Calling all Houstonites

Murder by the Book is hosting Michael Koryta's visit to Texas tomorrow:

June 15, 6:30 p.m.
2342 Bissonet Street

Go hear about his newest thriller SO COLD THE RIVER, and get your own autographed copy.

To top it all off, BookingMama reports that he is "cute and funny...I have to say that SO COLD THE RIVER is not my usual book fare, but I LOVED IT! I think I read this book (which is over 500 pages) in less than 24 hours! I didn't want put it down, and there actually came a time when I couldn't put it down.
Mr. Koryta actually brought these small towns in Indiana to life, and after reading this novel, I will forever think of French Lick as more than just Larry Byrd's hometown!"

Visit Michael Koryta's blog for some more nice coverage in The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and The Boston Herald.

Be sure to tune into tomorrow's edition of "All Things Considered" on NPR, where Michelle Norris will be interviewing him.

UPDATE: Koryta also chats with LA Times' blog Jacket Copy about summer reads.

More zexy news

Wait, Duane Swierczynski's been sitting on Scarlett Johansson?!

Get the deets here.

A sexy tease

Rucka scores a Barry nom

Outstanding news to kick off the weekend:

WALKING DEAD, the newest Atticus Kodiak thriller, is nominated for Best Thriller!

Way to go, Greg!

The Hulk has returned

Issue synopsis: Three years of epic storytelling explodes as Greg Pak and Paul Pelletier bring you the biggest conclusion imaginable--SKAAR, SON OF HULK, finally confronts the father who abandoned him at birth in pain and fire. It's the heartrending, senses-shattering climax to WORLD WAR HULKS--and the Incredible Hulks will never be the same! (INCREDIBLE HULK #611, August 11, 2010)

But, never fear, Greg Pak has a plan!

Gischler heralds The Heroic Age

"Marvel is proud to present your first look at the extra-sized DEATH OF DRACULA #1, beginning the biggest changes in the Marvel Universe since Civil War!

Acclaimed writer Victor Gischler and rising star artist Giuseppe Camuncoli enter the Heroic Age by killing one of the Marvel Universe’s most dangerous villains.

But just why does this put the future of the Marvel Universe at stake? Find out in Death of Dracula #1!" (On sale June 30)

Tune in to BlogTalkRadio now

For more of Michael's great music recommendations, visit the NY Times' Paper Cuts blog or Largehearted Boy.

Pick up the perfect summer book today

Available online and in stores today, SO COLD THE RIVER is the literary vacation you're looking for!

In her NY Times Sunday Book Review, Marilyn Stasio agrees wholeheartedly.

"If all good mysteries make ideal summer reading, what does a mystery fan turn to for true escape? How about a super­natural mystery that intensifies the suspense by thickening the atmosphere.

SO COLD THE RIVER (Little, Brown, $24.99), by Michael Koryta, is a superior specimen, with its eerie tale of a lovely valley in Indiana where at one time an elixir known as Pluto Water bubbled up from the underground springs. The restoration of the valley’s two old spa hotels attracts the interest of a cinematographer from Chicago who drinks the water and starts having visions...Koryta sets a beautiful scene, resplendent with dreamy images."

And the nominees for the Macavity Award are...

Reed Farrel Coleman, Ken Bruen and Stefanie Pintoff continue to shine!

Just last Friday, we found out that they're nominated for the 2010 Anthony Award, and now they have also been shortlisted for the Macavity Award:

TOWER is in the running for Best Mystery Novel.

IN THE SHADOW OF GOTHAM is nominated for Best Historical.

Congratulations all around!

Presenting "The Curse of the Mutants"

"Marvel is proud to present your first look at X-Men #1 from the red-hot creative team of Victor Gischler and Paco Medina."

Feast your eyes on these preview pages of the first X-Men #1 in 2 decades!

Elizabeth Somer has the top 10 foods to wake you up

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Recap from Murder by the Book

Check out these funny videos of Duane Swierczynski, Lisa Brackmann, and Victor Gischler's booksigning in Houston last weekend:








UPDATE: Scott D. Parker gives us a glimpse of the jackpot at Do Some Damage.

Koryta is a "Born storyteller"

Bestselling thriller writer Jason Pinter says "So Cold the River is a breathtaking departure from Koryta's crime novels, upping the plotting and characterization skills that Koryta has displayed through five books...The result is a gripping, terrifying, and sometimes astonishing read."

Pinter's BEA interview with Koryta is up at The Huffington Post.

