Mystery

Vargas Ices Scandinavians for Dagger Hat Trick: French crime writer Fred Vargas (aka Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau) and her translator Sian Reynolds held off a trio of Swedes, one Norwegian and an Icelandic writer to win the Crime Writers' Association's prestigious International Dagger Award for The Chalk Circle Man.  This is Vargas' third win in four years. Colin Cotterill won the CWA's Dagger in the Library which "the author of crime fiction whose work is currently giving the greatest enjoyment to library users." See all the winners on the CWA site and see a very evocative image of Vargas in today's Guardian.  [The Guardian]

Harlem Book Fair:  The 11th annual Harlem Book Fair kicks off tomorrow in New York City.  This year's theme is "Reinventing 21st Century Culture." Check out the full schedule of events.  Book TV on C-Span-2 will be covering many of the weekend events with live telecasts. [Shelf Awareness]

Movers & Shakers:  Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales joyfully jumps onto our Movers & Shakers list after NPR's Morning Edition featured the audiobook which includes celebrity readings of the South African leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate's most beloved tales from all across Africa.  Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Hugh Jackman, LeVar Burton, Helen Mirren and many others actors and actresses lend their voices to this collection.  Proceeds from the book go to Artists for a New South Africa,  a non-profit organization which assists children affected by HIV/AIDS and promotes education and social justice. [NPR]

--Lauren

How strange is it that, within a few months of each other this year, two of the most ambitious novelists around, each coming off a vast, long-in-the-works epic, have made the No Country for Old Men move, writing a lighter, more accessible genre piece that has gotten compared to Elmore Leonard? In May, Denis Johnson, fresh off the 720-page, National Book Award-winning (and beloved by me) Tree of Smoke, released Nobody Move (which I was too timid to keep up with when it was serialized earlier in Playboy). And in August comes the new Thomas Pynchon (a phrase that has in the past sent Godzilla-like shudders through the literary earth), Inherent Vice, complete with a Tim Dorsey-style cover after the more solemn packaging of his previous book, the ambivalently received thousand-pager, Against the Day.

I've just cracked the Pynchon, but so far I'm hearing more Tom Robbins than Leonard. Nobody Move, though? Well, it's a very good Elmore Leonard book--and that's a very good thing. Like Leonard, Johnson's so spare with the words that he often leaves off the subject of a sentence. Starts right in with the verb. And like Leonard, his bad guys (and they're all bad guys) manage to be both bumbling and ingenious, brutal and charming. And best of all, like Leonard, his banter crackles (and is a reminder of how sharp Johnson's dialogue is in anything he writes, whether it's an intricate, dreamy war drama or a lean little crime thriller). Here's the little bit I read out loud to my wife the other day, which made her put down Anna Karenina and pick this one up (and swallow it whole, laughing all the way). The two main bad guys--the ones you root for--are buying a change of clothes at a JCPenney:

And on it goes--it goes down easy. --Tom

FYI, Da Vinci Code fans: in their buildup to the shrouded-in-secrecy release of The Last Symbol in September, Doubleday has started a Twitter account @lostsymbolbook and are releasing three cryptic tweets a day that apparently (they're way over my head) are clues to the mystery in the new book. You can follow the tweets on Twitter, and we're also adding links to them on our page for the book each day. Here are the first two days' clues:

And while we're at it, time to set your clocks for the moment of the book's arrival (you can subtract a day or two for the moment when Janet Maslin's NYT review, thanks to a copy somehow obtained by a Times staffer, will appear...):

--Tom

Generation Spy: The latest trend in kids books?  Action-packed spy fiction judging by the huge success of series including Anthony Horowitz's Snakehead and Charlie Higson's Young James Bond series among others. The Guardian UK book blog breaks down the appeal for reluctant readers and those who've exceeded their quota of "wands and wizardry on their bedside tables." [Guardian UK]

Barking on Broadway: Author Kate DiCamillo's Newbery Award Honor book Because of Winn-Dixie will be hitting the boards in a new Broadway musical. Back in 2005 the children's novel was adapted for the big screen in a film starring Jeff Daniels.  Film rights for DiCamillo's forthcoming book, The Magician's Elephant, which releases September 8, have already been sold to Fox. [Shelf Awareness]

