Macmillan Library

Deep Thoughts

Monday Fun Day! (2/06/2012 Edition)

Welcome back to the work week, folks! Here's a little Monday fun to get things started:

- Last week Talia, Stephanie Chase, Alene Moroni, and I were featured in EarlyWord modeling their brand new, mega-chic GalleyChat buttons. See the article here!

- Flavorwire puts THREATS and HALF-BLOOD BLUES on their list of "10 New Must Reads for February." We agree! See the full list here.

- Looking ahead to the Indie Next List for March, we see THE STARBOARD SEA, THE INQUISITOR, THE DOG WHO DANCED, and GYPSY BOY. See the full list here.

- And a word on the big game:

We would be remiss to ignore all of the sports excitement from this weekend, so we'll extend our congratulations to this year's MVP (Most Valuable Puppy, that is), Fumble!

Watch highlights from Puppy Bowl VIII* here.

*Apparently humans were playing a similar game this weekend, but that might just be rumor.

Reviews and Publicity

Starred Review for Third Grave Dead Ahead

After her adventures in the RWA Golden Heart Award-winning novel FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT and sequel SECOND GRAVE ON THE LEFT, Private Investigator and Grim Reaper Charlie Davidson has come to find leading a double life solving crimes and shepherding souls into the afterlife exhausting. But the cases, the dead, and the boys just keep getting wilder!

Publishers Weekly gave the third installment in the series, THIRD GRAVE DEAD AHEAD, a starred review and called P.I./Grim Reaper Charlie, "smart" and "wickedly hilarious." Of the story, they said, "Jones pulls all the craziness together in the end while leaving plenty of open threads to pull the reader into the next installment."

Library Journal said, "A must-buy for Charley Davidson fans, the novel has an engaging style--coupled with the enjoyable sarcasm of its protagonist--that will no doubt win Jones an expanding readership among paranormal romance/mystery aficionados."

And Booklist said, "Readers will be dying to know where the fourth grave is."

Reviews and Publicity

Starred Review for THE STOLEN BRIDE

Fans of King Arthur will be pleased to hear that Tony Hays' fourth Arthurian mystery, THE STOLEN BRIDE, received a glowing starred review from Publishers Weekly!

They said,

"Utterly convincing characters and a perfect balance between action and sleuthing distinguish Hays’s suspenseful fourth mystery set in King Arthur’s Britain. [...] Hays just keeps getting better with each entry in this intriguing historical series."

Read the full review here.

Reviews and Publicity

Author Profile: Olen Steinhauer

Olen Steinhauer was recently profiled in Publishers Weekly about his latest novel AN AMERICAN SPY featuring the reluctant, contemporary spy Milo Weaver (preceded by THE TOURIST and THE NEAREST EXIT). The article, "A Literary Spy: Olen Steinhauer," discusses Steinhauer's journey to writing spies and what intrigues him about them. The article reads,

"Steinhauer's remarkable portrayal of the trilogy's Weaver has garnered comparisons with John le Carré. A huge fan of le Carré, Steinhauer calls THINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY 'a wholly literary novel.' It seems clear that Steinhauer, in that spirit is trying to marry literary devotion to craft and seriousness with the compelling narratives of genre. A lot of today's spy fiction 'is interested in how spies work,' he says. 'I'm interested in how people deceive each other.'"

Steinhauer also offers some interesting commentary on his writing process. He says,

"I write myself into a corner, then get stuck, then get an idea, then change everything... If it went smoothly, I'd be worried."

Publishers Weekly also gave AN AMERICAN SPY a starred review and said,

"Steinhauer is particularly good at articulating contemporary spy craft—the mechanics of surveillance and intelligence in the digital age and the depth of paranoia endemic to the trade. In addition, his ability to create characters with genuine emotions and conflicts, coupled with an insightful and often poetic writing style, set him apart in the world of espionage fiction."

Reviews and Publicity

Even More Books for Dudes

We're big fans of Douglas Lord's Books for Dudes column over at Library Journal. Recently he reviewed a good stack of our unputdownable books, many of which left him cranky from lack of sleep.

