A Star for NEW YORK NIGHT

Publishers Weekly gave Mark Caldwell's NEW YORK NIGHT: The Mystique and Its History a starred review in its July 25 issue!

Here's what they have to say:

Caldwell's poetic approach to New York City is epic as he paints a portrait of New York nightlife from 1643 to the present. He brings past places and people alive with vivid imagery, gleaming like neon colors emerging from a twilight fog. The book becomes a time machine, beginning with 17th-century New Amsterdam's Wooden Horse tavern (dispensing "the volatile elixir that alternately held [the city] together and blew it apart"). As centuries flash by, Caldwell (The Last Crusade: The War on Consumption 1862-1954) hovers over milestones and architectural splendors. In 1836, the leading outdoor nighttime venue was Niblo's Garden, "famous for its fireworks and festoons of light," which glowed on Broadway long before millions of theatergoers began crowding the Great White Way. Many Manhattan industries--"theater, restaurants, newspapers, broadcasting--begin a crescendo of activity with each dusk," and Caldwell chronicles it all, from gaslights to gangsters, from riots to prizefights, from burlesque to Bickford's, from opium to heroin from the Beat Generation to the fiction of Richard Yates, from fame to obscurity. Plunging into the heart of darkness, this masterful work succeeds in illuminating the vast shadowy soul of New York.

It's an IMPROBABLE world

Rights to Adam Fawer's Improbable were recently sold in Greece, Norway, and Portugal, bringing the total number of foreign editions sold up to twelve.

Michael Feinstein and Mary Cleere Haran Sing the Praises of NEW YORK NIGHT

Mary Cleere Haran, the acclaimed cabaret singer, and Michael Feinstein, the Grammy Award winning pianist and singer, have both read early copies of Mark Caldwell's NEW YORK NIGHT: The Mystique and Its History, coming out from Scribner this fall. They both raved about it and offered the following blurbs.

Michael said, "New York Night is an amazing tour de force that dazzlingly redefines a city that I thought I knew so well. Mark Caldwell has made me keenly aware that I live in two different cities, and the nocturnal one is much more exciting!"

And Mary wrote: "The magic of this book – the author’s painterly way with light, the indelible images he conjures – lingers on like a Cole Porter melody, constantly shifting from dark to light, from major to minor keys. Mark Caldwell has an extraordinary gift for bringing the legendary and the obscure characters of night-time New York to life. As I read his book, it made me giddy to think I’m one of those fools who’ve made it their mission to keep the magic of the New York night alive."

Barnes & Noble Discovers A CERTAIN SLANT OF LIGHT

Barnes & Noble has selected Laura Whitcomb's first novel, A Certain Slant of Light, to be featured in its Discover Great New Writers program for November this year to January 2006. The B&N Discover editors read and review select young adult submissions each season, but not every list of chosen books contains a teen title. Laura's book, which Houghton Mifflin will publish in September, will be featured in the Discover bay of every Barnes & Noble store in the country with the 15 other Discover titles (all adult) throughout the winter holiday season, as well as in the teen section.

For more on the career-changing Discover program, click here.

Everyone wants to move to the CITIES OF WEATHER

Over the last few weeks, people have been saying some wonderful things about Matthew Fox's collection, CITIES OF WEATHER:

Jhumpa Lahiri, Pulitzer Prize winning author of THE INTERPRETER OF MALADIES and THE NAMESAKE:
Matthew Fox possesses the virtues of a first-rate story teller: depth of feeling, breadth of vision, and a fresh, vigorous voice. He is a fearless young writer, and CITIES OF WEATHER is a striking debut.

Jonathan Dee, author of PALLADIO and ST. FAMOUS:
Comparisons to Alice Munro have nothing to do with their common nationality: Matthew Fox writes with a patient psychological acuity that belies his tender years. That he is able to pack what feels like a novel's worth of development into the short-story form is the genius of his art and marks him as a writer to watch, not just for this season but for many seasons to come.

Helen Schulman, author of P.S. and THE REVISIONIST:
I loved CITIES OF WEATHER. This smart debut collection of stories captures twenty-something ennui with wit and sympathy. Fox turns his harsh, loving lens on those of us, the presently or formerly young, who struggle, without a map, for purpose and meaning, under the burden of being too free.

Where will Avis Berman be?

Avis Berman, author of EDWARD HOPPER'S NEW YORK and editor of the forthcoming MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH MODERN ART: Behind the Scenes With a Legendary Curator by Katharine Kuh, will be reading and signing all over the place this fall:

For EDWARD HOPPER'S NEW YORK :
October 26 -- Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC
November 15 -- Cooper Union, NYC

For MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH MODERN ART:
December 3 - National Gallery of Art, DC

Check this space for more details!