Quirk books, publisher of the surprise hit mashup Jane Austen and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith, has announced a followup: Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters by Ben H. Winters, slated for release on September 15. In the meantime, there’s a hilarious book trailer so good it gave me chills!

Here, the Dashwood sisters leave their childhood home after the arrival of their scheming stepmother, only to land on an island of man-eating sea creatures — alllowing Winters to take inspiration from ”everything from Jules Verne novels to Lost to Jaws to Spongebob Squarepants.“ 

However, the publisher has set a more conservative printing (200,000 copies vs. the 600,000 in print for Jane Austen and Zombies), since the house is not certain if the twist on Jane Austen will hold as much appeal as zombies do, according to Publishers Weekly. Then again, if the ingenious trailer truly reflects the book, there’s probably little need to worry.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters Jane Austen Retail Price: $12.95 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Quirk Books – (2009-09-15) ISBN / EAN: 1594744424 / 9781594744426

At the recent Christian Retail Show, the Associated Press discovered that the Amish and vampires are hot Christian fiction categories (From Amish Fiction to Vampire Lit).

Of the Amish craze, one literaray agent said, “If you want to sell it, put a bonnet on it.” Beverly Lewis is credited with starting the trend in 1997 with her book The Shunning, (Bethany House) and the many series she has published since. The second in her Seasons of Grace series is coming this fall:

Missing, The (Seasons of Grace) Beverly Lewis Retail Price: $13.99 Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: Bethany House – (2009-10) ISBN / EAN: 0764205722 / 9780764205729

Prolific author Wanda Brunstetter follows closely behind with several series for Barbour Books. Upcoming is a next title in her new Indiana Cousins series:

A Cousin’s Prayer (Indiana Cousins) Wanda E. Brunstetter Retail Price: $10.97 Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Barbour Books – (2009-09-01) ISBN / EAN: 1602600619 / 9781602600614

In January, Mindy Starns Clark broke away from her Christian gothic mysteries, to publish the Amish-themed Shadows of Lancaster County (Harvest House).

This fall, Nelson introduces The Hearts of Middlefield series:

A Man of His Word Kathleen Fuller Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Thomas Nelson – (2009-09-01) ISBN / EAN: 1595548122 / 9781595548122

They will also issue a collection of stories for Christmas:

An Amish Christmas: December in Lancaster County Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller, Barbara Cameron Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 400 pages Publisher: Thomas Nelson – (2009-09-15) ISBN / EAN: 1595548211 / 9781595548214

And the second in the Daughters of the Promise series:

Plain Promise (A Daughters of the Promise Novel) Beth Wiseman Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 352 pages Publisher: Thomas Nelson – (2009-09-29) ISBN / EAN: 1595547207 / 9781595547200

On the edgier side, the paranormal is making its way into Christian fiction. The AP mentions Eric Wilson’s Jerusalem’s Undead trilogy (Nelson). The second in the series comes out next month:

Haunt of Jackals (Jerusalem’s Undead Trilogy) Eric Wilson Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 416 pages Publisher: Thomas Nelson – (2009-08-11) ISBN / EAN: 1595544593 / 9781595544599

Coming up, Christian chick-lit author Tracey Bateman will take on vampires in Thirsty (WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group).

Thirsty: A Novel Tracey Bateman Retail Price: $13.99 Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: WaterBrook Press – (2009-10-06) ISBN / EAN: 030745715X / 9780307457158

When Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, noted that she was a fan of Nancy Drew, many wondered if today’s kids are reading comparable mystery series with spunky female teen protagonists to inspire them.

If you want to know more about  the Nancy Drew phenomenon crack open Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her.

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her Melanie Rehak Retail Price: $14.00 Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: Harvest Books – (2006-09-05) ISBN / EAN: 015603056X / 9780156030564

Looking for more recently published mystery series featuring a girl detective for the eight to twelve set?

These should do the trick:

The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery Nancy Springer Retail Price: $6.99 Paperback: 224 pages Publisher: Puffin – (2007-11-08) ISBN / EAN: 0142409332 / 9780142409336

Enola, is the fourteen-year-old, much younger sister of Sherlock Holmes.

The most recent title in the series is:

The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline: An Enola Holmes Mystery Nancy Springer Retail Price: $14.99 Hardcover: 176 pages Publisher: Philomel – (2009-05-14) ISBN / EAN: 0399247815 / 9780399247811

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Chasing Vermeer Blue Balliett Retail Price: $7.99 Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks – (2005-05-01) ISBN / EAN: 0439372976 / 9780439799270

Chasing Vermeer is the first in the adventures of Petra and Calder who continue to stumble on artsy mysteries in Wright 3 and The Calder Game.

Also available in audio from Listening Library, PlayAway and downloadable from OverDrive.