We've picked a few choice passages from his reviews to share with you here.

THE VARIATIONS by John Donatich (available in February from Holt)

"When you see me dragging a** around work and looking kind of cranked off at the dinner table, know it’s because this book kept me up long, long after bedtime."

CHILDREN OF WRATH by Paul Grossman (available in February from St. Martin's Press)

Lord called it "an immensely satisfying, all-around winner." And said, "It was compelling enough to keep me up hours past my bedtime and once even to cause me to fall prey to that classic bedtime blunder: falling book-clutched-in-hands, glasses-on-face asleep. This was, of course, followed by the classic wake-up-90-minutes-later-completely-disoriented-and-drooling."

JOE GOLEM AND THE DROWNING CITY by Christopher Golden & Mike Mignola (available in March from St. Martin's Press)

"Mignola, the artist known for the “Hellboy” graphic novel series, and the prolific Golden, whose credits include the YA horror novel STRANGEWOOD, jointly crafted this enjoyable, steampunky YA title." He also warned, "if, like me, you decide that a large cup of coffee at 8:30 pm on a Wednesday is Just. The. Thing. You. Want., well, look no further: you’ll enjoy cranking through this and wake up with a Thursday book’n’caffeine hangover."

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Brad Parks (available in March from Minotaur)

Lord said it's, "breezily enjoyable," and admitted, "I skipped two prime nap times and stayed up three hours past bedtime one night, accompanied only by chocolate, tea, and my special blue blankie."

Check out the full article on LibraryJournal.com to see what else Lord recommends.

Deep Thoughts

Monday Fun Day! (1/30/2012 Edition)

Well, well, well; if it isn't Monday. You've got a lot of nerve showing your face around here again, Monday...

Only kidding! It's going to be a GREAT week, I can feel it in my bones (or maybe that's just the lingering post-Midwinter exhaustion). Either way, we've got a few fun tidbits to kick things off for you.

- Minotaur swept the 2012 Dilys Award nomination list boasting four out of the five nominated titles! The Minotaur nominees are:

WICKED AUTUMN by G.M. Malliet
TAG MAN by Archer Mayor
A TRICK OF THE LIGHT by Louise Penny
GHOST HERO by S.J. Rozan

See the full list of nominated titles here.

- I mentioned it last week, but I'm still tickled to see Talia and her librarian buddies pictured in Library Journal's recap of the RUSA awards ceremony. If you haven't seen it, take a look!

- Jonathan Galassi, president and publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, was featured in The New York Times on Sunday. Read the article, "Contradictions of the Heart," now.

- We're loving blogger Tiffany Gibert's literary outfits. So far she's recreated the cover looks from SMUT by Alan Bennett and SKIPPY DIES by Paul Murray. I wonder what's next up her sleeve (or on it)!

And if you made it here from Unshelved, welcome! Feel free to poke around. We recommend our Books for Teens page and the About Us section. Also we would love it if you introduced yourself in the comments section.

Reviews and Publicity

The 2012 Edgar Award Nominees

We are very proud to have so many excellent books, both fiction and nonfiction, nominated for the Edgar Awards this year.

In their press release the Mystery Writers of America say that the Edgar Awards are "honoring the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction and television published or produced in 2011."

Our 2012 nominees:

Best Novel

THE DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X by Keigo Higashino

Best First Novel

LAST TO FOLD by David Duffy
PURGATORY CHASM by Steve Ulfelder

Best Critical Biographical

THE TATTOOED GIRL by Dan Burstein, Arne de Keijzer & John-Henri Holmberg

Mary Higgins Clark

NOW YOU SEE ME by S.J. Bolton
DEATH ON TOUR by Janice Hamrick
MURDER MOST PERSUASIVE by Tracy Kiely

The awards will be presented to the winners on April 26, 2012 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, NYC.

See all of the 2012 Edgar Award Nominees here.

