EarlyWord

The official trailer for the “Epic Conclusion of the Worldwide Phenomenon” appeared on the Web yesterday. The film premieres in London on July 7 and will be released on July 15.

A book that librarians have been buzzing about on GalleyChat, Lost in Shangri-La, was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered last night. The book is based on a WW II incident that, as NPR puts it, “…had all the elements of an unforgettable story: There was a terrible accident in a harsh landscape, three survivors, a hidden world with a Stone Age existence, and a heroic rescue mission.”

Listen to the story here.

Zuckoff’s 2005 book, Ponzi’s Scheme (Random House), is about the man whose name became synonymous with the type of financial scam most recently made famous by Bernie Madoff. Variety reports today that it is being adapted as a film, with Milos Forman in talks to direct.

UPDATE: Entertainment Weekly gives it an unequivocal “A”

Movie news has brought World War Z (Crown), Max Brooks’ “historical account” of a future battle against world domination by zombies, back to best seller lists.

Brad Pitt’s production company bought the rights to the book before its 2006 publication, but as late as last month, it looked like the project would sink under the weight of its $125 million budget. A new source of funding came through recently and director Marc Forster has begun hiring, with a view towards a June start date and release next year.

Brad Pitt will star. Yesterday, it was announced that Mirelle Enos, star of AMC’s new crime drama The Killing, will play his wife.

Pitt’s next book adaptation is Moneyball, based on the book by Michael Lewis, and slated for release on Sept 23rd of this year. He is currently filming Cogan’s Trade, based on the George V. Higgins’ mystery, with a planned release of March 3, 2012 (for a full schedule of books-to-films, check our Upcoming — with Tie-ins listing).

SO much classier than tea towels:

Knit Your Own Royal Wedding Fiona Goble Retail Price: $17.99 Paperback: 64 pages Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing – (2011-03-29) ISBN / EAN: 1449409245 / 9781449409241

Sorry to tease you; the book is currently out of stock. In the meantime, comfort yourself with this video:

Here’s an idea to steal for your library Web site. GalleyCat has created a “mixtape” of the Hugo Award Nominees, such as the story Amaryllis, available in full on the Lightspeed site.

It’s a great way to give readers access to nominees in the novella, short story and novelette categories, many of which have not appeared in book form.

Edelweiss, the company that creates electronic catalogs used by publishers reps to sell to independent booksellers, recently released a list of the top 30 most-ordered nonfiction titles, published before Aug 1.

Indies are on the lookout for titles they can handsell to their customers, so what they order is of particular interest (one caveat, however, only the publishers that use the Edelweiss system are included. While the majority of the larger publishers do so, there are a few exceptions, most notably, Simon and Schuster).

Some highlights from the list:

At number one is Erik Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts (Random House/Crown, 5/10). The next book after the author’s best selling The Devil in the White City (sadly, the movie of that title, which once boasted Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead, is now listed by Variety as a  one of “…a bounty of scripts based on bestsellers and cult classics collecting dust at every studio”). In the new book, Larson again explores an influential era of history through the eyes of a few players, in this case, the American ambassador to Germany and his family in Berlin during Hitler’s early years.

The #5 title, Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff arrives today. The true WWII story of two servicemen and a WAC who survived an airplane crash in New Guinea, arrives with enthusiastic pre-pub reviews and drew comparisons to Unbroken by GalleyChat readers.

At #26 is a title many librarians fell in love with at ALA MidWinter, The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma, (Hachette/Grand Central Publishing, 5/3). The 22-year-old author is a passionate advocate of reading. Fortunately, for those who didn’t attend, there is a video of the event (see below).

Prepub reviews are strong; it  even touched Kirkus‘s famously cold heart, “A warm memoir and a gentle nudge to parents about the importance of books, quality time and reading to children.” It’s also on the IndieBound Next List for May.

Series titles dominated the Hugo Awards Best Novel nominations, announced yesterday. Women authors also dominated; 4 of the 5 authors are women.

