The Macavity Award Nominations 2007
(for works published in 2006)

The Macavity Awards are nominated and voted on by members of Mystery Readers International. Winners will be announced at Bouchercon in Anchorage, AK during opening ceremonies, Time and Date TBA.

Congratulations to all the nominees!

Best Novel
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black [John Banville] (Picador)
The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The Dead Hour by Denise Mina (Bantam)
The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard (Ballantine)
Piece of My Heart by Peter Robinson (McClelland & Stewart)
All Mortal Flesh by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Minotaur)

Best First Novel
Consigned to Death by Jane K. Cleland (Minotaur)
47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers by Troy Cook (Capital Crime Press)
King of Lies by John Hart (Minotaur)
A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read (Mysterious)
Mr. Clarinet by Nick Stone (Michael Joseph Ltd/Penguin)

Best Nonfiction
Mystery Muses: 100 Classics That Inspire Today's Mystery Writers edited by Jim Huang and Austin Lugar (Crum Creek)
The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder by Daniel Stashower (Dutton)
Don't Murder Your Mystery: 24 Fiction Writing Techniques To Save Your Manuscript From Ending Up D.O.A. by Chris Roerden (Bella Rosa Books)

Best Short Story
"Provenance" by Robert Barnard (EQMM, Jul 2006)
"Disturbance in the Field" by Roberta Isleib (Seasmoke: Crime Stories by New England Writers, edited by Kate Flora, Ruth McCarty, & Susan Oleksiw; Level Best Books)
"Til Death DUs Part" by Tim Maleeny (MWA Presents Death DUs Part: New Stories about Love, Lust, and Murder, edited by Harlan Coben; Little, Brown)

Sue Feder Historical Mystery
The Lightning Rule by Brett Ellen Block (Morrow)
Oh Danny Boy by Rhys Bowen (Minotaur)
The Bee's Kiss by Barbara Cleverly (Constable & Robinson)
Dark Assassin by Anne Perry (Ballantine)
Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear (Holt)

COUNTDOWN TO THRILLERFEST: THREE WEEKS!

Author Bingo - this one's for the fans...

So you registered early, booked your hotel, spent hours perusing the schedule to make the most of every minute, but perhaps you're still wondering....how do I cross that divide? You know, the one between the authors up there on the panels, and the fans back there in the audience. Us and them. What excuse can you use to mosey on up to your favorite authors?

ThrillerFest Chair M. Diane Vogt told me, “One of the most consistent themes we heard from evaluations of ThrillerFest 2006 was how much people enjoyed the atmosphere of intimacy we created and how accessible the authors were to the fans. To capitalize on this unique feature and enhance the experience this year, we’ve created ITW Author Bingo.”

The game is a version of Bingo (the most popular game in the world), but the cards consist of questions and answers of various little-known facts about attending authors. The answers can only be found by actually asking the authors during the span of ThrillerFest. The game will begin when you pick up your Bingo cards at the registration desk and will culminate at the ThrillerMaster Auction on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. when James Patterson will draw the lucky winner.

Someone at ThrillerFest obviously gave this a lot of thought. Some of us are shy - that goes for the writers as well as the readers. Some of us may be afraid we won't know what to say when we are finally face to face with the person we really came here hoping to meet. Hint: gushing about an author’s books is always a good choice! But if you're not a gusher, what can you do?

Elizabeth Reinhardt, ThrillerFest’s Conference Coordinator, prepared this terrific icebreaker and has all the inside info on how to play - and what you can win!

BookBitch: So I hear we are going to be playing bingo at ThrillerFest. Should I steal granny's bingo markers?
Elizabeth Reinhardt: It's going to be lots of fun, and you won't need to upset granny for this one.

BB: Who gets to play?
Liz: Anyone attending ThrillerFest.