Live Chat with Michael Koryta tomorrow, 1 pm ET

A note from Miriam Parker (top-notch publicist at Little, Brown):

I will be chatting live with Michael Koryta on the Little, Brown channel of BlogTalkRadio on the publication date of SO COLD THE RIVER, June 9th at 1PM ET.

I would love for you to participate! You can call in with a question to (646) 378-0040.
You can listen to the show live online or via the phone at the call-in number (if you just want to listen, tell the screener that you are “just listening”.)

There will also be an archived edition of the show up on the Little, Brown channel of BlogTalkRadio about 30 minutes after the show ends.

If you’d like to RSVP for the event or get a reminder for your Outlook calendar, click here.

The Globe and Mail commends Stefanie Pintoff

"Stefanie Pintoff's debut, In the Shadow of Gotham, won two major first novel awards. This sequel is even better.

It's the early 20th century. Former New York police partners Simon Ziele and Declan Mulvaney have taken very different paths. Ziele relocated to rural Dobson, where he can solve crime without facing the violence of the city. Mulvaney, in Gotham, glories in the most violent crimes. But when a showgirl dies onstage, he's stumped and calls on his old partner for help.

Pintoff seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of early criminal investigation, and fits it all into an excellent plot. "

Show 'em some Texas lovin'

If you're in Houston tomorrow (Saturday), get to Murder by the Book at 5 pm.

Critically-acclaimed writers Swierczy and The Gisch will be signing books and sharing their wisdom about crime novels, smart-ass mutant heroes, and damn good beer.


In the meantime, BSC Reviews has beautiful preview pages of two DEADPOOL issues available on June 9:

DEADPOOL CORPS #3, from Victor Gischler and Rob Liefeld

Issue Synopsis – “WHAT’S THAT, DOGPOOL? WADE WILSON’S TRAPPED IN THE WELL?” No Deadpool Left Behind? Oops. With so many Deadpools to keep track of, I suppose we can understand that our pal Wade might accidentally leave one on the last planet where the Corps fueled up the Bea Arthur and stocked up on hot pockets. But the Corps has bigger worries, specifically an alien fleet of, well, aliens. Aliens with proton blasters and cluster-nukes, aliens who work for the bad guy cosmic uber-mind.


DEADPOOL: Wade Wilson’s War #1, from Duane Swierczynski and Jason Pearson

Issue Synopsis – “THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK” You’ve seen Deadpool in countless (and we mean countless) comics before — but never like this. Really. Want answers about Deadpool? Like why does he refuse to remove his weird red-and-black mask? Why does he only answer to the name “Deadpool?” Was he really part of a black bag special ops team that nobody has ever heard of? Were his teammates really given names like “Bulllseye,” “Silver Sable” and “Domino”? What did Wilson know, and when did he know it? A bloody massacre in Sinaloa, Mexico has left hundreds dead and disgraced soldier Wade Wilson has a LOT of explaining to do.


UPDATE: Swierczy and The Gisch will also be hitting up BookPeople in Austin on Sunday!

Anthony Award nominations

TOWER has been nominated for Best Paperback Original,

AND

IN THE SHADOW OF GOTHAM is up for Best First Novel

Much deserved congratulations to Reed Farrel Coleman, Ken Bruen, and Stefanie Pintoff!

So Cold the River is a Best Book of June!

Amazon.com's editors pick Michael Koryta's newest thriller as a must-read!

“[SO COLD THE RIVER is] spellbinding and check-your-doors-and-windows scary, and it all begins with a check and a bottle of water. At its deliciously creepy core, So Cold the River is about two men facing down their demons, and what happens when those demons fight back.

Recommended for fans of Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill and Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane”


Check out Michael Koryta's chat with Deb Smouse at Everything Girl, and Koryta's blog for more lovin' from the Australia's Men's Fitness magazine, The Chicago Sun-Times, The St. Petersburg Times and Cape Cod Times.

Michael Koryta tackles ghosts new and old

Check out Sarah Weinman's great piece for the LA Times:

"So Cold the River is almost twice as long as his previous books (though it doesn't feel that way in the slightest), is more firmly set in small-town Indiana not far from where the author grew up, and dives headlong into supernatural territory -- so much so that after finishing the book I cast a suspicious eye on the water bottle on the nearby night-table, an unspoken admonition not to drink it sounding off loudly in my mind."

A simple man named Wade Wilson

Duane Swierczynski chats with Marc Strom about looking into the depths of the 'Pool.

DEADPOOL: Wade Wilson's War # 1 is available at a comic store near you on June 9, 2010.