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Down the Rabbit Hole (An Echo Falls Mystery) Peter Abrahams Retail Price: $6.99 Paperback: 448 pages Publisher: HarperCollins – (2006-05-01) ISBN / EAN: 0060737034 / 9780060737030

Best selling adult mystery writer Abrahams turns his talents to children’s fare in this first in the Echo Falls Mystery series, followed by Into the Dark and Behind the Curtain. All are now available in paperback and rebind editions.

The series is also available in audio from HarperAudio and downloadable ebook from OverDrive.

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For kids looking for a feisty character in the vein of Harriet the Spy and a series with enough volumes for a satisfyingly long run, here’s Sammy (a girl).

Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief Wendelin Van Draanen Retail Price: $10.35 Paperback: 208 pages Publisher: Scholastic – (2003-01-17) ISBN / EAN: 0439981239 / 9780439981231

Hotel Thief is the first in the series of twelve, now in trade paperback.

They’re also available in audio from Live Oak Media and downloadable from OverDrive.

The winners of the Shirley Jackson Award, given for “outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic” were announced at Readercon in Burlington, MA, on Sunday.

Below are the winners in the book categories. The complete list of nominees and winners is available at the Shirley Jackson web site.

Novel

The Shadow Year: A Novel Jeffrey Ford Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Harper Perennial – (2009-03-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061231533 / 9780061231537

Novella

Disquiet (Penguin Original) Julia Leigh Price: $13.00 Paperback: 128 pages Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) – (2008-11-25) ISBN-10: 014311350X ISBN-13: 9780143113508

Collection

The Diving Pool: Three Novellas Yoko Ogawa Price: $13.00 Paperback: 176 pages Publisher: Picador – (2008-01-22) ISBN-10: 0312426836 ISBN-13: 9780312426835

Anthology

The New Uncanny: Tales of Unease Retail Price: $13.95 Paperback: 226 pages Publisher: Carcanet Press Ltd. – (2009-09-01) ISBN / EAN: 1905583184 / 9781905583188

This week’s “Review That Made Me Want to Read the Book” (anyone got an idea for a better name?) goes to Janet Maslin for her NYT review of the true-crime book, Zero at the Bone, by John Heidenry. She calls it a

…tough, gripping chiller of a book, written straightforwardly yet cloaked with the trappings of pulp fiction.

Libraries are showing light ordering and few reserves. The book rose to #394 (from #369,357) in Amazon sales ranking today.

Zero at the Bone: The Playboy, the Prostitute, and the Murder of Bobby Greenlease John Heidenry Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: St. Martin’s Press – (2009-07-21) ISBN / EAN: 0312376790 / 9780312376796

The Associated Press reports (story appears in USA Today and other papers) that Frank McCourt is close to death, according to his brother, Malachy McCourt.

McCourt was treated for melanoma and was doing well, but contracted meningitis two weeks ago.

His memoir of his deprived childhood, Angela’s Ashes (1996), was a long-running bestseller and also won a Pulitzer Prize. He followed it with ‘Tis (1999), continuing his story into the 1980′s. In Teacher Man (2005), he wrote about his 30-year career in the NYC public school system.

In the following clip from a 2007 interview, McCourt talks about what propelled him to write about his childhood.

The full interview is available at Fora.tv.

As the library world already knows, (SLJ announced it in February), Harlequin is launching a teen romance series. USA Today features it in the current issue; Harlequin takes aim at teen readers.

Natashya Wilson, senior editor for Harlequin Teen describes the wide range of books she is looking for in the writing guidelines;

Stories with the unforgettable romance, characters and atmosphere of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga, the witty humor of Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries novels, the edgy emotion of Jay Asher’s Th1rteen R3asons Why, the thrilling danger of Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games, Uglies, and the power of Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief…”

The first titles to be released under the imprint, however, all fall into the paranormal category:

My Soul to Take (Harlequin Teen) Rachel Vincent Retail Price: $9.99 Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: Harlequin – (2009-08-01) ISBN / EAN: 0373210035 / 9780373210039

Vincent is the author of the adult paranormal series, Werecat, published by Harlequin’s MIRA imprint. According to WorldCat, only L.A. Public has ordered My Soul to Take. The Harlequin Teen web site describes the plot;

When someone near her is about to die, a force beyond Kaylee Cavanaugh’s control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally. She’s caught the attention of the hottest guy in school, but dating is hard to do when classmates are suddenly dropping dead for no apparent reason. Only Kaylee knows who’ll be next.

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Intertwined (Harlequin Teen) Gena Showalter Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Harlequin – (2009-09-01) ISBN / EAN: 0373210027 / 9780373210022

Gina Showalter has written several adult series, including Lords of the Underworld, published by HQN.

