'Tis the Season...for all those best books of the year lists

I've posted my favorite thrillers on my website, but here's the NY Times --

The 10 Best Books of 2007


And if that isn't enough for you, check out the NY Times 100 Notable Books of 2007

I'll post more lists as I come across them. Happy Holidays!

2007 National Book Award Winners

The winners of the 2007 National Book Awards were announced November 14, at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. The annual awards are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize achievements in four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature. The night's ceremonies included the presentation of the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to essayist Joan Didion and the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community to Terry Gross, host and executive producer of National Public Radio's Fresh Air.

This year's winners are:

Fiction
Denis Johnson, Tree of Smoke (FSG)


Nonfiction
Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (Doubleday)

Poetry
Robert Hass, Time and Materials (Ecco/HarperCollins)


Young People's Literature
Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little, Brown) -- The #1 Fall 2007 Book Sense Children's Pick

MIAMI BOOK FAIR 2007!

It was my pleasure to attend the Miami Book Fair on Saturday and as always, had a great time. My first surprise of the day occurred as I entered the fair. The first booth, or rather booths (they had several) was Borders. Big deal you say? Well, it is to me. The first time I attended the fair was about 10 years ago when I worked the booth for Borders. In those days all the bookstores had booths, the independents and the chains. But slowly the chains disappeared, probably to the delight of the indies, but as a former Borders employee it saddened me. The street fair became less.

But Borders has a new CEO and he is taking the company in a new direction. That leadership was sorely needed. Doing a book fair is just the tip of the iceberg, but it is telling of a direction that the company seems to moving in – the stores look better, the cafes are now all Seattle’s Best (owned by Starbucks who is apparently taking over the coffee drinking world,) and Borders is taking back their website from Amazon.com. But this is supposed to be about the book fair, and I’ve strayed. Forgive me and follow me back to the fair…

At the Borders booth I ran into one of my favorite authors, Joseph Finder. Joe was busy schmoozing and signing books and posters, but he stopped to chat with me and my friend Judy. I was delighted to run into him because I had gotten a really nice email about him. A new author trying to get published found Joe through my MySpace page and contacted him. This author wrote to tell me that Joe was incredibly nice and so helpful, and he thanked me, as if I had anything to do with it! But I was happy to hear it – so many people say they want to help, but rarely do, so it’s wonderful to hear that a successful and very busy author took the time to help out the new guy. And it was my pleasure to share that with Joe.

In turn, Joe shared a bit of news with me. He is working on his next book, which is to be the first book of a series! It will be set in the corporate world, but none of his former characters will be appearing. It’s all new and we won’t get any more info than that for quite a while because he still needs to write it. Details, details.

Strolling through the fair I also bumped into P.J. Parrish, well, half of the award winning sister act, at any rate. They are hard at work on a book that will bring both their series characters together. I also ran into Christine Kling, who has been immersed in researching mysteries set in the high seas, something she has some expertise with herself. She’s also exploring historical maritime fiction as well, and seems to be having a ball.

I stopped by the author’s lounge to see who might be lounging instead of working, and ran into Jim Born, who was on his way to appear on a panel of Florida Book Award winners. I also got to chat with Jeff Lindsey, and I asked him if we were going to have to wait two more years for another Dexter book. He said if he could make enough money on this latest one, he wouldn’t have to do another book for five years. Yes, the man writes for money. I also asked if he was involved with the TV series on Showtime – it’s not something I would watch, but I know several people who really enjoy it. He told me he took Hemingway’s advice about Hollywood: go up to the border, throw your book across, and when they throw money back, take it and run. Sounds like good advice. I ran into Jeff a few minutes later at one of the wonderful booksellers’ booths at the fair and got this fabulous picture - yes, Dexter’s daddy, the serial killer creator himself, was there buying Curious George board books.

I finally made it over to a panel that was supposed to start at noon. Got in line and waited because Wesley Clarke was still speaking in the room. He ran about half an hour late, which meant that for the rest of the day, that room would be a scheduling nightmare. It was worth the wait though, to see Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. They’ve been collaborating on a trilogy of children’s books about Peter Pan’s back story, and it is always a treat to see them.


Dave Barry took a “sabbatical” from writing his weekly column for the Miami Herald, and I really miss him. I fear the sabbatical has turned into retirement because he shows no sign of wanting to return and seems to be keeping busy elsewhere. Barry is the book fair’s version of stand up comedy, and he truly excels at it, but he was asked to cut it short so they could catch up on time. Hmmph! Despite the fact he was there promoting a children’s book, he took great delight in pointing out that the event was being sponsored by AARP. He told some great stories and had everyone laughing. Ridley is also a funny guy, and between the two of them they have quite the tag team match going on. The co-chair of the fair informed us that even though this event wasn’t being filmed for Book TV (as most of the nonfiction events are) it was being filmed in its entirety and would be posted on iTunes U but I couldn’t find it. Keep checking back.

Since they have finished the Peter Pan trilogy, they both have more children’s books in the works. Science Fair is about a middle school science fair that goes terribly, terribly wrong. It’s set in Washington D.C. and the science project at the center of the book is going to destroy the world, unless these kids can stop it. Barry’s suggestion for all teachers in the room is to sit the parents down at the beginning of the school year and say look, we need money, and if you don’t give it to us we are going to have a science fair! The dollars would come pouring in…. Pearson also told us he was approached by Disney (who publishes the Peter Pan books) and asked if he would write a crime book for kids that was set in DisneyWorld. He told them he would, provided he was given unlimited access to the park. He was set loose in the Magic Kingdom at 5:00 a.m. on several occasions and got to see them turning on the rides, and all the backstage stuff. The book that came out of that was called Kingdom Keepers. Next up for Mr. Pearson is a book called Steel Trap, a thriller about a 14 year old boy who has a “perfect memory”.

