Penguin to Publish Last Nabokov Novel

Dave Eggers, Philip Roth, Jon Krakauer have new titles out

(NEWSER) - Hoping to salvage a miserable year, publishers are flooding the fall season with more hot tickets than normal. Some samples, from the Wall Street Journal:

• Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol, Sept. 1: The next in a series from the Da Vinci Code writer.
• Nicholson Baker, The Anthologist, Sept. 8: A heartbroken poet reflects.
• Nick Hornby, Juliet, Naked, Sept. 29: Pop figures loom large as usual.
• Dave Eggers, The Wild Things, Oct. 1: The author's novelization of Maurice Sendak's children's book.

Bond franchise hoping new author can leave book sales, fans stirred

(NEWSER) - This year is the centenary of author Ian Fleming's birth, but while Daniel Craig gave the James Bond movie franchise a much-needed recharge, sales of the 007 books haven't caught up. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports, the Fleming estate has commissioned respected writer Sebastian Faulks to pen a new Bond novel, Devil May Care, with an ambitious first US printing of 250,000. More»

Son's imagined convo with dead dad might've saved final manuscript

(NEWSER) - Dmitri Nabokov's decision not to destroy his famed father's unfinished manuscript followed an imagined conversation with Vladimir's ghost, writes Ron Rosenbaum for Slate. Rosenbaum, who sleuthed his way through the "to burn or not to burn" debate, was previously told by Dmitri—who hinted at the book's genius before announcing his intent to destroy it—that he would keep his decision secret. More»

But some defend license, saying critics miss point

(NEWSER) - Thinking of using Apple's handy new iBooks Author program to publish your brilliant opus? You might want to think again: Apple's incredibly restrictive iBookstore licensing agreement gives the computer giant a 30% cut of anything you make, even outside of the store. Further, the format isn't compatible with the industry standard EPUB format, and if Apple decides it just doesn't want to peddle your book in its bookstore, you're out of luck. "I have never seen a EULA as mind-bogglingly greedy and evil as Apple’s EULA for its new ebook authoring program," writes Ed Bott at ZDNet . More»

Morality is based on cancer struggle

(NEWSER) - For fans of Christopher Hitchens , one final book. A memoir entitled Mortality will be released in early 2012; it's based on a series of articles the journalist wrote for Vanity Fair describing his battle with esophageal cancer, reports the Guardian . A spokesman noted that the book had been in the works for some time. Hitchens asserted in his final column for Vanity Fair, "Before I was diagnosed with esophageal cancer a year and a half ago, I rather jauntily told the readers of my memoirs that when faced with extinction I wanted to be fully conscious and awake, in order to 'do' death in the active and not the passive sense." More»