What’s In A Name…
J.K. Rowling’s upcoming novel for adults will be titled The Casual Vacancy, the Bookseller reported, adding that it will be published worldwide on September 27 in hardcover, e-book, audio download and CD.
Publisher Little, Brown called the novel a “blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising” tale of what happens in the English village of Pagford after parish council member Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly. “Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war.” – Rowling has also launched a new website.
Bond…James Bond
The Ian Fleming estate announced that William Boyd, author of Any Human Heart, will
write the next James Bond novel. The Guardian reported that the third author–after Sebastian Faulks and Jeffrey Deaver–to accept a 007 assignment called it a “once in a lifetime challenge…. For me the prospect appeared incredibly exciting and stimulating.”
Boyd added that he plans to set the novel in 1969, returning to “classic Bond.” It will be published in the fall of 2013, 60 years after the publication of the first Bond novel, Casino Royale.
Oh Serena!
Production has begun on Serena, the film version of Ron Rash’s novel directed by Susanne Bier and starring Jennifer Lawrence. Indiewire noted that “a first look at Lawrence and her co-star Bradley Cooper has emerged. This is what they look like in old-timey clothes, and yeah, they look pretty damn good.”
Readers Welcome?
BookExpo show director Steve Rosato offered more details about the previously announced plan to allow a limited number of consumers access to the Javits Center exhibition floor on Thursday as part of BEA’s Direct to Consumer (D2C) engagement.
While BEA organizers were prepared for opposition to the plan, the “silence has been heard loud and clear. To be blunt, I am shocked at how this is being embraced by publishers. I also want to emphasize the consumers attending on Thursday will not impact with the B2B portion of BEA,” Rosato wrote before highlighting details of the Power Readers game plan:
- This will be limited to 1,000 consumers who will pay admission. We want people who value this unique opportunity and are passionate readers. Their badge will show them as POWER READERS.
- BEA is partnering with a number of local booksellers, NYPL and publishers to make this allotment of tickets available.
- We will communicate pre-show, on-site when they get their badge and using editorial in the PW Show Daily on day three to explain to our ‘new’ attendees: what to expect, what to look for and how to enjoy BEA.
- We will prohibit consumers from peddling manuscripts, stating that constitutes soliciting and will result in the loss of their badge.
- There will be some specific programming for consumers, like a Best of the Buzz panel and other events on the Author Stages, but we will mostly encourage them to visit publishers in their booths as well as autographing.
- We will highlight which publishers will offer giveaways for the Power Readers.
- Selling directly to consumers is not permitted for 2012 as we do not have time to set up retail partners or to enforce tax collection laws. This will be addressed for 2013.
IBBA!!! Have You Voted?
Voting for finalists for the first Independent Book Blogger Awards, recognizing “the amazing talent in book blogging today,” have begun and will run through April 23. The awards will be given in four categories–adult fiction, adult nonfiction, children’s/YA and industry news–and are sponsored by Goodreads and the Association of American Publishers. Winners will be chosen by a committee of industry representatives and announced about May 8. Winners in each category receive a free trip to BEA in New York City.
Don’t forget that KindleObsessed is up for this award!!! To vote go HERE!
100 Years Ago…
Today, April 15, is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.
Already the wave of commemorations has begun, marked by the launch this week of the 3D version of James Cameron’s blockbuster movie, which set records when it appeared in 1997 in mere 2D, including 15 weeks in a row at #1 and 11 Oscars. As if that’s not enough, there’s a new four-part ABC miniseries, Titanic, from the writer of Downton Abbey, and Titanic: Blood and Steel, a 12-part series focusing on the construction and sinking of the Titanic.
Dating back to 1912, the Titanic tragedy has inspired a fleet of books. The best known is A Night to Remember by Walter Lord, the basis for the 1958 film. A century after the tragic sinking, books about it continue to appear. Here is a selected roundup of new Titanic tomes:
• The Titanic for Dummies by Stephen Spignesi.
• Build Your Own Titanic, a paperback out of which the “reader” can build a 1:200 cardboard scale model of the ill-fated ship.
• Titanic: The Tragedy That Shook the World by the editors of LIFE Books.
• Voyagers of the Titanic: Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, Aristocrats, and the Worlds They Came From by Richard Davenport-Hines.
• Titanic Tragedy: A New Look at the Lost Liner by John Maxtone-Graham.
• A Rare Titanic Family: The Caldwells’ Story of Survival by Julie Hedgepeth Williams, the story of a couple with a three-year-old son who all survived the Titanic‘s sinking, written by their great-niece, a historian.
• The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic by Allan Wolf.
• Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson.
• Voices from the Titanic: The Epic Story of the Tragedy from the People Who Were There by Geoff Tibballs.
• Kaspar the Titanic Cat by Michael Morpurgo, a middle-grade tale of a four-legged passenger.
There are many more. These are–forgive us–just the tip of the iceberg. —John Mutter
Waiting For!
Universal FINALLY released its first trailer for Oliver Stone’s Savages, which is adapted from the novel by Don Winslow and stars Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Benecio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, Emile Hirsch and Demian Bichir. Deadline.com reported that “Universal was impressed enough to move the film from fall into the July 6 slot.”
Ben, Chon, and O are twentysomething best friends living the dream in Southern California. Together they have made a small fortune producing premium grade marijuana, a product so potent that the Mexican Baja Cartel demands a cut. When Ben and Chon refuse to back down, the cartel kidnaps O, igniting a dizzying array of high-octane negotiations and stunning plot twists as they risk everything to free her. The result is a provocative, sexy, and darkly engrossing thrill ride, an ultracontemporary love story that will leave you breathless.
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