Publishers Weekly articles from September 2009

Publishers Weekly archives from September 2009

Can the Google book settlement be saved? Critics say the agreement is dead as parties look for ways to revise the deal.(Foreword)
September 28, 2009... Despite asking a federal judge to cancel the scheduled October 7 fairness hearing, the parties in the Google Book Search Settlement said they were eager to fix the deal and move forward. As the legal dust settled last week, however, a growing...

Rubin leaves Random House.(Steve Rubin)(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... After 25 years in executive roles in the Random House/Doubleday family, Steve Rubin, has resigned from the publishing company. Rubin, who acquired numerous best-selling titles for RH, served most recently as executive v-p and publisher-at-large...

Scholastic starts strong.(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... Revenue for the first quarter ended August 31 rose 14% at Scholastic, to $315.6 million, while the net loss was reduced to $23 million from $49.1 million. Chairman Dick Robinson said the results keep the publisher on track to achieve...

Del Rey Manga birthday.(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Del Rey Manga threw a party on 42nd Street to celebrate its fifth anniversary and open the New York Anime Festival. Pictured is associate publisher Dallas Middaugh cutting a manga-inspired Charm City Cake with a samurai...

Little industry bounce from 'symbol'.(Bad Sign?)(The Lost Symbol)(Statistical table)
September 28, 2009... Speculation that the September 15 release of The Lost Symbol, True Compass and several other big books would provide a boost to total book sales for the week ending September 20 didn't pan out, at least in outlets tracked by Nielsen BookScan....

AAP July sales report.(Foreword)(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... AAP July Sales Report % % CHANGE % CHANGE CATEGORY July YTD Adult Hard (17) * 6.9% -15.5% Adult Paper (18) 9.0 -11.2 Mass Market (9) -13.5 -5.3 Juvenile...

Capstone adds graphic novels.(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... Capstone Press, a nonfiction imprint of Capstone Publishers, plans to add a new line of kids' nonfiction graphic novels to its fast-growing comics and graphic novel publishing program. This fall the house is launching Graphic Expeditions, which...

Bologna reinstates fourth day.(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... After announcing it was trimming its annual fair by a day, the Bologna Children's Book Fair has yielded to protests and reinstated the fourth day of the event. The 2010 fair will now take place from Tuesday to Friday, March 2326.

New iPhone tools.(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... Aptara, an international developer of content conversion systems, is teaming up with iPhone applications developer ScrollMotion to create a more efficient system to transform book content into interactive e-book material for the iPhone.

Fulcrum splits.(Fulcrum Publishing )(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... Fulcrum Publishing in Golden, Colo., is narrowing its list and splitting into two divisions-Fulcrum Books, which will continue to be based in Colorado, and Speaker's Corner, which will be based in the Upper Midwest. Under the new arrangement,...

Recession wrecks exports, imports.(Slump)
September 28, 2009... The global impact of the recession is reflected in book export figures for the first half of 2009. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, exports fell 14.6% in the January through June period, dropping to $918.8 million. Exports were down to...

Joan of Arc revisited.(Deals)(The Maid: A Novel of Joan of Arc)(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... Eric Simonoff of William Morris Endeavor sold North American rights to Kimberly Cutter's debut, The Maid: A Novel of Joan of Arc, to Andrea Schulz at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The buzzed-about book, which follows the French peasant-turned-saint...

Williams suits up, twice.(Deals)(Kneerim & Williams)(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... Agent Ike Williams, of Kneerim & Williams, just closed two deals for separate business books. Williams sold world rights to Jacque Murphy at Harvard Business Press to a currently untitled management work by the team at Forrester Research....

Reorganization re-examined.(Deals)(The Packing Problem: Time, Money, and the Science of Scarcity)(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... Paul Golob, editorial director of Times Books, bought North American rights, at auction, to The Packing Problem: Time, Money, and the Science of Scarcity, written by academics Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir--Mullainathan teaches at...