I headed over to the crime fiction panel of the day, featuring Joe Finder, Power Play; Nick Stone, Mr. Clarinet; Greg Iles, The Third Degree; and Ridley Pearson, Killer Weekend. Except I had just left Ridley at the Dave Barry/Ridley Pearson event, so I was curious how he was going to get to the next panel when his first panel was running so late. Answer solved: they just changed the name of the panel to 'waiting for Ridley', and announced he'd be joining them close to the end of the discussion.

I had met Nick Stone up in the author’s lounge, and was delighted to run into him again waiting for his panel to start. He is from Cambridge, and lives in London and has that wonderful British accent that most Americans just adore. He confided that he was a nervous wreck about speaking in public, but he did a fabulous job - he was charming and well spoken. He also told me that he used to be a boxer, which amazed me. His nose is just perfect, and he has all his own teeth! That’s because, he said, he was really good at it. He’s really good at writing too, judging from all the awards and accolades his Mr. Clarinet has received.

Joe Finder was engaging and charismatic as always. He talked a bit about his background, how he got into writing fiction after his first attempt at a journalistic look at Armand Hammer didn’t work out quite the way he thought it would. He also discovered that while his friends (and former co-workers) at the CIA wouldn’t talk to him at all as a journalist, as a novelist they were happy to open up. So were the CEO’s of some of the biggest and best known businesses in the country, and Joe found his niche as the John Grisham of the corporate world. He also shared a rather startling statistic with his audience: “60% of the CIA payroll is in the private sector.”

I was happy to share a little story with him about his latest, Power Play. I recommended it to a co-worker, a septuagenarian gentleman who told me he started reading it one night and literally couldn’t put it down – he stayed up all night reading, and in the early morning hours when his wife discovered what he was doing and demanded he come to bed, he told her he would – as soon as he finished the last chapter. He told me he couldn’t remember the last time he had stayed up all night reading, quite a kudo to Mr. Finder’s remarkable story.

Greg Iles is a really fine writer of very different books. He says every time he turns in a manuscript, his agent says, can’t you ever do anything the same twice? He sort of did with his first two books, they were both set during WWII but that was where the similarities ended. But he is doing it with his next book; he’s bringing back a character, Penn Cage, to another story. Cage has actually appeared in a few of Iles’ books, but this next one will have him center stage. He also talked about his recently released book, The Third Degree. It is based on a real life incident that he has turned into a novel that takes place in the span of seven hours. I haven’t read it yet, but it is in my to-be-read pile and I can’t wait.

Iles says that “insight is only bought with pain.” He feels that most writers’ books take a downward spiral in quality because they are forced to write a new book every year. For some writers, like Pearson, that’s not a problem. But for Iles it is, he says that really only gives him six months to write and he would really prefer a two year span between books to get it how he wants it. And I'm very sorry to say he talks like a man who is thinking about retirement.

Ridley (real name: Robert) Pearson shared that he is working on a new series that will be set in Sun Valley, Idaho, where he lived for 24 years. He says “there is a lot of insanity because there is so much money” and he’s got a lot of great story ideas already. He also told us that he feels a writers’ job is to suspend the readers’ disbelief, and if they don’t, the reader has every right to chuck the book against the wall. Personally, I’ve never heard of anyone doing that with one of Ridley’s books.

The Atlantic Monthly named Ralph Nader one of the "100 most influential Americans" and he’s an American icon in my opinion. I may not always agree with him, but I certainly wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to hear him speak, and it was my pleasure to do so at the fair. He has a book out called Seventeen Traditions, and it is a tribute to his parents and the way he was raised. He joked that it’s the first book he’s written that everyone has liked; people said it was a great Mother’s Day gift, then a great Father’s Day gift, and now they’re saying it’s a great holiday gift. He feels our nation has commercialized children to the crisis point, and with this book he hopes to remind people what childhood is really supposed to be about. From the stories he told, it is easy to see how he became the man that he is; whether or not you agree with him or his politics, no one can argue that he is an independent thinker with the courage of his convictions. And we need more like him.

Some of the traditions he spoke about were the importance of listening and why children need to be exposed to nature. Something that really struck me was a story he told about what his father said to him one night at dinner when he was 8 years old, and it stayed with him all these years. His father didn’t just ask him how was school today, instead he said, “What did you learn in school today, how to believe or how to think?” Nader said he often thought about that as he sat in classrooms all through high school and college and law school. He also spoke about the tradition of going to the library, and spoke warmly about his local library, the Beardsley & Memorial Library in Winsted, Connecticut.

Other traditions his parents fostered in him were independent thinking and the importance of charity. He said he parents didn’t preach these things, they lived them, and by his observing how they lived, he learned to live that way as well. He told another story about I think it was his sister seeing a street cleaner, and saying to her mother, I’m so glad I don’t have to do that job. Her mother remarked that’s why it’s important to respect people who do the work you don’t want to do, but want to have done – and that’s why they should be paid well for doing those jobs.

After Nader’s speech, questions were taken from the audience. The first question up was more of an accusation; the man said he felt like it was Nader’s fault that Gore lost the election in 2000 because of his Green Party nomination, and was obviously still very upset about it. His remarks garnered applause from at least half the audience, along with some booing from others. Nader showed the kind of man he is and answered the question head on. He spoke about his disgust with the corruption of our current administration and the two party system. He said that 25% of the Democrats in Florida voted for George Bush, and he pointed out that Bush “stole more votes from Gore” than he did. More questions were asked, but what struck me most was that he actually answered the questions he was asked, no matter how uncomfortable, so unlike any other politician or public figure I’ve ever seen.

The last speaker of the day was Chris Matthews, of MSNBC’s Hardball and NBC’s The Chris Matthews Show, and author of Life's a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation, and Success, his latest book. The co-chair of the book fair, Barbara Skigen, came out and tried to clear the room after Nader, asking everyone except the “friends” of the book fair to leave.

