Publishers Weekly articles from October 2009

Publishers Weekly archives from October 2009

A life in suspense.(Pick of the week)(The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith)(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith Joan Schenkar. St. Martin's, 335 (704p) ISBN 978-0-312-30375-4 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Author and playwright Schenkar (Truly Wilde) presents a compelling...

Who's footing the bill for the price wars? $8.98 bestsellers bring an ABA letter and suspicions about extra discounts.(Foreword)(American Booksellers Association)
October 26, 2009... While the current price war among Amazon, Wal-Mart and Target may very well end as the holiday season approaches, the willingness and ability of the retailing behemoths to sell bestsellers for $8.98 has deeply angered traditional booksellers who...

Kindle drives Amazon.(Amazon.com's sales are up)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... Saying that Kindle is now its bestselling item, Amazon reported that total sales for the company rose 28%, to $5.45 billion, in the third quarter ended September 30, while operating income jumped 62%, to $251 million. Kindle sales are included...

Kindle PC app due.(Amazon Kindle software for PC)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... Beginning in November, Amazon will begin offering free downloads of Kindle for PC, an e-reading application that will allow consumers to download Kindle edition e-books to any PC running Windows 7, Windows XP or Windows Vista and read them on...

Indies try 'strategic discounting' in battle for customers.(Share of Wallet)(independent booksellers)
October 26, 2009... Just last month it seemed as if Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol could be the biggest loss leader of the season. That's before the latest round of what Carla Cohen, co-owner of Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., dubs "the Battle of the Giants,"...

Arcade assets for sale.(Arcade Publishing Inc.)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... The judge overseeing the bankruptcy of Arcade Publishing has approved the appointment of GSL Publishing Associates to oversee the possible sale of the company. Arcade filed for Chapter 11 in June, five months after the death of cofounder Dick...

The Nook arrives.(B&N Steps Up)(Barnes & Noble's Nook)
October 26, 2009... Last Tuesday's announcement by Barnes & Noble that it was entering the e-reader wars by launching the Nook was the culmination of a steady push into the digital space that involved the nation's largest bookseller buying the independent...

Some gains at Penguin.(Penguin Books sales)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... Exchange rate fluctuations continue to play tricks with reported results from Penguin. Parent company Pearson reported that, for the first nine months of 2009, Penguin sales were up 12%, but fell 4% at constant exchange rates. Pearson said the...

Weinstein Books partners with Perseus.(Perseus Books Group)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... Struggling Weinstein Books will move forward in a joint venture with the Perseus Books Group. Under the pact, Perseus will take over most publishing activities for Weinstein, including distribution, which will move from Hachette to Perseus...

Galley talk.(Foreword)(The Heights)(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... March seems like a long wait for Peter Hedges's spellbinding new novel, The Heights (Dutton)--I'm eager to recommend it to my customers. The title refers to a Brooklyn neighborhood populated with stay-at-home moms who plan themed birthday...

Correction.(Correction notice)
October 26, 2009... In the October 12 Changemaker profile of Don Barliant, Barbara Siegel's name was misspelled. Siegel opened Barbara's Bookstore in 1963 and sold the store to Barliant in 1970.

All for Oregon.(Foreword)(Oregon writers celebrate LK. Madigan's Flash Burnout )(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... Oregon authors came out on October 18 to celebrate the release of LK. Madigan's YA novel, Flash Burnout (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children) at Powell's Books in Beaverton, Ore. Pictured (l. to r.) are Madigan; Lisa Schroeder (Chasing...

Cornering Cohen.(Deals)(Ecco secured U.S. rights for Leonard Cohen's biography entitled I'm Your Man)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... Dan Halpern at Ecco pre-empted U.S. rights to I'm Your Man, Sylvie Simmons's biography of musician Leonard Cohen. Sarah Lazin at Sarah Lazin Books brokered the deal for the title, which follows Cohen from his time as a struggling poet through...

Robinson's 'Fix'.(Deals)(Grand Central Publishing signs Claire Robinson for a two-book deal)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... Grand Central has inked new Food Network personality Claire Robinson to a two-book deal. GC's Karen Murgolo beat out six other editors, at auction, for 5 Ingredient Fix (and a second, untitled, cookbook). Fix, which shares the name of Robinson's...

Hyperion gets Zeit-Geisty.(Deals)(Willie Geist)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... With no fear of overexposure, apparently, Willie Geist has closed his second book deal in less than six months. The talk show personality--Geist cohosts Morning Joe and hosts MSNBC's Way Too Early with Willie Geist--sold a humor book called...

From Russia, and Germany, with love.(Deals)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... Joseph Nassise, whose trilogy the Templar Chronicles has seen strong sales in both Germany and Russia--only the first book in the series is available in English, as a mass market from Pocket--has closed a deal for a new trilogy with Tor. Bob...

Ditchdigger's Daughter to Doctor.(Deals)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... Shannon Berning at Kaplan took North American rights, at auction, to the new memoir by the author of The Ditchdigger's Daughters, Yvonne Thornton. Something to Prove continues the story arc from Thornton's first book--about being the daughter of...

RH nabs sophomore Ford.(Deals)(Random House on Jamie Ford's Whispers of a Thunder God)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... In what agent Kristin Nelson called a "sizable deal," she sold North American rights to Jamie Ford's sophomore novel, Whispers of a Thunder God, to his editor at Random House, Jane yon Mehren. Ford's first book, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and...

Santo to Tantor.(People)(Tantor Audio's Amy Santo)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... Amy Santo has been named marketing manager at Tantor Audio. Santo was most recently a Web marketing manager for a major retailer and also worked as a producer for PBS and NBC affiliates.

Healy at Book Rights Registry.(People)(Michael Healy)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... Michael Healy has moved from his position at the Book Industry Study Group to work full-time on the preparations to establish the Book Rights Registry. He can be reached at michael@bookrightsregistry.org.

Bick joins Doug Grad.(People)(George Bick)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... George Bick has joined the Doug Grad Literary Agency as associate agent. Bick was, most recently, senior v-p, director of sales and associate publisher at HarperCollins.

Eulau up at S&S.(People)(Simon & Schuster's Dennis Eulau)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... Dennis Eulau has been promoted to executive v-p, operations, and CFO of Simon & Schuster. In his new role, Eulau will add responsibility for all of S&S's financial operations. Eulau, who will report to S&S CEO Carolyn Reidy, replaces...

AAP August sales report.(Foreword)
October 26, 2009... AAP August Sales Report % CHANGE % CHANGE CATEGORY August YTD Adult Hard (17) * 12.3% -12.2% Adult Paper (19) 3.2 -9.0 Mass Market (9) 1.3 -4.5...

Counting down to National Bookstore Day.(Celebration)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... With National Bookstore Day coming closer, another 30 stores have signed on for the event in the last week, bringing the total number of stores to 80. Among the new stores to join National Bookstore Day, set for November 7, are Broadway Book...

40 at 40.(Celebration)(40th anniversary of Titcomb's Bookshop)(Brief article)
October 26, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] To celebrate its 40th anniversary, Titcomb's Bookshop in East Sandwich, Mass., is holding 40 events this year. A recent one featured a reading by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver. With Oliver (third from right)...

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
October 26, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Atria reports that crowd sizes at Flynn's events have been up as much as 600% compared to years past.At a Minneapolis B&N on October 14, the author signed for more than five hours; on the 16th, he drew a crowd of...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
October 26, 2009... Among Jim Cramer's many hats: host and markets commentator for CNBC's Mad Money, cofounder of and columnist at TheStreet.com and "Bottom Line" columnist for New York magazine. With 205,000 copies in print, his newest opus--subtitled Your...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
October 26, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Lightning may not strike twice, but this particular Lightning struck incorrectly on last week's list. Heat Lightning, which we identified as the third Sandford novel starring detective Virgil Flowers, is in fact the...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
October 26, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Glenn Beck's Common Sense marks its 18th week on this week's list (five of those were in the top spot), as Arguing with Idiots makes its fourth appearance on the nonfiction list. With bestsellers on two lists, Beck...

