Smith's Rasl Explores Science and Formats

Bone creator Jeff Smith's eagerly awaited new story Rasl hasn't just been an entertaining yarn, it's an experiment in exploring publishing formats for specific book markets. Smith is best known for Bone, his bestselling kid-oriented fantasy-work. But Rasl, about a scientist turned art thief who builds a device to travel to parallel universes, deals with more adult themes and topics, fusing noir, scientific ideas such as string theory, and Native American symbolism.

Starstruck Shines Brightly Once Again

The cult classic comic Starstruck—well ahead of its time when initially released in 1985—has found a new life at IDW. An SF series that spanned galaxies and influences, Starstruck began as a stage play before its initial publication in Heavy Metal Magazine, later finding homes at Marvel’s Epic imprint and Dark Horse.

December Comics Bestsellers

Books 3 and 4 of Jeff Kinney’s hyrid comics and prose Diary of a Wimpy Kid series take the top two spots followed by R. Crumb’s Book of Genesis. Next is comics Viz’s Vampire Knight and Harper and Tokyopop’s comics adaptation of the Warriors series. Naruto is #6, followed by Bloomsbury’s Logicomix and Yen Press’s manga adaptation of Maximum Ride volume 2.

Soapbox: Fringe Benefit

I think I suffer from hypochondriasis, that curious syndrome wherein the individual—usually a medical student—perceives herself or others to be experiencing the symptoms of the disease(s) she is studying. I'm not a med student, but as the frequent editor of prescriptive health titles, I have a similar up-close view of far too many gory bodily functions and medical misfires.

Bard Press Bets On a Diet Book

A small publisher with a string of bestselling business books has hopes for similar success in the diet arena. Bard Press, based in Austin, Tex., with a full-time staff of exactly one (Ray Bard), will release The Full Plate Diet: Slim Down, Look Great, Be Healthy! in time for the diet book crunch, on January 4.

Roger Clemens's Former Trainer Self-Publishing a Memoir

Brian McNamee, the onetime personal strength and conditioning coach for former Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Astros pitcher Roger Clemens, is self-publishing a book that will supposedly reveal his perspective on Clemens’s steroids controversy. Death, Taxes, and Mac: Brian McNamee in His Own Words, written with Marc Zappulla, will drop February 17, 2010, the same day Yankee pitchers and catchers report for spring training in Tampa, Fla.

Joe Sacco Returns to Palestine

In his new book, Footnotes in Gaza (Metropolitan Books), Joe Sacco returns to the Gaza Strip to look into the shrouded history surrounding two little known and brutally violent events—massacres of unarmed Palestinian refugees by Israeli troops in November 1956—that took place in the towns of Khan Younis and Rafah.

A New Brooklyn Comics (And Graphics) Show

Organized by Dan Nadel, publisher of indie comics publishing house PictureBox, and Gabe Fowler of comics shop, Desert Island, the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival was a whirlwind of intense comics activity and relentless crowds of fans that jammed the exhibition space at Our Lady of Consolation Church in Williamsburg despite the miserable weather.

Lobo Rocks Out with Ian and Kieth

Though Scott Ian has enjoyed a career in the entertainment industry that’s spanned over 25 years, the longtime Anthrax guitarist, TV personality and poker pro had never managed to meld his lifelong obsession with comic books into his work. So when DC Comics approached him about writing a mini-series, he knew he had to jump at the opportunity.

Recipe Report: Great Smokies Pork, Leek, and Wild Mushroom Soup

James Villas’s Pig: King of the Southern Table (Wiley, April 2010) is an impressive-looking tome, and Villas is an acclaimed food editor and cookbook author. So I was disappointed that the book’s Great Smokies Pork, Leek, and Wild Mushroom Soup wasn’t tastier.

Short Order: December 7

It's been a quiet few weeks (maybe the food-fest of Thanksgiving had something to do with it?), but there's news from Andrews McMeel about a new crowd-sourced cookbook it will publish, compiling about 100 of the best recipes it receives from food bloggers over the next three months; as well as a New York Times piece on the self-publishing cooks behind Canal House Cooking.

Cooking the Books with Julie Powell

Julie & Julia author Julie Powell is back—but don’t think her new book, Cleaving, picks up where the Amy Adams movie left off. Cleaving tells of the troubles in Powell’s marriage, and how she found solace by working as a butcher, of all things. As Powell explains, readers who come to Cleaving from the Nora Ephron romantic comedy are going to experience “some psychic whiplash.”

Behind the Scenes of a Cookbook Trailer

With book publishers struggling to find ways to introduce unsung talents to the marketplace, Chronicle has invested in a five-minute video for one of its cookbook authors. The publisher let us in on the production of the trailer for Eileen Yin-Fei Lo’s new book, Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking, which it is debuting today, and shared some tips on what makes a good trailer.

A Round-Up of the Round-Ups: Looking at the 'Best Cookbooks of 2009' Lists

We took a look at the "best cookbooks of 2009" lists from editors at Amazon, Eat Me Daily, the Denver Post, Epicurious, the New York Times, NPR, Serious Eats, and, of course, PW—and analyzed the results to see which books appear most frequently, which publishers have the most books on the lists, and a few titles you’ve probably never heard of—but should have.

‘Hunger Games 3’ to Pub Next August

Hunger Games fans have just eight more months to wait: the as yet untitled third and final book in Suzanne Collins's dystopian fantasy trilogy will be released in English worldwide on August 24, 2010. An audio version from Scholastic Audio will be released simultaneously. In other news, the trade paperback edition of the first book in the trilogy, The Hunger Games, will be released on July 6, 2010.

Sex, Lies and Religion: A New Edition of 'Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary'

Long considered a classic of the 1960s underground comics era, as well as a progenitor of a wave of imaginative autobiographical comics works to come in the 1980s, Justin Green’s Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary, is being reprinted in an oversized hardcover edition by McSweeney’s Books this month.

The Image-Makers Reunite

The founders of Image—Erik Larsen, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Todd McFarlane, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino—have reunited and teamed with writer Robert Kirkman for an all-star mini-series that brings the larger than life characters of Image's early days back to the page.

Ted Rall’s The Year of Loving Dangerously

Remember the 80’s? The legwarmers and the feathered hair and the cheesy guys named Chad? Remember Ronald Reagan and Bernie Goetz and the very first hints of the AIDS epidemic? Well, Ted Rall does and, along with artist Pablo Callejo, he’s wrapped it all up into a gorgeous whirlwind of a memoir.

Comics Briefly

Dutton and Riverhead Launch Redeemer Imprint

Dutton and Riverhead are launching a new imprint devoted to books from evangelical Christian preacher Timothy Keller and his Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Keller, who, according to a recent article in New York Magazine draws some 5,000 Manhattanites to hear his sermons every Sunday, has previously published bestsellers with Dutton and Riverhead.