Father knows best.(Deals)(Justin Halpen's book 'Shit My Dad Says')(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... Maxim.com senior editor Justin Halpern sold his popular Twitter postings--turned--book, Shit My Dad Says, to Kate Hamill at It Books, who took world English rights at auction. The collection of gruff, funny and sometimes sneakily heartfelt...

Agent Jodie Rhodes sold North American rights to debut novelist Bob Rambaugh's Saving Sarah to Phoebe Yeh at HarperCollins Books for Children.(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... Agent Jodie Rhodes sold North American rights to debut novelist Bob Rambaugh's Saving Sarah to Phoebe Yeh at HarperCollins Books for Children. In the YA work, a 14-year-old boy tormented by his father looks to murder as a solution after the...

Former newspaperman Tom Ryan had his memoir, Following Atticus, pre-empted by Cassie Jones at William Morrow.(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... Former newspaperman Tom Ryan had his memoir, Following Atticus, pre-empted by Cassie Jones at William Morrow. In the book Ryan adopts a pooch, a miniature schnauzer, to join him on an expedition to hike all of New Hampshire's mountains as part...

Applebaum helps out.(Random House's Stuart Applebaum' donations )(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... Random House's Stuart Applebaum is donating $60,000 each to two literacy organizations-Every-body Wins! Foundation and First Book--to mark his 60th birthday. The contributions are being made through the Stuart S. Applebaum Giving Foundation.

Call for information.(Foreword)
September 28, 2009... Feature: African-American Publishing Issue: December 14 Deadline: October 16 Needed: Information on frontlist adult and children's books by or about African-Americans, published between September 2009 and March 2010. Please send...

Gingko Press, upper playground ink book pact.(Streetcult Publishing)
September 28, 2009... After distributing the self-published titles of Upper Playground, the San Francisco-based street/youth culture design and apparel maker, for five years, Gingko Press has taken over the direction of its publishing program and will continue to...

Wicker leaving Klopotek.(People)(John Wicker)(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... John Wicker, who helped build a North American presence for the publishing software company Klopotek, will step down from the company when his contract expires at the end of the year. He will be replaced by Karen Tiesling as executive v-p of...

King to Rodale.(People)(Amy King appointed as executive director at Rodale Books)(Brief article)
September 28, 2009... Amy King has been appointed executive director, art and design for Rodale Books, effective October 5. She will report to Karen Rinaldi, senior v-p, general manager and publisher Rodale Books. King was creative director for Bloomsbury USA.

Children's series and tie-ins bestsellers.
September 28, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] About three things I was absolutely certain. First, Edwart was most likely my soul mate, maybe. Second, there was a vampire part of him-which I assumed was wildly out of his control-that wanted me dead. And third, I...

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
September 28, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The mega statistics about Brown's blockbuster have already been reported, recorded, tweeted, e-mailed, Facebooked, etc. As noted in the September 23 New York Times (and numerous other media), The Lost Symbol had "the...

Hardcover bestseller/nonfiction.
September 28, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] How competitive is this publishing season? For the first time in two years, the top three nonfiction bestsellers are all first-week debuts. For the eagerly awaited True Compass, the late author's son did yeoman duty....

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.(Statistical table)
September 28, 2009... Patricia Cornwell will be in excellent company on Sunday, October 4, as she joins Nick Hornby, Tracy Kidder, Nicholas Sparks and Jeannette Walls in "The Great Literary Conversation," the latest in the Times Talks series sponsored by the New York...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
September 28, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "These stories left me stunned and profoundly moved," said Oprah on choosing Akpan's collection as her 63rd Book Club pick. PW's starred review called the 2007 work "a rich debut," adding that "Akpan's prose is...

Audio bestsellers/fiction.
September 28, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In conversation with magazine, veteran narrator SimonVance admits that he doesn't read the books before going into the studio: "It's so time consuming. Argh, now it'll sound as if I'm lazy! I promise I'm not. What I am...

Audio bestsellers/nonfiction.
September 28, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Glenn Beck's conservative compatriot and fellow radio host Mark Levin mourns the decline in "traditional" values, and PW's review praises narrator Adam Grupper as "the ideal reader for the material; his calm and...