BB: How do you play? What do you have to do?
Liz: We have been doing a little detective work, and I think we have come up with some of the most interesting little-known-facts about our ThrillerFest authors. These will be distributed between ten different Bingo cards, and the only way to fill the square is with the correct answer - that's when the attendees will get the chance to be detectives. They will be given plenty of chances to interact with the authors, ask questions, gather answers, and create Bingos.

BB: That sounds pretty easy. So the big question is, how do you win?
Liz: Create as many correct Bingos as possible! On Saturday afternoon, we will have a spotlight interview with James Patterson. At the end, we will place all of the correct Bingo cards on the stage and Mr. Patterson will draw two winners.

BB: What are the prizes?
Liz: One winner will receive an entire collection of signed Alex Cross books and will have their photo taken with ThrillerMaster 2007 James Patterson, and the other winner will be given a free registration for ThrillerFest 2008!

BB: Anything else I need to know?
Liz: The name of the game is have fun and meet as many ITW authors as possible!

Sounds like a plan. Thanks, Liz!

2nd ANNUAL FLORIDA BOOK AWARDS COMPETITION OPENS

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.

- The Florida Book Awards is an annual program established in 2006 that recognizes, honors, and celebrates the best Florida literature published the previous year. After a very successful inaugural set of competitions in 2006, Florida Book Awards opens competition for 2007. Authors who have residency in Florida may submit works of fiction or poetry that have a publication date between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007. Non-fiction works on a Florida topic published in 2007 may be submitted by any author. All submissions must be received by the judges no later than 5:00 p.m. on Monday, January 7, 2008. Complete submission instructions may be found at http://www.fsu.edu/~ams/bookawards. Submissions are accepted in the following seven categories: General Fiction, Florida Nonfiction, Spanish Language Book, Poetry, Young Adult Literature, Children´s Literature, and Popular Fiction. Each submission is read by a jury of three members nominated from across the state by cosponsoring organizations. Jurors are authorized to select up to five medalists (including one winner and one runner-up) in each of the seven categories.

It is coordinated by The Florida State University Program in American and Florida Studies, and co-sponsored by the Florida Center for the Book, State Library and Archives of Florida, Florida Historical Society, Florida Humanities Council, Florida Literary Arts Coalition, Florida Library Association, "Just Read, Florida!," Governor´s Family Literacy Initiative, Florida Association for Media in Education, Florida Center for the Literary Arts, and Florida Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America.

To learn more about Florida Book Awards, visit:
http://www.fsu.edu/~ams/.

COUNTDOWN TO THRILLERFEST: 4 WEEKS!

There will be so much excitement at ThrillerFest between CraftFest, the author spotlight interviews, the panels, the lunches, the auctions, the banquets, the parties! A little relaxation is called for, and who better to provide it than ITW President David Morrell?

For those who would rather not spend the evening enjoying the excitement of New York City, Friday night from 7-8:30, all ThrillerFest attendees are invited to “The Making of a ThrillerWriter.” Join David for a brief lecture followed by a screening of one of his favorite TV shows: ROUTE 66. I had lots of questions, like why Route 66? And would popcorn be served? Here’s what David had to say:

When I was 17 and going nowhere, my life changed on the first Friday of October
in 1960. I can even be specific about the time: 8:30 pm.
That's when the first episode of ROUTE 66 premiered, and I'm still deeply
influenced by the experience.

With overtones of Jack Kerouac's ON
THE ROAD, the series was about two young men in a Corvette convertible who drove
across the United States in search of America and themselves. Ironically,
the stories seldom took place on the famed highway for which the series was
named. Instead, the production crew (two huge eighteen-wheeler trucks)
criss-crossed the country. Not one scene was ever filmed in a
studio.

Few super-highways existed then. Communities tended
to be distinctive. Most of the locations have now been destroyed. As
a consequence, the 116 episodes of the series are a vivid depiction of America
from 1960-1964, an America that no longer exists.

The series
featured great directors (such as Robert Altman and Sam Peckinpah) and
exciting actors (such as Robert Redford and Tuesday Weld). Each
week, Nelson Riddle contributed an original score. But the main strength
of the show is that two-thirds of the scripts were written by Stirling
Silliphant, who eventually received an Oscar for IN THE HEAT OF THE
NIGHT.