“Friends” contribute various sums of money to the book fair, depending on how good a “friend” they want to be, and these donations entitle them to wear a “friends” badge around their neck. It also gets them preferred, reserved seating at the front of the room at most of the events, especially the big name events like Matthews. But people weren’t moving; they had good seats or at least some seat for Nader, and they didn’t want to give it up. Meanwhile, hundreds of people had been queuing up for at least an hour (this room was still running about forty minutes late) out in the hall in two lines; the “friends” line which includes friends, media and author/guests, and another, much much longer line for every one else.

Last year the book fair started charging a modest $5 admission to the fair, but each event has always been on a first come, first serve basis, so if there was an author you were dying to see, you had better make sure you queued up early enough to get in. At fairs past (before I had media credentials) I had waited in line for more than an hour to be allowed in to stand in the way back of the room. Others, behind me in line, had been turned away from some events.

I was in the room so I don’t know exactly what was going on out in the hallway. Miami’s finest police officers were brought in, and about a dozen cops swarmed the room, checking everyone’s credentials to make sure no non-friends were still in the room. But they were, and a couple of them stood up and started shouting at Barbara Skigen that they didn’t want to leave. She suggested they get a bond issue on the ballot to build a bigger auditorium. She finally asked them to move to the back of the bus, I mean the back of the room, so they could let the “friends line” inside. A gentleman 'friend' came in and sat behind me and said that there were “thousands” of people waiting outside. A woman 'friend' sat next to me and I asked her what was going on. She said there “lots and lots” of people waiting for more than an hour. By this time it was about 5:30 or so, and the event was supposed to start at 5. She said no explanation was given as to why they were still waiting. They finally let them in a few at a time, and I don’t know that they ever let anyone in who was on the non-friends line. It’s a fairly large room, but I don’t know how many seats it holds – I would guess at least a few hundred, but obviously that wasn’t enough.

The book fair can’t call itself a free event anymore since they charge admission, but they probably need to note that paying admission does not get you into the big name events – only the “friends” are guaranteed that. Mitch Kaplan, founder and active leader of the fair, needs to take a look at how this is working, or not working, as the case may be. He was there for this brouhaha, I saw him at the front of the room briefly before he headed backstage. Hiding certainly wasn’t helpful in sorting the mess out.

Chris Matthews finally was introduced by a Miami attorney and old friend of his at 5:45. Matthews came out and said he thought he was at one of the old Democratic conventions; the Republicans would make an announcement asking people to clear the aisles and they would, the Dems would have those announcements and nobody would move.

He told some great stories, one in particular about when Reagan was shot. He said he was more severely injured than anyone knew, it was kept very quiet but he had lost about half the blood in his body and was near death. About a week later he was finally stabilized, and they decided they needed to let someone in, a visitor. Matthews noted that administration was familiar with the constitution, unlike our current one, and chose to invite Tip O’Neill, speaker of the house, leader of the opposition party, and in line for the presidency, something that never would have occurred to Cheney. One of the administration members was in the room when O’Neill came in. He recently recorded an oral history of what he saw at the University of Virginia. What he said was that Tip O’Neill was on his knees at Reagan’s bedside, and they were holding hands and praying together, reciting the 23rd psalm.

He also said that the difference between “grownups and bloggers” is that grownups have to pass each other in the hall. The point Matthews was trying to make, and that he tries to make in his book, is something he says he learned from Winston Churchill; to grin when you fight. Enjoy the argument, he says, and get loud (big surprise there!) When it gets quiet, get scared.

Recent college graduates would benefit most from this book. He says that kids go through school and every year they get promoted, they know where they are going. In college they’re asked what they dream about, and are pointed towards programs that can get them to their dream. But once they graduate, they need to learn how to ask for what they want. Matthews says “whatever door is open, squeeze through it.” I purchased a copy for my 22 year old son who recently graduated from college. I’m giving it to him for Chanukah, and I hope he finds it beneficial. I don’t have to worry about him reading about his gift here, he never reads my blog!

Matthews says that we are an attention deficit society; the average viewership for his show is 11 minutes. He also says that he hasn’t figured out the world yet, and he doesn’t have all the answers, “but O’Reilly does, and Keith does.” He also took questions at the end, and said Joe Biden doesn’t have a chance but he thinks he’s a good guy and will probably end up as Secretary of State.

Matthews thinks that Hillary has the best chance of becoming president, but that Bill needs to step back and stop distracting us. He compared her situation to a “really good, a great horror movie – the girl finally saves herself,” while in the bad, B-movie horror flicks, the guy saves her. He says she has the “highest floor and the lowest ceiling in politics.” He talked about how smart women are, and says that Giuliani is a tough guy, but we don’t need bravado, we need smarts. He talked about traditional families, and how it’s the women who are the administrators, they keep the checkbook, juggle all the appointments, know what’s going on with every family member. Men check out noises in the night.

Another interesting question was about how to get kids interested in politics and what’s going on in the world, and how to get them out to vote. Matthews gave a succinct, realistic and rather unfortunate answer: “reinstate the draft.”

I also learned that Matthews was a speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, and that his first job on Capitol Hill – after “knocking on 200 doors”, was as a “capitol cop.” He had a uniform and a gun, and spent his days putting his life on the line guarding a “room full of papers.” Turns out those were the Pentagon Papers he was guarding. Matthews has spent 36 years covering politics, and it sure seems like he’s loved every minute of it.

I stood in a very long, very fast moving line to have my book signed. Matthews was personable and charming, even though he must have been in a hurry – he’d been invited by University of Miami President Donna Shalala to join her for a historic evening at the Orange Bowl. In the Miami Hurricanes’ final game at their home of 70 years, they lost - Virginia 48, Miami 0.

Now mark your calendar: next year’s Miami Book Fair International is slated for November 9-16, 2008. Hope to see you there!

Anyone going to the Miami Book Fair?

