Publishers Weekly articles from November 2003

Publishers Weekly archives from November 2003

Industry debates latest Amazon.com initiative: varied reactions; some experts say 'search' poses legal problems; will it sell books?
November 3, 2003... A WEEK AFTER AMAZON.COM launched a program that could allow customers to view as much as 20% of a title, publishers expressed opinions that ranged from wary to enthusiastic, while legal authorities said the program presented a number of...

B&N publishing program expands in various directions.(News)(Barnes and Noble)
November 3, 2003... BARNES & NOBLE continues the steady expansion of its publishing program. Its most recent efforts involve the rebranding and extension of a series of how-to books, as well as heavy doses of promotion for a new title, Law & Order: Crime Scenes....

BEA hires Frankfurt Veteran.(Going International?)(BookExpo America hires Ruediger Wischenbart)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... IN AN APPARENT MOVE TO compete more directly with the Frankfurt Book Fair, BookExpo America has hired a former Frankfurt executive and said it will concentrate more on accommodating the international rights community. BEA (which is owned,...

Modest gains for Harlequin.(3rd-Quarter Results)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... THE STRONG CANADIAN dollar was largely responsible for dropping total revenue at Harlequin 7.8%, to C$152.8 million ($115.5 million), in the third quarter ended September 30, according to parent company Torstar. Excluding the impact of foreign...

Google looks to add book content.(Innovating)
November 3, 2003... As Amazon tries to become more like Google, the search engine has been doing something perhaps almost as notable: trying to become more like Amazon. For the past few months, Google has been courting publishers, trying to convince them to turn...

Ruminator Books looks to raise funds via offering.(Strategy)(public offering)
November 3, 2003... RUMINATOR BOOKS, founded in 1970 in St. Paul, Minn., by David Unowsky, is looking to raise between $450,000 and $1 million in a public offering. Proceeds from the offering, which is being made only in Minnesota, will be used to pay past-due...

New Directions inks Tennessee Williams pact.(Old Directions)(New Directions Publishing)
November 3, 2003... NEW DIRECTIONS PUBLISHING, the distinguished literary house founded by the late James Laughlin, has finalized a new agreement with the Tennessee Williams estate that will allow the house to continue publishing works by the celebrated playwright...

Sluggish sales at Barnes & Noble.com.(3rd-Quarter Results)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... BARNES & NOBLE.COM reported sales of $99 million for the third quarter ended September 30, down from $102.6 million in last year's comparable period. The company said revenue was down in part because of a change in the way the e-tailer accounts...

Fleischer tells his tale.(hot deals)(former press secretary to Pres Bush Ari Fletcher signs book contract)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... President Bush's first press secretary, Ari Fleischer, is writing a memoir about his time at the White House, and Claire Wachtel at Morrow has acquired it for what published reports said was about half a million dollars. She bought world rights...

A plea from Whitman.(hot deals)(Christine Todd Whitman signs book contract with Penguin Press)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... Another political tale, this one from former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman, was signed at the Penguin Press imprint by senior editor Emily Loose. In It's My Party Too: The Education of a Moderate, Whitman, who served the Bush...

Playwright's first novel bought.(hot deals)(William Nicholson)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... A first novel by British playwright and screenwriter William Nicholson (the new Broadway play The Retreat from Moscow; screenplays for Gladiator and Shadowlands) was bought by Nan A. Talese for her Doubleday imprint. It's an enigmatic tale...

Goldberg moving to Harper San Francisco.(hot deals)(Natalie Goldberg)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... The celebrated writing teacher Natalie Goldberg, author of the million-copy bestseller Writing Down the Bones, is changing publishers, moving to Harper San Francisco for her next book, a memoir called The Great Failure. Editor Gideon Weil...

Susan Kamil at Dial has bought world English rights in a two-book package by a new writer.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... Susan Kamil at Dial has bought world English rights in a two-book package by a new writer, Scott Snyder, consisting of a story collection and a novel based on a cross-country flying contest sponsored by William Randolph Hearst in the '20s....

Bill Rosen, once executive editor at the Free Press, has sold a nonfiction book about how bubonic plague thwarted Roman Emperor Justinian's plans to reunify the Roman Empire.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... Bill Rosen, once executive editor at the Free Press, has sold a nonfiction book about how bubonic plague thwarted Roman Emperor Justinian's plans to reunify the Roman Empire; Rick Kot at Viking bought North American rights from Eric Simonoff at...