Silliphant's scripts were an intriguing blend of intense
action and philosophic/poetic speeches that had a flavor of Tennessee Williams
combined with William Inge and Arthur Miller. His writing so knocked me
out that I wrote him a letter, explaining my sudden ambition to follow his
path. The long letter he sent me in return contains all the advice a
writer needs: "Write, write, keep writing, and then write more."
That letter is framed next to my desk.

He and I stayed in touch
over the years, and eventually I was thrilled to work with him when he served as
executive producer for the NBC miniseries of my novel THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE
ROSE.

The episode I'm going to show is called BIRDCAGE ON MY
FOOT. The guest star is Robert Duval. The location is Boston.
The script is by Silliphant. It's one of the very best episodes of the
series, and it illustrates why ROUTE 66 is one of the all-time great television
experiences.

Alas, I won't be serving popcorn.

Hope to see you there!

Stacy Alesi
I am the BookBitch
http://www.bookbitch.com

Borders must pay overdue overtime

A federal judge in Chicago ordered Borders bookstore in Oak Park to reinstate wrongfully fired employee Clarice Prange, and ordered Borders to pay her $333,229 in unpaid overtime and for time and expenses lost due to the company's retaliation against her for filing her lawsuit in April 2005. Prange, an hourly employee, worked 4,170 hours of unpaid overtime from 2001 to 2004 in hopes of winning a promotion and on the promise of compensatory time off, said her attorney, Jac A. Cotiguala. U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman also ordered Borders to pay legal fees, which are estimated at $500,000 to $600,000

http://www.suntimes.com/business/429029,CST-FIN-tick15.article

COUNTDOWN TO THRILLERFEST: 4 WEEKS!

One of the highlights of ThrillerFest ‘06 was the auction. Brad Meltzer was the auctioneer and people walked away with baskets of goodies donated by some of the biggest names in the thriller community – Steve Berry, Sandra Brown, Lee Child, Linda Fairstein, Tess Gerritsen, R.L. Stine and many others. Baskets were filled with amazing one-of-a-kind items like rare manuscript pages, a handwritten letter, photographs, signed books and even a beautiful gold & diamond butterfly ring, courtesy of MJ Rose.

But this year ThrillerFest is promising to be even bigger and better. They are not just having an auction, there are going to be two auctions! I checked in with the committee in charge, Shane Gericke and Britin Haller, and they were happy to answer my questions.

BB: I understand you guys are in charge of the auctions. There are two? What's up with that?

SHANE: We’re aiming at two different audiences this year—CraftFest, for writers working on their craft, and ThrillerMaster, for fans, authors and general attendees. So I asked everyone to consider making two separate donations. The level of “yes” was remarkable. I still don’t know how we got so many world-class authors to make such superb gifts.

BRITIN: We blackmailed them with pictures.

SHANE: Oh, right. And it worked so well, too . . .

BB: I know the schedule is up, but the authors are busy looking to see what panels they're on, and the fans are busy trying to figure out how to be in three places at once. So when and where are the auctions?

BRITIN: The CraftFest auction will be held on Thursday, during the Dangerous Vegetables and the Simple Truth luncheon.

SHANE: Saturday afternoon plays host to the big ThrillerMaster Reception and Charity Auction, and features our ThrillerMaster 2007 himself, James Patterson.

BB: What kind of stuff are you auctioning off?

SHANE: Take home your bite of the Big Apple by becoming a character in a thriller! Imagine yourself as a spy in a Gayle Lynds espionage tale. A tough guy in a Lee Child extravaganza. Sinner, saint, or something else, courtesy of David Morrell, M.J. Rose, Jeffery Deaver, Tess Gerritsen, James Rollins, Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child or other world-class author. And in a “two-fer” exclusive to ThrillerFest 2007, Jon Land will make you a character in a thriller and in his next movie screenplay.

