Texas Pages

Last month, we ran a short review of Last Train From Hiroshima, by Charles Pellegrino. The book had been generally acclaimed, although this reviewer (Jeffrey Burke of Bloomberg News) noted: "The extent of the details his subjects recall sometimes strains plausibility. Yet it's hard to see how the writer could possibly overstate such horrors."

Unfortunately, one of the subjects apparently did some overstating. A New York Times report (carried in the print edition of the Dallas Morning News) says that author Charles Pellegrino "now concedes that he was probably duped" by one Joseph Fuoco, who is described as a last-minute substitute on one of the two observation planes that escorted the Enola Gay.

"I'm stunned," Mr. Pellegrino said. "I liked and admired the guy. He had loads and loads of papers, and photographs of everything."

The public record has to be repaired, he added. "You can't have wrong history going out," he said. "It's got to be corrected."

A movie version by James Cameron had been planned. At the moment, the author's Web site still carries a large promotion for Avatar, so perhaps the two remain on good terms. But in the discussion area of the site, the author says,

I am trying to reach out now to [veterans'] families and get the rest of the story, and will begin at once to rewrite the few chapters that have Joseph Fuoco in them, replacing them with the story of the man who actually sat in the seat claimed by Joe Fuoco.

The bottom line is that I cannot have wrong history going out there - repeatedly, in future editions. These pages will be corrected, at once.

[UPDATE: Macmillan has issued a press release about the book; it's posted after the jump.]

That's not entirely accurate since I read a big book o' 37 Sherlock Holmes mysteries, which also included two novels.

Somehow I'd gone though high school and college without ever reading a Holmes mystery, and admittedly, it was Robert Downey Jr.'s turn as the famous Baker Street detective piqued that my interest in the books. But it was definitely worth the wait.

Tobias Wolff will be speaking tonight as part of the Highland Park Literary Festival. The free event takes place 7 p.m. at Highland Park High School.

Can't make it? Organizers have posted some audio from a prior reading. You can also catch him in the 1 p.m. segment of Think on KERA-FM (90.1).

EW.com has a list of guest editors for this year's "Best American" collections.

Among them:

The Best American Short Stories 2010: Richard Russo

The Best American Essays 2010: Christopher Hitchens

The Best American Comics: Neil Gaiman

The Best American Nonrequired Reading: Dave Eggers (guest introducer: David Sedaris)

The whole list is here.

(Spotted on the Twitter feed of Cristina Henriquez)

Rockwall writer Mary DeMuth, will be offering an "instructive free evening ... teaching the elements of writing a memoir" and signing her new book, Thin Places 7 p.m. Thursday at Legacy Books, 7300 Dallas Parkway, Plano.

Her publisher, Zondervan, says that Thin Places "is about her journey to find hope and healing from the traumatic events of her childhood. According to DeMuth, thin places are 'snatches of time, moments really, when we sense God intersecting our world in tangible, unmistakable ways.' DeMuth shares her own story of being raised in a broken home and the loss of her biological father when she was ten. She was stripped of her innocence growing up in an unstable environment but learns to overcome through faith and writing."

Sam Hodges has full details over on the Religion blog.

I know that a lot of you books blog readers are big fans of Ozzy Osbourne. After all, he is sitting at No. 2 on The New York Times Best-Sellers List.

So here are full details of the rules for his book signing on Feb. 27 at Barnes & Noble on Northwest Highway. Note that the time has just been moved to 3 p.m.

Barnes & Noble says:

· Book signing only, no memorabilia

· No personalization

· Photos allowed from the line

· Wristbands will be available on a first come, first serve basis

· Wristbands will be available starting at 9:00 AM 2/27

· Wristbands will be organized in letter groups of 50.

· I Am Ozzy must be purchased from Barnes & Noble to receive a wristband (bring receipt if purchased prior to 2/27)

· No more than 4 people in a group per wristband (only the person with the wristband will interact with Ozzy)

· Limit 4 books per person to be signed

· Line up for signing starts at 1:00 PM 2/27.

I'm told that previous events have drawn more than 3,000 people. The Orange County Register did a lengthy interview and has video of what the scene was like there. Dallas, you have been warned.

American Short Fiction, an Austin-based literary magazine, will be honoring the late J.D. Salinger with a lineup that includes literary stars and the author's own work.

The event, 7 p.m. Feb. 26 in the Prothro Theater at the
Harry Ransom Center, will feature: ZZ Packer (Drinking Coffee Elsewhere), Nick Flynn (Another Bullsh-t Night in Suck City) John Pipkin (Woodsburner ), Elizabeth McCracken (The Giant's House) and more.

The press release says they'll be "reading excerpts from his book-length publications as well as selections from the Ransom Center's archive of the author's unpublished correspondence." A small display of Salinger manuscripts, letters, and inscribed books will go on display as well. They'll remain on view until March 12.

Speaking of his letters, another stash is about to go on display in New York. According to The New York Times:

The letters furnish what may be the most specific description yet of Mr. Salinger's writing habits in the years after 1965, when he stopped publishing. Even in the 1980s, he describes a highly disciplined writing regimen, starting each morning at 6, never later than 7, and not brooking interruption, "unless absolutely necessary or convenient." This in-his-own-words account may bolster the conviction and hope of some that he left additional works behind.