Daniel Goldin: Boswell Books owner looks to build relationships.(CHANGE MAKERS)(Biography)
September 28, 2009... Boswell Books owner Daniel Goldin refers to Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, by restaurateur Danny Meyer and released in 2006 from HarperCollins, when asked what principle guides him as a new small business...

Remembering E. Lynn Harris.(Author Profile)(In memoriam)
September 28, 2009... When 54-year-old New York Times bestselling author E. Lynn Harris died this past July 23 from a heart attack, he left a noticeable void in the African-American publishing world. An openly gay man, Harris was a pioneer of sorts who self-published...

Frankfurt briefcase: 2009: what the Americans are bringing to the fair.(Frankfurt Preview)(Frankfurt Book Fair)
September 28, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ann Brasheres grows up, Bret Easton Ellis heads back to his L.A. roots, Julia Childs's grand-nephew talks [H.sub.2]O, Julie Powell hits the butcher block, Eoin Colfer does his best Douglas Adams impression and George...

New age: the politics of promise: scholar and publisher Mitch Horowitz surveys the history of alternative spirituality in America.(interview with Mitch Horowitz, author of Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation )(Interview)(Cover story)
September 28, 2009... Mitch Horowitz is the author of Occult America: The Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation (Bantam, Sept.) and editor-in-chief at Penguin/ Tarcher, which has a significant New Age list. PW recently asked him to explain the tangled...

What's new in new age.(new age books)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... New Age publishers are banking on established subjects such as Wicca, 2012, crystals and astrology to maintain reader enthusiasm this fall. But books on topics as diverse as the power of Ouija, communicating with the dead and the undocumented 19...

Books mentioned in this feature.(Section Head)(Bibliography)
September 28, 2009... The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle. New World Library, $22.95, Sept. 1999. ISBN 978-1-57731-152-2.. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle. Dutton, $24.95, Oct. 2005. ISBN...

Why I write ...(authorship)
September 28, 2009... In 1998, while I was a student at the University of Florida, I slipped into a deep depression after my father attempted suicide and my always solid family fell apart. My depression manifested itself in an eating disorder, one where I got up in...

The Lost Books of the Odyssey.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... * The Lost Books of the Odyssey Zachary Mason. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $24 (240p) ISBN 978-0-374-19215-0 Mason's fantastic first novel, a deft reimagining of Homer's Odyssey, begins with the story as we know it before altering the...

The Yellow House.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... The Yellow House Patricia Falvey. Hachette/Center Street, $21.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-59995-201-7 A family's future is in the hands of one very brave young Irishwoman in this accomplished debut set between WWI and the growing violence of the...

Life as I Know It.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Life as I Know It Melanie Rose. Bantam, $15 paper (368p) ISBN 978-0-385-34399-2 In Brit Rose's pleasant debut, single career girl Jessica Taylor experiences love at first sight shortly before being struck by lightning. She awakens in...

Letter to My Daughter.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Letter to My Daughter George Bishop. Ballantine, $20 (126p) ISBN 978-0-345-51598-8 This slight and gauzy novel fails to find anything new in the familiar terrain of mothers and their volatile teenage daughters. After Elizabeth storms out...

The Privileges.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... * The Privileges Jonathan Dee. Random, $25 (272p) ISBN 978-1-4000-6867-8 Dee's four prior novels (Palladio; etc.) cast an intelligent, calculating eye on the culturally topical, which sparked comparisons to the writings of Updike, DeLillo...

Remarkable Creatures.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Remarkable Creatures Tracy Chevalier. Dutton, $26.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-525-95145-2 Chevalier's newest is a flat historical whose familiar themes of gender inequality, class warfare and social power often overwhelm the story. Tart-tongued...

The Murderer's Daughters.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... The Murderer's Daughters Randy Susan Meyers. St. Martin's, $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0412-57698-1 This solid novel begins with young Lulu finding her mother dead and her sister wounded at the hands of her alcoholic father, who has failed...