I am so excited! So many authors, so little time.... Gail Tsukiyama, Kristin Gore, Dave Barry (of course) Chris Mathews (is he really that loud in person?) Ralph Nader (is he running again??) Richard Russo, MJ Rose, Greg Iles, Vince Flynn, Tim Dorsey, Jim Born, Jeffrey Toobin, Jeff Lindsay, Scott Turow, the list goes on and on and on and on and so do I....

So who's going?

Miami Book Fair

BUZZ YOUR BOOK!

I received this note from MJ Rose and thought I should share...

Dear Authors, Agents & Publishers,

Happy Fall! It's that time of year to announce that registration is
open for the 2008 one time only Buzz your Book class. January 7th to
February 8th, 2008. All online and in email plus a one hour consultation.
http://www.writersweekly.com/wwu/courses/marketing.html

"The best thing I did on behalf of my novel was take M.J. Rose's Buzz
Your Book class. She's sheer genius. It's hard for me to imagine
having done it without her."
--Joshua Henkin, MATRIMONY (Pantheon Oct 2007)


This isn't a theoretical course. I work individually with each student
on his/her marketing plan. Over the six weeks, you’ll learn how to
write a buzz line, figure out who your market is and unique ways to reach
them. Plus we're once again featuring guest instructor Matt Baldacci,
St. Martin's Press Marketing Director.

M.J.'s Buzz Your Book class is an imperative for promoting a book in
today's marketplace.
--Jennie Shortridge Eating Heaven (NAL/Penguin, Sept. 2005).


This class is open to authors who want to augment their publisher's
marketing efforts with grassroots marketing and publicists or marketing
folks who want to brainstorm some unique solutions for special books.

Class size is limited so sign up soon at:
http://www.writersweekly.com/wwu/courses/marketing.html

"I thought I knew a lot about online marketing before I enrolled in the
Buzz Your Book class. I was wrong: I've learned so much and come away
with a notebook full of creative, practical, and useful ideas and
action items that are now a core part of the online publicity campaign for
my book. This class is a real gem of a resource.
-- Natasha Kogan, The Daring Female's Guide to Ecstatic Living
(Hyperion, 2006)

And for all your other marketing needs, please write me at
AuthorBuzzco@aol.com to reserve spots in AuthorBuzz, BookClubbing, set
up BlogAd Campaigns or talk to me about radio and TV campaigns we're
now offering. We usually sell out three months in advance and are booking
late January and February books and onward right now.

Cheers,
M.J.

M.J. Rose
Author (http://www.mjrose.com) THE REINCARNATIONIST - SEPT 07
AuthorBuzz (http://www.authorbuzz.com)
Buzz, Balls & Hype (http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/buzz_balls_hype/)

J.K. Rowling outs Hogwarts character
By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer
10/20/07

Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall.

After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," she took questions from audience members.

She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love."

"Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause.

She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said of Dumbledore's feelings, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."

Dumbledore's love, she observed, was his "great tragedy."

"Oh, my god," Rowling concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction."

Potter readers on fan sites and elsewhere on the Internet have speculated on the sexuality of Dumbledore, noting that he has no close relationship with women and a mysterious, troubled past. And explicit scenes with Dumbledore already have appeared in fan fiction.

Rowling told the audience that while working on the planned sixth Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," she spotted a reference in the script to a girl who once was of interest to Dumbledore. A note was duly passed to director David Yates, revealing the truth about her character.

Rowling, finishing a brief "Open Book Tour" of the United States, her first tour here since 2000, also said that she regarded her Potter books as a "prolonged argument for tolerance" and urged her fans to "question authority."

Not everyone likes her work, Rowling said, likely referring to Christian groups that have alleged the books promote witchcraft. Her news about Dumbledore, she said, will give them one more reason.

Surprise! Internet actually a boon for books
Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:34am EDT

By Gavin Haycock

LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters Life!) - So much for longstanding predictions that the Internet would crush the book publishing industry with digital readers and online sales of used books.

Penguin publishers said this week that the explosion in online and second-hand retailing has not caused the damage they were expecting and that the Internet has in many ways been a boon for booksellers as a tool for marketing, experimentation and reaching out to the next generation of readers.

The publisher, whose authors include former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, novelist Nick Hornby and celebrity cook Jamie Oliver, was rattled by the threat of fast-growing online auction giants like EBay but has discovered that unlike the music industry people still want to own a physical book.

"There is a lot going on in the music publishing industry that is not going on in the book industry. Consumers don't want albums they want tracks and in publishing people want books not chapters," Penguin Chief Executive and Chairman John Makinson told journalists during a briefing earlier this week.

He said that although sales of second-hand books, which appear on online auction sites shortly after release have posed a threat to hardback business as well as subsequent paperback releases, the impact has not been as great as expected.

"The used book market doesn't seem to have made the inroads into the new book market we initially feared," he said.

Makinson cited the example of a U.S. woman who bought a Penguin classics collection of 1,375 titles for $8,000 after her house burnt down. The woman was briefly retained by Penguin to help it research how people grow and manage their collections.

New research and experimenting are industry buzzwords.

Bloomsbury said last month electronic media was a critical part of its future business, having already entered rights contracts with groups like Microsoft.

Last week, Penguin's owner Pearson launched www.spinebreakers.co.uk, a Web portal with video and audio book reviews aimed at and managed by teenagers.

"These are our readers of the future," said Makinson, adding that Spinebreakers also provides valuable strategic insight into how teens create and share publishing information via the Web.

ONLINE AUTHORS

Another Penguin project launched this month was a web-based novel writing competition run with Amazon and Hewlett Packard that attracted a manuscript every minute over its first days in the quest for a publishing deal and $25,000 advance. Amazon users will ultimately pick the winner next year.

Makinson said such experiments in digital publishing would help publishers like Penguin find new talent and learn about new manuscript filtering processes and online author communities.

