the bestselling author of Time Is a River and Swimming Lessons comes a serviceable novel set in present-day coastal South Carolina. The tale follows...

Juan the Landless.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Juan the Landless Juan Goytisolo, trans, from the Spanish by Peter Bush. Dalkey Amhive, $13.95 paper (178p) ISBN 978-1-56478-527-5 This reworked and streamlined version of Goytisolo's 1975 novel spins the reader through an angry, prickly...

Happiness Key.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Happiness Key Emilie Richards. Mira, $13.95 paper (544p) ISBN 978-0-7783-2660-1 A divorcee is handed a swath of Gulf Coast Florida real estate in Richards's slow if involving latest. After Tracy Deloche's ex-husband lands in federal...

Good Things I Wish You.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Good Things I Wish You A. Manette Ansay. Harper, $25.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-06-123996-0 In Ansay's slight new novel, Jeanette Hochmann is a recently divorced mother writing a novel based on the 40-year relationship between 19th-century...

Lovesick.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Lovesick Alex Wellen. Three Rivers, $13.95 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-307-33795-5 In his first novel, writer and television producer Wellen (author of the memoir Barman) presents an uncommon love story; having already won the heart of his...

Something Missing.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Something Missing Matthew Dicks. Broadway, $14 paper (304p) ISBN 978-0-7679-3088-8 An expert thief unexpectedly finds himself aiding his victims in Dicks's charming if rambling debut. During his hours off, barista Martin Railsback burgles...

God's Mercy.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... God's Mercy Kerstin Ekman, trans, from the Swedish by Linda Schenck. Univ. of Nebraska, $22.95 (432p) ISBN 978-0-8032-2458-2 In the first of Swedish novelist Ekman's trilogy, a young urban midwife moves to the remote Svartatmet, where she...

Bone China.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Bone China Roma Tearne. Europa (Penguin, dist.), $16 paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-933372-75-4 Like her first novel, Mosquito, Tearne's initially engrossing newest is rooted in strife-torn 20th-century Ceylon/Sri Lanka. This time she tackles a...

Master of the Eclipse.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Master of the Eclipse Etel Adnan. Interlink, $15 paper (176p) ISBN 978-1-56656-779-4 The dozen lyrically descriptive stories in this eclectic collection by Lebanese-born poet and novelist Adnan range over a startling period of time and...

Dead On: A Marcus Rydell, Kat Holley PI Thriller.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Dead On: A Marcus Rydell, Kat Holley PI Thriller Robert W. Walker. Five Star, $25.99 (322p) ISBN 978-1-59414-781-4 At the start of this middling thriller, the first in a new series from Walker (PSI: Blue), Marcus Rydell, a disgraced ex-cop...

The End Is Now.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... * The End Is Now Rob Stennett. Zondervan, $14.99 paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-310-28679-0 Anybody who can make the apocalypse funny without being patronizing deserves attention. Stennett (The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher) brings a...

The Sentinels: Fortunes of War.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... The Sentinels: Fortunes of War Gordon Zuckerman. Greenleaf (Greenleaf, dist.), $22.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-929774-64-7 Zuckerman's uneven debut, the first in a possible series of political thrillers, starts off with an intriguing premise. In...

Finger Lickin' Fifteen.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Finger Lickin' Fifteen Janet Evanovich. St. Martin's, $27.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-38328-2 Bestseller Evanovich recycles tired themes better executed in earlier adventures in her latest Stephanie Plum adventure (Fearless Fourteen, etc.)....

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane Kathedne Howe. Hyperion/Voice, $25.95 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4013-4090-2 Set in Cambridge and Marblehead, Mass., Howe's propulsive if derivative novel alternates between the 1991 story of college student...

A Duty to the Dead: A Bess Crawford Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... A Duty to the Dead: A Bess Crawford Mystery Charles Todd. Morrow, $24.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-06-179176-5 The winning first in a new WWI series from the bestselling mother-son Todds (A Matter of Justice and 10 other Inspector Rutledge...

Inspector Ghote's First Case: An Inspector Ghote Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Inspector Ghote's First Case: An Inspector Ghote Mystery H.R.E Keating. Minotaur, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-312-38404-3 The sudden, violent death of a British memsahib launches this pleasing prequel to the long-running Inspector Ghote...

PW talks with Steve Hockensmith: elementary, my dear Western.(Q&A)(Interview)
May 25, 2009... Steve Hockensmith's humorous western series features two cowboy brothers turned sleuths, Big Red and Old Red, who are inspired by reading Sherlock Holmes. Their latest exploit is The Crack in the Lens (Reviews, May 11). How did the series...

Sister Pelagia and the Red Cockerel.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Sister Pelagia and the Red Cockerel Boris Akunin, trans, from the Russian by Andrew Bromfield. Random, $14 paper (432p) ISBN 978-0-8129-7515-4 After the brilliant triumph of 2008's Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk, Akunin's third and...

Deadly Quarrel: An Anne Cartier Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Deadly Quarrel: An Anne Cartier Mystery Charles O'Brien. Severn, $27.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6740-7 In O'Brien's exciting eighth Anne Cartier mystery (after 2008's Assassins' Rage), Anne learns while visiting London in the fall of 1789...

The Revenge of Captain Paine: A Pyke Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... * The Revenge of Captain Paine: A Pyke Mystery Andrew Pepper. Phoenix (IPG, dist.), $16,95 paper (544p) ISBN 978-0-74382-400-9 Set in 1835, the superb sequel to Pepper's The Last Days of Newgate (Reviews, May 18) finds Pyke, a former Bow...

The Riddle of the River.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... The Riddle of the River Catherine Shaw. Felony & Mayhem (www.felonyandmayhem.com), $14.95 paper (368p) ISBN 978-1-934609-33-0 A rock solid plot and an intriguing backstory lift British author Shaw's fourth historical to feature...

The Price of Spring.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... * The Price of Spring Daniel Abraham. Tor, $27.95 (352p) ISBN 978-04653-1343-0 "Nothing ever goes the way I plan," laments Otah, long-suffering emperor of the Khaiem, concisely summarizing Abraham's melancholy and near-perfect conclusion...

The second time around.('Clockwork Phoenix 2: More Tales of Beauty and Strangeness' and 'The New Space Opera 2')(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Two recently launched anthology series have strong second showings. * Clockwork Phoenix 2: More Tales of Beauty and Strangeness Edited by Mike Allen. Norilana/Fantasy (www.norilana.com), $11.95 paper (296p) ISBN 978-1-60762-027-3 ...

Footprints.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Footprints Edited by Jay Lake and Eric T. Reynolds. Hadley Rille (Ingrain, dist.), $15.95 paper (292p) ISBN 978-0-9819243-9-7 Lake (Green) and Reynolds (Return to Luna) present 21 tales of "non-human archaeologists" finding our traces on...

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection Edited by Gardner Dozois. St. Martin's Griffin, $21.95 (704p) ISBN 978-0-312-55105-6 Veteran editor Dozois, 15-time Hugo winner, offers 30 stories, several of them...

Blood Red Sphere.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Blood Red Sphere Lawrence Barker. Swimming Kangaroo (www.swimmingkangaroo.com), $14.99 paper (253p) ISBN 978-1-934041-71-0 Barker (Renfield) shifts from horror to SF with this energetic and engrossing thrill ride. Recovering addict Helios...