Meyer grants Twilight saga's Bree Tanner a 'Second Life'

Brace yourself, Twilight fans. A new book from Stephenie Meyer is on the horizon.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella will be released at 12:01 a.m. June 5.

The 192-page story, an offshoot of the third novel in Meyer's best-selling teen vampire Twilight saga, has a first printing of 1.5 million. It's the first new Twilight title since Breaking Dawn, Book 4, was published two years ago.

The new novella is told in the voice of the teenage Bree, a "newborn vampire" whom we meet on page 569 in Eclipse. Ten pages later, she's dead.

"I started writing this a long time ago," Meyer said in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY. "It was when I was editing Eclipse. It was more of just an exercise so I could be clear about what was going on in the story." MORE

Shoo, Jimmy Choo by Catey Hill

Title: “SHOO, Jimmy Choo!” The Modern Girl’s Guide to Spending Less and Saving More

Author: Catey Hill

Publisher: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

Price: $14.95

Pages: 248

Summary: This book provides fundamental principles that help the average young woman plan for financial success. From analyzing your current financial status, to tackling those credit card debts and student loans to investing in retirement savings, author Catey Hill gives practical advice that will get you on your way to truly “spending less and saving more.” MORE

Dan Brown's latest conspiracy thriller looks to be 'big, big'

Dan Brown's first novel since 2003's The Da Vinci Code is triggering more speculation than any book since the end of the Harry Potter series.

The Lost Symbol (Doubleday, $25.95) will be released Sept. 15 with a first printing of 5 million copies. That's the largest print run since the 12 million copies of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007.

If Brown's last novel — which has sold more than 80 million copies — "was big, then the new one will be big, big," says Barnes and Noble's Sessalee Hensley, citing "pent-up demand."

She says 50 stores asked for advance copies: "I had to explain there aren't any."

Just the novel's cover, released by the publisher last month, has been enough to trigger Internet debates about the symbolism of images of the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument, seen through a keyhole on the book's spine. MORE

Closest Companion by Geoffrey C. Ward

Closest Companion is the highly acclaimed and surprisingly engrossing secret diary of Margaret "Daisy" Suckley, Franklin Roosevelt's sixth cousin, who spent more private time with FDR during his years in the White House than any other person. Expertly edited by the eminent historian and bestselling author Geoffrey C. Ward, the diary begins on FDR's inauguration day in January 1933 and ends on the day Roosevelt died in April 1945. Including thirty-eight letters that FDR wrote to Daisy, this volume is a significant contribution to history, offering unique and intimate details of FDR's relationship with Winston Churchill and other wartime leaders, his decision to run for an unprecedented fourth term, his deteriorating health, and his hopes for the postwar world. But at bottom, Closest Companion is a love story like no other, one that provides dramatic new insights into the character and private life of one of America's greatest presidents. MORE

Product Details
Simon & Schuster, July 2009
Trade Paperback, 464 pages
ISBN-10: 1-4391-0314-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-4391-0314-2

Diane Dimond's New Book: Be Careful Who You Love, Inside the Michael Jackson Case

The explosive definitive account of the Michael Jackson saga, chronicling the King of Pop's battles against child molestation charges from 1993 to 2005, from award-winning journalist

Diane Dimond, who broke the story first, over twelve years ago

Michael Jackson has long captured the world's attention, first as the dynamic lead singer of the Jackson Five, then during his highly successful breakout solo career. But somewhere along the line Jackson transformed himself into something hardly recognizable and was investigated -- not once, but twice -- for crimes we could hardly imagine.

Even now, after his unexpected acquittal on multiple charges of child molestation, there is a sense that the real truth behind the allegations is not known. The character of Michael Jackson -- from his humble beginnings to his rich career and the birth of Neverland Ranch -- is destined for great debate among fans, journalists, historians, and psychiatrists for years to come. In the meantime, there is Diane Dimond, the journalist of record on the Jackson case.

In November 2003, when the Santa Barbara county sheriff's department conducted another raid on Neverland Ranch, Diane Dimond and her camera crews were the only ones there to capture the moment and report the news to the world. Now, for the first time, Dimond recounts the multifaceted details of the Jackson case, utilizing her extensive notes and sources. What she tells us is a shocking story.

