There's a New Gang in Town: Austin's Delacorte Dames and Dudes

DDD—no, it’s not a heavy-duty new battery. It’s the acronym for an informal group of Austin, Tex., writers all published by Delacorte Press.

On the Scene with Darren Shan

It’s the right time of year for books about demons, vampires and other creatures of the night, making the recent U.S. tour for Cirque du Freak and Demonata series author Darren Shan particularly well-timed.

November Rain and Ergot at APE

The final stop on the 2008 comics convention circuit, the Alternative Press Expo was held at the Concourse in San Francisco on November 1 and 2—a big change for a show that's usually taken place in April. APE is always a laid-back sort of show, with spacious corridors and, thanks to its Bay Area location, connections to the old school of underground comix. (First-wave veteran Spain Rodriguez even came by the Last Gasp booth to sign copies of Che: A Graphic Biography.)

Yen Press in Orbit: Manga and the Hachette Reorg

In the wake of the Hachette ororganization, Yen Press publishing director Kurt Hassler chatted with PWCW about the future of Yen Press, the future of manga in the U.S. and the importance of strong properties to any publishing category.

A Visit to Paul Pope's World

The iconoclastic creator of such acclaimed original comics works as 100%, Heavy Liquid and Batman: Year 100, is at work on multiple book projects—including a new series aimed at kids and even turns his attention to the world of fashion.

Life in Comics: Publishers on the Prowl - We Want Your Comics!

At SLG, it seems that fewer submissions arrive every week, and what we do get is not appropriate for us, either because the style or content is just not what we publish, or the work is of beginners who aren't quite ready for publication.

November Comics Bestsellers

Jeff Kinney's Rodrick Rules takes the #1 slot followed by Naruto vol. 31. Jim Butcher's Welcome to the Jungle is #3, Stephen King's The Long Road Home is at #5 and Brian Azzarello's 100 Bullets: Dirty (#9) also make this list this month.

A Small MangaNext Con Grows in Somerset, N.J.

MangaNext is a small con in it's third year and draws a young crowd to the Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center in Somerset, New Jersey.

Comics Briefly

Panelmania: Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation

A young girl named Antimony attends a boarding school where magic and

science collide in this 13-page preview of Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation.

Marvel Publishing Sales Slip

Trade paperback sales were off in Marvel's third quarter, leading to a 3% decline in revenue in the period while profits fell 15%.

Nonfiction Reviews

Summer World: A Season of Bounty Bernd Heinrich . Ecco , $26.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-06-074217-1 In his pursuit of actively observing his camp in the forests of western Maine and the woods, beaver bog and gardens around his Vermont home, Heinrich (The Trees in My Forest) delights with the surprising activities of local flora and fauna—and his own scientific antics: with a pet grackle name...

Fiction Reviews

Waveland Frederick Barthelme . Doubleday , $24.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-385-52729-3 In his first novel since PEN/Faulkner finalist Elroy Nights, Barthelme offers a strangely detached exploration of the post-Katrina Mississippi Gulf Coast. One year after the hurricane and a divorce, Vaughn Williams has more or less recovered from the shock of both.

Children's Book Reviews

Picture Books Do You Love Me? Joost Elffers and Curious Pictures . HarperCollins/Bowen , $14.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-06-166799-2 Elffers (Food Play) teams up with Curious Pictures, producer of such TV shows as Little Einsteins, to introduce Snuzzles. Amorphous and solid-colored, the Snuzzles look a lot like rubber squeak toys, with their heads defined only by protrusions for noses and ears and ...

Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 11/03/2008

On the Web this week: mountain-scaling management techniques, writing like a Russian realist, analyzing the Zionists, the origins of French cuisine, another fine regional barbecue bible, and financial advice for a world in (literal) tribulation. Plus: the life of Fred Astaire, the early work of fashion photog Edward Steichen, and the self-defense of Eminem's mom.

On Tour with Dave and Ridley

Science Fair, the seventh collaboration between Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, pubbed with a 250,000-copy first printing. The pair then embarked on an eight-city tour over 10 days, including a visit to Good Morning America.

Q & A with Ellen Klages

TheGreen Glass Sea, winner of the 2007 Scott O’Dell Award, tells the story of the creation of the first atomic bomb through the eyes of Suze and Dewey, two children of scientists working on the project. Bookshelf spoke with Ellen Klages about her sequel, White Sands, Red Menace (Viking), set in Alamogordo, N.M, after the war.

Peachy Performance for a YA Series

Three very different teens forge a friendship one summer while working in a Georgia peach orchard in Jodi Lynn Anderson’s Peaches, published in 2005 by HarperTeen. The girls were reunited in 2006’s Secret of Peaches and meet once again in Love and Peaches, which was released this week with an initial print run of 100,000 copies.

An Encore for Aidan Chambers

Aidan Chambers’s Dance Sequence, six novels with shared themes (though not characters) debuted 30 years ago with the publication of Breaktime. This month, Amulet Books is releasing paperback reissues of this young adult novel, as well as the second installment, Dance on My Grave. The publisher will reissue the third and fourth books, Now I Know and The Toll Bridge, in spring 2009.

Comics Go to the Ivy League

Academic Librarian Karen Green has successfully made the case for the literary legitimacy of comics at one of the most elite schools in the nation, and transformed Columbia’s collection of graphic novels from a paltry few to over 800 books and climbing.