Marcus Buckingham, a bestselling business writer for the Free Press.(Short Takes)(contract signed)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... Marcus Buckingham, a bestselling business writer for the Free Press, has signed with the house's Fred Hills for two more books, world rights plus first serial and audio; the deal was made with Joni Evans at William Morris, and the books will be...

Two editors in new spots made new buys.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... Two editors in new spots made new buys: Rachel Klayman at Crown bought a book called Rejuvenile: How a New Species of Reluctant Adults Is Redefining Maturity by journalist Christopher Noxon, who suggests that many people these days are finding...

Villard's Bruce Tracy bought a new novel by Kief Hillsbery.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... Villard's Bruce Tracy bought a new novel by Kief Hillsbery, whose gritty War Boy was published by Morrow; the world rights deal for What We Do Is Secret was made with Kathy Robbins, for publication in spring 2005. The book is about a youth lost...

A new book about keeping political commitment alive by Paul Loeb.(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... A new book about keeping political commitment alive by Paul Loeb, author of Soul of a Citizen (SMP), was bought for Basic Books by executive editor Jo Ann Miller. It's called The Impossible Will Take a Little While and was bought from Geri...

Viking Penguin's Jane von Mehren made a six-figure buy of Rasputin's Daughter by Robert Alexander (Kitchen Boy).(Short Takes)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... Viking Penguin's Jane von Mehren made a six-figure buy of Rasputin's Daughter by Robert Alexander (Kitchen Boy), a historical fiction in which the girl describes her father's murder at Russia's imperial court. World rights were sold by Marly...

Friedman: "publishing is alive and well".(Optimism)(Jane Friedman, chief executive officer of HarperCollins)
November 3, 2003... HARPERCOLLINS CEO Jane Friedman took her message that book publishing remains a vibrant business to New York City's Small Press Center October 23, where she was the most recent guest in the center's interview series. In an interview with...

English/Spanish title from Wiley, Hay House.(Bilingual Publishing)(John Wiley and Sons)
November 3, 2003... SUCCESS IN BUSINESS and government has made Charles Garcia a role model for other Hispanics, both Spanish- and English-speaking. So when John Wiley & Sons wanted to publish his motivational book in English, the bilingual author insisted a...

10 million and counting.(news)(Lightning Source )(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... Lightning Source celebrated the printing of its 10-millionth copy through its print-on-demand system October 22 with an old-fashioned barbecue. As part of the festivities, Lightning's Chris Taylor (center), assistant to company president Kirby...

Mobil travel guides try fresh approach.(Jump Start)
November 3, 2003... AFTER MOTORING QUIETLY along for 45 years, the Mobil Travel Guide company is attempting to muscle into the fast lane with new lines of books and a makeover for its signature Regional Travel Planners. The first signs of transformation appeared...

Millbrook opts out of Nasdaq.(Strategy)(Millbrook Press deregisters its stock)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... MILLBROOK PRESS, which has struggled for several years to reach profitabilty, is deregistering its stock, which has traded on the Nasdaq SmallCap market. Company president David Allen said the costs involved in meeting SEC reporting...

Dana out, Lynch up as S&S Interactive closes.(Strategy)(Simon and Schuster Interactive; Giles Dana; Chris Lynch)
November 3, 2003... UNABLE TO FIND a buyer interested in acquiring all of Simon & Schuster Interactive, the publisher has closed down the unit. S&S had put SSI, publisher of CD-ROMs and video games, up for sale in early September (News, Sept. 22). The closure of...

Scholastic adds V-P.(People)(Kyle Good)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... SCHOLASTIC HAS added another high ranking executive to its corporate communications team, appointing Kyle Good v-p, corporate communication and media relations. Good, who will report to Judy Corman, senior v-p of the division, had been director...

Joseph-Beth takes on Borders.(Retailing)(Joseph-Beth Booksellers; Borders Books and Music)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... IN A TURNAROUND of the typical chain-indie race-off, Joseph-Beth Booksellers has opened its see(rod Cleveland, Ohio, store--across the street from Borders Books & Music. The 27,000 sq.-ft. store, which opened October 24 and stocks 110,000...

BookZone shuts down.(Market Conditions)
November 3, 2003... BookZone, a Web hosting and digital publishing services vendor that targeted independent publishers, is selling off its as sets and will shut down operations. Launched in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 1994 by founder and chairman Mary Westheimer,...