Safe from the Neighbors.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Safe from the Neighbors Steve Yarbrough. Knopf, $25.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-307-27170-9 Yarbrough's tightly constructed latest is hobbled by the ordinariness of its characters and the situations they find themselves in. The story is told from...

Hollywood Moon.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Hollywood Moon Joseph Wambaugh. Little, Brown, $26.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-316-04518-6 Full of glimpses into the workings of low-level tech crime, bestseller Wambaugh's entertaining third "Hollywood station" novel (after Hollywood Crows)...

La's Orchestra Saves the World.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... La's Orchestra Saves the World Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-307-37838-5 Set mainly during WWII in England, this quiet story about a woman who makes a new life for herself falls short of bestseller Smith's...

Rogue Warrior: Seize the Day.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Rogue Warrior: Seize the Day Richard Marcinko and Jim DeFelice. Forge, $24.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-7653-1794-0 Marcinko and DeFelice keep up a withering fusillade of wisecracks as Marcinko's fictional alter ego, Dick Marcinko, tangles with an...

Sinner's Ball: A Jackson Steeg Novel.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Sinner's Ball: A Jackson Steeg Novel Ira Berkowitz. Three Rivers, $14 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-307-40863-1 Nasty, brutish and deadly describes the world of Jackson Steeg, as shown in Berkowitz's third novel to feature the ex-NYPD...

The Sheriff's Surrender.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... The Sheriff's Surrender Susan Page Davis. Barbour, $10.97 paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-60260-562-6 Historical fiction author Davis churns out another folksy, lighthearted story set in 1885 about a not-so-feminine heroine who shoots better...

Your Face Tomorrow: Vol. 3: Poison, Shadow and Farewell.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... * Your Face Tomorrow: Vol. 3: Poison, Shadow and Farewell Javier Marias, trans, from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa. New Directions, $24.95 (560p) ISBN 978-0-8112-1812-2 Marias concludes his enormously praised and disquieting...

The Pushcart Prize XXXIV: Best of the Small Presses.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... The Pushcart Prize XXXIV: Best of the Small Presses Edited by Bill Henderson. Pushcart (Norton, dist.), $35 (600p) ISBN 978-1-888889-55-0; $18.95 paper ISBN 978-1-888889-54-3 This year's Pushcart anthology offers consistently good prose and...

The Girl on Legare Street.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... The Girl on Legare Street Karen White. NAL, $15 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-451-22799-7 In White's less than exciting sequel to The House on Tradd Street, Melanie Middleton reprises her role as the Lowcountry realtor with psychic powers. This...

The Witch Doctor's Wife.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... * The Witch Doctor's Wife Tamar Myers. Avon, $13.99 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-172783-2 Myers draws on her own experiences as the daughter of white missionaries living in the Belgian Congo for this dazzling novel full of authentic African...

PW talks with Barb Johnson: uncommon community.(Q&A)(Interview)
September 28, 2009... Hurricane Katrina shut down Barb Johnson's carpentry shop, so she went back to school for her M.F.A. at the University of New Orleans. Her debut collection, More of This World or Maybe Another (Reviews. Sept. 17), deftly chronicles the lives of...

Our Circus Presents ...(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Our Circus Presents... Lucian Dan Teodorovici, trans, from the Romanian by Alistair Ian Blyth. Dalkey Archive, $13.95 paper (200p) ISBN 978-1-56478-556-5 Romanian journalist Teodorovici's quizzical fable pursues the thwarted efforts of a...

New Glory.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... New Glory Gunter de Bruyn, trans, from the German by David Burnett. Northwestern Univ., $18.95 paper (176p) ISBN 978-0-8101-2552-0 The first work by East German writer De Bruyn translated into English, this subtle moral fable follows the...

The Edge of Eden.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... The Edge of Eden Helen Benedict. Soho, $25 (336p) ISBN 978-1-56947-602-4 Benedict (The Lonely Soldier) chronicles a year in the life of a foolish but surprisingly sympathetic British family that relocates to the equatorial paradise of the...