Teens Toggle from Book to Video: To appeal to tech savvy teens, publishers are enabling readers to jump from book to video content. Publisher HarperCollins labeled the jacket of Lauren Conrad's just released L.A. Candy [in Amazon's Top 100 today] with a 2-D barcode which enables readers to link directly from moblie devices to the book's website and video content. Both Penguin and Simon & Schuster have also just announced a new online network and a social networking site for YA readers.  [USA Today]

--Lauren

In this Amazon exclusive, we brought together blockbuster authors Michael Connelly and Janet Evanovich and asked them to interview each other. Find out what two of the top authors of their genres have to say about their characters, writing process, and more.

It wouldn't officially feel like summer without a new Janet Evanovich novel. And with Finger Lickin' Fifteen, Evanovich offers the ultimate beach read with the continuing adventures of her popular bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum. Details about what happens are hush-hush until the 6/23 publication date, but readers are promised that "complications arise, loyalties are tested, cliffhangers are resolved, and donuts are eaten."

Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of the Harry Bosch series of novels as well as The Poet, Blood Work, Void Moon, Chasing the Dime, The Lincoln Lawyer, and this summer's The Scarecrow. He is a former newspaper reporter who has won numerous awards for his journalism and his novels.

Read on to see Michael Connelly's questions for Janet Evanovich, or check out what Evanovich wanted to know about Connelly.

Connelly: Let's get the business out of the way. What's Finger Lickin' Fifteen, the new Stephanie Plum novel, all about and what brought you to the story?

Evanovich: I wanted to do a book that featured Stephanie's wheelman, Lula. Lula is one of my favorite characters because she's pulled herself up from hard times and now is just more of everything. Fifteen opens with Lula witnessing a crime, and it all gets complicated after that. We're talking about barbecue gone bad, cross-dressing firemen, dancing hot dogs, etc.

Connelly: You strike me as an author who is involved in every aspect of the publishing of her work. But the output--at least two solid novels a year--suggests otherwise, that you delegate all over the place so that you can focus on writing high-quality stuff. So which is it? (And if your answer is that you do indeed delegate, how the heck do you learn to do that?)

Evanovich: You reach a point in your career where the business side threatens to eclipse writing time and you either delegate or power back. I delegate everything but the writing. My daughter and her staff manage the website, the fan mail, the book tour, the author publicity and marketing. My son is my agent and finance officer and chief problem solver. When no one else can solve the problem it gets dumped on my son's desk! I oversee all aspects, but I've had to learn not to micro-manage.

Connelly: We have an author friend in common--Robert Crais--who has steadfastly refused to sell or option his series character Elvis Cole to Hollywood. On the other hand, I've flogged Harry Bosch up and down the studio strip. (Interestingly enough, to the same effect--no movies made!) Where do you stand with Stephanie and will we ever see her on the big or small screen?

Evanovich: Jeez Louise, I wish I knew the answer to this one. TriStar owns the Plum franchise with Wendy Finerman attached as producer, and Wendy has been trying to get this sucker off the ground for fifteen years. Probably somewhere in the vicinity of three million people read each of my Plum books, but for whatever reason, TriStar has yet to greenlight the project.

Connelly: Speaking of that L.A. business, do you remember when we first met? Since you conveniently put numbers in your titles, it is easy for me to remember that it was fourteen years ago in L.A. I bet you don't remember the name of the restaurant, which sadly is no longer there. But, luckily, we're still here and my memory of that lunch is important to me because at the time we had probably sold a hundred books between us (not counting romance novels).

Evanovich: What I remember is that what I consider to be my graduating class (you, Crais, and Jan Burke) would get together at all the mystery conferences, and you would be our fearless leader!

Connelly: Did you know that in my most recent novel a very bad man plans to use a Janet Evanovich novel to get close to an unsuspecting, potential victim? It's scary stuff--the plan, not the Evanovich novel. Have you reached a stage where your work is part of the terrain and gets these sorts of little nods here and there?

Evanovich: Every now and then my name or one of my character names pops up and it's usually in the work of a friend. I think it's fun and I always reciprocate...so live in fear.

--BTP

In this Amazon exclusive, we brought together blockbuster authors Michael Connelly and Janet Evanovich and asked them to interview each other. Find out what two of the top authors of their genres have to say about their characters, writing process, and more.