"the next Stephen King"

That's what Little, Brown is calling Michael Koryta.

Check out the nice article in the Wall Street Journal for some behind-the-scenes background info about how Michael's forthcoming horror mystery SO COLD THE RIVER came to be.

"[This book] is his most muscular," said one of his Florida neighbors, the author Dennis Lehane.

USA Today agrees that SO COLD THE RIVER is a worthy selection this summer.

Mark your calendars

for the inaugural X-Men Day on July 8!

"In the first X-Men #1 in almost 20 years, Marvel's mighty mutants enter the Heroic Age to face a deadly new threat, courtesy of fan favorite creators Victor Gischler and Paco Medina!

Be the first person on your block to score great X-Men Day commemorative items like the exclusive limited-edition cover print featuring Paco Medina's "We Are The X-Men" images, exclusive variants, mini-posters and more! Plus, fans can't miss the chance to add their own heroes to the X-Men lineup by sketching on the X-Men #1 Blank Variant!"

Little book, Lots of meaning

The paperback edition of Laura Berman Fortgang's gem of a book is available today!

And, in other exciting book news, Laura is working on her next book. Look for THE PROSPERITY PLAN in January 2011.

Batwoman is sizzling

BATWOMAN: Elegy makes the list as one of the hottest graphic novels to come out this summer (GraphicNovelReporter.com).

In her first hardcover, collecting tales from DETECTIVE COMICS #854-860, Batwoman battles a madwoman known only as Alice, inspired by Alice in Wonderland, who sees her life as a fairy tale and everyone around her as expendable! Batwoman must stop Alice from unleashing a toxic death cloud over all of Gotham City — but Alice has more up her sleeve than just poison, and Batwoman's life will never ever be the same.

"Spectacular—the kind of adventure story that you race through the first time and return to, to pore over slowly...[Rucka's] Batwoman, Kate Kane, is a superhero like no other" - Publishers Weekly, *starred review*

BookExpo 2010

Michael Koryta and fellow panelist authors @ Borders' "Books for Sunny Days and Starry Nights" celebration

Chace all the way

Greg Rucka's Tara Chace beat Bond handily in the first poll and advanced to Round 2!

Click this link to cast your vote for Tara vs. the Emma Peel-era Avengers.

Frenemy of the State

Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir have a hot new miniseries (first of an ongoing series of miniseries), called FRENEMY OF THE STATE, which they created and wrote with the lovely and talented Rashida Jones.

If you'll be in Los Angeles this Saturday evening at 7 pm, the team, and their very gifted artist Jeff Wamester (AND a taco truck, we hear!) will be at Meltdown Comics for signings and all-around greatness.

FRENEMY OF THE STATE is an all-new series from the star of NBC's Parks & Recreation and veteran comic scribes DeFilippis & Weir!

Ariana Von Holmberg is an heiress with a secret. But what she's hiding isn't a sex tape or a drug addiction or an affair with a professional golfer—it's a new career as a CIA operative! What better cover for an agent than a globe-trotting, care-free femme with a penchant for flights of fancy? But can Ari balance her high society obligations with her new role as a spy or will the weight of two worlds bring her dual lives to a violent end?

Check out the spiffy preview pages at CBR.

3 more for Michael Koryta!

Little, Brown and Company has signed DHS Literary rockstar Michael Koryta, author of the L.A. Book Prize winner ENVY THE NIGHT, for three more thrillers. Little, Brown’s Executive Vice President and Publisher Michael Pietsch will edit.

Let's celebrate by raising a glass and pre-ordering SO COLD THE RIVER, Michael's first book with Little, Brown to be released July 9!

Vote for Tara Chace!

Mister 8 May Madness has brought us "a battle of spy supremacy"!

Greg Rucka's Queen & Country hero vs. James Bond? No contest.

(Voting ends May 20, around 11 am)

Cool tidbit: Queen & Country is on GraphicNovelReporter.com's core list of essential graphic novels that booksellers gotta have.

It's Rucka, It's Southworth, it's STUUUMPTOWN!

Swierczynski, toot-sweet

Spinetingler Magazine is sold on Swierczynski's Expiration Date, which they've declared is "entertaining as all hell. [Swierczynski's] prose is clean and the action never flags, new rules and twists popping up every couple of pages and hurtling you helplessly towards the climax. In other words, what you’d hope for in a Swierczynski novel.

Swierczynski is one of the great “just one more chapter won’t hurt, I’ll still be able to function in the morning” writers the crime world has today, and Expiration Date is nowhere near a fucking exception. Pick that shit up and for-fucking-go some sleep toot-fucking-sweet, dear reader."