Makinson said Penguin's sales via Web retailing in Britain and the United States, its main markets, accounted for around 8-9 percent of division revenues and were "growing quite fast".

Pearson, which also owns the pink-sheeted Financial Times newspaper and Economist magazine, is primarily an educational publisher with annual sales of around 4 billion pounds ($8.19 billion).

Penguin has invested heavily in mature western markets like the United States and Britain, but these are only generating book industry growth rates in line with national economic growth.

This has underpinned the drive into emerging markets like India where Makinson said 20-25 percent growth rates were achievable, China and South Africa.

Pearson, which publishers Rough Guides and Dorling Kindersley travel books has been digitally coding all its travel-related content so it can be used across mobile and Web applications. Makinson said the jury was still out on whether the enormous amount of travel literature via the Internet was depressing the market for travel publishing.

He said the genre was problematic for some publishers amid growing interest in publishing Chinese-language travel guides.

Makinson said there have been cases of publishers of Chinese travel guides not referring to historical events such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in which hundreds, perhaps thousands of peaceful student-led democracy demonstrators were killed by Chinese troops.

Penguin would "keep a careful watch" on this month's acquisition of travel publisher Lonely Planet by BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British state broadcaster, to see how far it might cross-promote the business in the publicly funded broadcaster and thereby hamper competition, he added.

2007 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

Doris Lessing was out grocery shopping near her home in London yesterday when the Swedish Academy announced she had won the 2007 Nobel Prize in literature. She returned from the store to find a media circus, the wire services reported.

The first serial audio thriller... from ITW and Audible.com

ITW and Audible are proud to announce the launch of the first-ever serial audio thriller... a collaboration between 15 distinguished international thriller writers who came together to create a single audiobook with each author contributing a chapter to the ongoing story.

With Jeffery Deaver opening and closing the story, and an author list that includes Lee Child, Lisa Scottoline, Joseph Finder, David Hewson, S. J. Rozan, and P. J. Parrish, The Chopin Manuscript is a unique venture that combines the cutting edge of downloadable audio book technology with the skills of some of the world's finest thriller authors working under the editorship of Jim Fusilli, who also contributes a chapter.

You can read more on our special mini-site here. And to go straight to The Chopin Manuscript home page on Audible, where you can listen to the first chapter for free and find videos of some of the authors taking part, and more background material, go here.

To read what some of those who took part think, among them Jeffery Deaver and editor/contributor Jim Fusilli, visit our new interview section here.

The Chopin Manuscript is voiced by the award-winning actor Alfred Molina and tells the tale of former war crimes investigator Harold Middleton who possesses a priceless, previously-unknown manuscript by Frederic Chopin. Within the notes of this work, which was originally found and hidden by the Nazis during World War II, lies a secret that has left death in its wake – and could kill tens of thousands more.

It is being delivered serially. Readers will receive a new installment of 2-3 chapters every Tuesday, beginning September 25th. Those who purchase the book after October 2nd will receive all the previous chapters, then get new chapters the following Tuesdays. The final, thrilling installment will be delivered on Tuesday, November 13th.

The authors:

Jeffery Deaver: Chapters 1 (September 25th), 16 and 17 (November 13th) – New York Times bestselling author of The Cold Moon.

David Hewson: Chapter 2 (September 25th) – Author of The Seventh Sacrament.

James Grady: Chapter 3 (September 25th) – Author of Three Days of the Condor.

S.J. Rozan: Chapter 4 (October 2nd) – Award-winning author of the Bill Smith/Lydia Chin series.

Erica Spindler: Chapter 5 (October 2nd) – Her new book, Last Known Victim, will hit stores in October.

John Ramsey Miller: Chapter 6 (October 9th) – Author of Too Far Gone.

David Corbett: Chapter 7 (October 9th) – Author of Blood of Paradise.

John Gilstrap: Chapter 8 (October 16th) – Author of Scott Free and Nathan’s Run.

Joseph Finder: Chapter 9 (October 16th) – New York Times bestselling author of Paranoia, Killer Instinct and Power Play.

Jim Fusilli: Chapter 10 (October 23rd) – Serial Thriller project editor and author of the Terry Orr series.

Peter Spiegelman: Chapter 11 (October 23rd) – Author of John March series.

Ralph Pezullo: Chapter 12 (October 30th) – Author of fiction works such as Eve Missing and nonfiction works such as Jawbreaker.

Lisa Scottoline: Chapter 13 (October 30th) – New York Times bestselling author of Dirty Blonde and Daddy’s Girl.

P.J. Parrish: Chapter 14 (November 6th) – Author of An Unquiet Grave. Pseudonym of sisters Kristy Montee and Kelly Nichols.

Lee Child: Chapter 15 (November 6th) – New York Times bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series.

Library of Congress Announces Award-Winning Authors To Participate in Seventh Annual National Book Festival

The Librarian of Congress and Laura Bush Invite Book Lovers of All Ages To Celebrate the Joy of Reading and Lifelong Literacy on the National Mall on Sept. 29
SPECIAL NOTE: A media repository is accessible, for press to download background materials, high-resolution images, video and audio sound bites, b-roll and other audiovisual resources, as well as to request interviews with participating authors. This information can be accessed via the Press Registration link at www.loc.gov/bookfest.

The 2007 National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress and hosted by Mrs. Laura Bush, will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between 7th and 14th streets (rain or shine). The festival is free and open to the public.

"This will be the seventh year of this extraordinary celebration of the joy of reading and the creativity of America’s writers and illustrators," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "The National Book Festival brings authors and readers together to share the stories that touch their minds and hearts. Tens of thousands of book lovers see firsthand how reading changes lives and how our country, its citizens and its libraries promote reading in imaginative and inspiring ways."

"The National Book Festival welcomes all Americans to the National Mall to celebrate reading and meet with some of America’s most-loved authors from across the country," said Mrs. Bush. "Readers of all ages can discover the joys of new books and fall in love again with old favorites."