Children's series and tie-ins bestsellers.
October 26, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In schoolyards, jocks may still rule, but in bookstores, the big boy on campus is a wimp. More specifically, he's a middle-schooler named Greg Heffley, the star of Jeff Kinney's bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series....

Audio bestsellers/fiction.
October 26, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] While Dan Brown's books, including The Lost Symbol, have been juggernauts rolling to the top of our list, some readers might wonder to hear that Brown fell into writing accidentally; he spent the late 1980s trying to...

Audio bestsellers/nonfiction.
October 26, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "In the early months of 2008, out of a crowded field of talented Democratic primary candidates, there emerged a young man so compelling, so electric, his mind so alive with good ideas, that before I knew it, I was...

Don Weise: brings new vision to 30-year-old Alyson Books.(CHANGE MAKERS)
October 26, 2009... Looking at our new lists, you'll see right away that the caliber of titles being published has been vastly improved," says Don Weise, who in slightly less than a year as the publisher of Alyson Books has revitalized a once-thriving gay and...

Ranson-Polizzotti launches new imprint.(Independent Publishing)(Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti)
October 26, 2009... I am following the river./I do not know where it is leading./ I am doing my exact thing," Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti wrote in "Following the River/Seeking the Spring," which is included in her newly released volume of poetry, (for goodness' sake),...

What do teens want?(Cover story)
October 26, 2009... In an industry without a lot of good news to report, the one consistent bright spot has been publishing for teens. While adult trade sales are expected to fall 4% this year, juvenile and young adult sales are expected to increase 5.1%, according...

North of the 38th parallel.(Author Profile)(Barbara Demick)(Interview)
October 26, 2009... There are certain logistical hurdles for those who would write about life in North Korea. For starters, few foreigners are allowed in. And once there, visitors are herded from approved site to approved site, never able to chat with unsanctioned...

Burning Bright.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Burning Bright Ron Rash. Ecco, $22.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-06-180411-3 The latest from Rash (Serena), a collection, begins with "Hard Times," in which a struggling farmer in the midst of the Great Depression tries to discover who's stealing...

The Wives of Henry Oades.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... The Wives of Henry Oades Johanna Moran. Ballantine, $15 paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-345-51095-2 An English accountant and his two wives are the subject of this intriguing and evocative debut novel based on a real-life 19th-century California...

Pride and Avarice.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Pride and Avarice Nicholas Coleridge. St. Martin's/Dunne, $25.99 (496p) ISBN 978-0-312-38262-9 Coleridge's latest (after Godchildren) is a lengthy, elaborate skewering of contemporary Britain's wealthy movers and shakers that, while funny...

Mornings in Jenin.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... * Mornings in Jenin Susan Abulhawa. Bloomsbury, $15 (316p) ISBN 978-1-60819-046-1 In this richly detailed, beautiful and resonant novel examining the Palestinian and Jewish conflicts from the mid-20th century to 2002, (originally published...

Director's Cut.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Director's Cut Arthur Japin, trans, from the Dutch by David Colmer. Knopf, $27.95 (352p) ISBN 978-14000-4062-9 This story of romance between a young Dutch actress and a slightly fictionalized Federico Fellini flounders on poor plotting and...

The First Rule: A Joe Pile Novel.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... The First Rule: A Joe Pike Novel Robert Crais. Putnam, $26.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-399-15613-7 When garment importer Frank Meyer and his family are executed in their Los Angeles home at the start of bestseller Crais's adrenaline-fueled second...

The Melting Season.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... The Melting Season Jami Attenberg. Riverhead, $25.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-59448-896-2 From the author of The Kept Man comes an uneven road story about a woman fleeing from her past. Catherine "Moonie" Madison, 25, runs away from her stifling...