See the full press release from the Mystery Writers of America here.

Reviews and Publicity

RUSA’s 2012 Notable Books & Reading List

The 2012 RUSA reading list is in!

Between the noshable hors d'oeuvres, the wine, and the charming company, we had a riotous time at the announcement ceremony in Dallas. Yes, we were whooping and hollering when they listed books we love!

Don't believe me? Boom: proof.

Library Journal reported, "Some of the announcements were greeted by quite a bit of excitement, especially from Robin Nesbitt (on Twitter, @robnesb) of Columbus Metropolitan Library; Alene Moroni (@surlyspice) of King County Library System, WA; Talia Sherer (@macmillanlib) of Macmillan Library Marketing; and Stephanie Chase (@acornsandnuts) of Mutnomah County Library." So, yeah, we were excited.

Now, on to the books!

2012 Reading List

ADRENALINE
Shortlisted:

NOW YOU SEE ME by S. J. Bolton
YOU'RE NEXT by Gregg Hurwitz

MYSTERY
Winner:

THE DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X by Keigo Higashino

Shortlisted:

KILLED AT THE WHIM OF A HAT by Colin Cotterill
A TRICK OF THE LIGHT by Louise Penny

SCIENCE FICTION
Shortlisted:

THE QUANTUM THIEF by Hannu Rajaniemi

See the complete list of RUSA winners, short lists, and read-alikes here.

2012 Notable Books List

NONFICTION:

THINKING, FAST AND SLOW by Daniel Kahneman

See RUSA's complete list of Notable Books here.

Reviews and Publicity

ALA Midwinter Love and Our YALSA Award Winners!

Whew, what a conference! Midwinter was a delight this year. We're so glad we got a chance to catch up with so many of you.

Now that we're back, we want to highlight the 2012 YALSA awards winners and nominees that we publish and distribute:

Our 2012 Alex Award Winners:

SALVAGE THE BONES by Jesmyn Ward
THE LOVER'S DICTIONARY by David Levithan
BIG GIRL SMALL by Rachel DeWoskin

See the full list of 2012 Alex Award-winners here.

Our 2012 Alex Award Nominations:

AFTER THE GOLDEN AGE by Carrie Vaughn
AMONG OTHERS by Jo Walton
EMORY'S GIFT by W. Bruce Cameron

See the full list of 2012 Alex Award-nominees here.

2012 Great Graphic Novels:

DAYBREAK by Brian Ralph

See YALSA's full list of 2012 Great Graphic Novels here.

UPDATE: YALSA posted more awards and lists today!

2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults:

MILES FROM ORDINARY by Carol Lynch Williams

See YALSA's full list of 2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults here.

2012 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers:

FALL FOR ANYTHING by Courtney Summers

See YALSA's full list of 2012 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers here.

2nd UPDATE: YALSA posted their popular paperback picks!

2012 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, Stick and Stones

SOME GIRLS ARE* by Courtney Summers
THE CHOSEN ONE* by Carol Lynch Williams

*This is the THIRD appearance on a YALSA booklist for SOME GIRLS ARE and THE CHOSEN ONE. They have each now appeared on YALSA’s Popular Paperbacks for Young Adult List (2012), Best Fiction for Young Adults (2010 & 2011) and Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2010 & 2011). If you haven't read them yet, now's the time!

See YALSA's full list of 2012 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults here.

Deep Thoughts

Dallas-Bound At Dawn

cowgirls As of 6 a.m. Thursday morning, Talia and I will be making our way South to Dallas (cue record scratch... did that girl just say 6 a.m.?!).

That's right people! We'll be rolling out of New York at an ungodly hour to get everything ready for the best ALA Midwinter Meeting that Macmillan Library has ever seen!

We won't be able to update the blog while we're gone, but we'll be updating again next Tuesday. Or, join us on Twitter to get the full ALA play-by-play.

If you're also Dallas-bound, come find us in booth #1509. Grab a galley, have a chat, and bring us coffee and donuts, cool? Cool.