The 2007 National Book Festival is made possible with generous support from Distinguished Benefactor Target; Charter Sponsors AT&T, The Amend Group and The Washington Post; Patrons AARP, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the James Madison Council and the National Endowment for the Arts; and Contributors Barnes & Noble, the Library of Congress Federal Credit Union, Marshall and Dee Ann Payne, NBA/WNBA, PBS, Penguin Group (USA) and Scholastic Inc.

This year about 70 well-known authors, illustrators and poets will talk about their books in the following pavilions: Children; Teens & Children; Fiction & Fantasy; Mysteries & Thrillers; History & Biography; Home & Family; and Poetry. Festivalgoers can have books signed by their favorite authors, and children can meet ever-popular storybook and television characters and NBA/WNBA players appearing on the festival grounds throughout the day.

Participating authors include fiction and fantasy writers Joyce Carol Oates, Jodi Picoult, Harry Turtledove, Edward P. Jones and Terry Pratchett. The History & Biography pavilion will feature Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Kennedy; Ken Burns and Geoffrey Ward, authors of "War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945"; Michael Beschloss, whose most recent book is "Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America"; and ABC News correspondent and author Jan Crawford Greenburg.

Authors and illustrators of books for children and teens include Coretta Scott King award winner Ashley Bryan; Newbery Medal winner Patricia MacLachlan; 2007 Newbery Honor winner Jennifer Holm; 2007 Caldecott winner David Wiesner; M.T. Anderson, winner of the 2006 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature; Gene Luen Yang, who received the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults; and Rosemary Wells, the recipient of numerous awards and citations.

Popular authors in the Mysteries & Thrillers pavilion include J.A. Jance, Lisa Scottoline, David Baldacci, Deborah Crombie and Stephen L. Carter. In the Home & Family pavilion, book lovers will meet, among others, barbecue king Steve Raichlen; Emmy award-winning chief medical correspondent for CNN Dr. Sanjay Gupta; and Cat Cora from Food Network’s Iron Chef America.

The newly appointed U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic will be featured in the Poetry pavilion. Also participating will be Jack Prelutsky, who has been named by the Poetry Foundation as the nation’s first Children’s Poet Laureate. Other prize-winning poets in the pavilion will include Kevin Prufer, Jon Stallworthy, Anne Stevenson and Diane Thiel.

In the Teens & Children pavilion, the national student winners of the Letters About Literature program will read their personal letters to authors who inspired them. Sponsored by the Library’s Center for the Book with support from Target, this reading and writing promotion program invites young readers in grades 4-12 to write personal letters to authors, past or present, who have changed their views of the world or of themselves. Each year, winners are selected at the state and national levels. As the project’s corporate sponsor, Target awards the six national winners and their parents with a trip to the National Book Festival to share their winning letters with the festival audience. "It is inspiring to see the number of young people whose lives have been positively affected by a particular author or book," said Laysha Ward, vice president, community relations, Target. "Through its comprehensive support of early childhood reading, including the Letters About Literature program and the National Book Festival, Target is helping to instill a love of reading in kids as the foundation for lifelong learning."

The Pavilion of the States, sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), will highlight reading, literacy and library promotion activities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and several American trusts and territories. Representatives from the states and territories will welcome families and children interested in learning about writers and reading programs nationwide. IMLS representatives will also be providing information about its library initiatives, including the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program to recruit and educate the next generation of librarians. The Big Read programs in the states, sponsored by IMLS and the National Endowment for the Arts, will be featured in the pavilion.

In the popular Let’s Read America pavilion, there will be a wide variety of fun-filled reading promotion activities developed by festival sponsors for children.

The Library of Congress Pavilion will feature a variety of interactive family-centered activities illustrating the depth and breadth of the Library’s extraordinary collections available online. Computers will be available for both children and adults to explore the Library’s acclaimed Web site at www.loc.gov. Information about conserving photographs and valuable documents as well as the Library’s digital preservation program will be provided. The Library will share the latest technologies in film and audio preservation developed for its new Packard Campus in Culpeper, Va. A group of veterans who appeared in the Ken Burns film "The War" will be interviewed by Veterans History Project (VHP) historian Tom Wiener. Other VHP programs in the pavilion will feature editors of the upcoming publication "The Library of Congress Companion to World War II"; veterans whose stories are told in the 2008 Veterans History Project Wall Calendar; and veterans interviewed for the last published book by celebrated journalist David Halberstam ("The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War"). The use of VHP materials in the classroom will be showcased in a program where a teacher and students will demonstrate how to interview a veteran.

In addition to planning a range of activities for this year’s festival on the National Mall, the Library is offering a variety of ways for people around the country to participate in the event online. This summer, the Library will launch the National Book Festival Young Readers’ Online Toolkit (www.loc.gov/bookfest) to bring the festival into libraries, schools and homes across the country. The Toolkit will feature information about National Book Festival authors who write for children and teens, podcasts of their readings and teaching tools and activities for kids. This interactive resource also shows educators, parents and children how they can host their own book festivals.

Available again this year will be downloadable podcasts of interviews with popular participating authors. The Library will also present same-day coverage of the morning presentations on its Web site. All of the authors’ presentations will be available on the Library’s site the week following the festival.

In addition to the same-day webcasts, the Library will again collaborate with Book TV on C-SPAN2 to televise events taking place at the festival. The C-SPAN2 Book TV Bus, a mobile television studio with a multimedia demonstration center for the public, will also be on the National Mall.

Leading up to the festival, washingtonpost.com will host a series of online chats with authors appearing at the National Book Festival. These text-based discussions can be viewed daily, starting on Monday, Sept. 24, on the site at www.washingtonpost.com. The schedule of chats and authors’ names will be posted on the site and the Library’s site at www.loc.gov/bookfest. Participants can submit questions in advance or during the live discussion. Authors’ responses will be posted while the program is airing or at a later date on washingtonpost.com’s online discussion archives. Washington Post Radio will also be interviewing authors prior to the festival day.

