Thanksgiving is one of those truly American holidays. It’s not just the history behind it, but the way we celebrate. Parades? Check. Long weekend? Check. Stuffing our faces with delicious food and wishing we’d worn pants with an elastic waistband? Check.

In the spirit of the season, we’ve got a collection of 5 unique books with Thanks or Thank You in the title. Think of it as one small way to keep things interesting as you stand in the security line at the airport or the line at the mall on Black Friday.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams

Thanksgiving is the busiest travel holiday of the year, so who better to serve as your companion than the man who wrote the guidebook to traversing the galaxy? The fourth book in Doug Adams’ classic Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, finds Arthur Dent Back on Earth ready to believe that the past eight years were all just a figment of his stressed-out imagination. But a gift-wrapped fishbowl with a cryptic inscription, the mysterious disappearance of Earth’s dolphins, and the discovery of his battered copy of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy all conspire to give Arthur the sneaking suspicion that something otherworldly is indeed going on.

Thank You for Smoking: A Novel by Christopher Buckley

Think your family’s smoked turkey is the best around? Think again. Nobody blows smoke like Nick Naylor. He’s a spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies-in other words, a flack for cigarette companies, paid to promote their product on talk and news shows. The problem? He’s so good at his job, so effortlessly unethical, that he’s become a target for both anti-tobacco terrorists and for the FBI. In a country where half the people want to outlaw pleasure and the other want to sell you a disease, what will become of the original Puff Daddy?

Thank You, Jeeves (A Jeeves and Bertie Novel) by P. G. Wodehouse

Your Thanksgiving family drama has nothing on these Brits. Thank You, Jeeves contains four more antic selections from comic genius, P.G. Wodehouse. “A Damsel in Distress” is an early novel about the aristocratic Marshmoreton family-a precursor to the Blandings series. “Leave It to Psmith” is a comedy adventure involving crime and gunplay, and “Mulliner Nights” is a series of stories about the inimitable Mr. Mulliner. Meanwhile, Lord ‘Chuffy’ Chuffnell borrows the services of Jeeves in “Thank You, Jeeves.”

Kanye West Presents Thank You and You’re Welcome by Kanye West

I’m really happy for the other books on this list, and I’mma let them finish, but the oddest book with Thanks or Thank You in the title has to be this one by Kanye West. This book is a quick, visually appealing read that showcases Kanye’s trademark wit, confidence, and swagger (the same found in his lyrics), and shows readers the rules he played by to reach the top. Each tidbit is briefly explained, often with anecdotes from Kanye’s life. This is philosophy at its hippest and pithiest – and an absolute must-have for every Kanye fan.

As Hot as It Was You Ought to Thank Me: A Novel by Nanci Kincaid

With shorter days and colder weather, it’s the perfect time to curl up with a warm book. The novel’s young heroine, Berry, joins the ranks of other memorable and spirited girl narrators such as Bone in Bastard Out of Carolina, Kaye Gibbon’s Ellen Foster, Lily Owens in The Secret Life of Bees, and Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird.

Thank You, Death Robot Mark R. Brand (Editor)

When you just can’t take the cheery Macy’s Day Parade commentary one minute longer, there’s Thank You, Death Robot to the rescue! An enduring icon much beloved by science fiction fans everywhere, the Death Robot comes to life in this collection of stories by some of the brightest upcoming stars in speculative fiction. Authors and filmmakers for the last two hundred years have given birth to an emerging archetype: a manifestation of industrial malevolence, a cautionary tale of technological hubris, and a call to reassert the tenuous hold modern man has over the machines that do his bidding.

So he went on a journey – both physically and psychically.  The journey led him to Shamanism, psychedelic drugs, Mayan culture and more – and led him to believe (to know – in his words) that these things had meaning, were real and tangible and should and could be applied to the economic and environmental challenges of today .

His journey into Shamanism and psychedelics is chronicled in his first book: BREAKING OPEN THE HEAD.  His second book 2012: THE RETURN OF QUETZALCOATL (which I was afraid to pronounce in the podcast – even though I really practiced ahead of time!) digs deep into the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar and what that really means in terms of the year 2012 and the immense change he believes is already underway.