In The Scarecrow, Connelly brings back one of his most memorable characters: reporter Jack McEvoy, from The Poet. When he's forced out his job at the Los Angeles Times, McEvoy goes out with a bang, chasing the biggest crime story of his career.

Janet Evanovich is the bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum novels, including this summer's hotly anticipated Finger Lickin' Fifteen, twelve romance novels, the Alexandra Barnaby novels, and How I Write: Secrets of a Bestelling Author.

Tomorrow we'll turn the tables and let Michael Connelly pose a few questions of his own to Janet Evanovich.

Evanovich: So dude,... Okay, you're back in Florida. Do you ever get to the beach? And when and if you get to the beach...is Harry Bosch with you? And what kind of beachwear are you guys sporting? Flip-flops? Crocs? Speedo? Board shorts?

Connelly: I go to the beach often on weekends. Board shorts are required and I wear flip-flops with the built in bottle opener. Comes in handy. In Florida we rarely have waves, unless there is a hurricane in the Gulf. So I have taken up paddle-boarding, which essentially involves a big surfboard that you stand on and paddle. Still a balancing act, but easier than surfing, and you don't need waves.

Evanovich: What will a bookstore look like in 2020? Will we all be downloading?

Connelly: Good question. Since it is only eleven years from now, I think there will still be a solid population of "old school" readers who need the book in their hands. The question is, will they get it at a bookstore or will we have a Kindle 9.0 device that manufactures a book for you at home, complete with photo of author in a bomber jacket.

Evanovich: If everybody is downloading in 2020 what the heck will we be signing on book tour? Body parts? Kindle cases?

Connelly: I signed two Kindles yesterday. One person asked me to leave room for signatures from you and Dennis Lehane. So next time you're in Seattle she'll be in your line.

Evanovich: Do you eat when you write? Beer nuts? M&Ms? Just coffee? What keeps you from falling out of the chair in a narcoleptic stupor?

Connelly: Have you ever seen what eating Cheetos can do to a keyboard? I have to say I am addicted to Coke. I always have a glass of it nearby. I eat a lot of candy, too. Keeps me going. Smarties are a great writing tool. I often need to raid my daughter's stash and then there is trouble on the home front.

Evanovich: Are you a messy guy or a neat guy? Do you keep clutter on your desk? In your head? Are there soda cans and crumpled fast food wrappers rolling around on the floor of your car?

Connelly: I keep a clean car but a desk that gets progressively messier as I write a book. When I am finished with the book, I clean up the desk—and eat all the stray Smarties found under the paperwork. The clean desk then promotes the start of the next book.

Evanovich: The new book, The Scarecrow, sounds terrific, and I know it's followed by Harry Bosch in Nine Dragons in the fall. Does your publisher prefer one series over another? And do you find one series to be more commercially viable than another?

Connelly: They let me do what I want. I like writing about Harry Bosch and he's pretty popular, but usually when I write a standalone it widens the audience a bit.

Evanovich: Want to meet me in a bar in Ft. Myers? Is that halfway?

Connelly: Name the place.

--BTP

Omnivoracious is proud to welcome China Mievilleas a guest blogger this week. Arguably one of the most important fantasists of the last decade, Mieville made his mark with the insanely imaginative Perdido Street Station. The novel single-handedly reconfigured the landscape of genre fiction with its combination of pulp and the surreal, the political and the personal. In Perdido Street Station and subsequent novels The Scar, Iron Council, and the New York Times bestseller Un Lun Dun, Mieville also remade the idea of city as character. For these efforts, Mieville has won the Arthur C. Clarke Award and been a finalist for the World Fantasy Award. (As a side note, I can say that in addition to the mad talent China also just happens to be an incredibly nice and self-effacing person.)

Now, in his latest novel, The City & The City, Mieville turns his attention to strangeness set in our world. Part police procedural and part exploration of what it means to live both together and apart, The City & The City is set in the city of Beszel on the edge of Europe. Inspector Tyador Borlu must solve the murder of a woman that may be part of a larger conspiracy.

