2010 Regional Trade Show Roundup

There is a lot going on at this year's regional trade shows—amid the planning and between the lines there is a real sense of relevance, balance, and excitement that has been conspicuously absent from recent gatherings.

Healing Words

Not so long ago, getting expert health information usually required waiting in line—or at least having an appointment. These days, a click of the remote or pressing the power button on your computer can call up a host of medical professionals willing and ready to dispense advice.

How to Make It in America

If you want real perspective on America's vibrant cultural milieu, skip the politics section at your local bookstore and head straight to the cookbook aisle. There, in the pages of our cookbooks, one finds the true flavors of America.

Erotica--Fanning the Flames

While the breakneck pace by which erotica publishers turned out titles as recently as two years ago may have slowed, the category's influence on culture—and on publishing—continues apace. The demand for explicit sexual writing is as strong as ever, and readers want characters with a range of desires and experiences, and stories that push the limits of their fantasies.

Tightly Knit

The name Alice Starmore may be unfamiliar to many, yet editions of some of her most sought-after, out-of-print books—filled with complex, distinctive knitting patterns accomplished using specific yarns—routinely fetch $200 to $400 online. Her designs inspire awe, and her reputation for strongly enforcing her design copyrights can also inspire outrage. Regardless, she is a legend among knitters.

Fall 2010 Religion Listings

A big season, with lots of titles, lots of big names: Max Lucado (Thomas Nelson), Philip Yancey (FaithWords), Deepak Chopra (HarperOne). Football names are on the field (Deanna Favre, Tim Tebow) as pop culture remains in play. The 400th anniversary of the King James Bible cometh, and two potential saints—John Henry Newman and Pope John Paul II—are examined. Peruse the possibilities.

Why I Write: Siobhan Fallon

An army base is a strange place. An army base in a time of war , especially after 4,000 men pack up their duffel bags, put on their uniforms, and leave their wives and children for an entire year. In You Know When the Men Are Gone, I attempt to show that world and the moments that lead up to the separation, the long and difficult absence, the return.

Startups for Fall: First Fiction

As usual, we begin our seasonal listings by highlighting 10 promising debut novels. Among the intriguing protagonists: a drug dealer's sibling home from a prison stretch, a Catholic priest questioning his professional path, a young woman--er, zombie--seven years into her afterlife. Siobhan Fallon, whose army major husband served two tours in Iraq, starts us off by describing what happens when the husbands are away.

Fall 2010 Hardcover Listings

Let's think about the fall when, hopefully, the oil leak in the Gulf is capped, the sound of vuvuzelas is a distant memory, and booksellers and –buyers are enthralled by Paul Roberts's book-length profile of Exxon or Jane Leavy's vivid evocation of when Mickey Mantle was an American hero.

Trade Paperback Listings 2010

Back to Business

Finally turning the page on 2009, publishers of business management books are feeling optimistic, focusing their energy on topics that suggest the worst just may be behind us, and on books that speak of rebuilding, reinvesting, reconsidering, and reinvigorating.

Why I Write: Eileen Dreyer

When I was on maternity leave with my second child, I got the bright idea to read all the classic literature I'd missed in school. Don't get me wrong. I had an excellent education. But I went through high school during the '60s, which meant that instead of Silas Marner, I read Animal Farm. Instead of Dickens, Ralph Ellison. I managed to avoid most English Victorian authors, as well as all the French and Russians.

P Is for Paranormal--Still

There's no new way to say it, except possibly en francais, the language of love. Paranormal is le dernier cri in the romance category--its hold on readers and publishers alike defies any logic or explanation. In its first year it was a phase, then it became a definite trend. Now, it's a sea change, with no evidence that the tide's waning. So, sure, everybody agrees about the Pword, but what, exactly, is its appeal— why is this romance genre so, er, bloody popular?

Bolstering the Reference Category

Earlier this month Apple released a remarkable bit of news: just 28 days after the release of the iPad, its much hyped and anticipated multifunctional touch-screen device, the company had sold one million units—a milestone achieved in less than half the time it took the company to reach with its debut iPhone in 2007. What's more, in the same time period, new iPad owners downloaded more than 12 million apps from the Apple App Store and 1.5 million books from the newly unveiled iBookstore.

Why I Write: Steven Saylor

I can't remember the bookshop, or the city where it happened. I can't even remember which book I was promoting, or much about the reader who asked it—but I'll never forget the question.

Imaginary Murders, Real Sleuths

In order to tell a good lie, it's best to mix in some truth. The same often holds true for historical mysteries: to tell an authentic whodunit set in the past, try mixing in real-life figures. In several successful historical series, authors go further than just name-checking the contemporary president or alluding to an ongoing war. Instead, they use well-known historical figures, often fellow authors, as their crime-solving heroes.

Why I Write...

A momentous event in my seventh year started me on a lifelong passion: my grandmother gave me a typewriter. I began to write to understand what I was living.

Mysteries of History

Hilary Mantel's winning the Man Booker Prize for Wolf Hall (Holt, Oct. 2009)--a novel of Tudor England focused on Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry VIII's closest adviser--makes this an appropriate time to reflect on a major mystery subgenre--the historical.

Azzarello Reinvents Pulp Icons & Superheroes in 'First Wave'

On March 3rd, DC Comics kicks off a new fictional universe built on a combination of two sturdy adventure concepts: classic pulp icons including Doc Savage and the Avenger and hardboiled superheroes from Batman to the Spirit. Or as writer Brian Azzarello put it, "The number one draw is 'Let's do a superhero book with no super powers.'"

MacDonald Relaunches Comics News Blog, The Beat

Heidi MacDonald has moved her poppuar comics news blog, The Beat, to its own web domain and will focus the site on a newly transformed (and still transforming) comics industry.