Correction.(News)(Correction Notice)
November 3, 2003... Correction: In "DC, Marvel Go for the Book Trade" (Comics, Oct. 20) Bob Morales was not identified as the writer for the Truth. Also, in "Selling Courtney Crumrin," Dallas Middaugh was incorrectly identified as a former consultant. He continues...

Flurries of fall fiction.(behind the bestsellers)
November 3, 2003... This is the season when it's hard to keep up with the many new hardcover fiction titles debuting on the charts. We still have three from the last two weeks to talk about, and the current list has three more novel landings. High on the list...

Man in Black plays on: Johnny Cash's diverse audience inspires tributes from Christian and mainstream publishers.(book news)
November 3, 2003... In the weeks following the September 12 death of country music legend Johnny Cash, a wide variety of publishers have scrambled to fast-track Cash-related re releases and new products that will appeal to his diverse audience. Well-known to both...

A flood of new Christmas fiction.(Better Watch Out)
November 3, 2003... Each year, seasonal books about the true, anti-commercial spirit of Christmas make their way to stores, backed by faith that "as long as there are wild-eyed people in bookstores on Christmas Eve looking for gifts, there will be a market,"...

Murder is her business: Kate's Mystery Books is Kate Mattes's bookstore and now her publishing imprint.(bookselling)
November 3, 2003... "The books were literally flying off the shelves," said Kate Mattes, founder and owner of the landmark Kate's Mystery Books in Cambridge, Mass. It was a Sunday afternoon in April 1986, and a bus with a novice driver at the wheel had flattened a...

The Owl & Turtle drops anchor.(Relocating)(bookstore moves to new location in Camden, Maine)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... With the signing of a lease for a new location, it should be smooth sailing ahead for the Owl & Turtle Bookshop in Camden, Maine, which lost its original lease to Sherman's earlier this year (Bookselling, Sept. 1). "It seemed likely to us that...

Busy Brit.(bookselling)(Julie Andrews' new books)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... Julie Andrews signed more than 125 copies of Simeon "s Gift, her new children's book and CD, at Borders in Torrance, Calif., last week. Rachel Tosney, daughter of Borders regional director Joe Tosney, spent part of her eighth birthday in line...

Turning over a New Leaf.(distribution daybook)(New Leaf Distributing Company)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... "Our focus is on costs and margins." said New Leaf Distributing Company president and CEO Alim Thomson, who rejoined the company last November, shortly before it was purchased by Shakti LLC. "New Leaf lost a lot of money last year," he...

Looking east--and going to the dogs.(distribution daybook)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... While distribution and fulfillment are nothing new for 61-year-old Tuttle Publishing, which specializes in Asian-interest books and is a member of the Periplus Publishing Group, the company's commitment to expanding its clients has changed....

Short takes.(distribution daybook)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... BBC Worldwide Americas, which recently signed with Trafalgar Square to represent the bulk of its books in the U.S., announced that Diamond Book Distributors will distribute its Doctor Who novels in North America. The Timonium, Md., distributor...

Audio bestsellers.(Illustration)
November 3, 2003... Audio Bestsellers Fiction [1] The Da Vinci Code (abr. CD). Dan Brown. Read by Colin Stinton. Random House Audio. Five CDs, six Hours, $29.95 ISBN 0-7393-0204-3 [2] Blow Fly (unabr.). Patricia Cornwell. Read...

Bleachers.(Brief Article)(Book Review)(Audiobook Review)
November 3, 2003... JOHN GRISHAM, READ BY THE AUTHOR WITH JACK CRISTIL, Random House Audio, unabridged, four CDs, 4.5 hrs., $24.95 ISBN 0-7393-1016-X As this poignant story begins, famed high school football coach Eddie Rake, who was known for producing one...

Last Car to Elysian Fields.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... JAMES LEE BURKE, READ BY MARK HAMMER. Simon & Schuster Audio, unabridged, 10 cassettes, 14.5 hrs., $49.95 ISBN 0-7435-3331-3 Since Burke's last outing (Jolie Blon's Bounce), hapless Louisiana lawman Dave Robicheaux has lost his wife to...