BRITIN: But character namings are only part of the fun. You’ll win “something special” from Brad Meltzer. Share a drink with R.L. Stine of Goosebumps fame, break bread with the editor of a big New York publishing house. Win a character naming plus meal with Grant Blackwood . . . see your own manuscript reviewed by Shirley Kennett . . .

SHANE: . . . win a sunset cruise with Douglas Preston, in Maine, on his very own lobster boat . . . er, yacht! Take home an original, signed, Joseph Finder manuscript . . . let all thirteen Killer Year 2007 authors sign and ship their debuts to you when they’re hot off the presses . . . chat with your favorite author over a meal or drinks . . . learn book-promotion secrets from the master, M.J. Rose . . . have a sailboat named after you in a Christine Kling novel. And that’s not all! Call in the next ten minutes and we’ll include a free set of ginzu knives just for ordering. But wait! Call in the next three minutes and . . .

BRITIN: Down, boy! All kidding aside, Shane's a machine. He's done a terrific job on this auction, and he's just getting started. I take off my crown to him.

SHANE: Oh, no, you have to keep it, Britin. You look so regal it in, and besides, I don’t have enough hair to hold the pins any more . . .

BB: Are you looking for more stuff, and if so, like what?

BRITIN: Donations are coming in as we speak, and we have several big-name authors we're still hoping to obtain commitments from. We're also seeking a behind the scenes—

SHANE: MORE, MORE, WE NEED MORE . . .

BB: Will there be a fast talking auctioneer? Care to drop names?

BRITIN: Of course. The one and only Jeremiah Healy will be doing the honors at both auctions.

BB: What are you going to do with all the money you raise?

BRITIN: I've always wanted to go to the South Seas, and Shane does still have that pesky gambling debt, so if there's any left over....

SHANE: Hey, I paid my bookies just this week! So all the money can go to our favorite literacy programs.

BB: And they are?

SHANE: ITW will donate a portion of the proceeds to the James Patterson PageTurner Awards (www.pattersonpageturner.org), which grants $500,000 in cash prizes to “celebrate the people, companies, schools and institutions who find original and effective ways to spread the excitement of books and reading,” and Reading Is Fundamental (www.rif.org), the nation’s largest children’s literacy organization.

BB: Anything else you'd like to share?

BRITIN: Bid High and Bid Fast.

SHANE: Just bid high. Auctioneer Jerry will take care of the fast!

A passenger after my own heart...

I loved this story: a man was behaving erratically on a flight from Minneapolis to Boston and a couple of the passengers helped out the flight attendants and subdued him. But what I loved was this happy ending:

>>Hayden's wife [Hayden was one of the passengers who subdued the guy] of 42 years, Katie, who was also on the flight, was less impressed. Even as her husband struggled with the agitated passenger, she barely looked up from "The Richest Man in Babylon," the book she was reading.

"The woman sitting in front of us was very upset and asked me how I could just sit there reading," Katie Hayden said. "Bob's been shot at. He's been stabbed. He's taken knives away. He knows how to handle those situations. I figured he would go up there and step on somebody's neck, and that would be the end of it. I knew how that situation would end. I didn't know how the book would end."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/06/05/graying_duo_keep_passenger_in_check/ger_in_check/

http://tinyurl.com/2n8bqc

SAILING TO THRILLERFEST!

I am thrilled to be going to ThrillerFest 2007 in 8 weeks - but I'm just flying up to NY from south Florida. Ho hum.

Author Christine Kling had a better idea. She's sailing from Fort Lauderdale to ThrillerFest! She's trying to leave this weekend via Grand Bahama Island if the winds behave, otherwise she'll head up on the Intracoastal. Either way, she's going to be blogging about her trip, posting pictures along the way, and also working on her new stand alone thriller so she'll be blogging about that too. Check it out: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/kling/

Pick up a copy of her latest book, WRECKER'S KEY, where heroine Seychelle Sullivan finds some danger on the high seas....

