Dear BookPage,
I've been hearing a lot of positive buzz about a book called On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah. Do you have any information on this title? Thanks.

Karie Johansen
via the Internet

Do we have information? Not to show off, but, yeah, we have lots.

Kristin Hannah makes her hardcover debut in March with On Mystic Lake (Crown), touted to be one of the most moving, memorable, and inspiring love stories of the year. After seven paperback original novels with impressive awards and sales to match, Hannah has a devoted following. Mystic Lake has already been bought for a television movie and publication in five foreign countries, and praised by best-selling authors like Jayne Ann Krentz, Tami Hoag, Luanne Rice, and Diana Gabaldon.

A brief summary for those who just can't wait: Anne Colwater's only child has just left home for school abroad. On that same day, her husband confesses that he's in love with a younger woman. Alone, Annie retreats to Mystic, the small Washington town where she grew up, and there is reunited with her first love. But just when she has found a second chance at happiness, her life is turned upside down again.

Kristin Hannah lives in a small town in Washington with her husband.

The Pilcher seekers

Dear Burning Questions,
Please tell me what has happened to Rosamunde Pilcher. She is one of my favorites, and we haven't heard anything from her in several years. Is she still writing?

Kris Huseman
Jacksonville, FL

Not only is Rosamunde writing, but her son is doing it, too. Pilcher's publicist tells us that, though no pub date has been set, she is indeed writing her next book. Rosaumunde's son Robin Pilcher, however, has a novel coming out this month entitled An Ocean Apart (St. Martin's). It's a debut Pilcher fans won't want to miss -- like mother, like son.

Pullman's fantastic world

Dear BQ,
When will the third book of the trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman be published? What will the title be? I loved The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife. Thank you.

via the Internet

Pullman's publicist at Alfred A. Knopf tells us that we can expect number three in the His Dark Materials series this spring, though no official pub date has been set and no title confirmed.

Write on

Dear Burning,
When is Michael Crichton's next book coming out?

Drew Harris
via internet

Though scheduled to be released in '98, Crichton's publicist tells us that the author needed more time to write, so his next book is postponed indefinitely.

Predicting the future

Dear BQ,
Two of my favorite authors are John Katzenbach and Diane Chamberlain. Does either author have a book coming out in the not-too-distant future?

Mimi
via the Internet

Ballantine will publish Katzenbach's latest, Hart's War, in April. The author of Just Cause now offers a courtroom drama set in a WWII prisoner of war camp. As for Chamberlain, Mira Books will give us a mass market original this February. Breaking the Silence is the story of a woman who delves into the mystery of the past.

Long time burning

Dear Burning Questions,
I have had a burning question for quite some time. Do you have any information regarding the planned release date for Dave Pelzer's book, A Man Named Dave? I've read both A Child Called It and The Lost Boy and am itching to get my hands on the final installment in Pelzer's trilogy. Any update would be greatly appreciated!

P. Bergeron
via the Internet

Sorry to hear that your question has been burning for so long. That can't be good for you. Though we can't cure you, we can certainly offer some relief.

Dave Pelzer's publicist at Health Communications was pretty tight-lipped about it, but she did say that a publication date for the final part of the trilogy has not, at this time, been set. You can, however, be assured that one is on the way.

BOOK TV

Ever since our appearance on C-SPAN's Book TV this fall during the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, the paparazzi just won't leave us alone. Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but we did receive a great response from you, dear readers/viewers.

Several of you called asking when, oh, when, Robert Caro will publish his long-awaited final volume in his trilogy about Lyndon Johnson. Robert Caro's publicist at Alfred A. Knopf tells us that they've seen two thirds of his manuscript -- 1400 pages to be exact -- and that "it is fabulous." They expect to publish in two years. Meanwhile, Caro's first book, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1975, and has never been out of print in either hardcover or paperback, has had five new printings in the past year alone because of interest in New York City's Centennial. That's as specific as they want to get right now. In the meantime, you can reread The Path to Power and Means of Ascent.

You not only requested news about Caro, but several viewers asked why we hadn't reviewed A Beautiful Mind, Sylvia Nasar's biography of mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr. We have a little surprise for you inside this issue. Who says we don't deliver?

In the BookPage parlor, on the road

We recently caught up with author Bill Fitzhugh who had recently completed his tour marking the September release of Organ Grinders. (His debut, Pest Control, a comedy or errors and insects, met with much acclaim.) Here's what Fitzhugh had to say.

BookPage: How was writing Grinders different than writing Pest?

Bill Fitzhugh: Whereas Pest Control was adapted from a screenplay I co-wrote with Matt Hansen, The Organ Grinders was intended as a novel from the outset. So it is the first long-form piece of fiction (or nonfiction for that matter) that I've ever written alone. I spent about nine months doing research before I really started writing the book. With Pest Control I did my research as I wrote. Also, with OG I was trying to make a point (about the state of the world), whereas with Pest I was simply trying to find out if I could write a funny novel.

BP: What was your favorite stop or "tour tale"?

BF: The tour was great and not just because Avon paid for it this time. (I self-financed the Pest Control tour.) Jackson, Mississippi, is always my favorite stop because it's my home town. All my friends come out and people I haven't seen in 15 or 20 years show up when they hear about it.

My favorite "tour tale" is when my media escort and I were trying to get from San Raphael to Menlo Park, and we had a flat tire about two miles from the Golden Gate bridge. I had a dinner date with friends before a signing, and I wasn't interested in finding out how quickly (or slowly) AAA would respond. So I started changing the tire. But her jack (one of those pain-in-the-ass scissors types) was inadequate. So I lowered the car, put some books (not my own) under the jack and tried again. This time I did some body damage to her car as it slipped off the jack. I finally got the tire changed and was only about 30 minutes late for dinner.

BP: What are you working on now?

BF: I submitted two first chapters and two outlines to my agent and asked him to try to get a two-book deal. Avon came back with an offer for a four-book deal. So I'm about 200 pages into the first of those four books. It's called Altar Ego; it involves twin brothers. One became a priest who went to work the refugee camps in Africa. The other became a hot shot advertising exec in L.A. The priest returns to L.A. sick. He "borrows" his brother's insurance card, checks into the hospital, runs up a $300,000 hospital bill, and dies. So the ad exec has to choose between prison for felony insurance fraud or becoming a priest. He opts for the latter.