Roses.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Roses Leila Meacham. Grand Central, $24.99 (624p) ISBN 978-0-446-55000-0 This enthralling stunner, a good old-fashioned read, may herald the overdue return of those delicious doorstop epics from such writers as Barbara Taylor Bradford and...

The Patience Stone.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... The Patience Stone Atiq Rahimi, trans, from the French by Polly McLean. Other Press, $16.95 (160p) ISBN 978-1-59051-344-6 Rahimi (Earth and Ashes) won the 2008 Prix Goncourt for this brief, melodramatic novel set amid factional violence...

The Summer We Fell Apart.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... The Summer We Fell Apart Robin Antalek. Harper, $14.99 paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-178216-9 A preoccupied playwright father and a cult-actress mother are the stars of the Haas family in Antalek's well-crafted and cunning debut novel. Set in...

Ransom.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... * Ransom David Malouf. Pantheon, $23.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-307-37877-4 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Revisiting scenes from The Iliad and delving into the hearts of two ancient heroes, Malouf (Remembering Babylon) evokes the final days of the...

Thursday Night Widows.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Thursday Night Widows Claudia Pineiro, trans. from the Spanish by Miranda France. Bitter Lemon, $14.95 paper (278p) ISBN 978-1-904738-41-1 Near the start of Pineiro's clever U.S. debut, which won Argentina's Clarin Prize for fiction and...

Forced labor lit.(Q&A: PW Talks with Xiaoda Xiao)(Interview)
October 26, 2009... Xiaoda Xiao's heartbreaking The Caveman (Reviews, Sept. 7) follows the tragic story of Ja Feng, who, like Xiao, spent years in a labor camp. In the novel, Feng is released and tries to re-establish his life in a world he no longer recognizes. ...

Countdown in Cairo.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Countdown in Cairo Noel Hynd. Zondervan, $14.99 paper (380p) ISBN 978-0-310-27873-3 Hynd (The Enemy Within) completes the Russian trilogy that features U.S. Treasury agent Alexandra LaDuca. A stark opening chapter concludes with LaDuca...

A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents Liza Palmer. Hachette/5-Spot, $13.99 paper (304p) ISBN 978-0-446-69838-2 Palmer (Conversations with the Fat Girl) delivers a breezy feel-good story of family bonding. After hearing about her father's...

The Disciple.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... * The Disciple Stephen Coonts. St. Martin's, $26.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-312-37283-5 Last seen together in bestseller Coonts's The Assassin (2008), Tommy Carmellini, a CIA operative, and Jake Grafton, the new CIA head of Middle Eastern...

Days of Gold.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Days of Gold Jude Deveraux. Atria, $25.95 (384p) ISBN 9781-4391-0794-2 The inevitable prequel to Lavender Morning places Deveraux on familiar historical romance ground as she traces the journey to America of the namesake of the fictional...

The Surrendered.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... * The Surrendered Chang-rae Lee. Riverhead, $26.95 (480p) ISBN 978-1-59448-976-1 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Lee's masterful fourth novel (after Aloft) bursts with drama and human anguish as it documents the ravages and indelible effects of...

Ghosts and Lightning.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... * Ghosts and Lightning Trevor Byrne. Doubleday, $24 (336p) ISBN 9780-385-53127-6 Although gothic tropes pervade Byrne's strong debut novel, they're doused--or soused, rather--with vibrant Dublin brogue and streetwise wit. On the death of...

Too Many Murders: A Carmine Delmonico Novel.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Too Many Murders: l Carmine Dolmonico Novel Colleen McCullough. Simon & Schuster, $26 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4391-7747-1 Set in a Connecticut college town, bestseller McCullough's disappointing sequel to On, 0ff (2006) starts off with an...

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky Chris Greenhalgh. Riverhead, $15 paper (328p) ISBN 978-1-59448-455-1 English poet Greenhalgh's debut novel about Coco Chanel and Igor's Stravinsky's short, fiery affair provides an intense look at love,...

