EarlyWord

USA Today asks the burning question of the hour  — with all the literary mashups already published and more on the way, will readers lose interest?

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, released last year from small publisher Quirk Books seemed, pardon the expression, like a quirk, but it now has over a million copies in print. Author Seth Grahame-Smith just released his second monster mash-up, this time with publisher Grand Central and using a historical figure, rather than a classic novel, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The L.A. Times reviews it today and is wowed, saying that, freed from updating “a revered literary gem, the writer delivers a well-constructed, surprisingly satisfying narrative.”

It was announced this week that Honest Abe, V.H, is on the road to the big screen.

Below is USA Today’s selection of forthcoming titles; several publishers have followed Quirk Books in to the genre, including Del Rey, Pocket and HarperTeen.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls (Quirk Classics) Jane Austen, Steve Hockensmith Retail Price: $12.95 Paperback: 287 pages Publisher: Quirk Books – (2010-03-24) ISBN / EAN: 1594744548 / 9781594744549

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Jane Slayre Sherri Browning Erwin, Charlotte Bronte Retail Price: $15.00 Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Pocket – (2010-04-13) ISBN / EAN: 1439191182 / 9781439191187

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Little Women and Werewolves Louisa May Alcott, Porter Grand Retail Price: $14.00 Paperback: 416 pages Publisher: Del Rey – (2010-05-04) ISBN / EAN: 0345522605 / 9780345522603

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Android Karenina Ben H. Winters Retail Price: $12.95 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Quirk Books – (2010-05-26) ISBN / EAN: 1594744602 / 9781594744600

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Releasing on Tuesday is Karl Rove’s memoir Courage and Consequence. The book is embargoed, but news began breaking about it this week (see NYT story, “Ultimate Bush Insider Lifts Veil on Presidency“). It is currently at #52 on Amazon.

Since there were no prepub reviews, you may want to check your holdings. However, most of the libraries we checked own it, with fewer than 1 hold per copy ordered.

Courage and Consequence Karl Rove Retail Price: $30.00 Hardcover: 608 pages Publisher: Threshold Editions – (2010-03-09) ISBN / EAN: 1439191050 / 9781439191057

S&S Audio; ABRIDGED; 9781442334069; $29.99

Next week, The Story of Stuff, by environmentalist Annie Leonard, launches with the author’s appearance on the Colbert Report on Tuesday and an interview with Christine Amanpour on CNN.

Many know the author’s work because of her online video with the same title, which has been viewed by millions and has been used by teachers as a way to get students to think about sustainability. It achieved the ultimate compliment when it was banned by a Montana school board after a parent complained the video’s message is anti-capitalist. It was featured on the front page of the New York Times last May. The author wrote the book to answer questions she received from people had viewed the video online and wanted to know more.

The book received starred reviews in both LJ and Booklist; the PW and Kirkus reviews were also strong.

The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-and a Vision for Change Annie Leonard Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Free Press – (2010-03-09) ISBN / EAN: 143912566X / 9781439125663

S&S Audio; UNABR; 9780743599153; $26

Just posted on the NPR site, a review of Marilyn Johnson’s This Book is Overdue (warning: some librarian stereotypes, but used to illustrate how outdated they are).

We’re also expecting a review in the upcoming 3/7 NYT Book Review.

The book hit #130 last week, its highest point to date on Amazon sales rankings. Clearly, the general public is more interested in us than we imagined.

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This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All Marilyn Johnson Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Harper – (2010-02-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061431605 / 9780061431609

Audio: Tantor; 2/22/10
Trade: 9781400116348; 7 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146345; 7 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166343; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99

Two novels going on sale next week — one by Lionel Shriver and the other by Danielle Trussoni — are getting early media attention from major critics, though there is only moderate library demand so far.  On the other hand, Alan Brantley‘s second Flavia de Luce mystery doesn’t need media attention; customers are placing holds based on the success of the author’s debut last year, Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.

