Omnivoracious

Down River wins the 2008 Edgar Award for Best Novel

Last night, at an awards banquet in New York City, the Mystery Writers of America announced their 2008 Edgar Award winners. We were thrilled to see that John Hart took home the award for Best Novel for Down River, which made our Top 100 list of editors' picks for the Best Books of 2007. Among the other terrific reads (and in-house Amazon favorites) in the winners' circle are Tana French's remarkable debut In the Woods and Katherine Marsh's The Night Tourist. Check out the full list of winners and finalists below. --Anne

Best Novel:

· Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
· Priest by Ken Bruen
· The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
· Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman
· Down River by John Hart -- Winner!

Best First Novel by an American Author:
· Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell
· In the Woods by Tana French -- Winner!
· Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard
· Head Games by Craig McDonald
· Pyres by Derek Nikitas

Best Paperback Original:
· Queenpin by Megan Abbott -- Winner!
· Blood of Paradise by David Corbett
· Cruel Poetry by Vicki Hendricks
· Robbie's Wife by Russell Hill
· Who Is Conrad Hirst? by Kevin Wignall  

Best Fact Crime:
· The Birthday Party by Stanley Alpert
· Reclaiming History by Vincent Bugliosi -- Winner!
· Chasing Justice by Kerry Max Cook
· Relentless Pursuit by Kevin Flynn
· Sacco & Vanzetti by Bruce Watson

Best Critical/Biographical Work:
· The Triumph of the Thriller by Patrick Anderson
· A Counter-History of Crime Fiction by Maurizio Ascari
· Deviance in Contemporary Crime Fiction by Christiana Gregoriou
· Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley -- Winner!
· Chester Gould: A Daughter's Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy by Jean Gould O'Connell

Best Young Adult:
· Rat Life by Tedd Arnold -- Winner!
· Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney
· Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin
· Blood Brothers by S.A. Harazin
· Fragments by Jeffry W. Johnston  

Best Juvenile:
· The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
· Shadows on Society Hill by Evelyn Coleman
· Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn 
· The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh -- Winner!
· Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things by Wendelin Van Draanen  

A conversation with Kristin Hannah

Reading Firefly Lane will likely be a trip down memory lane for most readers out there. Kristin Hannah weaves great period moments of growing up during the '70s and '80s into the story, and in Kate and Tully she's also created a portrait of a real friends--ones who celebrates the good times but who also takes a hard look at love and loyalty when the chips are down--that will remind you of your own lifelong friendships. It's the kind of book you'll devour in one sitting and immediately want to share with your friends so you can dish about it. And speaking of dishing, that's exactly what we did over lunch last fall with the author here in her native Seattle. The city figures largely in Firefly Lane and it was fun to hear about how her own experiences growing up in the Northwest found expression in the book. She was gracious enough to catch up with me recently over e-mail--and to send us a snapshot of her fantastic book collection, which you'll see pictured above. --Anne

Amazon.com: Why did you choose Seattle as the backdrop for Firefly Lane? Is there something unique about growing up in the Northwest that helped you to define the kind of women Kate and Tully become?

Kristin Hannah: Quite simply, I chose Seattle as the backdrop for Firefly Lane because it's so much a part of who I am. I've lived in the Northwest for most of my life, and obviously, in all those years, I've seen this part of the country evolve from an undiscovered gem into the Emerald City. So many of the places from my youth are gone, or changed, or moved, and I guess I wanted to remember the physical reminders of those bygone days. And while Kate and Tully are absolutely Northwest girls, I like to think their story will speak to women who grew up in vastly different, more populated areas. After all, it's ultimately about friendship, and those seeds can be planted anywhere.

Amazon.com: While you were writing, at any point did you find yourself feeling more sympathetic to Kate or to Tully? How did you keep the weight of the plot balanced between them as their stories evolved?

KH: There's no way to avoid the truth that Kate is more than a little like me. Thus, I identified with her from the very beginning--she was the small town girl who had to get up in the pre-dawn hours to feed her horses, and read The Lord of the Rings during every family vacation, and felt lost in the first few months at the sprawling University of Washington. All of that was me, so naturally, the problem was not in feeling sympathetic toward Katie; it was much more about holding her at arm's length, seeing her not as an extension of myself, but as a completely fictional woman. Tully was a different story entirely. While many readers might be surprised by this, I really fell in love with Tully. In the final analysis, she's one of my favorite characters of all time. I know she's bold and selfish and myopic and ambitious to a fault, but she's also terribly broken, wounded by her parents, unable to believe in love, and ultimately very real. I think all of us know a "Tully" in our lives, and they bring a lot of drama...and a lot of fire and sparkle.

Amazon.com: You have a beautiful way of showing both the tension and tenderness between mothers and daughters. Was it a challenge to write Tully's painful history with her own mother, and later, the conflict that builds between Kate and her own daughter?

KH: Honestly, I believe that the mother-daughter relationship is magical, complex, potentially dangerous, profoundly powerful, and deeply transformative. To put it simply, all of us have this relationship, and in a very real way, "none of us comes out alive." We are all formed first as daughters and then tested as mothers. There's nothing like motherhood to make us reassess how we were as daughters. One of my favorite parts of Firefly Lane was the circle of Kate’s relationship with her mom. First we see her as an angry teen, slamming the door on her mother...and then later her own daughter does the same thing to her. There's a real symmetry in that, a truth that many of us have learned. I have often wished in the past few years that my mom were here to help me as I raised my own teenage son. As a girl, with my own mom, I thought I knew it all; now I know better. Somewhere, I know my mom is smiling.

