But is he a nice guy?

After reading a charming book like Francesca’s Kitchen in the most recent Select Editions with so many likeable, often comical, characters, you have to wonder, is the author as nice as his book? Well, I can testify that Peter Pezzelli is as nice as you hope he is. When I e-mailed Mr. Pezzelli just after Easter in April 2007 with some interview questions for the AfterWords feature (see page 269 in the volume), he was generous with his time, patient with my queries, and had fun responding--in Italian--to my Italian grazie mille-thank you sentiment composed with the help of my bi-lingual Italian-American colleague here at Select Editions, Ann Belluscio. Here's how it went:

E-Mail #1:

Hi Tom,
Here are my responses to your questions. Hope they fit the bill.

Best,
Peter

E-Mail #2:

Dear Peter,
Benissimo!
Grazie mille.
Speriamo che hai avuto una buona Pasqua nella famiglia.
Your responses will be very helpful, indeed. Many thanks. (For the above, I had help from my RD colleague Ann Belluscio, who is enviably bi-lingual, and who sometimes passes me a genuine old country recipe to try.)
We look forward to seeing your next novel.

Best,
Tom C.

E-Mail #3:

Tomasso,
Prego, e si, abbiamo fatto una bellissima Pasqua ieri, ma come sempre ho mangiato troppo! Auguri Pasquali a Lei e Signora Belluscio!
--Peter

Of course, at first, I had absolutely no idea what he'd written back to me, and was relieved when Ann translated. (If I need to interview Peter Pezzelli again—and I hope I do—I’m relying on the fact that he’ll be nice enough not to insist on Italian!) For non-Italian speakers, here's the English version. I wrote: Great, many thanks, I hope you had a happy Easter with your family. And he wrote back: You’re welcome, and yes, I had a wonderful Easter yesterday, but as always, I ate too much. Best Easter wishes to you and to Signora Belluscio.

—Tom

A thrilling listening experience

We wanted to share with you an interesting project that Select Editions reader favorite Jeffery Deaver is up to these days. It's a "serial thriller" called The Chopin Manuscript available only as downloadable audio from Audible.com.

Listen to this fun scenario: Deaver agreed to write an opening chapter establishing the characters and the premise of the story. He then passed it along to a "Murderers' Row" of 15 colleagues, including Lee Child (author of Bad Luck and Trouble featured in July 2007's SE), and Lisa Scottoline (author of Daddy's Girl in the upcoming November SE). Each wrote a successive chapter before sending it back to Deaver, who tied things up in the last two chapters. The fast-paced story moves between Poland, Rome, Washington and Baltimore with a plot that Deaver describes as "The Day of the Jackal meets The Da Vinci Code."

Narrated by actor Alfred Molina, The Chopin Manuscript's first three chapters will be available on Audible.com starting today. Audible will then add two downloadable chapters a week over the subsequent seven weeks. The entire price is $19.95. Click here to find out how easy it is to get started, to view exclusive interviews with the authors and to hear a free sample of Alfred Molina's compelling narration of the story.

Obviously, Audible.com is doing this to attract new customers to its site. It's also a great way to introduce people to the fun experience of enjoying a book via your ears rather than eyes. Nearly everyone on the Select Editions staff listens to audiobooks in their cars these days, with editor Tom Clemmons scoring bonus points because he uses his commuting time to listen to classics (many, many hours) which pays off for title selection for The World's Best Reading series.

It'll be many months before Deaver's serial story is published in hard copy (if ever), so we urge you to take the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone and get the latest entertainment from your favorite authors while trying out downloadable books.

We'll report back on how Audible's experiment worked out sometime after the final chapter is posted. And if you end up listening to The Chopin Manuscript yourself, let us know what you thought of it.

—Laura

You can never have too much romance....

Romance novels represent about 40% of all fiction titles sold. If you're one of those who just can't get enough romance, you may be interested in the authors and books that were highlighted at the Romance Writers of America annual RITA Awards in August. Twelve authors were honored for their work across a variety of categories. We didn't review all of these books here at Select Editions but there's sure to be some really good ones on this list. Let us know if you check them out!