The novel is an Amazon featured book for June, and has garnered wide praise from, among others, Walter Mosley, who calls The City & The City "daring and disturbing. Mieville illuminates fundamental and unsettling questions about culture, governance, and the shadowy differences that keep us apart." And, unless you've been away from the internet for the last month, you'll have encountered any number of glowing reviews of the novel.

So this week, in addition to Mieville's posts, written while on his recent book tour and covering everything from Tolkien to preemptive literary movements, Omnivoracious will be featuring a video interview with the author. Related posts will cover topics like the work of Alfred Kubin, a major influence on Mieville's book, and much more. Check back daily for an intriguing week of the literary and the fantastical.

To get started, here's a snippet of instant messenger interview I originally did with China for the print magazine Weird Tales, in which he talks about his definition of "weird fiction" and tells us which he likes better--reptiles or mammals...

Jeff VanderMeer: What does the word "weird" mean to you?"

China Mieville: I've been thinking about this a lot recently. I'm teaching a course in Weird Fiction at the University of Warwick, so this has come up a lot. Obviously it's kind of impossible to come to anything like a final answer, so I approach this in a Beckettian way--try to define/understand it, fail, try again, fail again, fail better...I think the whole "sense of cosmic awe" thing that we hear a lot about in the Weird tradition is to do with the sense of the numinous, whether in a horrific iteration (or, more occasionally, a kind of joyous one), as being completely embedded in the everyday, rather than an intrusion. To that extent the Weird to me is about the sense that reality is always Weird.

I've been thinking about the traditional notion of the "sublime," which was always (by Kant, Schopenhauer, et al) distinguished from the "Beautiful," as containing a kind of horror at the immeasurable scale of it. I think what the Weird can do is question the arbitrary distinction between the Beautiful and the Sublime, and operate as a kind of Sublime Backwash, so that the numinous incomparable awesome slips back from "mountains" and "forests," into the everyday. So...the Weird as radicalised quotidian Sublime.

VanderMeer: So theoretically people should see "the weird" in every day like. But most don't see it--or aren't prepared to see it, possibly because they're too inward-turning, not really experiencing the world moment-to-moment? Is that what you mean? Or is that too New Age-y for what you're talking about?

Mieville: I'm talking about it as a literary/aesthetic effect--my impression is that a lot of us do experience it quite a lot, in everyday life. But given that part of its differentia specifica is that it is AWEsome, beyond language, expressing it is very difficult. I think a lot of what we admire in Weird Fictioneers is not that they see, but that they make a decent fist of expressing.

VanderMeer: That's the theory side, in a sense, but expressed on a more personal level, what appeals to you most about the weird tale?

Mieville: The awe, the ecstasy. I was reading Blackwood's "The Wendigo" the other day, and the moment when Defago is taken by the Wendigo and wails from above the trees this astonishing moment of unrealistic speech, "oh, oh, my burning feet of fire! This height and fiery speed!", the strange poetry of it, I found very affecting. Of course we all have our favourite iterations of Weird, and for me it dovetails a lot with a love of teratology, so I also hugely love when the Weird is expressed by radical monster-making, the strangeness of strange creatures, but some of my favourite Weird Tales contain no monsters at all. It's the awe and ecstasy that gets me.

VanderMeer: But not necessarily epiphany? I.e., this awe and ecstasy is a cumulative effect of the story or it's what it culminates in?

Mieville: I don't think I can distinguish [between] the two. I think for me the best Weird fiction is an expression of that awe, which permeates the whole thing, but because you can't structure a story as a continual shout of ecstasy (at least not and expect many readers to stick with you) it sort of pretends to be an epiphany. But I think it's the epiphany of realisation--that the real is Weird--rather than change or irruption--that something Weird occurs. Lovecraft for example is always back-projecting his mythos into history. We don't know it, unless we're one of the select unlucky few in his story, but it's not that these things have suddenly arrived to mess about with previously stable reality, but that we're forced to realise--there's the epiphany, it's epistemological, rather than an ontological break--that it was always Awesome.

VanderMeer: Yeah, but you are talking about visionary fiction to some extent--some of it is hardwired with ecstasy, and that's why the best examples are short stories, no? Because you can't sustain that "reverie"?

Mieville: I think that's true--it's much harder to maintain Weird, or, certainly, ecstasy, over a longer form. Which is why these stories are about the revelation--not because it's a surprise (we expect it) but because it's a necessary kind of bleak Damascene moment. There are Weird novels and some brilliant ones, but they're harder to sustain.

VanderMeer: What do you think most surprises your students studying weird tales?

Mieville: I think for a lot of people who don't read pulp growing up, there's a real surprise that the particular kind of Pulp Modernism of a certain kind of lush purple prose isn't necessarily a failure or a mistake, but is part of the fabric of the story and what makes it weird. There's a big default notion that "spare," or "precise" prose is somehow better. I keep insisting to them that while such prose is completely legitimate, it's in no way intrinsically more accurate, more relevant, or better than lush prose. That adjective "precise," for example, needs unpicking. If a "minimalist" writer describes a table, and a metaphor-ridden adjective-heavy weird fictioneer describes a table, they are very different, but the former is in absolutely no way closer to the material reality than the latter. Both of them are radically different from that reality. They're just words. A table is a big wooden thing with my tea on it.

I think they also are surprised by how much they enjoy making up monsters.

VanderMeer: Who doesn't? But you say they're surprised? They think that's too childish to start?

Mieville: Yes, to some extent. It's something you need to grow out of. Or your monsters are only legitimate to the extent that they 'really mean' something else. I spend a lot of time arguing for literalism of fantastic, rather than its reduction to allegory. Metaphor is inevitable but it escapes our intent, so we should relax about it. Our monsters are about themselves, and they can get on with being about all sorts of other stuff too, but if we want them to be primarily that, and don't enjoy their monstrousness, they're dead and nothing.

VanderMeer: Right--nobody likes a monster piñata.

Mieville: Yeah--it's what Toby Litt brilliantly called the "Scooby Doo Impasse"--that people always-already know that they'll pull the mask off the monster and see what it "really" is/means. The notion that that is what makes it legitimate is a very drab kind of heavy-handedness.

VanderMeer: Do you think a lot of writers create monsters, though, that they don't mean literally? I mean, do you think writers sit down and go, when writing the rough draft, "This is going to be a metaphor for 9-11?" Or is it just that readers and academics think they do?

Mieville: Well I think this is one of the big distinctions between genre and non-genre traditions. I think, for example, that when Margaret Atwood invents the "pigoons" for Oryx & Crake, part of the problem with them for me is I think they are primarily a vehicle for considering genetic manipulation, and only distantly secondarily scary pig monsters. I think plenty of monsters get hobbled by their "meaning". The Coppola Bram Stoker's Dracula vampire had to shuffle along, so weighed down was he by bloated historical import. None of this is to say that monsters don't mean things other than themselves--of course they do--but that to me they do so best when they believe in themselves.

***

VanderMeer: On that note, let's wrap things up with a "weird" speed round or two. I'm going to list two "weird" writers at a time and you'll tell me which you like better with maybe a sentence on why, if you want. Ready?

Mieville: Ok, cool. I LOVE the either/or game. People who say "ooh can't I have both" are terrible cheats.

VanderMeer: Here goes. Jack Vance or Robert E. Howard?

Mieville: Vance because of DYING EARTH. Dying. Earth. And big dying sun.

VanderMeer: Vance or Lovecraft?

Mieville: Lovecraft: (also damn you for making me choose!) Because i) the monsters are revolutionary, and ii) the prose is totally weird. And Weird.

VanderMeer: Lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith?

Mieville: Lovecraft. Because CAS, to whom all honour and respect, has a post-Dunsanian sort of slightly sentimental archaic singsongism that doesn't freak me out as much as Lovecraft's hysteria.

VanderMeer: Surprise! Lovecraft or Ursula K. LeGuin OR Ray Bradbury?

Mieville: A Troika? That's cheating surely! Lovecraft. Sorry sorry Le Guin and Bradbury. Because he reshaped a form more radically than either of them (to whom infinite burnt offerings and love)

VanderMeer: Lovecraft or Tennessee Williams? (Both of whom appeared in Weird Tales.)

Mieville: (NO! REALLY???) Lovecraft. Though TW closes up close for that weird play where the guy gets eaten by children--Suddenly Last Summer. Also, William Hope Hodgson is pulling ahead of Lovecraft in my head, increasingly recently, workmanlike prose or not. But that's another discussion.

VanderMeer: And, finally, mammals or reptiles?

Mieville: Please. PLEASE. Mammals Schmammals. In ascending order, it goes Mammals and birds equally, Reptiles, Amphibians, Insects, Fish, Cephalopods...

    
   (As I've documented, Underland is currently running an "Agent of Chaos" contest that lets you win the pictured materials.)

One of year's more intriguing North American debuts this year is Chaos by Escober, not least because "Escober" is a husband-wife writing team from the Netherlands. Chaos itself is a big, smart juggernaut of a novel, perfect summer reading but also razor-sharp in its depiction of a man seeking not only the solution to a mystery but a solution to himself.

The plot? British soldier Alex Fisher returns home from a tour in Bosnia, only to be haunted by blackouts, recurring nightmares, and uncontrollable acts of violence. After escaping to Mexico, Fisher sets off across several countries trying to distance himself from the demons in his head. A mysterious woman named Angela introduces Fisher to a far more passionate-and far more dangerous-life. As he attempts to sort through his complicated and half-remembered past, Fisher discovers that the truth is harder to accept than the lies. It's non-stop action, and a tense thriller.

A bestselling phenomenon in Europe, "Escober" answered my questions via email, one or two at a time, "whenever we had a free moment over the last three days, cruising through the Netherlands from one signing to another. So: in our car in between book signings in the provinces, computer on Esther’s lap, Berry driving the BMW (same car as in Chaos: black 5-series)." Sounds like their lives are almost as frenetic as Alex Fisher's, but more fun! And, as you'll find out, this is an extremely focused and talented team. (I believe this is their first extensive interview for a U.S.-based site.)

Amazon.com: When, why, and how did you start collaborating on novels?

Escober: Our lives, passions and work have always been intertwined. We practically grew up together: we met in our teens, in 1986, when Esther was still in high school. Two years later, after Berry served in the army as a sergeant, we bought a small house. We had numerous jobs, sometimes two or three at a time, but in 1994 we started writing non-fiction (illustrated books) and taking photos for our own work and, later on, advertising companies. From 1996 this was our full-time occupation. Berry wrote books about beer, Esther specialized in animals. We travelled through Europe taking pictures and doing research. Together we wrote more than 60 reference books and encyclopaedias, which have been published in more than 80 countries. In 2002 we felt like a new challenge and started to write our first novel, Restless (“Onrust” in Dutch), the first part of a trilogy about philosophical one-man-army Sil Maier. In the Netherlands and Belgium this trilogy has been described as a successful, remarkable, international hybrid of Lee Child, Andy McNab and serious literature.

Amazon.com: What's the nature or process of the collaboration?

Escober: We don't have a standard procedure, every book has its own flow and feel. In general we both contribute to the manuscript according to our individual strengths; for Berry this is plotting, he has the overview and keeps an eye on everything during the process. He loves to find solutions for plot problems and is also very good at writing dialogue. Esther is more interested in the scenes themselves, the details, she puts herself in the characters’ shoes and tells the story from their perspective to make it as real as possible for both herself and the reader. She is very serious about the text: it must have a natural rhythm, the lines have to “sing”. Naturally, Esther focuses on the female psychology and Berry (“Ber”) concentrates on the male roles. Esther writes during the night with headphones on (she writes to alternative music and hard rock), Berry finds her work on the kitchen table in the morning, and takes it from there (in absolute silence).

Amazon.com: What do you find are the advantages of collaboration?

Escober: Except for what we have described above: particularly in the early stages of the writing process you don’t want to share your thoughts and ideas with other people, it’s a very fragile, intuitive process. Because we know each other so well we can share anything we choose. It is great to have a partner in (fictional) crime. The collaboration is so intense that sometimes we say: together we have three children and four novels.

Amazon.com: Chaos is non-stop intrigue and action. How do you sustain that in a novel? And how do you accomplish it without wearing out the reader?

Escober: It comes naturally. Esther writes with hard rock in her headphones, so the text automatically takes on a hard rock rhythm. We don’t write with the reader in mind. We just write the book we’d love to read for ourselves. We are fully aware that our books are exhausting for some readers and consider this to be collateral damage.