Memoirettes, so far.

My life has not been all that interesting (as you’ll soon see), and that may be why the six-word formula is so compelling: instead of an ordinary life striving for distinction, with just six words at a go your story amounts to lots of little moments that define you long after they’ve passed, and the best part is you don’t have to wrest any meaning (or plotting) out of them. Here's my attempt to capture a few that, looking back, feel pretty formative. --Anne

Never could say the letter “S.”

This one taken from my mother, making a passing observation of my passions at the age of four. Still pretty true.

Grape jelly, books, and Julia Child.

Left New York, still looking back.

 

If books won Oscars: Announcing the 2008 Audie Award Nominees

Award season: it's still with us! New this week are the nominees for the Audie Awards, which as far as I can tell boast the most unique categories for any literary or publishing industry prize: 30 by my count. Audie winners--including Audiobook of the Year (finalists for which will be announced next month), Multi-Voice Performance, Achievement in Production, and more--will be announced in Los Angeles in May. Inspired by...the Old Testament, a follow-up to last year's Audiobook of the Year, wins the most category nominations, with Stephen Colbert's I Am America (And So Can You!) following closely behind (IMHO, even funnier than the hardcover).  Following is a sampling of nominees and categories--you can check out the full list here.  --Anne

Achievement in Production
· Dune, by Frank Herbert
· Inspired by...The Old Testament, with full-cast narration
· The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick
· Radio Theatre's Amazing Grace, by Paul McCusker and Dave Arnold
· Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls, by Yuri Rasovsky

Biography/Memoir
· Einstein, by Walter Isaacson
· My Lobotomy, by Howard Dully and Charles Fleming
· Schulz and Peanuts, by David Michaelis
· Shakespeare, by Bill Bryson
· Tearing Down the Wall of Sound, by Mick Brown

Classic
· 1984, by George Orwell
· The Call of the Wild and White Fang, by Jack London
· Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
· A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
· Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Narration by the Author or Authors

· Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver
· Here If You Need Me, by Kate Braestrup
· Michael Tolliver Lives, by Armistead Maupin
· Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
· Pontoon, by Garrison Keillor
· The Traveler, by Ron McLarty

Science Fiction
· The Draco Tavern, by Larry Niven
· Dune, by Frank Herbert
· The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, by Jack Finney
· Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ravens of Avalon, by Diana L. Paxson
· Selections from Dreamsongs: 1, by George R.R. Martin

A shout-out to Poe: announcing the 2008 Edgar Award nominees

Your reading queue may already be waist-high now (I know mine is) with all the Best Ofs and award winners that have been rolling in, but who can resist the siren songs of this year's Edgar hopefuls? I mean, really. From Benjamin Black's Christine Falls to debut favorite (and favorite of ours) In the Woods and Michael Chabon's genre-bending The Yiddish Policeman's Union--not to mention the host of delectable discoveries (Who is Conrad Hirst, indeed?)--it's been a great year for mysteries. I'm eager to see who'll be taking an Edgar home in May. Cue the drum roll:

Best Novel:

· Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
· Priest by Ken Bruen
· The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
· Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman
· Down River by John Hart

Best First Novel by an American Author:
· Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell
· In the Woods by Tana French
· Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard
· Head Games by Craig McDonald
· Pyres by Derek Nikitas

Best Paperback Original:
· Queenpin by Megan Abbott
· Blood of Paradise by David Corbett
· Cruel Poetry by Vicki Hendricks
· Robbie's Wife by Russell Hill
· Who Is Conrad Hirst? by Kevin Wignall  

Best Fact Crime:
· The Birthday Party by Stanley Alpert
· Reclaiming History by Vincent Bugliosi
· Chasing Justice by Kerry Max Cook
· Relentless Pursuit by Kevin Flynn
· Sacco & Vanzetti by Bruce Watson

Best Critical/Biographical Work:
· The Triumph of the Thriller by Patrick Anderson
· A Counter-History of Crime Fiction by Maurizio Ascari
· Deviance in Contemporary Crime Fiction by Christiana Gregoriou
· Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley
· Chester Gould: A Daughter's Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy by Jean Gould O'Connell

Best Young Adult:
· Rat Life by Tedd Arnold
· Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney
· Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin
· Blood Brothers by S.A. Harazin
· Fragments by Jeffry W. Johnston  

Best Juvenile:
· The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
· Shadows on Society Hill by Evelyn Coleman
· Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn 
· The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh
· Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things by Wendelin Van Draanen  

Grand Master Award:
· Bill Pronzini

Speaking of Edgar, it happens that Poe would have celebrated his 199th birthday this past Saturday. (I wonder if the nominee announcement just the day before was intended to coincide? Do tell MW of A!) In any case, we all know Poe's life was regrettably short: imagine how many more spooky stories he might have penned had drink and tragedy not gotten the best of him? What I'd like to imagine just as much is what he'd think of his heir-apparents writing today. I suspect he'd enjoy the grisly detail to be found in books like Heartsick or get sucked into the dark underbelly of Charlie Huston's world, but what about that frightful element of surprise--that unknowable dark turn into something sinister and evil--that makes his stories so wonderfully creepy? It's a primal sort of macabre you find in Poe that I think must be hard to recreate in the here and now, where (we think) we have the tools to unravel any mystery. Of contemporary authors, who do you think gets close to hitting that eerie note? Stephen King is my best guess, though it's hard to say.  But I'm all worked up now for a good scare. --Anne