Be Careful Who You Love will take you behind the scenes and into the courtroom of one of the most controversial cases of the decade, while giving readers a dramatic glimpse of one reporter's vigilance and unending quest to uncover the truth. MORE

'American Adulterer' offers compelling, clinical look at JFK

It takes a great deal of audacity and no less imagination to dissect the libidinous mind of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, but British doctor-turned-novelist Jed Mercurio comes equipped with a little black bag, ready to operate.

Mercurio, who created the BBC medical dramas Bodies and Cardiac Arrest, delivers a compelling — if sometimes distressingly clinical — historical fiction that gives the 35th president's life as an unrepentant "fornicator" a full physical.

"The subject," as the author refers to JFK throughout the novel (lending his observations a physician's cool detachment), "takes the view that monogamy has seldom been the engine of great men's lives."

Central to the book's premise is that this great man has been saddled with a laundry list of debilitating afflictions, including Addison's disease, thyroid deficiency, gastric reflux, peptic ulcer, ulcerative colitis, prostatitis, urethritis, mysterious fevers, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, allergic rhinitis, sinusitis and asthma.

Racked with pain, relentless intestinal distress, his movements stiffly hogtied by a back brace, Kennedy is medicated, probed and punctured by a team of doctors in search of the correct chemical cocktail — all to keep the illusion of health and vitality alive for the sake of the nation.MORE

Kathryn Stockett's 'The Help' is The Hot Book This Summer

A debut novel set in 1960s Jackson, Miss., The Help has been building an audience through word of mouth, supportive booksellers and the publisher's relentless promotion of Stockett and her novel.

It has turned into one of summer's sleeper hits.

"There's a moment right now for this book," says Amy Einhorn, whose Putnam imprint publishes The Help. "It's the tipping point where people are telling other people that they just need to read this."

Stockett's novel tells the story of white Southerner Skeeter Phelan, 22, who persuades the African-American maids in Jackson to help her write a book about their experiences — good and bad — working for white families.

"The story is so well told," says Rona Brinlee, owner of The Book Mark in Atlantic Beach, Fla. "You can feel the time period so viscerally. You become so attached to these women. They are so at risk and you have to know what's going to happen to them. It's a page-turner." MORE

Random House Buys Rights to Jackson Autobiography

Publishers including Random House have bought the rights to reprint Michael Jackson’s best-selling 1988 autobiography, “Moonwalk,’’ Random House said Friday.
The book, in which the late pop icon talks of his fame, music career, and family, will be released in October following his death last month. It will sell for $25.

The US and Canadian rights were bought by Harmony Books, an imprint of Random House. Harmony will print an initial run of 100,000 copies.

Harmony Books spokesman Campbell Wharton declined to comment on the terms of the deal made with Jackson’s estate.More

A Memoir of Noodles, Neuroses

I’ll say this for “The Ramen King and I’’: I’ve never read anything remotely like it. Andy Raskin’s memoir manages to weave together such disparate strands as romantic betrayal, Japanese cuisine, the dot.com boom, and an exhaustive personal history of Momofuku Ando, inventor of the instant noodles popularly referred to as ramen noodles. In its finest moments, the book is peculiar and riveting.
Raskin, who has a degree in computer science from Yale and a master’s in Japan studies, would seem an unlikely memoirist. But he does possess a crucial ingredient: ample neuroses. “I should not want attention or validation. I should give things another shot. I should be more organized,’’ he writes, in his self-lacerating introduction. “I should be friendlier with the guys who run the body shop. I should keep things under wraps. I should not be suffering from what the inventor of instant ramen identified - just prior to inventing instant ramen - as the Fundamental Misunderstanding of Humanity.’’

But Raskin’s real problem, as he sees it, is one of intimacy. He keeps pushing women away, or throwing them over, and eventually winds up in a 12-step-type program where his sponsor instructs him to write letters to a figure he admires. Raskin chooses Ando. He spends the rest of the book trying to orchestrate a personal audience with the entrepreneur. We can all breathe a sigh of relief that Raskin - who also has an MBA from Wharton - didn’t choose Jack Welch. MORE

Author E. Lynn Harris Dies at Age 54

Long before the secret world of closeted black gay men came to light in America, bestselling author E. Lynn Harris introduced a generation of black women to the phenomenon known as the "down low."