I'm sure there is some cosmic connection to the fact that the NBA All-Star Game is being played in D-FW this weekend at the very moment that an NBA owner is riding to the rescue of Kirkus Reviews.

As per the LA Times' Jacket Copy, Kirkus' hero is Herb Simon, owner of the Indiana Pacers and onetime savior of a bookstore in Montecito, Calif. The new enterprise is to be called Kirkus Media.

The New York Times Media Decoder blog quotes him as saying, "With the growth of e-books and e-reading devices, no one can really see the future of publishing. But turmoil like this creates opportunities. At a time when even the definition of a book is changing, my love of books makes me want to be part of the solution for the book publishing industry."

Zeus: King of the Gods is the first graphic novel in the Olympians series, which retells the Greek myths, by George O'Connor. Published by First Second, the Jan. 5 release is a fun 40-minute read that will not only refresh your memory of Greek mythology (check out the handy family tree inside the cover!), but also prepare you for that special-effects-laced film (in theaters Friday) based on the popular Rick Riordan children's book series, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

The story (from the back cover): "Here's where it all starts: the beginning of everything - the world, the gods, and even humanity. Mighty Kronos, the most terrifying of all the Titans, reigns as the unchallenged tyrant of the cosmos ... until his son, the god Zeus, stands up and takes on his own father in a battle intense enough to shatter the universe! Who will emerge triumphant?"

The artwork: Vibrant, bold colors are appropriate for captivating the intended audience of 9- to 12-year-olds. The story is told through traditional boxed panels on each page, with a couple full-page inked illustrations sprinkled in at pivotal points in the story. To get inside O'Connor's head and to understand his drawing process, here's a step-by-step tutorial in which he illustrates Athena, the star of the upcoming second book.

The extra: In a series of god profiles and "G(r)eek Notes" section at the end of the book, O'Connor takes the chance to remind readers of the ties between the Greek gods and Marvel Comics' X-Men. (I imagine young boys everywhere screaming in agreement.) And just to add a bit more to the educational aspect of the novel, there are seven fun discussion questions at the end of the story, including "Zeus's dad tries to eat him. Has your dad ever tried to eat you?"

This educational read (it's recommended reading in the classroom!) has just the right amount of background, humor and action to introduce young minds to the Greek gods and get them hooked.

Speaking of bookish Super Bowl commercials, one that caught my eye was for a video game. Not that I have mastered anything electronic since the Atari era, but this one had the rather literary title of
Dante's Inferno, which was released yesterday.

It appears to be the first step in the long-awaited alliance between European Lit scholars and glassy-eyed Xbox nerds.

As the New York Times describes it: "In the video game Dante is no longer a reedy, introspective poet but a knight who returns home from the Crusades to find that his beloved Beatrice has been brutally murdered. Her innocent soul has been taken captive by Lucifer, and Dante must chase the archfiend into hell, fending off wave after wave of advancing demons with a mighty scythe."

All of which sets a mind to spinning about the prospects for other lit-themed video games. Luckily, the writers at NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me did most of the work for me already. Their list includes:

Don Quixote Kong
A Hundred Years of Solitaire
Ernest Hemingway's Pac Man and the Sea
Super Karamazov Brothers

Their listeners have bolstered that list with some additional suggestions, including Animal Farmville, Infinite Joust and, my favorite, Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in Mario's Kart.

There's not much a for a pun-loving editor to add. One Flew Over the Dragonquest? Legend of Zelda Fitzgerald?

Of course, I did always enjoy that Shakespeare game, Tempest ...

(Inferno image courtesy Electronic Arts; Tempest screenshot courtesy klov.com.)

Thursday's lecture by Mark Dimunation, Chief of Rare Book and Special Collections Division at Library of Congress, has been canceled. Bad weather in Washington is to blame.

The Bridwell Library plans to reschedule the event, which was to be focused on Thomas Jefferson's personal library. We'll offer details on that when they are sorted out.

File this under "O" -- either for "offensive" or "Oh, come on now."

But GalleyCat reports that there has been backlash to the Bud Light Super Bowl ad that showed a guy lured into a women's book club because they were serving Bud Light. Blogger Edward Champion opines that the ad has a "misogynistic message with an anti-reading subtext."

To which I say, well, yeah. But is it exactly news that beer ads promote bad behavior? Is it an affront to women to portray them as interested in books, or is it more of an affront to portray men as sweaty, sex-obsessed illiterates? And why should that make me want to drink beer, anyway? And has anyone actually ever attended a book club where beer was served? I mean, wine in a box, maybe.

And while we're at it, when it comes to offensive behavior at the Super Bowl, wasn't the repeated exposure of Pete Townshend's navel more traumatizing than anything revealed in that Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction from a few years back?

But I digress. Here's the ad, which I will allow you to watch only if you promise that you won't actually buy any Bud Light -- which offends me just by the way it tastes:

The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference has posted its speakers for this year's event.

Mary Karr, author of Lit (review here), will kick things off on Friday, July 23.