She is Me.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
November 3, 2003... CATHLEEN SHINE, READ BY PATRICIA KALEMBER. Time Warner Audiobooks, unabridged, five cassettes, 8.5 hrs., $29.98 ISBN 1-58621-565-5 Set in L.A., this entertaining and intelligent examination of three generations of women easily transitions...

Death By Hollywood.(Book Review)(Audiobook Review)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... STEVEN BOCHCO, READ BY DENNIS FRANZ. Random House Audio, unabridged, four cassettes, 6 hrs., $25.95 ISBN 0-7393-0700-2 Some stories segue seamlessly into audio form while others are at their most compelling in book form. This gritty debut...

Home on the Prairie: Stories from Lake Wobegon.(Book Review)(Audiobook Review)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... GARRISON KEILLOR, PERFORMED BY THE AUTHOR. HighBridge, four CDs, 4.5 hrs., $36.95 ISBN 1-56511-786-7 Those who love Keillor's long-running radio broadcast, A Prairie Home Companion, will cherish this collection of stories harvested from...

My Year of Meats.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
November 3, 2003... RUTH OZEKI, READ BY ANNA FIELDS. Blackstone Audiobooks, unabridged, eight cassettes, 11 hrs., $56.95 ISBN 0-7861-2478-4 Japanese-American documentary film-maker Jane Takagi Little seems to have found the perfect job producing My American...

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water.(Book Review)(Audiobook Review)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... MICHAEL DORRIS, READ BY BARBARA ROSENBLAT. Audio Bookshelf, unabridged, 12 CDs, 14.75 hrs., $84.95 ISBN 2-883332-96-6 Veteran narrator Rosenblat displays remarkable vocal versatility in narrating Dorris's cross-generational story of three...

Kate Remembered.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
November 3, 2003... A. SCOTT BERG, READ BY TONY GOLDWYN. Putnam Berkley Audio, unabridged, eight CDs, 10 hrs., $39.95 ISBN 0-399-15166-4 Berg's memoir of Katherine Hepburn ws written over a number of years but held back, according to Hepburn's wishes, until...

Ultimate Punishment: a Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
November 3, 2003... SCOTT TUROW, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Audio Renaissance, unabridged, four CDs, 4.5 hrs., $22.95 ISBN 1-55927-951-6 Turow brings his experience as a practicing attorney to this thoughtful mediation on the nature, peril and efficacy of the death...

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: a Fair and Balanced Look at the Right.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
November 3, 2003... AL FRANKEN, READ BY THE AUTHOR. HighBridge Audio, unabridged, eight CDs, 10 hrs., $34.95 ISBN 1-56511-797-2 * This witty, scrupulously researched and expertly delivered audio production accomplishes what few nonfiction audio books manage to...

Under the Banner of Heaven.(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
November 3, 2003... JON KRAKAUER, READ BY THE AUTHOR. Random House Audio, abridged, five CDs, 6 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 0-7393-0656-1 Veteran reporter Krakauer's insider look at the Mormon church translates well to audio thanks to his clean, by-the-book delivery. In...

Has the jury reached a verdict? Nine promising authors--together with new series and new imprints--are tracking down clues for success.(Mystery: category closeup)
November 3, 2003... Eric Garcia Sexy Rexy? Random House's Jonathan Karp is so impressed with Eric Garcia's new novel, Hot and Sweaty Rex, he's willing to throw his literary reputation behind it. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this is...

Make this a killer year for mystery book sales.(Sisters in Crime)
November 3, 2003... Glynn Marsh Alam Bilge Water Bones (10/04) Donna Anders Night Stalker (12/03) In All the Wrong Places Dead Silence Another Life The Flower Man www.DonnaAnders.com N.C. Anderson Fixation Risky...

It's been proven a good mystery: keeps 'em hangin'.(Sisters in Crime)
November 3, 2003... Rochelle Krich Dream House Blues in the Night www.rochellekrich.com Bette Golden Lamb/JJ ham Bone Dry Ron Lovell Dead Whales Tell No Tales Murder at Yaquina Head Thomas Martindale Mystery ...

Mysteries--taking a series interest.(Industry Overview)
November 3, 2003... In a world where continuity is comforting, where we like to meet old friends again and again, publishers harbor the undying hope that the protagonist and milieu of a new series will evolve into a combination franchise that proves enduringly...

A shifting market: the coloring and activity book category is undergoing changes, but remains a mass-market stalwart.(Industry Overview)
November 3, 2003... OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS, the coloring and activity book market has been in flux. Long dominated by Western Publishing, later Golden Books--which commanded as much as 90% market share at its peak--the industry began to evolve in the...