Harris endeared such characters to readers who were otherwise unfamiliar with them, using themes and backdrops familiar to urban professionals, conditioned by their upbringings, their church leaders or their friends to condemn and criticize homosexuality in the African-American community. A proud Razorback cheerleader at the University of Arkansas who struggled with his own sexuality before becoming a pioneer of gay black fiction, Harris died Thursday at age 54 while promoting his latest book in Los Angeles.

Publicist Laura Gilmore said Harris died Thursday night after being stricken at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, and a cause of death had not been determined. She said Harris, who lived in Atlanta, fell ill on a train to Los Angeles a few days ago and blacked out for a few minutes, but seemed fine after that.

An improbable and inspirational success story, Harris worked for a decade as an IBM executive before taking up writing, selling the novel "Invisible Life" from his car as he visited salons and beauty parlors around Atlanta. He had unprecedented success for an openly gay black author and his strength as a romance writer led some to call him the "male Terry McMillan."

In 15 years, Harris became the genre's most successful author, penning 11 titles, ten of them New York Times bestsellers. More than four million of his books are in print.MORE

Carrie Prejean, Dethroned Miss California, Writing a Book

Regnery Publishing announced Monday that it has signed dethroned Miss California Carrie Prejean to a book deal.

Her book, titled "Still Standing," will give her side of the controversy that ensued after that infamous answer she gave at the Miss USA pageant concerning gay marriage.

The publisher says the book will address: What happened behind the scenes at the pageant, why she answered Perez Hilton's question the way she did and what really led to her losing the Miss California crown. MORE

Author Details Story of Incarcerated Vocal Group

It sounds like a film script: five African-American men incarcerated at the Tennessee Shttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giftate Penitentiary in Nashville during the '40s and '50s form a vocal group and release a hit record. But the story is true.

The blues quintet, dubbed The Prisonaires, was led by Johnny Bragg, who was serving 594 years for multiple counts of rape, and included William Stewart, serving 99 years for witnessing the murder of a man; Marcel Sanders, facing one to five years for involuntary manslaughter; Ed Thurman, serving 99 years for murdering a man who killed his dog; and John Drue Jr., serving three years for larceny.

They made history with their song, "Just Walkin' in the Rain," which was released on Sun Records in 1953.

Jay Warner, a six-time Grammy-winning music publisher and the founder of National League Music recounts The Prisonaires story in "Just Walkin' in the Rain: The True Story of the Prisonaires: the Convict Pioneers of R&B and Rock & Roll" (Renaissance Books, $25).

The tale is complex and inspiring as it deals with the issues of civil rights and prison reform, but its main focus is on the relationship between Bragg and the governor of the time, Frank Clement.

"It's really two men from opposite ends of the social and political spectrum who find a need in each other. MORE

Book News: Gillispie Authoring Book About Coaching Experiences

Billy Gillispie is writing a book about his life and experiences as a college basketball coach, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports.

Gilispie and free-lance writer Steve Richardson have been writing the book for three years and recently made a formal agreement to see it through to its completion. The book is titled the The Billy Gillispie Story.

"I am just really excited about what we have done so far," Gillispie told the paper. "And I look forward to continuing on this project. It has been a lot of fun so far, and I am sure it will be a lot of fun to complete. I have more time to do it now."

Gillispie was fired by Kentucky in March after two frustrating seasons with the program. He previously coached Texas A&M and Texas-El Paso. MORE

Close pal to issue Farrah Fawcett book next month

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A close friend of late "Charlie's Angels" star Farrah Fawcett will publish her personal diaries about the 'actress' three-year struggle with cancer next month.

"My Journey with Farrah: A Story of Life, Love and Friendship," by Alana Stewart, will come out on August 11 _ less than two months after Fawcett succumbed to anal cancer on June 25. The book is thought to be the first insider's look at Fawcett's illness.

Stewart, the ex-wife of rocker Rod Stewart and a friend of Fawcett's for 30 years, said she was encouraged to go into print by Fawcett herself and by Ryan O'Neal, the "Love Story" movie star who was Fawcett's long time companion. MORE