Stealing Fatima.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Stealing Fatima Frank X. Gaspar. Counterpoint, $15.95 paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-58243-516-9 In his second novel, award-winning poet-novelist Gaspar (Leaving Pico) explores an unnamed Massachusetts burg (with a strong resemblance to...

The Golden Calf.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... * The Golden Calf Ilya IIf and Evgeny Petrov, trans, from the Russian by Konstantin Gurevich and Helen Anderson. Open Letter, $15.95 paper (336p) ISBN 978-1-934824-07-8 A hilarious blend of absurdist, futurist and surrealist sensibilities,...

Vinyl Cafe Unplugged.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Vinyl Cafe Unplugged Stuart McLean. Riverhead, $15 paper (272p) ISBN 978-1-59448-406-3 This latest installment to Canadian radio host McLean's Vinyl Cafe series continues the agreeable story of record shop owner Dave; his wife, Morley;...

Running.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Running Jean Echenoz, trans, from the French by Linda coverdale. New Press, $19.95 (128p) ISBN 978-1-59558-473-1 French author Echenoz (Ravel) centers his new biographical novel on Emil Zatopek, the first Czech Olympic gold medal winner in...

No Perfect Words.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... No Perfect Words Nava Renek. Spuyten Duyvil (SPD, dist.), $14 paper (140p) ISBN 978-1-933132-30-3 Stories spiral within stories in this meandering, loose-ended tale of lost love by Renek (Spiritland). Carolyn, the 42-yearold narrator,...

My Own Worst Enemy.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... My Own Worst Enemy Brandon Hebert. Five Star, $25.95 (234p) ISBN 978-1-59414-827-9 At the start of Hebert's less than convincing debut, two Coral Gables, Fla., police officers nab burglar Jack Murray outside the house he's just broken into...

The Madcap.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... The Madcap Nikki Poppen. Avalon, $23.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-8034-9987-4 The second installment in Poppen's frothy and very conventional historical romance series (after Newport Summer) begins in 1890 with San Francisco sourdough heiress...

Searching for Pemberley.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Searching for Pemberley Mary Lydon Simonsen. Sourcebooks, $14.99 paper (496p) ISBN 978-1-4022-2439-3 Using a literary mystery rooted in Jane Austen's inspiration for Pride and Prejudice, Simonsen's debut novel brings resonance to the story...

The Art of Deception.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... The Art of Deception Elizabeth Ironside. Felony & Mayhem (www.felonyandmayhem.com), $14.95 paper (392p) ISBN 978-1-934609-40-8 First published in the U.K. in 1998, Ironside's solid thriller provides an intriguing look at the...

Rainwater.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... * Rainwater Sandra Brown. Simon & Schuster, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-4391-7277-3 Bestseller Brown (Smash Cut) brings Depression-era Texas to vivid life in this poignant short novel. At the recommendation of Dr. Murdy Kincaid, Ella...

No Mercy.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... No Mercy Lori Armstrong. Touchstone, $25 (320p) ISBN 978-1-4165-9095-8 This compelling if prosaically plotted saga of dysfunctional family life, racial tension and liberated-woman romance, the first in a new series from Shamus-finalist...

Alone: A Valentino Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... * Alone: A Valentino Mystery Loren D. Estleman. Forge, $24.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-7653-1576-2 Shamus-winner Estleman's captivating second mystery to feature L.A. film detective Valentino (after 2008's Frames) focuses on legendary screen...

Faces of the Gone.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Faces of the Gone Brad Parks. Minotaur, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-312-57477-2 Parks's entertaining debut introduces an appealing hero, 31-year-old investigative reporter Carter Ross of the Newark (N.J.) Eagle-Examiner. When the bodies of...

The Stone Gallows.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... The Stone Gallows C. David Ingram. Myrmidon (IPG, dist.), $14.95 paper (384p) ISBN 978-1-905802-20-3 Gritty, pull-no-punches realism distinguishes Ingram's debut, the first in a series set in Scotland. One day, while speeding through the...

