November 9, 2005

Publishers Marketplace: The Latest Deals:

William J. Bennett’s AMERICA: The Last Best Hope, a two-volume history of the United States, counteracting histories that “have treated the American story largely as a social study of missteps and injustices,” focusing on the glory, romance, and exceptionalism of American achievement while not shrinking from any hard truth’s from the past, to Nelson Current Current, with publication of the first volume in May 2006, and the second in 2007, by Robert Barnett at Williams & Connolly.

This will be big news in that limited portion of the world of ideas that has somehow missed the news that William J. Bennett, self-proclaimed expert on virtue, has a huge gambling addiction. For everyone else: who cares what Bennett thinks?

Bennett has a huge credibility problem, yet, like many others with the same issue, seems bent on setting himself up as an expert on glory, romance, and exceptionalism.

Just a political opinion? I don’t think so. The integrity of the author is a huge part of the reason why people love books. Bennett has taken himself out of the running on that score.

AFFC hasn’t quite been able to crack Amazon.com’s top spot yet, edged out at the moment by the ridiculously titled THE LITTLE BOOK THAT BEATS THE MARKET, an Oprah Book Club selection, and another stock market book. What is this, 1999?

Dave Winer’s H Y P E R C A M P :

Dave’s got the full text of:

1. Bill Gates’s email.

2. Ray Ozzie’s memo, in HTML.

3. Ray Ozzie’s memo, in Word doc format.

The thing that really jumps out at me from all this is Microsoft deciding that ad-based software revenue is the wave of the future.

Narnia Exhibits at Taubman Malls
About the Experience
Through larger-than-life snow globes, this spectacular holiday set includes a walk-through 20-foot snow globe that simulates snowfall in Narnia, life-like figures that help tell the story of the film and green-screen digital photo opportunity.

…

“Overnight Narnia Experience” Hotel Packages
Overnight trips to Narnia — and back for shopping center snow globe explorers!

One-night travel package designed for those who want to experience C.S. Lewis’ Narnia first hand at the mall and in their hotel rooms will be available Nov. 14, just in time for the Walt Disney Pictures/Walden Media upcoming film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, which hits theaters Dec. 9.

The “Overnight Narnia Experience,” created by eight Taubman shopping centers nationwide in partnership with neighboring hotels, gives guests the feel, sights, sounds — and even taste — of Narnia in a hotel-entertainment-shopping package. For more details click on the links below.

Beverly Center (Los Angeles CA)
Cherry Creek Shopping Center (Denver CO)
Fair Oaks Mall (Fairfax VA)
MacArthur Center (Norfolk VA)
Northlake Mall (Charlotte NC)
The Mall at Short Hills (Short Hills NJ)
Westfarms (Hartford CT)
The Shops at Willow Bend (Dallas TX)

Marketing meets multimedia meets Christian evangelism meets fantasy fiction.

Hello, Narnia is fictional…

That said I saw my first “Narnia” ad last night. It looks like the movie is going to be terrific — which would be a great thing for book-lovers. Books like THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA are the reason why this column is titled “for Book-Lovers” — because it is possible for books to be so alive, so vivid, so loving, so wise that they feel like beloved friends.

Publishers Marketplace: The Latest Deals:

Rights to Jennifer Carrell’s literary thriller INTERRED WITH THEIR BONES, a treasure hunt whose clues are codes and puzzles found in the writings of Shakespeare, to publishers in Italy, Holland, France, Sweden, Brazil and Germany so far (for cumulative reported sales of over $500,000), with a six-figure floor in the UK, by Dutton.

This seems likely to impinge on the consciousness of book-lovers everywhere. Will it be any good? The answer depends on the execution.

Her first book, THE SPECKLED MONSTER gets mixed reviews on Amazon.com, but sounds pretty good. She’s a writer for SMITHSONIAN magazine, which is a positive. I’ll take a look at SPECKLED MONSTER and let you know what I think.

Publishers Marketplace: The Latest Deals:

From Nikoli, one of original Japanese creators of the sudoku number puzzles, THE WAY OF KAKURO, VOL. 1, presenting 95 puzzles and a basic tutorial, to Kodansha,for publication in late January/early February 2006.

First there was the Sudoku craze … now Kakuro! How many million Japanese puzzle books can be sold before the market changes? I don’t know, but I’m guessing the number is a pretty big one…