The nominees for Best Novel are below. The full list of nominees in all categories is here. Winners will be announced on Saturday, August 20th, at the World Science Fiction Convention

All Clear, Connie Willis (Ballantine Spectra, Hdbk; 9780553807677); followup to Blackout; Audio, Brilliance — also nominated for Nebula Best Novel (winners TBA 5/21)

Cryoburn, Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen, Hdbk; 9781439133941); Vorkosigan Saga; Audio, Blackstone

The Dervish House, Ian McDonald (Pyr, Hdbk; 9781616142049)

Feed, Mira Grant (Orbit, Mass Mkt. Original; 9780316081054); the first in the Newsflesh Trilogy. The second, Deadline (Orbit, Mass Mkt. Original; 9780316081061), is coming June 1; OverDrive WMA Audiobook

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit, Trade Pbk. Original, 2/25/10, 9780316043915; Mass Mkt., 10/01/2010; 9780316043922); Audio, Brilliance; this is #1 in The Inheritance Trilogy. It was also nominated for Nebula Best Novel. On her author page, Jemisin notes she’s particularly excited about this nomination because of the “Hugos’ noted bias in favor of science fiction (and against fantasy), more notable embrace of well-known names (vs unknown n00bs), and most notablest aversion to girl cooties or any hint thereof…”
#2, The Broken Kingdoms came out in November (Orbit, Trade Pbk. Original, 11/03/2010, 9780316043960; Mass Mkt., 9/1/2011; 9780316043953).
#3 arrives this October, The Kingdom of Gods, (Orbit; Trade Pbk. Original, 9780316043939).

It’s the last gasp of the spring publishing season before we begin diving into summer. Below are the titles you will be hearing about next week.

Watch List

Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe is the autobiography of the film and TV star who made his name with the 1980s Brat Pack. The New York Times‘s Janet Maslin is a fan: “Mr. Lowe emerges as a canny observer of both himself and others, and as someone whose instincts have grown increasingly sharp over time.” But Entertainment Weekly gives the book a “B”, taking Lowe to task for devoting only four paragraphs to his 1988 sex tape scandal, involving a 16 year-old and another woman, and for omitting his 2008 nanny scandal, involving sexual harassment and blackmail acccusations. That may be remedied when Lowe appears on Oprah on Thursday, 4/28. Libraries we checked have orders in line with mounting holds.

Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incrediblea Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff (HarperCollins) is “an engaging story about the survival and ultimate rescue of three American service people who crashed in the dense jungles of New Guinea toward the end of World War II,” says Library Journal.  Well-received by librarians participating our special edition of GalleyChat, it’s the Indie Next #6 pick for May and lands with a 200,000 copy printing.

The Floor of Heaven: A True Tale of the Last Frontier and the Yukon Gold Rush by Howard Blum (Crown) gets an enthusiastic, yet mixed review from PW: “From a purely historical perspective, there should have been more information on Alaska as a Russian colony and American territory, but as an exciting narrative, this is a huge success.” Hollywood liked it so much that film rights were grabbed before publication; the author describes what it was like to make the film deal on WordAndFilm.

Fiction

The Preacher by Camilla Läckberg (Pegasus) is the latest Swedish crime thriller from one of Steig Larsson’s heirs apparent, according to USA Today. Kirkus calls it “An adequate thriller, though without Larsson’s deft touches; sure to please church-hating readers of the Hitchens-Dawkins set.”

Usual Suspects

Bel-Air Dead (Stone Barrington Series #20) by Stuart Woods (Penguin) brings together three characters from his various series, as Stone Barrington heads to Hollywood. PW says, “Series fans will find Barrington as shrewd, sexy, and glib as ever.”

A Turn in the Road (Blossom Street Series #8) by Debbie Macomber finds a mother on a cross country road trip with her daughter and ex-mother-in-law. PW says, “Themes of forgiving old hurts and finding new love will resonate with readers in search of a gently romantic tale.”