The Chill.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... The Chill Romano Bilenchi, trans, from the Italian by Ann Goldstein. Europa (Penguin, dist.), $15 paper (96p) ISBN 978-1-933372-90-7 A teenager in 1920s Tuscany slowly realizes the callousness of humanity in this first English translation of...

Beautiful Soon Enough: Stories.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Beautiful Soon Enough: Stories Margo Berdeshevsky. Univ. of Alabama, $15.95 paper (184p) ISBN 978-1-57366-149-2 In 23 brief, dreamy stories set in locales from Paris to Cuba, poet, actress and photographer Berdeshevsky remains transfixed...

My Bird.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... My Bird Fariba Vail, trans. from the Farsi by Mahnaz Kousha and Nasrin Jewell. Syracuse Univ., $24.95 (120p) ISBN 978-0-8156-0944-5 A big success when it was originally published in Iran, this slender book will likely disappoint Western...

The Scarpetta Factor.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... The Scarpetta Factor Patricia Cornwell. Putnam, $27.95 (512p) ISBN 978-0-399-15639-7 Bestseller Cornwell's solid 17th thriller to feature Dr. Kay Scarpetta (after Scarpetta) finds Scarpetta--who's the senior forensic analyst for...

A Catered Birthday Party: A Mystery with Recipes.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... A Catered Birthday Party: A Mystery with Recipes Isis Crawford. Kensington, $22 (336p) ISBN 978-0-7582-2194-0 At the start of Crawford's diverting sixth mystery to feature Bernie and Libby Simmons (after 2008's A Catered Halloween),...

Dial H for Hitchcock: A Cece Caruso Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... * Dial H for Hitchcock: A Cece Caruso Mystery Susan Kandel. Harper, $13.99 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-182667-2 Alfred Hitchcock fans should love Kandel's fifth Cece Caruso mystery (after 2007's Christietown), a terrific tribute that's...

The Fleet Street Murders: A Charles Lenox Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... The Fleet Street Murders: A Charles Lenox Mystery Charles Finch. Minotaur, $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-56551-6 The near simultaneous murders on Christmas night of two giants of Fleet Street Daily Telegraph writer Winston Carruthers and...

Holiday Grind.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Holiday Grind Cleo Coyle. Berkley Prime Crime, $23.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-425-23005-3 In the charming eighth coffeehouse mystery from the pseudonymous Coyle (the husband-wife writing team of Marc Cerasini and Alice Alfonsi), Clare Cosi,...

The End of the Road: A Maxie and Stretch Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... The End of the Road: A Maxie and Stretch Mystery Sue Henry. NAL/Obsidian, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-451-22604-4 In Anthony-winner Henry's so-so fourth whodunit to feature Alaska widow Maxie McNabb and her dachshund, Stretch (after 2007's...

G.I. Bones.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... G.I. Bones Martin Limon. Soho Crime, $24 (336p) ISBN 978-1-56947-603-1 When a Korean fortune-teller claims the spirit of a long dead American soldier is bothering her at the outset of Limon's well-crafted sixth mystery to feature U.S. Army...

Phoenix Noir.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... * Phoenix Noir Edited by Patrick Millikin. Akashic, $15.95 paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-933354-85-9 The 16 stories in this stellar volume in Akashic's noir series paint a vivid portrait of the underside of Phoenix, where the gulf between rich...

The Poisoning in the Pub.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... The Poisoning in the Pub Simon Brett. Five Star, $25.95 (298p) ISBN 978-1-59414-890-3 Business at the venerable Crown and Anchor pub is flagging--and with good reason--in Brett's droll 10th mystery set in the West Sussex town of Fethering...

A Cadger's Curse: A DD McGil Literati Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... A Cadger's Curse: A DD McGil Literati Mystery Diane Gilbert Madsen. Midnight Ink (www.midnightinkbooks.com), $14.95 paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-7387-1892-7 Madsen's promising debut, the first in a new cozy series set in Chicago, introduces...