Black Hawk Down author Mark Bowden will deliver the Saturday keynote.

And award-winning Sports Illustrated writer Gary Smith will deliver the Sunday keynote.

Other presenters are listed here. Among them: David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon (review here); Scribner editor Colin Harrison; Hampton Sides, whose forthcoming book, Hellhound On His Trail, is about the pursuit of Martin Luther King Jr.'s killer; Bryan Burrough, author of The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes (story here); Mandalit del Barco of National Public Radio; S.C. "Sam" Gwynne of Texas Monthly; and many others (myself included, way down at the bottom of that list.)

We'll post information about registration when it's available. Meanwhile, you can review coverage of past Mayborns here.

Texan Libba Bray, who recently won the Printz Award for young adult literature for Going Bovine, is a big deal. Especially after her new deal with Little, Brown.

The publisher won a six-way battle for a new supernatural fantasy series called "The Diviners." Estimated price, according to Publishers Weekly: around $2 million.

Bray grew up in Texas, graduating from Denton High School and the University of Texas, before moving to New York. Our interview with her, from the archives, is still here.

PW says the new series will launch in 2012.

More.com has compiled a list of the "Top 100 Books Every Woman Should Read," which will be put on the Web site in installments. The first three 20-book selections, "The Classics," "Noteworthy Novels" and "Nonfiction" are also up on the Web site.

Do you agree with their selections? What would you have chosen that's not there?

I've been pretty bad the last six months to a year on staying up to date on comics news, so it's time to start making up for it.

Today brings the release of a trade paperback I've been looking forward to and didn't even know was on the way: Bill Willingham's Fables Vol. 13: The Great Fables Crossover. This DC Comics release brings the Fables and Jack of Fables storylines back together as their worlds are "introduced to a whole new set of characters: The Literals. The Literals are characters that embody, literally, different literary genres such as Mystery, Comedy and Romance. One of The Literals goes by the name The Storymaker, one who can vanquish the world of Fables with one stroke of his pen," so says the description on Amazon.com. Sounds deep. And a good excuse to pick up Jack's series, which is working on volume 7 now, if you haven't yet.

I just got Fables Vol. 12 : The Dark Ages for Christmas and have now found my motivation to quickly finish it off.

Below is a list of noteworthy (in my opinion) releases in stores today. For more, visit comiclist.com or get over to your local comic shop.

Bradley Trevor Greive had quite an exciting life before becoming a full-time writer -- a native of Tasmania, he served in Australian special forces as a paratrooper, and notes that he's one of the few (one would suspect only) New York Times best-selling authors who has had five treatments for rabies (during his work as an international ambassador for wildlife) and was "one time almost raped by a giant bat." (It was apparently made extremely frisky, in a romantic sense, by Greive's Jovan musk cologne.) He's been bitten by penguins three times, gored by just about anything with that ability, and served in Cambodia when the Khmer Rhouge were still in charge. ("Not particularly cordial," he calls them.) He also did a full-body wax to serve as a body double for one of the stars of the Marlon Brando version of The Island of Dr. Moreau.

So OK, he's seen some danger. And he's written about a gazillion best-selling little books of philosophy and photographs: The Blue Day Book, The Meaning of Life, Tomorrow and others. But now he's really stepped in it: He's gotten into the dog vs. cat question. At a talk Friday night at Legacy Books in Plano, Greive noted that he's "pro-dog, not anti-cat. ... I love cats, despite their sociopathic tendencies."

Jeff Abbott's Twitter feed has been busy today: in the latest, he announced a new series that will be published by Grand Central in 2011.

If I'm not mistaken, this would be the one mentioned at the Texas Book Festival that stars a CIA agent who owns bars around the world, which will require some hard-nosed research on Mr. Abbott's part. Possibly followed by some intense rehab.

As Amazon and Macmillian have been battling over the price of e-books (Publishers Weekly coverage here, latest Associated Press recap below), Austin author Jeff Abbott is throwing his support behind the writers.

Which is kind of obvious, him being a writer and all. But he's doing more than talking.

Abbot (his latest thriller, Trust Me, is reviewed here) has tweeted the names of five Macmillan authors he bought at his local bookstore. Those authors have been frozen out of Amazon, which has sent mixed signals on when they might be restored.

The titles: Break Neck by Erica Spindler, Old Man's War by John Scalzi, The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld , City of Dragons by Kelli Stanley and [UPDATE:] Roma by Steven Saylor.

He notes: "My Macmillan buying spree is not being anti-Amazon, it is being pro-writer. I am confident Amazon/Macmillan will sort this out."

[UPDATE, 4 p.m.: GalleyCat has the latest on the battle, along with Scalzi's call for author support from earlier today.]

My thought on the conflict: I tend to be for author rights and the ability of publishers to make a fair profit -- which is kind of obvious, me making my living off of writers and all. But check out the comments on this New York Times blog. The reading public is not exactly going to rally around a battle cry of, "Let's pay more for e-books!"

Shin Yi Pai, a poet and an exceptionally supportive early contributor to this very blog, will be reading 8 p.m. Saturday at Paperbacks Plus, 6115 La Vista.

Details of this Wordspace event are posted here.