Windy City Oracle: Stuart Dybek.(pw interview)(Interview)
November 3, 2003... You can take the man out of Chicago, but you can't take Chicago out of the man--especially if you are talking about Western Michigan University English professor Stuart Dybek. Though Dybek has lived in Kalamazoo for almost 30 years, his gritty...

Love Monkey.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... KYLE SMITH. Morrow, $23.95 (352p) ISBN 0-06-057453-4 Smith has clearly taken lessons from a few successful writers of chick lit ("Days Without Sex: 0"), but his boy version of Bridget Jones lacks the key ingredient: a sympathetic...

Bad Publicity.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... JEFFREY FRANK. Simon & Schuster, $22 (22412) ISBN 0-7432-4776-0 Frank's second Beltway novel (after The Columnist) pokes fun at power seekers on both sides of the aisle, political insiders for whom a sentence of "obscurity without parole"...

Maggie Darling: a Modern Romance.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER. Atlantic Monthly, $24 (336p) ISBN 0-87113-910-3 Kunstler's first novel in over 10 years reflects, in deliciously funny and satiric fashion, some of his spirited nonfiction critiques of contemporary culture (The City...

The Island Walkers.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... JOHN BEMROSE. Metropolitan, $25 (416p) ISBN 0-8050-7411-2 Set in a Canadian mill town in the mid-1960s, this solemn, accomplished first novel charts the fate of mill worker Alf Walker and his family as the town teeters on the brink of great...

For the Rest of My Life.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... HARRY KRAUS. Zondervan, $12.99 paper (352p) ISBN 0-310-24978-3 In Could I Have This Dance?, board-certified general surgeon Kraus spun the inspirational tale of a physician who uncovered an undiagnosed pocket of Huntington's disease ("HD,"...

Max and the Cats.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... MOACYR SCLIAR, TRANS. FROM THE PORTUGUESE BY ELOAH F. GIACOMELLI. Plume, $11 paper (128p) ISBN 0-452-28453-8 Originally published in Brazil in 1981, Scliar's novella tells, with a sharp eye but a glancing touch, the story of a boy at the...

Odd Thomas.(Book Review)(Brief Article)
November 3, 2003... Dean Koontz. Bantam, $26.95 (415p) ISBN 0-553-80249-6 * Once in a very great while, an author does everything right--as Koontz has in this marvelous novel. Odd Thomas, who narrates, is odd indeed; only 20, he works contentedly as a fry cook...

Firefly.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... P.T. DEUTERMANN. St. Martin's, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-312-20377-2 Trust Deutermann (Darkside, etc.), veteran thriller writer and former longtime government employee, to produce what appears to be the first major action novel set inside the...

The Exile.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... RICHARD S. WHEELER. Forge, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 0-312-87847-8 Real-life Irish patriot and American hero Thomas Francis Meagher (1823-1867) is the subject of this fine fictional autobiography by Wheeler, prolific author of westerns and...

Black Ice.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... MATT DICKINSON. St. Martin's, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 0-312-31399-3 All good tales of Antarctic adventuring, whether fiction or nonfiction, feature a murderously difficult trek across a boundless expanse of frozen icescape. Dickinson's foray...

Dynamite Road.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... ANDREW KLAVAN. Forge, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 0-765-30785-5 * What a shrewd manipulator Klavan is. The author of True Crime and Don't Say a Word again pushes our buttons with unerring finesse. In San Francisco, there's a detective agency, Weiss...

Still Holding.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... BRUCE WAGNER. Simon & Schuster, $25 (368p) ISBN 0-7432-4337-4 Alternately brilliant and cluttered, this baroque third volume of Wagner's loose Hollywood trilogy, (following the much-praised I'm Losing You and I'll Let You Go), moves along...

My Name is Sei Shonagon.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... JAN BLENSDORF. Overlook, $23.95 (158p) ISBN 1-58567-443-5 Blensdorf, an Australian journalist, spins two years she spent in Tokyo into a brief, poetic novel about a Japanese-American woman's search for herself amid displacement, tragedy and...

What Else But Home.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... SHARON ROLENS. Bridge Works, $23.95 (312p) ISBN 1-882593-75-8 In this follow-up to Worthy's Town, the men of the Giberson Family grapple with old demons and the complicated ties of blood in post-World War II Old Kane, Ill. Drayton Hunt, a...