The Dead Hand of History.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... The Dead Hand of History Sally Spencer. Severn, $27.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6805-3 Spencer elevates Monika Paniatowski, the protege of Det. Chief Insp. Charlie Woodend (A Dying Fall, etc.), to center stage in this pedestrian police...

By the Mountain Bound.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... By the Mountain Bound Elizabeth Bear. Tor, $25.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7653-1883-1 In this complex preqnel to Hugo-winner Bear's All the Windwracked Stars (2008), Ragnarok has already occurred, but the world must still be cleansed of the...

Northwest Passages.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Northwest Passages Barbara Roden. Prime (www.prime-books.com), $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-60701-205-4 Readers with a taste for deftly executed tales of subtle horror will welcome Roden's fine debut story collection. "Out and Back" tells of...

In Great Waters.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... In Great Waters Kit Whitfield. Del Rey, $15 paper (416p) ISBN 978-0-345-49165-7 Whitfield (Benighted) creates a fantasy Earth both instantly recognizable and drastically changed: history was altered by the deepsmen, merfolk who first made...

Monstrous Affections.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... * Monstrous Affections David Nickle. ChiZine (LPG of Canada, dist.), $18.95 paper (292p) ISBN 978-0-9812978-3-5 Bleak, stark and creepy, Stoker-winner Nickle's first collection will delight the literary horror reader. A jarring cover...

The Variable Man and Other Stories: The Early Work of Philip K. Dick, Volume One.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... The Variable Man and Other Stories: The Early Work of Philip K. Dick, Volume One Philip K. Dick, edited by Gregg Rickman. Prime (www.prime-books.com), $28 (408p) ISBN 978-1-60701-202-3 This volume collects 15 of the earliest short...

Eyes Like Leaves.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Eyes Like Leaves Charles de Lint. Subterranean (www.subterraneanpress.com), $35 (360p) ISBN 978-1-59606-282-5 World Fantasy Award-winner de Lint dusts off an enchanting epic fantasy written in 1980 but never published. Magic is fading...

Madness of Flowers.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... * Madness of Flowers Jay Lake. Night Shade (www.nightshadebooks.com), $14.95 paper (336p) ISBN 978-1-59780-098-3 Readers unfamiliar with 2006's Trial of Flowers will be baffled by this sequel; those who have read the former are likely to...

Time Travelers Never Die.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Time Travelers Never Die Jack McDevitt. Ace, $24.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-441-01763-8 McDevitt (Seeker) avoids flashy action scenes in this tale of two friends using a time machine to take a grand tour of history. When Adrian "Shel"...

A Young Man Without Magic.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... A Young Man Without Magic Lawrence Watt-Evans. Tor, $27.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-7653-2279-1 Fantasy veteran Watt-Evans (The Summer Palace) unveils a new series set in a time of civil strife and famine. As noble magicians perform human...

Just Behind You.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Just Behind You Ramsey Campbell. PS Publishing (www.pspublishing.co.uk), $30 (320p) ISBN 978-1-848630-39-0 British horror master Campbell (Told by the Dead) displays his gift for the unsettling in this collection of 18 recent short...

Shifting Plains.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Shifting Plains Jean Johnson. Berkley, $15 paper (343p) ISBN 978-0-425-23086-2 Johnson's fluffy prequel to the Sons of Destiny romantic fantasy series (The Sword, etc.) focuses on Tara Ell Var, child of a human woman raped by were-tigers....

Taming the Beast.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Taming the Beast Heather Grothaus, Zebra, $6,99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4201-0243-7 Grothaus (The Highlander) dresses up a standard forced-marriage story with references to Beauty and the Beast in this capable 12th-century historical romance....

Sins of the Flesh.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 28, 2009... Sins of the Flesh Caridad Pineiro. Grand Central/Forever, $6.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-446-54383-5 Terminal illness leads gifted musician Caterina Shaw to seek radical treatment that turns her superhuman in this uneven romantic suspense from...