TODAY'S NEWS

Penguin Introduces eSpecials
By Rachel Deahl
Giving a nod to the shifting financial markets and readers' interest in the topic, Penguin is releasing an electronic version of the epilogue Alan Greenspan added to the paperback edition of The Age of Turbulence. The 26-page epilogue will be available for download in various formats--as a pdf and for e-reading devices including the Kindle and Sony Reader. It goes on sale tomorrow, for $5, when the paperback edition of Greenspan's book hits stores. Read on »

Robert Giroux Dies at 94
By Rachel Deahl
Publishing legend Robert Giroux died last Friday morning at age 94. Giroux, a native of New Jersey, first got involved in publishing as an undergraguate at Columbia, where he worked on the Columbia Review. After a brief foray in publicity at CBS, Giroux took a job as a junior editor at the former Harcourt, Brace & Company. Read on »

Sony Donates 100 Readers to Penn State Study
by Craig Morgan Teicher
Sony donated 100 of its e-book readers to a year-long inituative at Penn State University that will examine e-book usage in a higher education setting. A collaboration between Penn State's University Libraries and its English dpeartment, the study will examine the use of ebooks in several contexts, including within the library, in undergraduate and graduate classes, as research tools, and as tools for people with disabilities. Five readers will be made available for monthly loan from the library and loaded with books in popular categories, such as bestselling fiction. "We want to be at the front end of this new technology and to help Sony's technology team create a product that will be useful for how our students work with literature," said Robin Schulze, head of Penn's English Department. The study seeks to find out why readers "have been resistant to reading full-length books in electronic form" in an academic setting," and "to have a much better understanding of the ways that our students and faculty will want to use eBooks," according to Mike Furlough, assistant dean of Scholarly Communications at Penn.

Penguin ‘Rides’ On with Dessen
Penguin Young Readers Group, longtime publisher of bestselling YA author Sarah Dessen, has acquired Dessen's latest novel, Along for the Ride. Regina Hayes, president and publisher of Viking Children’s Books, did the deal with Leigh Feldman of Darhansoff, Verrill, Feldman Literary Agents; Hayes will edit the novel as well. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. In Along for the Ride, which is scheduled to pub in June 2009, an 18-year-old high school graduate befriends a fellow insomniac, and together they explore their small town by night.

Dessen is the author of eight novels, most recently Lock and Key (April 2008). Her books have sold more than 1.5 million copies.

A Starred Review for Thomas L Friedman's Hot, Flat and Crowded on audio.
Thomas L Friedman's newest book, Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need A Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America (FS&G, $27.95; Macmillan Audio unabridged, $59.85; abridged, $29.95), hits bookshelves today. After the jump is PW's starred review of the unabridged audiobook. Read on »

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The Monday Interview: Dean Koontz
An interview with Dean Koontz, whose Bliss to You: Trixie’s Guide to a Happy Life by Trixie Koontz, Dog, as told to Dean Koontz, will be published by Hyperion on September 16.

PW: How did Trixie become an author?

DK: At some point my snail-mail newsletter had become a Trixie newsletter—lots of Trixie pictures, bits of her wisdom, etc.—and Kate Hartson, who at that time had Yorkville Press, came to me and said, “I think there’s a book in the voice of this dog and the way you write from her point of view.” So in 2004 Kate published Life Is Good!, Trixie’s first hardcover, which outsold my first hardcover 14 to one—it stung, believe me, but I got over it—and then came Christmas Is Good! But Kate was starting to downsize, and at that time Hyperion stepped in and asked if Trixie wanted to do another book. Right after we started talking about that, Trixie died. I had never had writer’s block in my life, but after that I had four or five weeks when I couldn’t write a word. I was in the middle of a novel, which I finally managed to finish, and when Hyperion asked if I still wanted to do the book, I said yes, because a month or so had gone by—I never would have agreed right after Trixie died. I enjoy so much writing in her voice and this seemed to be an additional way to memorialize her. Read on »

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Thomas L. Friedman; Bob Woodward; Rick Riordan
Today, Good Morning America, Imus in the Morning, NPR’s Fresh Air and The Late Show With David Letterman all host three-time Pulitzer winner Thomas L. Friedman, whose Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America (FS&G, $27.95; Macmillan Audio unabridged CD, $59.95; abridged, $29.95). Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

'Suicides' at The Loft
On September 4 David Mura celebrated the release of his new book Suicides of the Japanese Empire (Coffee House) at The Loft in Minneapolis. Pictured here at the event (l. to r.) are: Bao Phi, associate program director of spoken word and community collaborations at The Loft; Mura and fellow author Alexs Pate. Submit your pictures here »

JOB OF THE DAY

PW VIRTUAL EDITION

To access the latest issue of Publishers Weekly no matter where you are, be sure to take a look at PW's Virtual Edition -- available online anytime. If you're not already a subscriber, take a look at a sample issue here.