Critics love Det. Zeile

Edgar-winning Stephanie Pintoff's book IN THE SHADOW OF GOTHAM is a historical mystery that adopts "new crime investigation techniques just being born: fingerprinting and profiling, most obviously, but basically the whole idea of a scientific approach to figuring out whodunit. All of these historical elements are folded into a strong plot with a genuine mystery that challenges the reader into beating the detective protagonist to the solution." (ReadingTheLeaves.com)

And, "A CURTAIN FALLS is an even stronger book than the first...we have the beginnings of what promises to be a strong series." (ReviewingTheEvidence.com)

Oh, the horror of it all!

Victor Gischler and The Big Bad Wolf talk DEATH OF DRACULA and meditate on the battle of X-Men vs. Vampires!

Happy Friday from Scott Phillips!

(Photo courtesy of Busted Flush Press)

The Lost River will wash over you too

The Christian Manifesto has a rave review for Michael Koryta's newest book:

"In a deeply suspenseful novel, So Cold The River is gripping, haunting, and all around unsettling. To call it impressive is a bit of an understatement. It was a seriously great book with awesome suspense and some extraordinarily haunting scenes.

This [book] excels in using the dark environment to accentuate evil. I loved it and the further I got into it, the better it became with an ending that was truly worthy of this remarkable book...Koryta appears to be a very talented author. I’m impressed with his imagination as well as story and character development abilities. "

The Deputy drips blood

"One warning before picking up this book: don’t crack it open unless you are willing to park your ass in place for a couple hours and read it front to back in one sitting. Because once the action starts – and it starts almost immediately – it doesn’t stop until the end of the book. It is almost impossible to put down.

Victor Gischler has written a balls-out action movie of a book, with plenty of sex and violence to appease the most diehard of fans...Gischler captures perfectly the dead-end life in a remote small town and the impossible-seeming struggle to get away from it.

The guy [Gischler] knows his mayhem, and he’s got a great sense of humor. Gischler knows what his readers want and delivers it in gory handfuls. What more could you want?"

For something new that is exciting and drips blood but doesn’t require a huge time commitment, give The Deputy a try. Fans of violent crime fiction will love it."

- Chris LaTray, BluntForceBeating.com

American Gothic at its best

Fresh Fiction has declared that "Michael Koryta's new novel is American Gothic at its best. In the tradition of Stephen King, SO COLD THE RIVER will most certainly send a chill down your spine and keep you turning pages well into the night."

But Michael's fans aren't just in the U.S. Check out his interview of Ten Terrifying Questions with Australia's Booktopia.

More praise for Stefanie Pintoff

In the Huffington Post today, bestselling thriller writer Jason Pinter highlights "5 New Releases You Should Check Out" -- one of which is A CURTAIN FALLS, sequel to the Edgar Award-winning novel IN THE SHADOW OF GOTHAM!

Haven't read either of these critically-acclaimed books by Stefanie Pintoff? Stop by your local bookstore for release day tomorrow (May 11) or pre-order online now!

P.S. The unabridged audiobook of A CURTAIN FALLS is also available starting on the 11th!

The Indie Next List for June 2010

The American Booksellers Association features SO COLD THE RIVER in their Indie Next List of Great Reads:

"Koryta's prose is fluid and masterful, making this a delightfully eerie and mesmerizing read!"
- Jennie Turner-Collins, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, OH

Come see the Gischler in Plano, Texas!

Victor Gischler will be at Madness Games & Comics tomorrow (Saturday) for a 3 pm panel and signings.

3131 Custer Road #125
Plano, TX 75075

Come witness the genius that's been at work in Deadpool, Punisher and now X-Men!

A gold medal for Dr. Jennifer Ashton

THE BODY SCOOP FOR GIRLS is a gold medalist for the 2010 Living Now Book Awards!

The awards are presented each year to honor “books for better living”, and Dr. Ashton's book certainly fits the bill.

Everyone's feeling SO COLD

“A mysterious antique water bottle, a town reluctant to let go of old connections to fame and infamy, hallucinations and a resurgent evil combine to bring readers a gripping chiller that will keep them guessing – and looking under the covers – until the last page...

Fans of horror and supernatural suspense will enjoy [Michael Koryta's] latest, and darkest, work yet.” -Library Journal

Voguing with Edgar Allen Poe

"Team Pintoff" Agent David Hale Smith and editor Kelley Ragland with award-winning author Stefanie Pintoff and Edgar.
Thanks to Sally Richards for the photo.