Big Advance for Book

Huge Advance for Book Being Co-Authored by Zaslow
By Dave Astor

NEW YORK Wall Street Journal writer and former syndicated columnist Jeff Zaslow will be co-authoring a book that Hyperion bought the rights to for the reported huge sum of $6.7 million.

The other co-author is Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch, who's terminally ill with pancreatic cancer. Pausch gave a humorous and poignant "Last Lecture" a couple months ago that Zaslow covered for the WSJ. The resulting column (accompanied by a video) was seen throughout the world via the Internet and helped turn Pausch into a celebrity.

'Ghost Map'

Author Steven Johnson takes us on a 10-minute tour of his 2006 book The Ghost Map, telling the story of a cholera outbreak in 1854 London, and the famous map that physician John Snow made of the disease's path -- a map that not only convinced the world that cholera was a waterborne illness, but ultimately brought about profound changes in science, cities and modern society.

Book Auction

National Book Auctions has scheduled its next auction for Sunday, December 2nd beginning at noon with preview starting at 10:00am. This auction will feature an important 1830s acorn press and other early printing equipment as well as early books and print history reference titles. This auction will include a range of antique books dating back to the 1600s, decorative antique gilt and leather bindings, fancy deluxe bindings, and decorator sets. The print history reference books cover topics including printing technique and development, print styles, printing equipment history. At our website, you will see some of the highlights of our upcoming events; the complete catalogs will be available at the auctions. See you sale day!

The auction will be open for a special highlight preview on Tuesday, November 27th from 4:00pm until 6:00pm. This preview will be followed by a panel discussion entitled, "You Should Write a Magazine Article", presented in partnership by National Book Auctions and the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce. For more information and to register for the seminar, go to the following link:

https://secure.data3m2.com/tompkins/?t=112&ID=217&m=11&y=2007

Block That Book!

I don't know if this is a case of content censorship or favoritism to a local industry.

Store pulls children's book off shelves due to anti-seal hunt stance

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - A Newfoundland author claims she is being censored after the province's largest local book distributor refused to stock her children's book because of its critical portrayal of the seal hunt.

Littleseal, written by Morgan Pumphrey, tells the tale of a harp seal pup born on the ice floes off northern Newfoundland.

During the first three weeks of his life, Littleseal survives encounters with an ecotourist and a hungry polar bear, as well as separation from its mother. But he's killed after a "blinding, crunching, thud" at the hands of a seal hunter wielding a hakapik.

Pumphrey, a longtime opponent of the hunt, said she was disappointed but not surprised when the Downhome Shoppe and Gallery, a well-known store in downtown St. John's that sells locally made crafts and products, refused to carry her self-published book.

"The way I see it, going against the seal hunt is like going against the cod fishery in Newfoundland," Pumphrey said Wednesday in an interview.

"It's a motherhood issue and I've got to expect 99.9 per cent of the population to be against me, and it looks like they are."

Seal hunters and the federal government vigorously defend the hunt as sustainable, humane and a vital source of income for fishermen in Atlantic Canada and Quebec. But animal rights groups have just as vigorously called for the hunt to be banned, arguing it is cruel and provides little economic benefit.

Grant Young, president of parent company Downhome Inc., said Pumphrey's book was rejected because it wouldn't suit its customer base.

"The seal industry needs a few people on its side," said Young, who comes from a family of seal hunters.

"We don't call it censoring so much as making a decision. Do we want a product that fits our retail mandate and our company mandate?"

Young said the book was refused also due to an anticipated lack of demand.

"It's not going to be a powerful piece of literature that we're going to hold back from society," he said.

Department Store Publishing

This is creepy--a department store creates a book and tries to draw kids in as lifelong shoppers.

Stores use lure of children’s literature

By Lauren Beckham Falcone

Since 1947, the holiday movie “Miracle on 34th Street” has helped build brand awareness for Macy’s. What can other department stores do to appeal to kids - who in a few short years will have charge cards of their own?

Pen a children’s book.

Both Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue have introduced new holiday picture books that may make loyal consumers out of the kiddies. Neither department store appears within its own tales, but the cross promotion is dizzying.

Saks is the exclusive seller of “Snowpeople” (HarperCollins, $16.95), a 21-page picture book starring a bunch of snow folk who want to express their individuality through - wait for it - trendy clothes. The chain is also featuring the characters in its window displays, hand-painted ornament collection, greeting cards and more.

The Great Snowpeople Hunt - think of it as Where’s Waldo meets the Wicked Wealthy - challenges customers to count the hidden snowpeople in the Saks holiday catalog. Players who submit their guesses online or in-store are eligible to win a 21-day cruise to Antarctica.

Nordstrom’s “Once Upon a Holiday” (Chronicle Books, $16.95), which was written by Nordstrom copy editor Randy Schliep, features a little girl named Sophie, who teams up with a cow, an owl and the moon to save Christmas. The book is available at Nordstrom stores nationwide, and the art inspired the chain’s 2007 holiday decor.

