Inside Jacket

This Wednesday, 5/18, at 4 PM Eastern, fans will have a chance to chat with author John Scalzi while he’s on tour for FUZZY NATION!

Tor Books is excited to announce that this month’s #TorChat will feature author John Scalzi! #TorChat is a monthly series of twitter chats, in which guest authors join fans in a lively, informative and entertaining discussion of all that’s hot in genre fiction, 140 characters at a time. The chat will take place on Wednesday, May 18th, from 4 – 5 PM Eastern.

This Wednesday’s #Torchat will be with New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi (@scalzi), who is currently on tour for his brand new novel, FUZZY NATION (May 10, 2011). John will be participating, barring any complications with travel, from his hotel in Salt Lake City. John will be available to answer fan questions and to talk about his new novel and its inspiration (the 1962 Hugo-nominated novel Little Fuzzy), his long running blog, Whatever, and what it’s like to be on tour.

The chat will be introduced and (loosely) moderated by Tor publicist Cassie Ammerman (@leanoir), with giveaways of advance copies of upcoming genre releases from @TorBooks following the 4 PM chat.

Keep an eye on the @TorBooks account, as well as that of the moderator, @leanoir, for updates on the chat’s start time, which is fluid due to the fact that John is on the road.

Our Author guest:

JOHN SCALZI is the author of several SF novels, including the bestselling “Old Man’s War” sequence, comprising Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigades, and The Last Colony. He is a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and he won the Hugo Award for Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, a collection of essays from his wildly popular blog Whatever. He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter.

About Tor Books
Tor Books, an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, is a New York-based publisher of hardcover and softcover books, founded in 1980 and committed (although not limited) to SF and fantasy literature. In 2002, Tor launched Starscape, an imprint dedicated to publishing quality science fiction and fantasy for young readers, including books by critically acclaimed and award winning authors such as Cory Doctorow, Orson Scott Card, and David Lubar. Between an extensive hardcover and trade-softcover line, an Orb backlist program, and a stronghold in mass-market paperback, Tor annually publishes what is arguably the largest and most diverse line of science fiction and fantasy ever produced by a single English-language publisher. Books from Tor have won every major award in the SF and fantasy fields, and for the last twenty-three years the company has been named Best Publisher in the Locus Poll, the largest consumer poll in SF.

Filed under: Events, News

My colleague Beth offers this video review of The Princess Bride by William Goldman. Apparently, a million copies of this book have been sold. In 1941 a young boy lies bedridden from pneumonia. His perpetually disheveled a father, an immigrant with broken English, shuffles into his bedroom carrying a book. The boy wants to know if it has any sports. His father says, “Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passions. Miracles.”

“This outstanding first effort, the first book in a trilogy, will appeal greatly to zombie fans, but the undead are merely the catalyst for a far more disquieting tale of societal collapse.”

The First Days by Rhiannon Frater has received a Starred review in this week’s Publishers Weekly!

Below is the full review:

“This world is fragile.” This truth lies at the core of Frater’s intensely compelling first novel. When Jenni wakes up one morning and discovers her husband devouring their baby, she flees into a world suddenly populated by zombies. She is rescued by Katie, a lawyer haunted by her abandonment of her now-undead wife. The two traumatized women escape the city and discover unsuspected reserves of strength as they meet other survivors, some waiting for the government to save them and others trying to support one another through the chaos. Katie and Jenni join a group in a fortified site and are faced with the enormous task of rebuilding the world. This outstanding first effort, the first book in a trilogy, will appeal greatly to zombie fans, but the undead are merely the catalyst for a far more disquieting tale of societal collapse.” (July)

What others are saying about The First Days:

Fatally Yours
Buy Zombie
Random Musings
Horror Drive-in

Filed under: News

A sharp-eyed booklover has sold an 1848 first edition of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte for euro 8,000 (around $11,400) after buying it for euro 3 (about $4) in a flea market, reports the Irish Independent. The news story does not reveal the person who sold it at the flea market.

When the weather turns warm, I’m drawn to my bike and my garden, which means my reading really suffers. Call it my springtime lull, and it’s happening again. Right now, I’m stuck in three — count’ em, three — books: "The Finkler Question" by Howard Jacobson, "The Jewish Messiah" by Arnon Grunberg and "Someone to Run With" by David Grossman.

That’s a lot of procrastination for someone who generally is a monogamous reader, picking up a new book only after the last one is finished. I suppose it might mean the none of the books has grabbed me. But I think it’s mainly a function of the weather. After being cooped up all winter, I just can’t resist the chance to get outside again to excerise. And when I look at the yard, I see a dozen projects — expanding a garden, reseeding the lawn, adding some shrubs. If I lived in San Diego or L.A., where the weather is always perfect, I’m afraid I might never read a book again.

If you have suggestions for a book that will reach out and grab me by the throat, let me know. It has to rain some time, doesn’t it?