All the news that’s fit to capsulize!
‘SAINT’ NECESSARILY SO
Fans of author Ted Dekker (HOUSE) will want to download a free graphic novel prequel to his current thriller, SAINT, about a kidnapped amnesiac in training to become a killer. (The book is not illustrated.)
HARRY POTTER AND THE WISHFUL THINKING
Amazon is now taking pre-orders for J.K. Rowling’s seventh and final Harry Potter novel, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, due July 21. I mention this only because when I saw the graphic advertising such, my glancing eyes misread it as DEADLY PILLOWS. And, well, that’s a book I’d want to read.
MINING MORE E.R.B.
After its three omnibus collections of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Mars books were well-received, Science Fiction Book Club plans to reprint more Burroughs in the near future. In particular, his Pellucidar “hollow Earth” series, in which there were seven novels, beginning in 1914 with the most famous, AT THE EARTH’S CORE.
IT’S NO ‘LAZY SUNDAY,’ BUT…
To promote his new novel INTOXICATED, author John Barlow has turned to YouTube, crafting a 45-second promo video heavy on sound effects and stock photography, all ostensibly in support of a book about “cocaine, madness and the soft drinks industry in late 19th century England,” not to mention a foul-smelling midget. The audio has a burp in it, so I’d say show it to the kids, but then again, there’s a nekkid lady, too.
THIS WEEK IN AMUSING PRESS RELEASES
In the second installment of our occasional NEWSGASM feature looking at hilarious and/or suspect press releases for books we otherwise will never cover on these pages, we turn to one titled “New Occult Fiction for Women.” Most notably, this unedited paragraph: “Each novel in this series weaves an entertaining story, as well as including useful information about feral cat rescue, how to shrink uterine fibroids naturally, herbal remedies, surviving perimenopause, and more. Each chapter also contains a spell, chant, or magickal prosperity principle that works. ‘It is important to me, as a Witch, that there should be novels in the marketplace portraying contemporary Pagans as we really are in everyday life,’ says Stamps. ‘That means the characters in these novels face the same problems as anyone else (marriage difficulties, divorce, financial challenges, illness, self-esteem issues, etc). But because they are Witches, they use magick to solve their problems, making these books great fun to read, whether you are Pagan or not.” –Rod Lott
