News, Awards & Events

NPR releases results of the Summer 2021 Poll along with “Your 50 Favorite Sci-Fi And Fantasy Books Of The Past Decade.”

D.G. Compton wins Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award. Locus has more.

QueerSciFi.com Flash Fiction Contest Winners are announced, with Ava Kelly, L.S. Reinholt, and Emilia Agrafojo receiving top three honors. Locushas more.

The "Open a Book, Open the World: The Library of Congress National Book Festival,” will be shown on PBS Stations starting September 12th.

Reviews

USA Today reviews The Family Plot by Megan Collins (Atria), giving it 3 out of 4 stars: “Colllins' talent to make prose moody and atmospheric is masterful. Even while reading with all the lights on, one still feels alone and on edge with a sense of foreboding.”

NYT reviews Fierce Little Thing by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore (Flatiron; LJ starred review): “Deaths — accidental, deliberate, shrouded in confusion — swirl through this intriguing and occasionally maddening novel, Beverly-Whittemore’s fifth.” And, Names for Light by Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint (Graywolf): “The language is so concerned with and looking pretty that what the story is about — political upheaval, death, heartbreak, violence, discrimination, the immigrant experience — is barely noticeable.” Plus, paired reviews of A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel, to the Car, to What Comes Next by Tom Standage (Bloomsbury), and About Time: A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks David Rooney (Norton): two books “that cover two human constants: time and motion.”

The Washington Post reviews Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey: Ballantine; LJ starred review): “her riveting new noir, is an adrenalized, darkly romantic journey set during Mexico’s Dirty War.”

Briefly Noted

LibraryReads and Library Journal offer read-alikes for the buzziest book of the week, 

NYTprofiles the work of Laurent Binet, author of Civilizations (FSG) which will publish in the U.S. on September 14th.

Entertainment Weeklytalks with Nichole Perkins about her new memoir, Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be (Grand Central; LJ starred review). Shondaland also speaks with Perkins about “sex, feminism, and pop culture.”

LA Times speaks with Billie Jean King about her memoir All In (Knopf: Random House; LJ starred review).

Danny DeVito will write a story for new comic anthology, Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant #1. LitHub has more.

LA Times has a piece about two women writers grappling with the legacy of DH Lawrence: Burning Man: The Trials of D. H. Lawrence by Frances Wilson (FSG) and Second Place by Rachel Cusk (Farrar; LJ starred review).

Vulture has a story about “The Spine Collector,” who has been stealing books before publication for years.

People talks with Janis Joplin’s family members about sharing her personal archives in new book, Janis Joplin: Scrapbook Days & Summers (Genesis).

NYT recommends 4 newly published books and 5 audiobooks for the week.

CrimeReads has “Five Psychological Thrillers You Should Read This Month.”

“Librarian, editor, and fan Lorna Toolis, 68” has died. Locus has a remembrance.

Authors on Air

Good Morning America has an interview with Chandler Baker, author of GMA August book club selecion, The Husbands (Flatiron). Also, GMA has “everything you need to know” about Hulu’s buzzy series, Nine Perfect Strangers, based on the book by Liane Moriarty.

NPR’s Fresh Air talks to with Billie Jean King about her memoir, All In (Knopf: Random House; LJ starred review).

The Mayfair Witches series by Anne Rice is being developed for TV at AMC.Tordotcom has the update. 

Nomadland, based on the book by Jessica Bruder, wins international critics award for best film of 2021. The Hollywood Reporter has the story.

Cecily Strong, This Will All Be Over Soon (S. & S.), visits Seth Myers tomorrow night.