Why?

Why is this P.O.C. the number one book in America right now? From the back cover: "It has been passed down through the ages, highly coveted, hidden, lost, stolen, and bought for vast sums of money. This centuries-old Secret has been understood by some of the most prominent people in history: Plato, Galileo, Beethoven, Edison... Now the Secret is being revealed to the world." Um, OK. Lemme save you some money. Next time Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure comes on cable, pay attention when they say "Be excellent to each other." Same message. Same universal truth.

A Musical Interlude

Right, so I'm touring a day care facility a week or so ago, and I'm a bit bored because the woman conducting the tour made what should have been a 10 minute visit last about 45 minutes. As is my habit, I spent most of the time looking at the books in each classroom out of the corner of my eye. And there, in the pre-K classroom, was Inch By Inch: The Garden Song, a picture book based on a song by Dave Mallett. Perhaps one of the only songs ever to be covered by John Denver, John Lithgow, and the Muppets. I was immediately sold on the center, and reminded of this fantastic performance available on the Kennedy Center website. Ain't serendipity grand?!

Welcome Back

Man, nothing better than a couple of Advance Reader Copies hitting my desk at 4:40 on a Friday afternoon. But wait, there's more! One of them is the new novel from Mark Frost. Frost, who was a writer for Twin Peaks, wrote two great novels back in the day, The List of Seven and The Six Messiahs. Then, I can only presume, he had kids who needed money for college, because he wrote non-fiction golf books. Gack. Even though The Second Objective is a stab at World War II / Hitler / historical fiction, I'm glad Frost is back telling stories...

From Page 2

...of Heartsick, by Chelsea Cain, coming from St. Martin's Minotaur in the fall:

'In this moment, the very first moment of Archie's awareness, the man's head explodes. Archie jerks as the man's blood and brain matter blow forward, splattering Archie's face and chest, a vomit of warm, clotted fluid.'

And yes, I'm hooked.

Just got back from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association spring tradeshow, where quite frankly I didn't see anything of interest to write about in terms of books to look forward to. However, the banquet for the 2007 PNBA award winners was fantastic. Standing ovations for each winner who spoke out against the war in Iraq and certain individuals behind it. I snapped this quick picture with my camera phone.

From the left:

-Russ Lawrence, current President of the ABA and Montana Bookseller, streaking (not literally, thankfully) in front of the winners.
-David Biespiel, editor of Long Journey, a poetry collection from OSU Press.
-David James Duncan, author of God Laughs and Plays from Triad Books.
-Jess Walker, author of The Zero, from the now defunct ReganBooks.
-David Relin, author of Three Cups of Tea from Viking, and Greg Mortenson, the subject of said book.

All are great books, but I think Duncan's is the most important -- everyone needs to read this counter to the insanity of fundamentalism. I was on the award committee that chose all these titles, and you can read more about them here.

'Praise for Craig Davidson'

Could you even publish an edgy, violent boxing novel without the requisite quote from Chuck Palahniuk? I mean, this actually looks good, and there are a ton of other big name blurbs, but the first thing I did when this galley landed on my desk was look for the quote from Chuck P...

It's the end of the world, as we know it...

What is it about post-apocalyptic novels that are so enthralling? I think that, for many of us, it has something to do with putting ourselves in that kind of situation. Who DIDN'T imagine wandering around the United States after Captain Tripps hit in The Stand (because, of course, surely each of us would have been immune, right?!)? Jim Crace, a Whitbread First-Novel winner and National Book Critics Circle award winner, has a decidedly literary entry into this genre with The Pesthouse. There is a great balance here between story and circumstance, with the focus mainly on two young survivors making their way east in the hopes of catching a boat to Europe, where things may or may not be any better. Crace is a superb writer, to the point where I wonder if he is TOO good to write a novel such as this. Will his fans appreciate the sci-fi elements here, and will sci-fi fans appreciate his command of the language. Time will tell, I suppose. I'll make up my own mind when I see how he ends the story...

On a related note, when I sat down to write this, I was thinking of a novel very much like The Stand that I read forever ago. It took some searching, but I finally found Swan Song by Robert McCammon. I was amazed to find that I've been attributing this novel to the wrong author for years. While I wasn't sure of the title, I have always thought Dan Simmons wrote this story. I'm wrong about a lot of things, so this is one less thing I'll screw up in the future!

Booksense Blurbs

I am just lame enough to be proud when my blurbs are chosen for Booksense recommendations. I just found out this one was chosen for April!

THE RAW SHARK TEXTS, by Steven Hall (Canongate, $24, 9781841959115 / 1841959111) "Imagine Jaws as a literary mash-up eating its way through the contemporary information explosion. Now, imagine this creature has developed a taste for you...and only you. Hall pushes the boundaries of fiction and design in this unique first novel." --Colin Rea, University of Oregon Bookstore, Eugene, OR

Yes, I'm going to talk about un-Forthcoming Books too...

One of the 5 or so books I'm reading right now is Finn by Jon Clinch. Clinch endeavors to tell the story of Huck's father, as a way to possibly explain the forces that shaped young Huck. This is not a book you tear through. It is blunt and brutal, as the story of Finn would have to be. But the writing is both spare and beautiful. I'm fascinated by the juxtaposition of brutality and beauty, both in this book and in the last great movie I saw, Pan's Labyrinth. Twain's Huck Finn is easily one of the greatest American novels, and Clinch is brave to link his debut to such history, but thus far he really pulls it off.

Here be that cover.

New Chuck

I just got a galley of the new Chuck Palahniuk's fiction. I say fiction, because it's REALLY hard to call any of his books 'novels.' They just don't play out that way, or so I understand. Now is probably the time to admit that, while I've handsold them for years now, I've never actually read any Chuck P. I've read bits here and there, and heard him speak a few times, but school and PNBA Award Committee reading has often gotten in the way. As I am now about a week from being done with school, I'm moving RANT up on my stack. If the cover is any indicator, Chuck may break several of his own records in terms of the number of people who pass out during his book tour readings...