Born of Shadows (League Series #5) by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Grand Central) unites a soldier of fortune and a body guard in the latest paranormal romance from the mega-bestselling author.

Young Adult

We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing) is the last installment in this trilogy romance. Kirkus says “Han’s impressive ear for and pitch-perfect reproduction of the interactions between not-quite-adult older teens make this an appealing conclusion.”

After being signed based on a manuscript back in 2007, there’s been little news about the adaptation of last summer’s debut sci fi hit, The Passage by Justin Cronin (Ballantine). That changed this week with the announcement that Ridley Scott’s been replaced as director by Matt Reeves and the script is being rewritten, with Scott producing. Reeves, who directed Let Me In, is described by The Hollywood Reporter as “thoughtful and intellectual.”

The book was planned as the first in a trilogy. When will the next one come out? Random House tells us that book 2, The Twelve is scheduled to pub summer 2012.

The trade paperback of The Passage arrives next month, with quite a different cover from the hardback.

The Passage: A Novel Justin Cronin Retail Price: $16.00 Paperback: 800 pages Publisher: Ballantine Books – (2011-05-17) ISBN / EAN: 0345504976 / 9780345504975

If winning the Pulitzer Prize was not enough, Jennifer Egan has just closed a deal for an HBO series based on A Visit from the Goon Squad, reports Deadline.

The book was recently released in paperback and instantly went on to the NYT Trade Paperback best seller list, where it remains. It has been a slow build. In hardcover, it never made it on to the main list, but was on the extended list for just 2 weeks, seven months after publication.

A Visit from the Goon Squad Jennifer Egan Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 352 pages Publisher: Anchor – (2011-03-22) ISBN / EAN: 9780307477477 / 9780307477477

Audio:

AudioGo (formerly BBC AudioBooks); 9780792771746; 8 CD’s; $79.95
Adobe EPUB eBook from OverDrive

Here’s a genius idea; rebuild fan frenzy for the long-delayed movie of The Hobbit by releasing regular vlogs from the set. Below is the first, hosted by the director, Peter Jackson.

The production has suffered through changes of director, financial problems at MGM, a New Zealand actors’ guild standoff, followed by Jackson being hospitalized for a perforated ulcer. The vlog goes a long way to restoring faith that filming has actually begun.

The epic will be released as two films, a year apart; the first arrives in December, 2012.

Official Movie Site: TheHobbitBlog.com

A new online book publication with an unfortunate acronym is in the midst of a launch, the Los Angeles Review of Books, or LORB. It is supported by the U. of Cal Riverside, where editor Ton Lutz is on the faculty, and other donors. The publication has an impressively long roster of contributing editors, including James Franco (we’re assuming that is the same James Franco as the author, actor, film director, screenwriter, painter, etc.)

Today, LORB released its first sample, which includes an essay on Nancy Mitford by Jane Smiley, Buster Keaton and the World of Objects by Geoff Nicholson, and The Death of the Book by Ben Ehrenreich.

Under “Further Information,”  the editors outline ambitious goals:

The LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS is the first major, full-service book review to launch in the 21^st century, and is designed to exploit the latest online technologies in ways that respond to a significantly transformed publishing world.  We are still working on the coding for the full site, and offer this ‘preview review’ in the meantime.

The great tradition of the American comprehensive book review, in magazine and newspaper form, has been in its death throes for years, replaced in partial and inadequate ways by crowd-sourced or user-generated forums for book talk on the web. There are numerous blogs, some quite excellent (and we will have deep linking relationships with the best of them), but very little in the way of full-range book reviewing—rigorously edited, carefully curated, deeply informed discourse by experts in their respective fields—has been mounted to take the place of the dwindling print reviews. The disappearance of the newspaper book review supplement … has been accompanied by an explosion of titles in the book market. The net result: twenty times as many titles are published each year than were in 1980, and we have one twentieth of the serious book reviews.