As Chris likes to say, Fair Winds!

THRILLERFEST - FOR FREE!?!

Are you a debut author with a book out in 2007 or 2008? Would you love to attend ThrillerFest 2007 in New York City but haven't quite figured out how to pay for it?

ITW is offering two scholarships for debut authors to attend ThrillerFest 2007 in New York City July 11-15. The scholarship is for the conference registration fee, CraftFest, and the Thriller Awards Dinner. Lodging and transportation is not offered as part of the scholarship.

CRITERIA: You must have a book published or scheduled for publication in 2007 or 2008 by an ITW recognized publisher. You do not have to be an ITW member to apply.

To apply, you must send the following information to the Scholarship Committee Chair, Allison Brennan at allison@allisonbrennan.com:

NameContact information (address, phone number and email)
Pen Name (if any)
Book Title
Publisher
Editor
Release date (tentative is okay)
Brief synopsis (one page or less)
Essay telling the committee in 500 words or less why you would like to attend ThrillerFest and what you hope to gain from the experience.

All submissions are blind. Only the committee chair will have the identity of the author; the synopsis and essay will be sent "blind" to the committee for review and discussion. The deadline for applications is May 31, 2007. The two scholarship winners will be notified by June 7, 2007. If you have any questions, please email the committee chair at allison@allisonbrennan.com.

THE OVERLOOK

Michael Connelly's latest is just proof that good things come in small packages. Reviewed on the webiste (hint: it's fabulous!) here are some bonuses for after you've read it --

Extra goodies - Connelly posted an additional chapter - a new last chapter, if you will, on his website. But don't go reading it until after you've read the book! SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!
http://www.michaelconnelly.com/Bonus/bonus.html

Now this is really fun. The publisher has come up with some cool stuff too - since the investigation never leaves one page of the Thomas Guide map, they created a trivia game.
And here's some language that might help you out: Explore the scene of the crime as The Overlook by Michael Connelly jumps off the map. Test your Los Angeles knowledge and earn your LAPD rank!
http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/features/overlook/overlook.html

Have fun!

Q & A WITH ALAFAIR BURKE

BookBitch: You are following in some mighty big footsteps - your father, James Lee
Burke, is one of the most talented authors being published today. Did you find it more challenging or intimidating to venture into his field, and how has he been supportive of your efforts?

Alafair Burke: I didn’t even consider my relationship with my father when I was writing my first book. Then when the book was about to be published, it dawned on me that people would obviously make the connection. I dreaded a deluge of readers demanding their money back because my books weren’t set in the bayou. Fortunately, my work is so different from my father’s that people realize straightaway I’m doing my own thing. Both of my parents are delighted that I’m writing, but my father’s support, like my mother’s, is parental and not specifically as a writer. I’m grateful for that.

BB: Michael Connelly and Robert Crais tend to hide oblique references to one another's books within their own books. Laura Lippman claims she hides references to Robert B. Parker's books within her own. Your new book, Dead Connection, has a thinly veiled reference to the main character that is in most of your father's books, and let's face it, you share your name with one
of his characters. Do you think your father will be referencing your characters in any of his books? Do you see this as an ongoing or one time only thing?

AB: I have tremendous fun with all of the crime fiction cross references. I was so delighted to see that in Lee Child’s new book, Jack Reacher spends two nights with a Portland prosecutor named Samantha, a reference to my earlier series character, Samantha Kincaid.

In past books, I’ve referred to Jack Reacher and Harry Bosch. In Dead Connection, Ellie Hatcher notices a woman reading Laura Lippman’s To the Power of Three. I hadn’t planned on bringing my father’s character, Dave Robicheaux, into Dead Connection. But when Ellie needed to contact a law enforcement officer in New Iberia, it only made sense that it should be Dave. After so many years of reading my father write the fictional Alafair Robicheaux, writing Dave’s voice was a blast.