THE 2007 WINNERS
Best First Book: The Husband Trap by Tracy Anne Warren
Best Contemporary Single Title Romance: Adiós to My Old Life by Caridad Ferrer
Best Inspirational Romance: Revealed by Tamera Alexander
Best Long Contemporary Romance: The Mommy Quest by Lori Handeland
Best Long Historical Romance: On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn
Best Romantic Novella: "'Tis the Silly Season" in A NASCAR Holiday by Roxanne St.Claire
Best Paranormal Romance: A Hunger Like No Other by Kresley Cole
Best Romantic Suspense Finalists: Blackout by Annie Solomon
Best Short Contemporary Romance: From the First by Jessica Bird
Best Short Historical Romance: The Book of True Desires by Betina Krahn
Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements: A Lady Raised High by Jennifer Ashley writing as Laurien Gardner
Best Traditional Romance: Claiming His Family by Barbara Hannay

—Laura

Happy Birthday

For those of us who don't put much truck in astrology--actually, for those of us who don't put any truck in astrology--today is the shared birthday of Stephen King and Fannie Flagg. Obviously two people whose work is soooo identical. If you're curious about other author birthdays, check out this website. It's fun to see who shares when with whom.

—Jim

Hunkster professions in romance novels: FBI agents yes, accountants no

In Julie Garwood's dreamy romantic suspense novel Shadow Dancer the hero is, natch, an FBI agent. In fact, Garwood has created a series of linked novels featuring the hunky Buchanan brothers (and a few gorgeous sisters too) and their equally hunky FBI agent friends. Why is a tall, handsome, dashing FBI agent so much more romantic than a tall, dashing, handsome accountant? Or bond trader? Or high school math teacher? It's not the money; a venture capitalist hunkster is somehow much less romantic than, say, a rodeo star. A Nascar driver is probably more romantic, fictionally speaking, than an Olympic curling champion. Why is this?

I have devised a completely subjective list of acceptable careers for romance-novel heroes: cop/detective/FBI agent; carpenter, writer, architect, musician, horse whisperer, doctor (small-town family doctor preferred), vet, chef .... And now for the no-way professions: banker, insurance salesman, book editor, CEO, corporate lawyer, electrical engineer, plumber, public relations specialist....the list could go on and on. But these are just my opinions. What are yours?

—Amy

You never know

I read Garden Spells as a manuscript, a long time ago. It had a different title then (Garden Spells and Southern Belles), and it was by an author I'd never heard of, although the publisher claimed it was a really good book. Of course, the publishers always claim that they're really good books. But this one blew me away. I fell in love with it, and recommended it for Select Editions, and to anyone I ran into for months after that, up to and including today, as we feature it in our September 2007 Select Editions. And lo and behold, when I was walking through Manhattan last weekend on a visit to the city, there was an enormous poster of the cover of the book in a store window, with a big recommendation from the bookseller. And today, I see it's hit the Publishers Weekly bestseller list.

You never know...

—Jim

Tasty leftovers from the Peter Pezzelli interview

Like most editors, one of the things I enjoy most about this job is being able to interview authors. And one of the things that frustrates me the most is that I can’t always fit all I want into one AfterWords essay or Q and A feature. There is, after all, only so much room on the page. So, just as in moviemaking, there are segments that end up on the cutting-room floor. But now we have THE BLOG! And, as film companies do routinely now with extras on a DVD, we can share more of the good stuff with our readers. The following are outtakes from my April 2007 exchange (page 269 in the volume) with author Peter Pezzelli (above), author of Francesca's Kitchen. (Corinne, you'll remember, is Peter Pezzelli's wife.)

Who are your favorite authors?
Pezzelli: My tastes in reading have always been all over the place. I just started "The Golden Ocean" by Patrick O’Brien, the author of Master and Commander. I’ve read the first four installments of his Aubrey/Maturin series and loved them all. Hopefully I’ll get to get to the rest of them, he was a wonderful writer. I like the works of Peter Mayle and I’m looking forward to Khaled Hosseini’s (The Kite Runner) new book. My favorite book of all time, though, is still The Once and Future King by T. H. White.

Can you get good olive oil on this side of the Atlantic?
Pezzelli: I’m not an olive oil snob, so I think yes. At home we’ve had good luck cooking with many different brands, some quite inexpensive, that we've found in the markets. It’s like wine, you just have to try a few until you find one you like.

Do you garden?
Pezzelli: I like to plant a tomato garden every year, and some years some zucchini or eggplant as well. Other than that I cut the grass, trim the hedges, and leave the flowers to Corinne.

—Tom