The artist for this year’s festival is Mercer Mayer, whose work brings a magical quality to the 2007 National Book Festival poster. Mayer will be among the authors and illustrators speaking in the Children’s Pavilion. Posters featuring his digital painting will be available free of charge at the festival.

The Junior League of Washington will again have hundreds of volunteers to help with the National Book Festival.

A preliminary list of participating authors, illustrators and poets, their books, and other activities in each presentation pavilion follows. For more information about them and the festival, visit www.loc.gov/bookfest.

CHILDREN (sponsored by AT&T)
María Celeste Arrarás, "The Magic Cane"
Ashley Bryan/Jan Spivey Gilchrist, "My America"
Carmen Deedy, "Martina the Beautiful Cockroach: A Cuban Folktale"
Mercer Mayer, "The Bravest Knight" and "There’s a Nightmare in My Closet"
Megan McDonald, "Judy Moody & Stink: The Holly Joliday"
Judy Schachner, "Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones"
Rosemary Wells, "Red Moon at Sharpsburg" and "Max’s ABCs"
David Wiesner, "Flotsam"
Jacqueline Wilson, "Candyfloss"
NBA/WNBA

TEENS & CHILDREN (sponsored by Target)
M.T. Anderson, "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1"
Holly Black, "Ironside"
Jennifer Holm, "Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf"
Gail Carson Levine, "Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand"
Patricia MacLachlan, "Edward’s Eyes"
Patricia McCormick, "Sold"
Shelia P. Moses, "The Baptism"
Cynthia Leitich Smith, "Tantalize"
Gene Luen Yang, "American Born Chinese"
Letters About Literature

FICTION & FANTASY (sponsored by the James Madison Council)
Edward P. Jones, "All Aunt Hagar’s Children"
Thomas Mallon, "Fellow Travelers"
Sena Jeter Naslund, "Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette"
Joyce Carol Oates, "The Gravedigger’s Daughter"
Jodi Picoult, "Nineteen Minutes"
Terry Pratchett, "Making Money"
Jeff Shaara, "The Rising Tide"
Lalita Tademy, "Red River"
Harry Turtledove, "The Gladiator"
Susan Vreeland, "Luncheon of the Boating Party"

HISTORY & BIOGRAPHY (sponsored by AARP)
Diane Ackerman, "The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story"
Michael Beschloss, "Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America
1789-1989"
Ken Burns/Geoffrey Ward, "The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945"
Jan Crawford Greenburg, "Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court"
David M. Kennedy, "The Library of Congress World War II Companion"
Michael B. Oren, "Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present"
Arnold Rampersad, "Ralph Ellison: A Biography"
Meryle Secrest, "Shoot the Widow: Adventures of a Biographer in Search of Her Subject"
James Swanson, "Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer"
Douglas L. Wilson, "Lincoln’s Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words"

HOME & FAMILY (sponsored by Target)
Ann Amernick, "The Art of the Dessert"
Cat Cora, "Cooking from the Hip: Fast, Easy, Phenomenal Meals"
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, "Chasing Life: New Discoveries in the Search for Immortality to Help You Age Less Today"
Doro Bush Koch, "My Father, My President: A Personal Account of the Life of George H. W. Bush"
Judith Martin, "No Vulgar Hotel/The Desire and Pursuit of Venice"
Joan Nathan, "The New American Cooking"
Nancy Pearl, "Book Crush"
Martha Raddatz, "A Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family"
Steve Raichlen, "How to Grill"
Victoria Rowell, "The Women Who Raised Me"
Patricia Schultz, "1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die"

MYSTERIES & THRILLERS (sponsored by The Amend Group)
David Baldacci, "Simple Genius"
Stephen L. Carter, "New England White"
Deborah Crombie, "Water Like a Stone"
Brian Haig, "Man in the Middle"
Carolyn Hart, "Set Sail for Murder"
Stephen Hunter, "The 47th Samurai"
David Ignatius, "Body of Lies"
J. A. Jance, "Justice Denied"
Lisa Scottoline, "Daddy’s Girl"
Daniel Silva, "The Secret Servant"

POETRY (sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts)
Francisco Hernández, "Connecting Lines: New Poetry from Mexico"
N. Scott Momaday, "The Way to Rainy Mountain" and "House Made of Dawn"
Jack Prelutsky, "The Wizard" and "In Aunt Giraffe’s Green Garden"
Kevin Prufer, "Fallen from a Chariot"
Jon Stallworthy, "Body Language"
Anne Stevenson, "Stone Milk"
Diane Thiel, "Echolocations"
Kevin Young, "For the Confederate Dead"
U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic, "My Noiseless Entourage: Poems"
Poetry Out Loud

Your chance to be immortalized in Rick Mofina's new thriller

Enter a global draw to have a minor character named after you in Rick's new standalone thriller, SIX SECONDS, coming January 2009 from MIRA Books.

For details go to one of the world's leading authorities on crime fiction, SHOTS. http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/ Go to the ticking clock on the bottom right. Deadline for entries is October 20, 2007.

MYSTERY FICTION REVIEW SITE NOMINATED FOR MAJOR AWARD

Los Angeles, CA - 11 Sept -- The internet crime fiction review web site,
www.reviewingtheevidence.com has been nominated for an Anthony Award, to be presented at the upcoming gathering of hundreds of mystery writers, editors and fans, Bouchercon. The event will take place this year September 27 - 30 in Anchorage, Alaska.

The six year old site is a totally cyber entity. Its editor, Sharon Wheeler, works from Cheltenham, England, where she also teaches journalism at the University of Gloucestershire. The site’s founder and publisher, Barbara Franchi, lives in Los Angeles, which is also her home base for her travels as a contributor to the PBS series, Antiques Roadshow. The site’s reviews are written by a team of authors, librarians and mystery aficionados scattered across the U.S. and around the globe.