From the Harlequin Teen Web site:

Aden Stone is like most sixteen-year-olds, except for having four human souls living inside of him.  Once manageable, they’re now causing him all kinds of trouble and he’s so over it. If all he wants is peace, Aden must embark on a dangerous journey for forbidden love.

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Elphame’s Choice P.C. Cast Retail Price: $9.99 Paperback: 560 pages Publisher: Harlequin – (2009-09-29) ISBN / EAN: 0373210159 / 9780373210152

This is the re-release of a backlist title by P.C. Cast, originally published in 2004 by Harlequin imprint, Luna and now out of print. With her daughter Kristin, Cast writes the best-selling Y.A. House of Night series. According to WorldCat, 136 libraries own the previous edition of this title.

Harlequin describes it this way:

Elphame has always had a restless nature. But now she’s drawn to a far-off castle and a sense of destiny. Once there, she finds the remnants of a great evil, and she must fight for the safety of her people.

Harlequin also has a Teen Panel, for teens 13 to 17, which offers free books and prizes.

UPDATE: One of our readers points out that this is not Harlequin’s first foray into teen lit. The Kimani TRU line, aimed at African-American teens, was launched in 2007. Thanks, Laurie.

The Twilight franchise continues to expand. Stephenie Meyer announced on her Web site yesterday that it will be published as a graphic novel by Yen Press (sister imprint to Twilight’s hardcover and paperback publisher, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers).

Entertainment Weekly offers an exclusive peek at the book, in the issue that arrives on newsstands tomorrow. Pub date has not yet been announced and ordering information is not yet available.

Chris Anderson, author of the business book Free: The Future of a Radical Price, seems to have weathered the plagarism charges we mentioned a few weeks ago, only to receive a smackdown from fellow business writer Malcolm Gladwell in the New Yorker and a tepid review by Janet Maslin in the New York Times. Yet those reviews have prompted defenses by BusinessWeek and mega-blogger Seth Godin of Anderson’s view that businesses must find new ways to compete in a market where digital technology has made it possible for many products to be offered for free. The Wall St. Journal and USA Today have also weighed in with respectful coverage of Anderson, who is well-known as Wired magazine’s editor-in-chief and the author of The Long Tail.

The fuss is pushing Free to #119 on Amazon – not to mention keeping Anderson busy on his blog, which includes links to free audio and e-book editons. Libraries we checked have reserves of up to 5 to one.

Anderson may have saved his credibility on the plagarism front by promptly admitting to sloppy editing and promising to rewrite the contested passages in future editions of his book. But last week the Chronicle of Higher Education added fuel to the fire with a complaint by Richard A. Muller, a physics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, that his experience wth giving free lectures is misrepresented in Free.  But so far, Anderson doesn’t seem to be too badly singed.

Free: The Future of a Radical Price Chris Anderson Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Hyperion – (2009-07-07) ISBN / EAN: 1401322905 / 9781401322908

After reading Steve Hely’s satirical debut novel, How I Became a Famous Novelist, New York Times critic Janet Maslin took the bait and turned in a rave review that has sent the book to #459 on Amazon. Written by a former writer for The Late Show With David Letterman and Fox’s cartoon American Dad, the paperback original is about a hack who decides to make an ex-girlfriend jealous by becoming the most popular novelist in America. Libraries we checked have small reserves on an average of six copies.

In her Times review, Maslin sums up:  “Mr. Hely has deftly clobbered the popular-book business. He has taken aim at lucrative “tidy candy-packaged novels you wrapped up and gave as presents,” the kinds of books that go “from store shelves to home shelves to used-book sales unread.” His complaints about such books are very funny. They’d be even funnier if they weren’t true.”

The New York Post also chimes in, ”what makes this book especially funny and satisfying is that it lampoons an aspect of American culture that doesn’t get parodied as often as others, such as film and television. The book industry is no less deserving. After all, this is a country that made “The Bridges of Madison County” and “The Secret” runaway bestsellers.”

How I Became a Famous Novelist Steve Hely Retail Price: $14.00 Paperback: 224 pages Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat – (2009-07-08) ISBN / EAN: 0802170609 / 9780802170606

Tears in the Darkness by Michael Norman and Elizabeth Norman, a gripping history of the ordeal faced by American forces in battling for the Bataan peninsula in the Phillippines during WWII, rises to #8 on Amazon after a round of coverage from CNN.com and the Christian Science Monitor, among others. Four major library systems we checked showed up to 56 reserves on 12 or fewer copies. 

CNN.com interviewed Ben Steele, 91, a former Montana cowboy who is featured heavily in the book, as one of the last survivors of the Bataan march. One of the 76,000 American POWs who were forced to march 60 miles in the tropical sun (more than 7,000 of whom died), Steele kept his sanity despite starvation conditions and bayonet wounds by sketching the scenes around him.