Unfortunately, none of the books published recently get serious attention in the currently available sample (in fact, the Keaton piece makes passing reference to just a single book; Keaton’s autobiography, which he dictated, but never read).

We’ll be watching to see how LORB develops. The list of forthcoming articles, however, promises more of what’s in the sample.

Amazon announced this morning that they are working with OverDrive to make eBooks available for Kindle users later this year. The story is being carried by several national news sources:

NYT, Media Decoder blog; Coming to Your Kindle: Library Books

CNN, Amazon announces e-book loans for the Kindle

TIME; Amazon Announces e-Book Lending Partnership with Local Libraries

Wall Street Journal; Amazon to Add Library Lending to Kindle

The Associated Press; Amazon says library e-books coming to the Kindle

Specific question about the program are being addressed on the OverDrive blog.

Questions about the truth of Greg Mortenson’s books and his handling of his charity continue to roil in the press in the wake of a 60 Minutes investigation. The AP reports that Montana’s attorney general is now looking in to the charity, which is headquartered in Bozeman. Publisher Viking is also investigating the book.

On school librarian listservs, many are vigorously defending Mortenson. As one librarian put it,

I can tell you this: our school did an all-school read this year using the Three Cups book. I wanted our students to see how important education is in other parts of the world and to realize how we take it for granted here. This project would not have been possible without the generous donation from the CAI of 650 books totally FREE. I know that many other schools and libraries have also received such donations.

Author John Krakauer, who contributed money to Mortenson’s charity, the Central Asia Institute, has published his own 89-page inquiry [downloadable free through today. After that, it can be purchased through Amazon’s Kindle Singles]. According to Krakauer, books donated to programs like the one at the above school library are bought at retail by the CAI from outlets that report to bestseller lists. As a result, Mortenson receives a royalty on each book and the sales help to boost best seller list rankings.

If the donated books are $16 paperbacks, that is $10,400 of the CAI’s money literally donated to the school. I doubt that the people who gave money to Mortenson’s cause would be happy to hear their money went to this, rather than to building schools and educating those without resources.

Librarians who have upcoming programs based on the books are left in a sticky situation. They aren’t the only ones; the University of Louisville had just announced plans to present Mortenson with an education award and are left wondering whether to go ahead with it. Officials told the local newspaper that they hope “the reports are unfounded, but will watch closely as the situation unfolds.”

Should libraries cancel upcoming programs? Given the ongoing investigations, it may be premature to do so now. And, this does offer the opportunity for a rich discussion of responsibility and accountability.

What about withdrawing the books? I think most of us would agree that access gives the reading public an opportunity to consider all the information and draw their own conclusions. For children’s selectors there is the further issue of the spin-offs. The middle-grade adaptation and the picture book are both simplistic retellings and perhaps selectors should just pass until the smoke clears.

Yesterday’s news about the forthcoming publication of a Sarah Palin tell-all, titled Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin, by former aide Frank Bailey, sent the book up Amazon’s sales rankings to #119. Described as a “chilling expose” by the publisher, the book is due May 24th.

Palin just launched a new Web site, fueling speculation that she will run for President in 2012.

Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years Frank Bailey, Jeanne Devon Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 400 pages Publisher: Howard Books/ S&S – (2011-05-24) ISBN / EAN: 1451654405 / 9781451654400

Another crictical look at Palin is coming in September by journalist Joe McGinniss, titled The Rogue. McGinniss was in the spotlight last year when his move to a home next door to Palin’s sparked a feud between the two. At the time, McGinnis said the response from Palin and her supporters reveals her “…power…to incite hatred and her willingness and readiness to do it.”

Bailey’s manuscript was leaked to the press in February, raising claims that McGinnis was the source, as part of an effort to reduce the rival title’s “marketability.”

The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin Joe McGinniss Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Crown – (2011-09-20) ISBN / EAN: 0307718921 / 9780307718921

Random House Audio; 9780307941282