Dead Like Her.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Dead Like Her. Linda Regan. Creme de la Crime (Dufour, dist.), $14.95 paper (280p) ISBN 978-09557078-8-9 Imitating Marilyn Monroe can be fatal as British author Regan shows in her enjoyable third police procedural to feature Det. Chief...

A Vein of Deceit.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... A Vein of Deceit Susanna Gregory. Sphere (IPG, dist.), $26.95 (480p) ISBN 978-1-84744-110-2 The many characters, murders and possible motivations tend to overwhelm Gregory's 15th Matthew Bartholomew chronicle (after 2008's The Devil's...

Alaskan Earth and the great weather: Stan Jones's fourth Nathan Active novel, Village of the Ghost Bears, probes the mystery of life in northwest Alaska.(Q&A: PW Talks with Stan Jones)(Interview)
October 26, 2009... How do you see Alaska's climatic and geographic conditions affecting the personal relationships you portray in your fiction? It's tough to live in rural Alaska, where there's not much cash and a harsh climate. People respond in two ways: on...

Mystery of the Mermaid.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Mystery of the Mermaid Merla Zellerbach. Firefall (www.firefallmedia. corn), $27.50 (204p) ISBN 978-0-91509074-7 Fans of old-fashioned romantic mysteries will welcome Zellerbach's lighthearted puzzler set mainly aboard a Norwegian luxury...

Writ in Stone.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... * Writ in Stone Cora Harrison. Severn, $27.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6812-1 At the outset of Harrison's outstanding fourth 16th-century historical to feature Mara--brehon (a kind of magistrate) of the Burren, a kingdom on the west coast of...

Zones of Chaos.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Zones of Chaos Mick Farren. Red Snake Press (Ingram, dist.), $14.95 paper (152p)ISBN 978-0-9729942-0-0 Michael Moorcock's introduction describes this hallucinatory concoction of Farren's poetry, song lyrics, essays, short fiction and...

Origins.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Origins Edited by Eric T. Reynolds. Hadley Rille (Ingram, dist.), $24.95 (228p) ISBN 978-09825140-5-4; $14.95 paper ISBN 978-0-98251406-1 Many of the stories in this ambitious overview of human evolution are more historical than...

Muse and Reverie.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... * Muse and Reverie Charles de Lint. Tor, $25.99 (352p) ISBN 9780-7653-2340-8 This collection of 13 stories is the fifth set in Newford, de Lint's city of artists, musicians and magic, and the first since 2002's Tapping the Dream Tree....

Cobra Alliance: Cobra War, Book 1.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Cobra Alliance: Cobra War, Book 1 Timothy Zahn. Baen, $24 (288p) ISBN 978-14391-3306-4 Zahn's Cobras (last seen in 1988's Cobra Bargain) deliver superb action and jolting interplanetary plots that almost compensate for conventional...

Suicide Kings.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... Suicide Kings Edited by George R.R. Martin, assisted by Melinda M. Snodgrass. Tot, $25.99 (448p) ISBN 978-0-7653-1783-4 The 20th Wild Cards shared-universe novel (after 2008's Busted Flush), written by six authors, continues developing an...

First Lord's Fury: Book Six of the Codex Alera.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... First Lord's Fury: Book Six of the Codex Alera Jim Butcher. Ace, $25.95 (480p) ISBN 978-0441-01769-0 The creativity Butcher displays in his Dresden Files series is less apparent in the derivative sixth fantasy yarn set in quasiRoman Alera...

The Best Horror of the Year: Vol. One.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... * The Best Horror of the Year: Vol. One Edited by Ellen Datlow. Night Shade (www. nightshadebooks.com), $15.95 paper (324p) ISBN 978-1-59780-161-4 After 22 years of pulling the horror content for the now-discontinued Year's Best Fantasy...

My Unfair Lady.(Brief article)(Book review)
October 26, 2009... * My Unfair Lady Kathryne Kennedy. Sourcebooks Casablanca, $6.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4022-2990-9 Kennedy (Beneath the Thirteen Moons) delivers a delightfully unusual Victorian romance. Unlike other American heiresses mingling with London...