The Anthony Awards, named after famed mystery writer, editor and founder of the Mystery Writers of America, Anthony Boucher, are among the most prestigious in a genre that was once a quiet backwater of the literary world, but now regularly produces books that dominate the best seller lists.

Nominated in the Special Services category, the site presents twenty new reviews each week. It also features a commentary on the current mystery fiction scene and author interviews by Ms. Wheeler plus a complete archive of its past critiques.

Congratulations on a well deserved nomination!

Shocking statistics?

I was reading an article in the NY Times and came across these statistics, which I found shockingly surprising.

"...there are 78 million boomers — roughly three times the number of teenagers — and most of them are Internet users who learned computer skills in the workplace. Indeed, the number of Internet users who are older than 55 is roughly the same as those who are aged 18 to 34, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, a market research firm."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/technology/12social.html?em&ex=1189828800&en=dba0be3c324d09fd&ei=5087%0A

So I have to ask: am I the only one surprised by these numbers?

Winners of the 2007 Hugo Awards were announced on Saturday during Nippon 2007, the 65th World Science Fiction Convention, in Yokohama, Japan:

Best Novel: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (Tor)
Best Novella: A Billion Eves by Robert Reed (Asimov's, Oct./Nov. 2006)
Best Novelette: The Djinn's Wife by Ian McDonald (Asimov's, July 2006)
Best Short Story: "Impossible Dreams" by Tim Pratt (Asimov's, July 2006)
Best Related Non-Fiction Book: James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips (St. Martin's)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Pan's Labyrinth, screenplay and directed by Guillermo del Toro (Picturehouse)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Who--"Girl in the Fireplace," written by Steven Moffat, directed by Euros Lyn (BBC Wales/BBC1)
Best Editor, Long Form: Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Best Editor, Short Form: Gordon Van Gelder
Best Professional Artist: Donato Giancola
Best Semiprozine: Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong and Liza Groen Trombi
Best Fanzine: Science-Fiction Five-Yearly edited by Lee Hoffman, Geri Sullivan and Randy Byers
Best Fan Writer: Dave Langford
Best Fan Artist: Frank Wu

The winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, sponsored by Dell Magazines and administered on their behalf by the World Science Fiction Society: Naomi Novik

Young: Look who avails Chicks' controversial film in Waco

By JOHN YOUNG
Cox News Service
Tuesday, August 07, 2007

WACO, Texas — In the Bible, the vision of a burning bush causes Moses to put down everything he's doing and to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

The charge of which I now speak is not so consuming. Still ...

Though I had earthly chores aplenty, I felt the call to stop everything and open a video rental store in Waco.

The store wouldn't be big. In fact, it would have only one section. Only one film, actually, and one copy of it. Low overhead.

That film: The Dixie Chicks' "Shut Up and Sing."

I was ready to rent it to you and yours.

Because, otherwise you wouldn't be able to rent it in Waco.

I'm not a big Dixie Chicks fan. Never purchased one of their CDs. But on PBS I saw the Chicks perform pieces from their latest album, "Taking the Long Way," and knew why the CD won five Grammy awards. I also knew why it won zero County Music Association Awards.

We all know what this is about: The Chicks' unapologetic opposition to the invasion of Iraq. The tempest that ensued, including radio station boycotts and death threats.

That's what "Shut Up and Sing" is about. The subtitle says, "Freedom of speech is fine, as long as you don't do it in public."

The firestorm started when, with the group performing in London on the eve of the invasion, lead singer Natalie Maines said, "We're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas."

You all argue among yourselves about that 'un.

My concern was seeing what all the fuss was about, and without plunking down $19.95 for a DVD.

I kept waiting for "Shut Up and Sing" to pop up on the "new releases" marquee at the video rental I patronize. When I asked, an employee told me that the store had abstained because of the film's controversial theme.

I tried to confirm this assertion with a regional manager. I found that getting ahold of someone who would confirm or deny this assertion was like asking to interview Dick Cheney without Fox News credentials.

So, I started calling a succession of Waco's video stores, mostly chains. No "Shut Up" for rental. Hmmm. I did find two copies for purchase at separate retailers. That's the $19.95 I had no intention of surrendering. What to do?

One problem is that I no longer knew how to contact my friend Jerry. He's the one-time convenience-store employee who supplied for me a copy of Martin Scorcese's "Last Temptation of Christ," in a brown envelope, back in 1988.

That controversial film was stopped at every port in our landlocked city — not shown in theaters; couldn't rent it; couldn't buy it; the cable company blocked it on Showtime.

Three summers ago when Waco theaters weren't showing "Fahrenheit 9/11," I tried to hook Michael Moore up with Jerry so that we in Waco could see what all the fuss was about. Moore liked my idea but took my middle man out of the equation. Sorry, Jerry. He sent the film to peace groups who cued it up in the Crawford High School football stadium parking lot before some 3,000 people.

Now here we are in 2007 with a similar problem, and no Jerry to facilitate. So deeply did I feel about the right of people in our community to decide for themselves on matters like "Shut Up and Sing" that I said to myself, "OK. I'm going into video rental."

I would buy the video for $19.95, and then would rent it to you and yours to recoup my investment.

I'm so happy to tell you I didn't have to do that. I didn't because I made one more call. I should have thought about it first:

The public library.

The Waco-McLennan County Library has a copy of "Shut Up and Sing." It will loan you that copy for free if you have a library card. This means I won't have to rent it to you. That's a relief. I already had enough on my hands leading various tribes out of the wilderness.

I told reference librarian Sean Sutcliffe about my problems renting the video. We speculated that this might be a problem elsewhere in America's heartland. Then he did a computer search for the title in other libraries in the country. Publicly supported beacons of free inquiry popped up on his screen by the hundreds.

What a country.


John Young is Opinion Page editor of the Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald.