Summer Beach Bag of Books Promotion

There are times I feel like I spend my life packing and unpacking. Sunday I leave for a conference in Chicago for a few days and come back late Tuesday. I head to the Miami Book Fair on Wednesday night. This time I am bringing the boys who have a few days off from school. It will be their first trip to the Fair, and I am looking forward to sharing it with them. 

Cory wants to see Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson since he loves their Peter and the Starcatchers series. Greg wants to meet Patricia Schultz, the author of 1,000 PLACES TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE, since he has been checking off the locations in the book with a vengeance. I have a whole roster of authors who I want to see. Both Greg and Cory want to see the Rock Bottom Remainders, the band with Barry, Pearson, Turow and whatever other authors seem to be in town. I also want to take them to some of my favorite Miami haunts. I am looking forward to this. If any of you are going to be at the Fair, let me know. I would love to catch up with you!

Well, as the last trick-or-treater walked up the driveway I thought....here come the holidays! My workshop here at the house already is in full holiday swing. We intend to get you in the mood as we kick off the first week of our Holiday Basket of Cheer contests. Each week we will award a basket to one of five lucky winners. What's in the basket? Two copies of the week's featured title, all of which would make great holiday gifts --- one to read and one to give. Also, packed inside are some of my favorite holiday treats, including Ghirardelli hot chocolate mix, hand-cut marshmallows, Chewy Peps candies and cinnamon sticks --- and a cranberry/orange candle from Illuminations. I spent part of last weekend shopping for these baskets and found some really fun things to tuck inside. See our feature and enter the contest here.

Our latest Suspense/Thriller author is Steve Berry, who we have embraced here at Bookreporter.com since his very first book. His latest thriller, THE VENETIAN BETRAYAL, will be in stores on December 11th. I am deep into this one, where an ancient riddle could hold the key to either saving or destroying millions. It's signature Berry for those of you who are fans. For those who have not yet discovered him, you are in for a treat. We have 20 copies of THE VENETIAN BETRAYAL to give away to readers who would like to preview the book and comment about it. If you are interested, please fill out this form by Friday, November 16th.

On Tuesday J.D. Robb's CREATION IN DEATH, the 25th title in her In Death series, will be in stores. Our advance readers are raving about this one, and you can read their feedback here. Alex, our Promotion Assistant, who has been opening the mail with these entries, loved the one from the reader who spirited her family off to McDonald's since she did not want to stop reading to cook dinner. Hey, I have done my fair share of takeout and ordering in to allow for extra reading time! We all have been enjoying this series, thus it's nice to see the great reaction from these advance readers!

I had the pleasure of meeting Vince Flynn this summer at the International Thriller Writers Conference. His presentation was wildly fun as he talked about spending time with both Presidents Bush and Clinton on separate occasions. Joe Hartlaub, our reviewer, gave his new book, PROTECT AND DEFEND, a huge rave, and you can read the review here. A few years ago I met Clarence Thomas and his wife at a publishing party. Virginia and I had a nice chat as I gave her ideas for books for his great nephew who was living with them. We have a review by Donna Volkenannt of MY GRANDFATHER'S SON, Thomas's memoir, which you can read here.

For those of you who are wondering...Halloween around our house was a huge success. There was scary music, flickering lights, pumpkins in the windows and the ghost costume on my younger son was a huge success. My friend Cathy and I looked appropriately scary in our witch costumes. My older son decided at the last moment to pull together a costume and went as a race car driver. My husband stayed behind as we walked the 'hood trick-or-treating so he could hand out candy. He too was dressed  --- as one of the Blues Brothers. I think he just wanted an excuse not to shave. At one point all five of us were there when the doorbell rang with trick-or-treaters, and I think we blew them away. It was not what they expected.

Well, this weekend "turn back the hands of time" as Standard time rolls back into town. As usual I have about 24 ways to spend this hour. Hmmmm...wonder how many words I can read in an hour? You enjoy your extra 60 minutes! Have a great week.

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

From the New York Times bestselling author of THE SECOND HORSEMAN and FADE, DARKNESS FALLS --- which is now available in stores --- is Kyle Mills’s most provocative and riveting thriller yet. When a bizarre contagion begins to infiltrate Arabian petroleum reserves, the Department of Homeland Security sends Erin Neal to investigate. As the threat escalates, Erin realizes that the bacteria couldn’t possibly have evolved on its own.

We have 20 copies of DARKNESS FALLS to give away to readers who would like to preview the book and comment about it. If you are interested, please fill out this form by Friday, November 9th.

-Click here to read Kyle Mills’s bio.
-Visit the author’s official website, www.KyleMills.com.

More about DARKNESS FALLS:
When a deadly bacteria begins threatening the world’s oil reserves, Erin Neal is sent in to investigate. It soon becomes clear that if this contagion isn’t stopped, it will infiltrate the world’s petroleum reserves, cutting the industrial world off from the energy that provides the heat, food and transportation necessary for survival.

THE HOUSE OF LANYON by Valerie Anand (Historical Fiction)
When two ambitious families occupy the same patch of English soil, rivalry takes root and flourishes. Minor hurts, nursed by jealousy, fester into hatred, and the price for this wild and beautiful piece of ground will take more than three generations to settle.

A tale of jealousy, family rivalry and forbidden love has never been this delicious…

Pick up your copy today!

Now that November is finally here, there is much to look forward to --- frosty weather, belt-busting festive meals and a fantastic lineup of buzzworthy movies perfect for the end-of-the-year blockbuster holiday season. With such an influx of literary adaptations hitting the box office, we thought we’d get ahead in this latest Books into Movies feature and spotlight all of the upcoming films in the next couple of months based on some of our favorite reads --- ranging from Stephen King’s eerie exploration of the darker side of human nature in The Mist to four movies that literary fiction lovers are highly anticipating: The Kite Runner, Love in the Time of Cholera, Atonement and No Country for Old Men.