Books

Original comics additions to best-selling fantasy series are one of the hottest trends in graphic novels these days, and here's a new one that looks to continue that trend. Kim Harrison's The Hollows urban fantasy series has already sold over a million copies and now it's joining the graphic novel world with BLOOD WORK, an original gn set in the Hollows world with art by Pedro Maia an Gemma Magno. The book was written by Harrison herself and goes on sale on July 12th. The Hollows series is set in an alternate world where supernatural witches, vampires, werewolves and pixies lives alongside more regular humans. Rachel Morgan, a witch, is a detective who investigates crimes that involves both worlds. BLOOD WORK tells the story of how Morgan and her vampire partner Ivy Tamwood met for the first time and teamed up.

At the Book Expo in May we were asking an indie book store owner if she sold many graphic novels and she said "Only the classics, like BONE." To celebrate, the BONE crew is hitting the road with the spectacular deluxe 20th Anniversary edition, the first full color one volume edition of BONE. Details here.

Steve Bissette is second to none when it comes to well-sourced, exhaustively thorough and stimulatingly thoughtful writings on culture, so his new book TEEN ANGELS & NEW MUTANTS should be quite the read. ... Amazingly, while EW's comics coverage has been spotty of late, here's an awesome interview with Bissette in Shelf Life : Brat Pack is not a graphic novel that tends to get mentioned in the same breath as, say, Watchmen or The Dark Knight Returns, when people talk about all-time great comics.

So much good stuff! Bestselling author Christopher Moore writes a graphic novel! Ray Bradbury, Grandmaster, has two classics adapted! Grant Morrison writes about superheroes and religion! Disney and Hitler, together again! Girlie comics from Marvel! "Good Girl" comics from Jim Silke, Doug Sneyd, and Dean Yeagle! Great Women comics from Gail Simone, Colleen Coover, Megan Kelso, Jill Thompson, and Corinne Mucha! (Can't find female creators on the newsstands? Check the bookshelves!) And lots of masterful work from Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Jim Starlin, and Floyd Gottfredson!

If you were wondering when a Game of Thrones comic book would show up, it's been in the works for quite a while from Bantam Books and Dynamite The first issue is due in September. Daniel Abraham writes, Tommy Patterson draws, and Alex Ross and Mike S. Miller will provide the covers. Martin had a previous comics encounter when the Dabel Brothers adapted his Hedge Knight Books.

Jeff Kinney's Wimpy Kid series get profiled revealing that is has now joined such publishing behemoths as Twilight and Stieg Larsson - indeed only the late Swedish author beat Kinney as best selling author in the US last year. The piece expands a bit on how YA publishing is still strong as other genres fade:

As the business is changing, creators are getting creative about the business and finding new revenue streams. One such venture is Crazy 8 Press. Six noted SF writers—Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Robert Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, Aaron Rosenberg, and Howard Weinstein—are banding together to start their own online publishing cooperative and sell direct to readers. Books will be offered on a bimonthly basis to start, with greater frequency to come. Interested readers can sign up for the newsletter at the above link.

With the launch of Pottermore yesterday, it appears that J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, will be selling her own e-book versions of the beloved series. She hardly need another revenue stream however -- she's worth an estimated $1 billion and reportedly makes £1 million every three days from the Hogwarts empire. And what do you spend that kind of money on? Realt estate -- a few vacation homes in Tasmania, and mansions in the UK -- and:

Although Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling has remained mum about her future writing, she has a lot of existing writing on the Potterverse -- notebooks full of background information and so on. This week she launched a new website Pottermore, which will sell digital copies of her Potter books, audio books, and offer all sorts of Mufggle-friendly activities:

Now that enough time has passed for everyone to see the final episode, a brief salute to Game of Thrones, via the above 8-bit version of the theme -- WARNING: will embed in your BRAIN -- and a piece of Phil Noto art depicting Daenerys Targaryen who was a real standout in the 10-episode season.

In all the uproar over DC's relaunch, what was once a somewhat robust program for original graphic novels seems to have been lost: no talk of any more Earth One books, and Vertigo's OGN line is limping along in purgatory. Thus an Amazon listing for WONDER WOMAN: HAND OF THE GODS by Margaret Weis, Lizz Baldwin, Justiniano and Walden Wong is of some interest.

Ah... Memorial Day approaches, and with it, summer vacation. Day after day of nothing which must be done, but full of possibilities! Maybe an escape to the air-conditioned refuge of your local library. Perhaps a day spent on the porch, sipping something cold and sinful (I prefer Brown Cows, served in a large ice tea glass). Or maybe hiding away up in a hayloft, or deep in a cool root cellar, where no one can find you. Whatever your preference, there's nothing like a good book to make you forget the world around you. Below are some suggestions for your summer reading pleasures. (And if you need a nap to avoid the afternoon heat, give your kids something to read. It'll keep them quiet long enough for you to recharge your batteries.)