Hmong and Publishing

After years of deep social problems, the Hmong are developing some serious culture in Minnesota

Renowned writer, lecture learns about Hmong arts in Minnesota
By Tom LaVenture

ST. PAUL (November 1, 2007) – The Hmong American Institute Learning (HAIL) has long been known for its support for emerging Hmong writers and poets through the Paj Ntaub Voice Quarterly Journal, and for Bamboo Among the Oaks, the first Anthology of Hmong American writers. The organization is about to undergo a major transformation to accommodate the growth and direction of a new vision and focus on visual and performing arts along with the writers and traditional cultural arts and crafts.

Dyane Garvey, Interim-Executive Director, HAIL, said the organization received a grant from LINC (Leveraging Investments in Creativity), a ten-year national initiative to improve conditions for artists in all disciplines to allow for more creative work. It was instrumental in helping HAIL do a turnaround last year with an art exhibition and strategic planning.

Dr. Rustom Homi Bharucha, a Regent’s Lecturer in the Department of World Arts and Cultures, University of University of California at Los Angeles; and the Department of South and Southeast Asia, University of California, Berkeley, was in the Twin Cities in part to learn more about HAIL as one of 12 LINC grant recipients, to see how the funding has impacted small ethnically diverse organizations in the areas of social transformation and change.

Cornwell Is Unhappy

Patricia Cornwell Asks if You Are a Real Fan

Happy Thanksgiving Dear Author Readers. I came across a special tribute by one Patricia Cornwell to all her fans and had to share it.

I saw on David J. Montgomery’s website a message from Patricia Cornwell making a call to her fans to contact everyone they know and strong arm them into leaving her positive feedback on etailers like Amazon and Barnes and Noble because apparently she cannot believe that the people who have left negative reviews actually dislike her work.

Montgomery is a crime fiction reviewer/critiquer/commentator who has written for Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and Boston Globe. He says that Cornwell’s latest effort, Book of the Dead, is “just dull, silly and pointless, with unappealing characters and run-of-the-mill lousy prose. Giving it a one-star review is generous.”

Apparently he is one of the cabal that is coordinated by “someone or a group of someones” to attack her through reviews.

We have reason to suspect that someone (or a group of someones) might be mobilizing people to attack me through Amazon and Barnes and Noble, etc., to hurt my sales and reputation.

Patricia Cornwell graciously provides instructions to the reading world at large on how to best counteract a nefarious conspiracy to discredit an author’s writing ability.

Taking Up Writing

Actor Kiel, who played Jaws, take new role

By Belinda Goldsmith

NEW YORK, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Actor Richard Kiel, best known for playing the steel-toothed villain Jaws in two James Bond movies, has taken on a new role - author.

Kiel, 68, has spent 25 years researching the life of Cassius Marcellus Clay, a white plantation owner and politician who fought for the abolition of slavery and after whom the boxer Muhammad Ali and his father were named.

It has culminated in the release of a book, "The True Story of Cassius Clay: Kentucky Lion," out this month, which Kiel co-authored with Pamela Wallace, the Oscar-winning co-writer of the movie "Witness."

Kiel said he became fascinated with Clay when he visited Kentucky 25 years ago and realized this forgotten American hero, who freed the slaves on his plantation, challenged stereotypes about the south and racism there.

"I hope to bring a fresh breeze of truth and positive feeling so people feel differently about the south and its people, not just because my wife comes from there but we need the truth to be free of this prejudice," he told Reuters.

"Here is a guy who put his life on the line and could not be stopped. It's a positive side of history that should told."

Notable Books at the Times

The New York Times posts its top 100 books of 2007.

Book Banned

It's a good idea to stay on top of book bannings, no?

Ontario School Board Bans Fantasy Book

BURLINGTON, Ontario (AP) — A Roman Catholic school board in Ontario ordered the popular fantasy book "The Golden Compass" taken off library shelves at dozens of schools Thursday after receiving a complaint about the author referring to himself as an atheist.

Similar concerns prompted a Catholic organization in the U.S. to urge parents to boycott a movie version of the book starring Nicole Kidman.

The board for Catholic schools in Ontario's Halton region said a complaint was lodged after British author Philip Pullman stated in an interview that he is an atheist.

"We have a policy and procedure whereby individual parents, staff, students or community members can apply to have material reviewed. That's what happened in this case," said Rick MacDonald, the board's superintendent of curriculum services.

The board, which oversees 43 Catholic elementary and secondary schools, has not released the identity of the complainant. It also removed two other books in Pullman's "Dark Materials" trilogy as a precaution.

While "The Golden Compass" was first published in 1995, attention was drawn to the book by the film, which opens next month, MacDonald said.

Pullman has made provocative statements in the past, telling the Washington Post in 2001 that he was "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief."