|
Burning Questions
Wondering what happened to your favorite author? Gosh, so are we. Ask away: Send your cards and letters to Burning Questions, 2143 Belcourt Avenue, Nashville, TN 37212. Or better yet, send us e-mail. When you write, please include your full name and the city and state where you live. Sadly, personal replies are not possible. And if your question is too hard, we'll simply put it in our big file labeled "We dunno."
|
WILD ABOUT HARRY
Dear Burning Questions,
Mechelle Gladden Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is the recently revealed title of the next book in the series. No publication date has been set, as Rowling is reportedly still writing the story. However, she did say that rather than ending the series at seven books as originally planned (a book for each school year at Hogwarts), she may write an eighth using "outtakes" from the earlier books. Rowling says she would donate the proceeds of this bonus book to charity. Meanwhile, filming of the fourth Harry Potter book is under way and the finished movie expected in November 2005.
LINE OF SUCCESSION
Dear Burning Questions,
Patricia P. Love "Right now there are no plans to write such a sequel," says Tom Colgan, Altman's editor at Putnam. There is, however, a new Altman book due out this month with a plot straight from today's headlines. The Watchmen begins with the transfer of suspected al Qaeda operative Ali Zattout from Guantánamo Bay to a safe house in the northeastern U.S. He is interrogated by psychiatrist Louis Finney, a man battling his own demons. With a traitor in the midst and an al Qaeda assassin en route, this has the makings of another Altman classic.
POP CULTURE CLUB
Dear Burning Questions,
James Smith III No pop culture aficionado's library would be complete without at least one Javna title. As you pointed out, Javna has written several books on television, including 1990's The Best of TV Westerns (Harmony). He has also written books on ecology and protecting the environment and gained another group of fans with Uncle John's Bathroom Reader (1988). Javna is now retired and living in Oregon, leaving his brother Gordon to edit the ever-popular Bathroom Reader series. The 17th edition will be published in November.
A PERFECT FIT
Dear Burning Questions,
J. F. Reynolds If you're a Kathy Trocheck fan, you probably know that she also writes under the pseudonym Mary Kay Andrews. Andrews' new novel Hissy Fit (HarperCollins) comes out this month. In it, interior designer Keeley Murdock catches her fiancé messing around with her maid of honor. Needless to say, Keeley reacts strongly, canceling the wedding and pitching the hissy fit of the book's title. By novel's end, she's put all the pieces back together—and exacted a little revenge.
MOTHERS' MILIEU
Dear Burning Questions,
Birgit Barrett
Little Earthquakes has been optioned by Universal Pictures. As for those earlier novels you mentioned, Good in Bed is being developed into an HBO series, and Cameron Diaz stars in the Fox 2000 adaptation of In Her Shoes, arriving in theaters this fall.
Author photo by Gasper Tringale.
|
Jennifer Weiner returns next month with Little Earthquakes (Atria), the story of three friends with different lifestyles and one thing in common—they're all new moms. Chef Becky has a successful restaurant, a great husband and a horrible mother-in-law. Ayinde is married to an NBA player whose off-court transgressions are generating more press than his game, while event planner Kelly would rather her husband find a job instead of spending his days channel-surfing. Enter Lia, home from a recent tragedy in Los Angeles to round out the characters in this at times funny, at times poignant tale of modern life. The novel is set in Philadelphia, where Weiner lives with her husband and daughter.