Double Debut

The Help Kathryn Stockett . Putnam/Amy Einhorn , $24.95 (464p) ISBN 978-0-399-15534-5 What perfect timing for this optimistic, uplifting debut novel (and maiden publication of Amy Einhorn's new imprint) set during the nascent civil rights movement in Jackson, Miss., where black women were trusted to raise white children but not to polish the household silver.

Across Continents

After two searing memoirs, Abraham Verghese writes Cutting for Stone, an epic novel following twin brothers born to a South Indian nun in Ethiopia who grow up to become doctors.

Fiction Reviews

The Song Is You Arthur Phillips . Random , $25 (272p) ISBN 978-1-4000-6646-9 A television commercial director strikes up a bizarre relationship with the object of his infatuation in Phillips's enthralling fourth novel. Behind his hipness and attitude, Julian Donahue is going through an emotional crisis that started when his two-year-old son died of a freak infection.

Broccoli Books Folds; Publishers Struggle in Tough Economy

Manga publisher Broccoli Books will shut down at the end of the year prompting a number of comics publishers to reflect on the economic downturn and its effect on category.

Publishers Show No Fear of Horror Comics

Horror is experiencing a big resurgence in comics.

Mister X: Still Sleepless After All These Years

The Mister X Archives hardcover collection is set to release on 11/26 from Dark Horse and an all-new Mister X limited-series, Mister X: Condemned, by series creator Dean Motterwill premiere in December, also from Dark Horse. Motter spoke withPWCW about the book's history and future.

Comics Briefly

The Kirkman/Bendis Debates: Let’s Do the Math

Todd Allen compares some printing estimates to sales estimates to figure out just who's making money at Image Comics.

Audio Reviews

Fiction Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment Deepak Chopra , read by the author. BBC Audiobooks America , unabridged, six CDs, 7 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 978-1-60283-495-8 Chopra's new novel expands on the themes advanced in his recent nonfiction title The Third Jesus. The narrative focuses on the mysterious span of time in Christ's life between the ages of 12 and 30.

Animal Planet

The Face on Your Plate: The Truth About Food Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson . Norton , $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-393-06595-4 “Each bite of meat involves the killing of an animal that did not need to die,” Masson (When Elephants Weep) reminds readers, and if the advocacy of a completely vegan diet (neither milk nor eggs, in addition to giving up meat and fish) is not particularly new...

Fiction Reviews

My Abandonment Peter Rock . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt , $22 (240p) ISBN 978-0-15-101414-9 The engaging but limited perspective of 13-year-old Caroline, “the hillbilly girl that lived in the park,” reveals a highly circumscribed world. When first met, Caroline and Father are scavenging for materials to make a shelter in the “forest park” outside of Portland, Ore.

Children's Book Reviews

Picture Books What a Good Big Brother! Diane Wright Landolf , illus. by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. Random , $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-375-84258-0 Every time Cameron's infant sister cries, his parents seem to have an answer: she's wet, she's hungry, she's tired. And once Cameron knows the problem, he's eager to help out.

Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 11/24/2008

The Web this Week: Conspiracies! 9/11, JFK, and the Zionists. Plus: Hebrews on the high seas, New Mexico's endangered grasslands, a comedy sidekick tells his sordid tale, how to dress for any occasion, and how not to fit in—the succesful way.

Walking into the Dark Forest

Jan Burke, author of the Irene Kelly suspense series (Kidnapped, etc.), ventures into paranormal territory for the first time in The Messenger.

Nonfiction Reviews

Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life Judith Orloff, M.D. Harmony , $24.95 (416p) ISBN 978-0-307-33818-1 Orloff (Second Sight) offers a superbly written series of psychological strategies for maximizing positive emotions and minimizing toxic ones. A practicing psychiatrist, the author straddles the worlds of mainstream medicine and alternative h...

Broccoli Books to Shut Down

Manga publisher Broccoli Books will be shut down at the end of this year

The Saga of Swamp Thing’s Saga

In 1983 DC Comics editor Len Wein decided to take a chance and give a British writer by the name of Alan Moore a shot at writing the Swamp Thing. The rest of the story is history.

Dave Gibbons and the Creation of Watchmen

Dave Gibbons, Alan Moore’s artist-collaborator on the now-classic superhero epic Watchmen, provides a behind-the-scenes peek into the creation of the graphic novel in a new book just released by U.K. publisher Titan Books.

Fanboys and Families: Miami Book Fair Debuts Comix Galaxy

The Miami Book Fair International, held November 9-16, marked its 25th anniversary by launching the Comix Galaxy, a partnership between the Miami Book Fair and Diamond Book Distributors that greatly expands the presence of comics and graphic novels at the annual show.

Mike Allred Hits All The Right Notes

Originally published as a series by Dark Horse in the late 1990s, Red Rocket 7, a labor of love by Mike Allred that manages to integrate aliens, spaceships, robots and clones into the history of rock n’ roll, is back in print now in a .45-record-sized collection from Image.