I have no idea if the cross-over will ever happen again. Can you imagine Dave Robicheaux in New York? What a great story.


BB: Dead Connection focuses on a rather deadly Internet dating service. I understand that you met your husband online and indeed, the dedication reads, "For Sean Simpson, I can't believe I found you on a computer". Do you believe that Internet dating is more of a danger or a great way of making a love connection? What do you think about non-dating sites like MySpace that have been instrumental in getting people together? Is this the way to meet people in 2007?

AB: When I first met Sean, I was mortified when people would ask how we met. Now I just answer the question because I know how common internet dating has become. Meeting people online, whether for dating or for socializing ala MySpace, etc., is no more dangerous than the old-fashioned stuff, as long as people are conscientious. The risks aren’t inherent in the internet; they’re inherent when people let their guards down. A street-smart woman, for example, would never think to wander off to an unknown location with a stranger, but people forget that the charming emails they receive online are from total strangers. It’s just like we tell our kids – don’t get in another person’s car even if they say they know Mommy. Well, the internet makes it easy for people to lie about who they are. Because we’re being optimistic about our chances of finding friendship or love, we adults don’t always follow our own lessons once we’re online. That’s why I had to write about the dangers, even though it all worked out beautifully for me.

BB: I've read that you wrote the Samantha Kincaid series about a District Attorney in Oregon because of that old adage, write about what you know, and you share that same background with her. But your new book doesn't go near a courtroom and your main character is a New York City cop. With three books under your belt, were you feeling more confident about spreading your wings and writing about something outside your frame of reference? Where
did you get your inspiration for this character?

AB: I’m still writing what I know. The internet dating plot in Dead Connection grew directly out of my own experience. I live in New York now and wanted to write something set here. And I know police procedure and cop culture. I worked out of a precinct as a prosecutor for two years and taught search and seizure and use of force law to police. Even though the professional resemblance to Samantha is more obvious, Ellie Hatcher carries more of my personal story. Like me, she was raised in Wichita, Kansas, and a large part of her backstory is her decision to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a police officer.

BB: This is probably not a question you get every day, but as a New Yorker I have to ask. I understand that you live in Manhattan, and teach law at Hofstra University on Long Island. That makes for a most unusual commute; city-to-suburb rather than the more typical suburb-to-city. Do you enjoy your commute or is it work time? Do you ever see yourself leaving the city and moving to the island? Or is the goal to write full time and give up teaching?

AB: I’m that rare author who loves my day job. I have academic freedom, I get to teach, my colleagues are intellectually challenging, and I have time to write both legal scholarship and fiction. My one and only complaint is the dag nab commute, which I call my nemesis. But if a car ride is my only complaint in life, I really don’t have much to complain about, do I? I ease the pain with a mix of satellite radio, audio books, and my iPod. I try to look at it as an excuse to listen to whatever I want for two hours a day, a few days a week. However, if you see a woman with shoulder length brown hair shaking her fist at you on the LIE, it isn’t me.

Reprinted by Permission of Library Journal

Shh...Library launches sex hotline

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- This isn't the typical whispering you might expect to hear at a library.
Vienna's City Hall has launched a "sex hotline" to raise money for the capital's main public library, officials said Tuesday.

It's unusual, but it's not particularly raunchy: Callers pay 39 euro cents (53 U.S. cents) a minute to listen to an actress read breathless passages from erotica dating to the Victorian era.
City Hall set up the hotline earlier this month to help the library raise cash for planned remodeling and expansion, Austrian media reported.

Anne Bennent, a famous Austrian stage and film star, reads passages from the Vienna library's collection of 1,200 works of erotic fiction from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, the library said.

Officials said the hotline would be operational through May 31.

And don't ask because I don't have the phone number - sorry!

I spent the day with Jonathan Santlofer!

Friday, April 20, 2007

If you haven't read my reviews then you may not know that I am enamored of this gifted artist and writer - and if you haven't read him, please do.