The Kill Fee.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... LAURA VAN WORMER. Mira, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 1-55166-744-4 In the fifth installment of Van Wormer's Sally Harrington series, attractive go-getter Sally narrates the latest adventures in her sensational life in a WASP-y plucky first person....

The Fourth Queen.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... DEBBIE TAYLOR. Crown, $23.95 (352p) ISBN 1-4000-4925-3 Inspired by true stories of 18th-century kidnappings, debut novelist Taylor produces an imaginative and bawdy romp through the harem of the emperor of Morocco. Young Helen Gloag, bound...

Coyote Moon.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... JOHN A. MILLER. Forge, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0-765-30627-1 A prodigal ballplayer with a passion for physics and higher math and an aging physicist once infatuated with baseball energize Miller's fourth novel, a quirky romp through the...

The Sleeping Father.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... MATTHEW SHARPE. Soft Skull, $14 paper (200p) ISBN 1-932360-00-X At once tragic and madcap, Sharpe's second novel offers an acidly funny portrait of a "diminished nuclear unit" coping with its patriarch's pharmacologically induced stroke....

Savvy Sistahs.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... BRENDA JACKSON. St. Martin's Griffin, $13.95 paper (352p) ISBN 0-312-31512-0 Three Orlando, Fla., women form a friendship club for spiritual inspiration and professional support in this earnest, plodding novel by Jackson (Ties That Bind,...

The Girls in 3-B.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... VALERIE TAYLOR. CUNY/Feminist Press, paper $14.95 (208p) ISBN 1-55861-456-7; cloth $30-462-1 Originally published in 1959 and reissued as part of the Feminist Press's new Femme Fatale series of pulp fiction by women writers, this is genre...

Shepherds Abiding.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... JAN KARON. Viking, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 0670-03120-8 Karon works more homespun magic with this latest uplifting story set in sleepy Mitford, N.C. Father Timothy Kavanagh, stalwart of the Mitford series, is approaching 70 when he comes across...

Sister North.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... JIM KOKORIS. St. Martin's, $23.95 (338p) ISBN 0-312-27540-4 A Chicago divorce lawyer seeks solace from an unlikely divine source after a tragic shooting in this funny touching second novel. On the surface, Sam Gamett is a decidedly...

Angels on the Head of a Pin.(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... YURI DRUZHNIKOV, TRANS. FROM THE RUSSIAN BY THOMAS MOORE. Peter Owen, $34.95 (566p) ISBN 0-7206-1170-9 * A Soviet national newspaper is the mirror for Communist hypocrisy in the 1960s and '70s in this ambitions epic satire. When the...

Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon: Vol. 1.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... ALEX RAYMOND. Checker, $19.95 (208p) ISBN 0-9741664-7-X This mammoth volume, the first of three, chronicles the newspaper adventures of Flash Gordon from the character's inception in 1934. Flash, of course, rose to fame in the movies, but...

Barnum!: in Secret Service to the USA.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... HOWARD CHAYKIN, DAVID TISCHMAN AND NIKO HENRICHON. DC/Vertigo, $29.95 (128p) ISBN 1-4012-00729 Who knew that amid the bearded lady, the wolf boy and the human fly at Barnum and Bailey's circus, there was also a secret agent? After P.T....

Johnny Jihad.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... RYAN INZANA. NBM/Comics Lit, $9.95 paper (96p) ISBN 1-56163-353-4 Inspired by the experiences of John Walker Lindh and the Columbine shootings, this exploration of our culture's casual acceptance of violence and the emptiness of lower...

Between the Sheets.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... ERICA SAKURAZAWA. Tokyopop, $9.99 paper (208p) ISBN 1-59182-323-4 Sakurazawa's single-volume tale concerns two attends in their early 20s: Saki, a beautiful blonde; and Minako, her not-as-pretty brunette sidekick. As the story opens, the...

The Frumious Bandersnatch: a Novel of the 87th Precinct.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 3, 2003... ED MCBAIN, Simon & Schuster, $25 (304p) ISBN 0-7432-5034-6 Amazingly, MWA Grand Master McBain remains as fresh and sharp-edged as ever in his 53rd 87th Precinct novel (after 2003's Fat Ollie's Book), which takes on the culture of celebrity....