Harry, MAC and the Kings

Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.

Today is election day in the USA, but this blog is non-political. I have very strong feelings regarding the outcome, but don't look for them here, they will appear in my political blog and that's not open to the public. Now, on to book stuff.

*** Australian writer Jacob Rosenberg has died at age 86. He wrote a number of books about World War II, most notably the novels East of Time and Sunrise West, both set in the Lodz ghetto in Poland. He lost his entire family at Auschwitz.

http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/03/1000709/australian-author-goldberg-dies

*** Those who know me know that Max Allan Collins is one of my top five favorite crime writers, although my favorite series of his, the Nate Heller books, has been dormant since 2001's Angel in Black. My review of his first collaboration with Mickey Spillane, The Goliath Bone, is in this month's iloveamysterynewsletter

The astute bookie will also have noticed that I just finished Black Hats written by MAC under the nom-de-plume of Patrick Culhane. And so along comes a very timely interview with this prolific and exceedingly creative guy. I found it quite enjoyable.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6610795.html

*** The family of Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King are squabbling over her personal papers and, of course, there is a pot-load of money at stake. What a shock, relatives fighting over their inheritance. One has signed to write a book for $1.4 million, the others have the papers, who knows who believes what. It's a mess.

*** Wheels within wheels, as Bertie Wooster would say. Not only is Harry Potter still an avalanche of hype, now comes the definitive work on the fan and cyber worlds that go along with such a phenomenon. Melissa Anelli first gave up her life to run the second largest English language Potter site out there, and now she has turned obsession into prose with Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, his Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon.

This is my kind of story, by the way. Nothing better than a good obsession and to make a buck out of the deal is even better. Good for Melissa!

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-11-03-harry-potter-history_N.htm