Amazon.com: Why do you think the books have been so popular in Europe?

Escober: Readers tell us they get the feeling they are watching a film instead of reading. We do love action, never a dull moment, but at the same time don’t want to sacrifice psychological depth. The characters have to be as real as possible. You get to know our characters, love--or hate--them, and eventually they do feel like friends or acquaintances. The story also feels real. We take research very seriously. We go to the places we describe in our books and speak with experts in the field to get everything spot on and as true to life as possible. A lot of Alex Fisher’s memories in Chaos have happened to people we know. At the same time Escober books are considered to be easy to read, a perfect present for people who are bored easily when reading; which doesn’t mean they are easy to write, quite the opposite; we believe that the writer has to make the effort, not the reader.
 
Amazon.com: What're some of the most unusual reactions you've gotten to the books from fans?

Escober: One quite dramatic one that we will never forget was a reader who emailed us to tell us that he recognized his own restlessness and frustration in Sil Maier in Restless, and decided to divorce his wife and change his life completely...Some readers think at least half of what they read happened to us in real life. Even army-people think we served in Bosnia, because from their perspective it is impossible to know how it feels if you’ve never been there (in reality Bosnia is the only place we didn’t visit for Chaos, we did go to Mexico, England, Spain, etc). We think this is the best compliment anybody can give a writer--people think parts of our books are autobiographical. Some fans visit our signings wearing Escober T-shirts, which is also a great honour; in Europe people are not overly star-struck and only behave like this at rock concerts. Not at book signings.

Amazon.com: What are you working on now?

Escober: Esther is going through an extremely busy time at the moment, she is the thriller Author of the Month in the Netherlands and she wrote the Dutch book-week gift book, which has a first print run of 805,000 copies. Almost every day she is busy from dusk till dawn (and later) with book signings, interviews, photo-shoots, radio, television etc. Next month we will drive to our house in the French hills, it’s very quiet there, the nearest shop is a 30-minute drive away and we don’t have internet. A perfect place to clear our heads and explore the ideas we have both for a new Escober and a new solo Esther Verhoef .

Amazon.com: Where can readers find out more about you?

Escober: Our site is in Dutch but you can still visit it to see the pictures we’ve taken on our research trips and listen to the music that inspired Esther while writing (click on ‘Klik hier’ bottom of the page). Please feel free to leave us some words in our guest book, which is in Dutch: ‘Gastenboek’.

Just back from the Javits: BookExpo America, the vast annual industry convention in New York, just closed up shop on Sunday and, despite a general doomful feeling about the whole exercise and the absence this year of some top-shelf publishers, it was only slightly less vast and busy than previous years. We'll be featuring items from the show here over the next few weeks, but in the meantime, you can read show wrap-ups (which are often guides to some of the big coming books of the summer and fall) from the LA Times, the NY Times (twice), Sara Nelson at the Daily Beast, Publishers Weekly,and Library Journal.

Make it a Hal Incandenza summer: Always wanted to read the late DFW's Infinite Jest? Need some peer support/pressure to do so? Join the folks at the Morning News-connected Infinite Summer for a group read beginning on the solstice and ending on the equinox. [Via The Guardian]

Crime fiction doesn't pay off (but that's fine): Also via that same Guardian post, China Mieville, whose new venture into the hard-boiled, The City & The City, is one of my favorite books of the year so far, wrote a short piece on the inevitable disappointments of the detective novel for John Scalzi's Whatever blog. (Stay tuned here for more from and with Mieville, whom I got a chance to talk to last week.)

Unknown Man No. 89: With UK galleys sent out, Tibor Fischer gives the first glimpse inside Thomas Pynchon's own upcoming crime fiction foray, Inherent Vice: "The most striking thing about is that if you had handed me the first 30 pages, I would have staked my life I was reading the opening of the new Elmore Leonard."

--Tom

Okay, Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes? That I like--he's got just the right amount of contempt and implied perversion. And Jude Law as Watson? I like an untubby Doctor. So far just fine. But explosions and stunt leaps into the Thames? Well, what do you think? I like a Holmes that doesn't look like every other Holmes, but not a Holmes that looks like every other blockbuster. We'll see:

[Via GalleyCat] --Tom