The Christian Science Monitor called the book “the definitive account of this exceptionally grim chapter of human history. Many books have examined World War II in the Philippines… but none of them pack the punch of or are as beautifully written as this compelling volume. This is “can’t-put-it-down” history.”

As we already mentioned, Dwight Garner’s review in the New York Times first made us want to read the book and helped it land on the Times bestseller list.

Tears in the Darkness Michael Norman, Elizabeth M. Norman Retail Price: $30.00 Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux – (2009-06-09) ISBN / EAN: 0374272603 / 9780374272609

Also in audio from Tantor:

Narrator: Michael Prichard

• 14 Audio CDs (Retail Unikeep Pkg); EAN: 9781400111671
List Price: $39.99
• 14 Audio CDs (Library BinderL Pkg); EAN: 9781400141678
List Price: $79.99
• 2 Mp3-CDs (Retail SlimlineL Pkg); EAN: 9781400161676
List Price: $29.99

Jeffrey Eugenides’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Middlesex has been optioned by HBO for a one-hour drama series, reports Broadcasting and Cable. The multigenerational story of a Greek family, told by a hermaphrodite who examines her family history and sexual identity while living in a Detroit suburb, will be adapted by playwright Donald Margulies, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for his play Dinner With Friends.

Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah’s Book Club) Jeffrey Eugenides Retail Price: $15.00 Paperback: 544 pages Publisher: Picador – (2002-06-05) ISBN / EAN: 0312427735 / 9780312427733

Audio available from MacMillan Audio

• CD: $49.95; ISBN 9781593977344

A film adaptation of David Foster Wallace’s Brief Interviews With Hideous Men has been picked up for distribution in American theaters on September 25 by IFC. Click here for a crisper trailer than the one below.

The film, which marks TV actor John Krasinski’s directorial debut, received positive early reviews when it debuted at the Sundance Festival earlier this year, including this one from filmschoolrejects.com:

 We know him as Jim from The Office, but with Brief Interviews it is clear that Krasinski has a future in the director’s chair. Working with an immensely difficult piece of source material, the book by the same name by the late David Foster Wallace, Krasinski has delivered a clever and inventive adaptation that should play well with both fans of the book and the intellectually inclined moviegoer (read: those of us who like those “talky” movies).

No word yet on whether there will be a movie tie-in edition, but we’ll keep you posted.

“Lovers of suspense will find no better novel to read this summer than Sworn to Silence, a teeth-chattering debut thriller from romance writer Linda Castillo,” declared critic Carol Memmott in today’s USA Today. The tale of a serial killer who terrorizes the Amish is currently at #242 on Amazon. Libraries we checked showed reserves of up to 144 copies on 20 or fewer copies.

The Sun-Sentinel (Broward County, FL) also calls the novel ” an unflinching and respectful look at an isolated community and the ramifications of keeping silent about crime while refusing to believe that the complications of modern life will intrude. Castillo keeps Sworn to Silence chillingly realistic while never stooping to poke fun of the Amish life.”

People magazine also gave the book high marks, as we mentioned last month.

Sworn to Silence Linda Castillo Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Minotaur Books – (2009-06-23) ISBN / EAN: 0312374976 / 9780312374976

Also available in audio:

Publisher: Macmillan Audio; Unabridged (June 23, 2009). $39.95
ISBN-10: 1427206686
ISBN-13: 978-1427206688

And in large type:

Hardcover: $31.95; 620 pages
Publisher: Thorndike Press (June 23, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1410416615
ISBN-13: 978-1410416612

And, downloadable eBook and audiobook from OverDrive.

Alice Eve Cohen’s memoir of unexpected late-life motherhood, What I Thought I Knew, has risen to #104 on Amazon, thanks to today’s New York Times profile of the playwright-turned-author.  The book was also selected as one of O Magazine’s top 25 summer reads, as we mentioned last month. Libraries we checked had up to 62 holds on up to 10 copies on order.

The book explores Cohen’s pregnancy at age 44, which was misdiagnosed as a cancerous tumor, after she had been on hormone replacement therapy for 14 years, and was drinking plenty of red wine on the advice of a doctor who believed she had reflux. Already the adoptive mother of an eight year-old, she decided to bear her daughter despite the warnings of doctors about possible birth defects and Cohen’s own health. As the Times sums it up,

Although much of “What I Thought I Knew” turns on the question of abortion and the actions of doctors who blew it at every turn (they thought they knew), Ms. Cohen said her book is really not about abortion, medicine or law. (She ended up filing a wrongful life suit, which was settled.) She will leave those debates to others. “It’s a love story,” she said, about the ever-changing, complex job of parenting, motherhood in particular.

What I Thought I Knew: A Memoir Alice Eve Cohen Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 208 pages Publisher: Viking Adult – (2009-07-09) ISBN / EAN: 0670020958 / 9780670020959