Jonathan was in Miami for Sleuthfest, the annual mystery writers' convention (more about Sleuthfest on the BookBitchBlog.) We met shortly before lunch, and got to chat a bit. While we were chatting, Jonathan got a phone call from his mom. She lives nearby and drove down with a friend to see him, so I got to meet her too.

Mrs. Santlofer is gorgeous, gregarious and smart. She told me that when Jonathan was about 7 years old, his teacher told her he would end up working in the arts. That was some smart teacher, and some smart mom. She encouraged his artistic talent, finding a summer program for him at Adelphi College when he was about 13 years old. He was the youngest student in the program, by far. Mrs. Santlofer told me that she almost fainted when she walked into the class to see him drawing a nude, from a live model! But she continued to encourage him, and said that her home is filled with his art, and his books.

Jonathan's wife did not accompany him on this trip, but you can hear the love and pride in his voice when he speaks of her, and his daughter. His wife is a former librarian turned food historian, and is hard at work on her own book. His daughter is also a writer with a dream job; she writes a fashion column for a popular New York magazine - she gets to shop, write about it, and get paid for it!

Jonathan told me he dreams of someday doing a graphic novel, but that his knowledge of computer graphics is limited so would have to draw all the illustrations by hand, a monumental endeavor, so that project remains just a dream, for now. His latest novel has over 100 hand drawn illustrations though, and he worked hand in hand with the publisher to get the pictures as he wanted them in the book. He actually drew several more, but only left in the illustrations that he felt furthered the plot. It is a unique and incredible book.

ATLANTA “Save the Book Review” READ-IN!

WHAT: ATLANTA Save the Book Review READ-IN! Bring a book (or many books!) you love, and let’s create a critical mass of readers to put the pressure on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to reverse its terrible decision to “reorganize” its book review out of existence! They got rid of the book review editor, and without an official champion for books within the paper, the quality of books coverage is endangered! It will become disorganized and sporadic, if not simply perfunctory, until, worse, it’s no longer there.

TIME: 10:00 AM until…you decide!

DATE: THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2007
*rain or shine

LOCATION: Converge in front of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Hold open your book and read aloud or to yourself. Trust me, you won’t be the only one. Picture hundreds of people doing the same thing! [*directions below]

WHO: Open to any and all readers and lovers of books and newspapers. Come one, come all Atlantans (or ATLiens), Georgians, and maybe even some of you hardcore out-of-staters.

WHY: Because the city of Atlanta wants a robust, reader-friendly, intelligent book review, not just a section run on auto-pilot from above. Teresa Weaver has created and run exactly this kind of section for almost ten years now and we want the AJC to reward her expertise, not eliminate her job.

Again, if you haven’t signed the "Protect Atlanta's Book Review " petition yet, here’s the link to it:

"Protect Atlanta's Book Review "

http://www.petitiononline.com/atl2007/petition.html

This week, the National Book Critics Circle’s launched a big campaign to help save book review sections in newspapers nationwide, and the momentum will continue next week. Read what authors, critics, and many other voices in the world of books and publishing have been saying about the issue.

http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com/

Thank so much for your support, and PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD.


Bet you never thought of book reviews in terms of the endangered species list!

Los Angeles Times Book Prize winners

LOS ANGELES, April 28 (UPI) -- The winners of the 2006 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes were announced at UCLA, with the Robert Kirsch award going to William Kittredge.

The Kirsch award is considered one of the Times' most prestigious awards and is given to a writer who has made a distinguished contribution to American letters, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

Other awards given out at the ceremony, hosted by author and PBS anchor Jim Lehrer, went to:

Israeli novelist A.B. Yehoshua for "A Woman in Jerusalem"

Neal Gabler for "Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination"

Lawrence Wright for "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11"

Ian Buruma's "Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance"

Michael Connelly for "Echo Park"

Each prize included a $1,000 cash award.

Also the Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction went to Alice Greenway for "White Ghost Girls" and the poetry award went to Frederick Seidel for "Ooga-Booga."