Lionel Shriver‘s exploration of the plight of middle-class Americans squeezed by the current health care system, So Much for That, will hit the ground running with a very positive early review from the notoriously hard-to-please Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times, who says,

The author’s understanding of her people is so intimate, so unsentimental that it lofts the novel over [some] bumpy passages, insinuating these characters permanently into the reader’s imagination.

In a gossipy aside, freelance critic Mark Athitakas digests the recent flap in the UK over the ethics of Shriver’s decision to set a portion of her novel in a resort on Pemba Island in the Indian Ocean, and to list the owners in her acknowledgements, after having gone on a travel-writing junket there.

So Much for That Lionel Shriver Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Harper – (2010-03-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061458589 / 9780061458583

Available from Brilliance Corporation  03/09/2010

• Compact Disc: $36.99; ISBN 9781423360995

Large Print from HarperLuxe

• $25.99; ISBN 9780061946134

Overdrive WMA Audiobook: ISBN 9780061977510

Playaway: $74.99; SKU 11733

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Danielle Trussoni‘s debut thriller, Angelology, about a nun descended from elite angelologist who solves a puzzle reminiscent of the Da Vinci Code, is a People Pick in the 3/15 issue. The review bestows 3.5 of a possible 4 stars, but reads like a 4-star review:

…breathtakingly imaginative…[the] story is over the top. But aren’t all sweeping, thoroughly entertaining tales of the supernatural? In fact, once you’ve entered Angelology‘s enthralling world…you’ll be thinking, “Vampires? Who cares about vampires?”

It gets less favorable coverage from Janet Maslin in the New York Times:

Angelology is so prettily written that it takes a while for the clumsiness to show… Ms. Trussoni does not even tie up this book’s loose ends. She leaves her story in virtual midair, set up for a sequel and mightily confused as to angelology’s future.

Library demand is relatively light, but given the heated auction for this book and the positive early reviews from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly, there’s bound to be more coverage. There’s also a movie in the works from Sony.

Angelology Danielle Trussoni Retail Price: $27.95 Hardcover: 464 pages Publisher: Viking Adult – (2010-03-09) ISBN / EAN: 0670021474 / 9780670021475

Available from Penguin Audiobooks: 03/09/2010

• Compact Disc: $39.95; ISBN 9780143145264

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In libraries, next week’s most anticipated new fiction title is Alan Bradley‘s The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, featuring the dangerously brilliant eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce.  This young English girl’s passion for chemistry and solving murders helped septagenarian Bradley win many fans for his debut, Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009). Libraries we checked are largely on top of the demand, with up to 50 copies on hand.

Library Journal says that “while the plot at times stretches credulity, with some characters veering close to Agatha Christie stereotypes, Flavia is such an entertaining narrator that most readers will cheerfully go along for the ride.”

The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag: A Flavia de Luce Mystery Alan Bradley Retail Price: $24.00 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Delacorte Press – (2010-03-09) ISBN / EAN: 0385342314 / 9780385342315

Available from Random House Audio:  03/09/2010

• Compact Disc: $35; ISBN 978030757641535

Other Fiction with Buzz Coming Next Week:

Chang-Rae Lee’s The Surrendered (Riverhead), a story of war and survival that focuses on a Korean orphan and the American veteran and missionary who try to care for her, received a favorable review from Laura Miller in Salon and a glowing review in Elle,  and was also on O magazine’s list of Seven Books to Watch for in March.

Clive Cussler and Jack De Brul’s The Silent Sea (Putnam) is the “winning seventh entry in the Oregon Files nautical adventure series… [in which] Juan Cabrillo, the heroic skipper of the ‘Oregon’, a state-of-the-art warship disguised as a tramp steamer, faces a multitude of difficulties and challenges,” according to Publishers Weekly.

Earlier, we wrote that a book by the son of one of the founders of Hamas was making headlines around the world in advance of publication. The book is published by the Christian press Tyndale House. The author, a convert to Christianity, writes in the book about his new faith, but what is making headlines is his claim that he fed Hamas secrets to the Israelis.

News stories continue to break now that the book has been released. An interview with Christine Amanpour is running on CNN today.

Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Mosab Hassan Yousef Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Tyndale House – (2010-03-02) ISBN / EAN: 1414333072 / 9781414333076

Tyndale Audio; 3/2; 9781414333090; $29.99

In the Washington Post this week, Patrick Anderson gave a glowing review to A Night Too Dark, by Dana Stabenow, the author’s 17th mystery, set in the wilds of Alaska.

He says that Stabenow “… is one of those regional crime novelists who too often don’t achieve national attention, ” adding, “Once you’ve met the strange characters who inhabit [these] novels, Sarah Palin becomes easier to comprehend.”

It’s clear that Stabenow is not unrecognized in libraries in the lower 48. It might surprise Anderson to learn that holds in libraries we checked are as high as 155 on 40 copies, with and additional 40 on 7 copies of the audio.

A Night Too Dark: A Kate Shugak Novel Dana Stabenow Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Minotaur Books – (2010-02-16) ISBN / EAN: 0312559097 / 9780312559090

Macmillan Audio; UNABR CD; 9781427208880; $39.99
Audio available from OverDrive

The IACP (International Assoc. of Culinary Professionals) has just announced the finalists for their 2010 Awards.

Publishers Wiley and Oxmoor House were neck and neck, with five nominations each (Oxmoor received nominations for 3 of its books in the Williams-Sonoma series). They were closely followed Artisan, with 4 nominations.

Most of the titles will make your mouth water;

Category — Baking: Sweet or Savory

Rose’s Heavenly Cakes Rose Levy Beranbaum Retail Price: $39.95 Hardcover: 512 pages Publisher: Wiley – (2009-09-22) ISBN / EAN: 0471781738 / 9780471781738

Category — Baking: Sweet or Savory

My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method Jim Lahey Retail Price: $29.95 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company – (2009-10-05) ISBN / EAN: 0393066304 / 9780393066302

Category — International

Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way Francis Mallmann, Peter Kaminsky Retail Price: $35.00 Hardcover: 278 pages Publisher: Artisan – (2009-05-12) ISBN / EAN: 1579653545 / 9781579653545

But one reminds us there is a serious side to food;

Category – Literary Food Writing

Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal Tristram Stuart Retail Price: $27.95 Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. – (2009-10-12) ISBN / EAN: 0393068366 / 9780393068368

Rising on Amazon; now at #24 is a new parenting book, Raising Happiness.

The book’s author, Christine Carter, writes the blog “Half Full: Science for Raising Happy Kids.”

The book wasn’t reviewed prepub (check to see if you’ve ordered it; several libraries we checked hadn’t yet). It’s covered in these consumer magazines:

• US News & World Report, “On Parenting” blog; Two Simple Ways to Be a Happier Parent, 3/2
• Globe and Mail, How to raise joyful kids: Reject perfection and let them fail, Q&A with author, 2/28.
• Psychology Today, How to Raise an Olympic Athlete (blog post by the author), 3/3.

Raising Happiness: 10 Simple Steps for More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents Christine Carter Retail Price: $24.00 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Ballantine Books – (2010-02-02) ISBN / EAN: 0345515617 / 9780345515612

ebook available from OverDrive

Like the movie The Titanic, the ten-part HBO series The Pacific, beginning March 14, is likely to make bestsellers of dozens of books by many publishers (as some said about The Titanic‘s effect on publishing, “it raised all boats”).

The producers based their earlier series, Band of Brothers, on the book of the same title by Stephen Ambrose. But they couldn’t find one single volume that gave them a story line that worked for The Pacific. According to the L.A. Times, screenwriter Bruce McKenna came up with the idea of following several main characters. He interviewed dozens of veterans and read nearly 50 books; one of the titles that emerged was the 1957 memoir by Robert Leckie, Helmet for My Pillow.

Leckie, who was a writer before the war, became one of the main characters in the series. ABC News singles out Leckie’s role as “perhaps the most pivotal… because of the insight the character brings to so many situations,” and gives actor James Badge Dale special note for his portrayal, “Not once does Dale falter.”

In the following, Tom Hanks calls Helmet for My Pillow “a magnificient piece of prose… almost like a long poem.”

Helmet for my Pillow, is being released as a tie-in (see earlier post, with other tie-ins and related titles).

Leckie went on to write 30 more books, including Okinawa, an account of that battle, which Penguin books is re-releasing to coincide with the series.

Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War II Robert Leckie Retail Price: $15.00 Paperback: 224 pages Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) – (1996-07-01) ISBN 9780140173895

eBook available from OverDrive

DeCapo Press is also re-releasing his Strong Men Armed, which Library Journal described as his “carefully researched history of the Marines from Guadalcanal to Okinawa.”

Strong Men Armed: The United States Marines Against Japan Robert Leckie Retail Price: $17.95 Paperback: 600 pages Publisher: Da Capo Press – (2010-02-09) ISBN / EAN: 0306818876 / 9780306818875

ebook available from OverDrive

HBO’s series, The Pacific, is based on memoirs that were published after the war.

A new memoir by a Marine who is featured in an episode of the series, was released yesterday.

It has not been reviewed. The publisher describes it as,

An unvarnished and moving memoir of a Marine veteran who fought his way across the Pacific Theater of World War II — whose story is featured in the upcoming HBO series The Pacific

This is an eyewitness — and eye-opening — account of some of the most savage and brutal fighting in the war against Japan, told from the perspective of a young Texan who volunteered for the Marine Corps to escape a life as a traveling salesman. R.V. Burgin enlisted at the age of twenty, and with his sharp intelligence and earnest work ethic, climbed the ranks from a green private to a seasoned sergeant. Along the way, he shouldered a rifle as a member of a mortar squad. He saw friends die-and enemies killed. He saw scenes he wanted to forget but never did-from enemy snipers who tied themselves to branches in the highest trees, to ambushes along narrow jungle trails, to the abandoned corpses of hara kiri victims, to the final howling banzai attacks as the Japanese embraced their inevitable defeat.

Burgin was one of the few surviving vets who attended the 2/24 premiere  in L.A. where he posed for photographers with actor Martin McCann, who portrays him on screen.

Islands of the Damned: A Marine at War in the Pacific R.V. Burgin, Bill Marvel Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: NAL Hardcover – (2010-03-02) ISBN / EAN: 0451229908 / 9780451229908

Holt announced yesterday that they are ceasing publication of Charles Pellegrino’s Last Train to Hiroshima. Libraries can return copies and get refunds through their wholesalers; Macmillan’s sales department is sending a memo to wholesalers today on handling returns.

We checked with Tantor, the publisher of the audio version. They are also ceasing publication and distribution of the title and will issue refunds or credit for customers who wish to return their copies.

Questions about the book emerged last week, when it was discovered that one of the sources did not actually witness the events he claimed to have seen. Holt originally planned to make corrections in future editions. Things went from bad to worse, as Pellegrino was unable to answer questions about other sources as well as questions about the validity of his PhD, causing Holt to pull the book entirely.

Falling under the category of “Go Figure,” the book is rising on Amazon since the news broke; it’s now at #97 and several libraries are showing growing holds lists (it’s your choice whether to return them).

The story has appeared in many major news sources. Amusingly, the LA Times and other West Coast sources focus on the fall-out for James Cameron, who had optioned movie rights for the book.

The book received starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly, strong reviews in LJ, Booklist and  SLJ as well as praise from the Washington Post, the New York Times and People.

The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back (John MacRae Books) Charles Pellegrino Retail Price: $27.50 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. – (2010-01-19) ISBN / EAN: 0805087966 / 9780805087963

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Tantor Audio:
Trade; 9781400115631; 10 Audio CD; $37.99
Library; 9781400145638; 10 Audio CD; $75.99
MP3; 9781400165636; 2 MP3-CD; $24.99

It was nearly fifty years ago, but it still has immediacy.

The assassination of John F. Kennedy brought an outpouring of letters to his widow, 1.5 million in total. A representative sampling of 200,000 of them were saved in Boston’s Kennedy Library, where they remained in boxes until recently, when historian Ellen Fitzpatrick spent five months reading through them.

She chose 250 of them for a book, Letters to Jackie, which releases today. It was featured in USA Today on Friday and on CNN Monday. It rose to #306 on Amazon; half the libraries we checked have not ordered it yet (it was not reviewed prepub).

Letters to Jackie: Condolences from a Grieving Nation Ellen Fitzpatrick Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Ecco – (2010-03-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061969842 / 9780061969843

ebook available from OverDrive.

This Thursday, Oprah spends the show’s full hour with the only survivor of a tragic boating accident. Personal trainer Nick Schuyler set out for a deep-sea fishing trip one year ago with four friends. The boat capsized in unexpected bad weather. Clinging to the boat in rough seas, the friends helped each other as much as they could, but after 40 hours only Nick was left.

Schuyler writes about the frightening story in his memoir, Not Without Hope. It was not reviewed prepub, so many libraries have not ordered it.

Schuyler will also make appearances on the Today Show and Larry King Live. The book will be featured in People magazine and in USA Today (in the Sports section; two of the friends played for the NFL).

Not Without Hope Nick Schuyler, Jere Longman Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: William Morrow – (2010-03-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061993999 / 9780061993992

HarperCollins Audio: UNABR; 9780061999413; $18.99
Audio and ebook available from OverDrive

It’s been a long and tortuous road, but it was announced today that Library Journal, School Library Journal and LJ Hotline have been sold to Media Source, which also owns The Horn Book and Junior Library Guild.

Horn Book Editor-in-Chief, Roger Sutton celebrated the acquisition by posting a photo of himself and LJ/SLJ Editorial Director, Brian Kenney at MidWinter with a typically wry Suttonesque headline, Many men have tried to mix us up but no one can.

Kenney continues as editorial director of both magazines, with Francine Fialkoff as editor-in-chief of Library Journal. Ron Shank continues as publisher.

LJ and SLJ were originally put up for sale, along with 45 other magazines, by owner Reed Business Information back in 2008. Unable to find buyers, in what is widely considered a bungled attempt, Reed took them off the table. This past July, they announced they were trying it again. Since then, they’ve sold off several magazines, including Electronic Design News (EDN) and Broadcasting & Cable, and closed others, including Video Business. The magazines were formerly part of Cahners, which published over 150 magazines at its height.

Noticeably missing from the sale is sister publication Publishers Weekly. Some news sources see this as a sign that Reed has been unable to find a buyer for the magazine and predict it will be closed, a step Reed said they would take with any magazines they were unable to sell by mid-year.

It would be a shame if PW was closed, not just because it’s been covering the publishing business since 1872, or because I am one of the former editors-in-chief. Despite a drastic reduction in staff over the past few years, it still has the largest number of reporters and editors focused on all aspects of the business, from printing to bookselling. Several online publications have challenged PW‘s coverage, most notably Publishers Marketplace and Shelf Awareness (which, ironically, had its first incarnation as PW Daily for Booksellers; when the management laid off editor John Mutter and closed the publication, they effectively set up a competitor), but PW still does more original reporting than any of them. Successful PW online publications Children’s Bookshelf and Cooking the Books point to opportunities to create other niche publications.

And, with all the magazines Reed is trying to sell off, they simply may not have had the time to work with potential buyers of single publications. The outlook may be murky, but don’t write PW off just yet.