His latest book NOTES FROM THE EDGE TIMES is a series of essays Daniel wrote since the publication of 2012.  It touches on topics from the environment to the economy to monogamy and psychic ability.

As a man of action – Daniel is not afraid to call it like he sees it.  Daniel quotes Einstein and others in the book who say “You don’t solve problems with the kind of thinking that created them” – and whether you buy into his solutions or not, you have to admit that sentiment rings true.

Interviewing Daniel was a challenge to be sure!  He’s a smart guy who backs his thinking with lots of research.  Give it a listen, then check out the books and form your own opinion.

– Dana Barrett, Podcast Host

PS – did I mention Daniel is the one of the creators of 2012: Time for Change, a documentary with stars like Sting, Ellen Page and David Lynch. It’s currently debuting in selected cities around the world.

Like this interview? Subscribe to the podcast today!

Want more of the Better World Books Podcast now? Click here to check out the rest of the great authors who stopped by or called in for a chat!

Comments or questions about the podcast? Feel free to comment here on the blog, or email me at podcast AT betterworldbooks.com.

HANDLING THE UNDEAD by John Ajvide Lindqvist

From the Publisher:

In his new novel, John Ajvide Lindqvist does for zombies what his previous novel, “Let the Right One In, “did for vampires.

Across Stockholm the power grid has gone crazy. In the morgue and in cemeteries, the recently deceased are waking up. One grandfather is alight with hope that his grandson will be returned, but one husband is aghast at what his adored wife has become.

A horror novel that transcends its genre by showing what the return of the dead might really mean to those who loved them.

JOHN DIES AT THE END by David Wong

From the publisher:

David Wong has updated the Lovecraft tradition and infused it with humor that rather than lessening the horror, increases it dramatically. Every time I set the book down down, I was wary that something really was afoot, that there were creatures I couldn’t see, and that because I suspected this, I was next. Engaging, comic, and terrifying.

– Joe Garden, Features Editor, The Onion

DEAD UNTIL DARK by Charlaine Harris

From the publisher:

“New York Times”-bestselling author Harris has delighted fans with her mystery series featuring small-town waitress-turned-paranormal sleuth Sookie Stackhouse. “Dead Until Dark” is her first novel in the series.

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson

From the publisher:

The classic supernatural thriller by an author who helped define the genre. First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror.

It is the story of four seekers who arrive at the notoriously unfriendly Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powersaand soon it will choose one of them to make its own.

FOUR COLOR FEAR: FORGOTTEN HORROR COMICS OF THE 1950′S by Greg Sadowski and John Benson

From the publisher:

Of the myriad genres comic books ventured into during its golden age, none was as controversial as or came at a greater cost than horror; the public outrage it incited almost destroyed the entire industry. Yet before the watchdog groups and Congress could intercede, horror books were flying off the newsstands.

During its peak period (1951-54) over fifty titles appeared each month. Apparently there was something perversely irresistible about these graphic excursions into our dark side, and Four Color Fear collects the finest of these into a single robust and affordable volume. EC is the comic book company most fans associate with horror; its complete line has been reprinted numerous times, and deservedly so. But to the average reader there remain unseen quite a batch of genuinely disturbing, compulsive, imaginative, at times even touching, horror stories presented from a variety of visions and perspectives, many of which at their best can stand toe to toe with EC.

All of the better horror companies are represented: Ajax-Farrell, Atlas, Avon, Charlton, Comic Media, Fawcett, Fiction House, Gilmor, Harvey, Quality, Standard, St. John, Story, Superior, Trojan, and Youthful. Artist perennials Jack Cole, Steve Ditko, George Evans, Frank Frazetta, Alex Toth, Al Williamson, Basil Wolverton, and Wallace Wood con- tribute both stories and covers, with many of the forty full-sized covers created by specialists Bernard Baily, L.B. Cole, William Eckgren, and Matt Fox. Editors Benson and Sadowski have sifted through hundreds of rare books to cherry-pick the most compelling scripts and art, and they provide extensive background notes on the artists, writers, and companies involved in their creation.

Digital restoration has been performed with subtlety and restraint, mainly to correct registration and printing errors, with every effort made to retain the flavor of the original comics, and to provide the reader the experience of finding in the attic a bound volume of the finest non-EC horror covers and stories of the pre-code era.

PRODIGAL SON by Dean Koontz

From the publisher:

From the celebrated imagination of Dean Koontz comes a powerful reworking of one of the classic stories of all time. If you think you know the legend, you know only half the truth.

Every city has its secrets. But none as terrible as this. He is Deucalion, a tattooed man of mysterious origin, a sleight-of-reality artist who has traveled the centuries with a secret worse than death.

He arrives in New Orleans as a serial killer stalks the streets, a killer who carefully selects his victims for the humanity that is missing in himself. Deucalion’s path will lead him to cool, tough police detective Carson O’Connor and her devoted partner, Michael Maddison, who are tracking the slayer but will soon discover signs of something far more terrifying: an entire “race” of killers who are much more-and less-than human and, deadliest of all, their deranged, near-immortal maker: Victor Helios-once known as Frankenstein.

ROALD DAHL’S BOOK OF GHOST STORIES

From the Publisher:

Who better to investigate the literary spirit world than that supreme connoisseur of the unexpected, Roald Dahl? Of the many permutations of the macabre or bizarre, Dahl was always especially fascinated by the classic ghost story. As he relates in the erudite introduction to this volume, he read some 749 supernatural tales at the British Museum Library before selecting the 14 that comprise this anthology. “Spookiness is, after all, the real purpose of the ghost story,” Dahl writes. “It should give you the creeps and disturb your thoughts.” For this superbly disquieting collection, Dahl offers favorite tales by such masterful storytellers as E. F. Benson, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Rosemary Timperley, and Edith Wharton.

THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS by Alden Bell

From the publisher:

Zombies have infested a fallen America. A young girl named Temple is on the run. Haunted by her past and pursued by a killer, Temple is surrounded by death and danger, hoping to be set free.

For twenty-five years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself and keeping her demons inside her heart. She can’t remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her on a personal journey toward redemption. Moving back and forth between the insulated remnants of society and the brutal frontier beyond, Temple must decide where ultimately to make a home and find the salvation she seeks.

PRACTICAL MAGIC by Alice Hoffman

From the Publisher:

For more than two hundred years, the Owens women had been blamed for everything that went wrong in their Massachusetts town. And Gillian and Sally endured that fate as well; as children, the sisters were outsiders. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, but all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape. One would do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they shared brought them back-almost as if by magic…

OUT OF THE DARK by David Weber

From the publisher:

Earth is conquered. The Shongairi have arrived in force, and humanity’s cities lie in radioactive ruins. In mere minutes, over half the human race has died.

Now Master Sergeant Stephen Buchevsky, who thought he was being rotated home from his latest tour in Afghanistan, finds himself instead prowling the back country of the Balkans, dodging alien patrols and trying to organize the scattered survivors without getting killed.

His chances look bleak. The aliens have definitely underestimated human tenacity–but no amount of heroism can endlessly hold off overwhelming force.

Then, emerging from the mountains and forests of Eastern Europe, new allies present themselves to the ragtag human resistance. Predators, creatures of the night, human in form but inhumanly strong. Long Enemies of humanity… until now. Because now is the time to defend Earth.

GHOST SHADOW by Heather Graham

From the publisher:

There are those who walk among us who are no longer alive, but not yet crossed over. They seek retribution… vengeance… to warn. Among the living, few intuit their presence.

Katie O’Hara is one who can.

As she’s drawn deeper and deeper into a gruesome years-old murder, whispered warnings from a spectral friend become more and more insistent. But Katie “must” uncover the truth: could David Beckett really be guilty of his fiancee’s murder?

Worse–the body count’s rising on the Island of Bones, and the dead seem to be reenacting some macabre tableaux from history. The danger is increasing by the moment–especially as Katie finds herself irresistibly drawn to David, who may be responsible for more than just one killing….

BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE by Annette Curtis Klause

From the Publisher:

Vivian Gandillon relishes the change, the sweet, fierce ache that carries her from girl to wolf. At sixteen, she is beautiful and strong, and all the young wolves are on her tail. But Vivian still grieves for her dead father; her pack remains leaderless and in disarray, and she feels lost in the suburbs of Maryland. She longs for a normal life. But what is normal for a werewolf?

Then Vivian falls in love with a human, a meatboy. Aiden is kind and gentle, a welcome relief from the squabbling pack. He’s fascinated by magic, and Vivian longs to reveal herself to him. Surely he would understand her and delight in the wonder of her dual nature, not fear her as an ordinary human would.

Vivian’s divided loyalties are strained further when a brutal murder threatens to expose the pack. Moving between two worlds, she does not seem to belong in either. What is she really — human or beast? Which tastes sweeter — blood or chocolate?

DEAD WITCH WALKING by Kim Harrison

From the publisher:

The underground population of witches, vampires, werewolves–creatures of dreams and nightmares–has lived beside humans for centuries, hiding their powers. But after a genetically engineered virus wipes out a large part of humanity, many of the “Inderlanders” reveal themselves, changing everything.

Rachel Morgan, witch and bounty hunter with the Inderland Runner Services, is one of the best at apprehending supernatural lawbreakers throughout Cincinnati, but when it comes to following the rules, she falls desperately short. Determined to buck the system, she quits and takes off on the run with an I.S. contract on her head and is reluctantly forced to team up with Ivy, Inderland’s best runner . . . and a living vampire. But this witch is way out of her league, and to clear her name, Rachel must evade shape-changing assassins, outwit a powerful businessman/crime lord, and survive a vicious underground fight-to-the-death . . . not to mention her own roommate.

ON MONSTERS: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma

From the Publisher:

Monsters. Real or imagined, literal or metaphorical, they have exerted a dread fascination on the human mind for many centuries. They attract and repel us, intrigue and terrify us, and in the process reveal something deeply important about the darker recesses of our collective psyche.

Stephen Asma’s On Monsters is a wide-ranging cultural and conceptual history of monsters–how they have evolved over time, what functions they have served for us, and what shapes they are likely to take in the future. Asma begins with a letter from Alexander the Great in 326 B.C. detailing an encounter in India with an “enormous beast–larger than an elephantthree ominous horns on its forehead.”

From there the monsters come fast and furious–Behemoth and Leviathan, Gog and Magog, the leopard-bear-lion beast of Revelation, Satan and his demons, Grendel and Frankenstein, circus freaks and headless children, right up to the serial killers and terrorists of today and the post-human cyborgs of tomorrow.

Monsters embody our deepest anxieties and vulnerabilities, Asma argues, but they also symbolize the mysterious and incoherent territory just beyond the safe enclosures of rational thought.

Exploring philosophical treatises, theological tracts, newspapers, pamphlets, films, scientific notebooks, and novels, Asma unpacks traditional monster stories for the clues they offer about the inner logic of an era’s fears and fascinations. In doing so, he illuminates the many ways monsters have become repositories for those human qualities that must be repudiated, externalized, and defeated.

Asma suggests that how we handle monsters reflects how we handle uncertainty, ambiguity, insecurity. And in a world that is daily becoming less secure and more ambiguous, he shows how we might learn to better live with monsters–and thereby avoid becoming one.

THE TERROR by Dan Simmons

From the Publisher:

The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of finding the Northwest Passage. When the expedition’s leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the Terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear there is no escape. A haunting, gripping story based on actual historical events, The Terror is a novel that will chill you to your core.

THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova

From the publisher:

When a teenage girl discovers a medieval book in her diplomat father’s library, he reluctantly confesses an unsettling story: his involvement, 20 years earlier, in a search for his mentor, who disappeared from his office only moments after confiding his certainty that Dracula–Vlad the Impaler–was still alive.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

From the publisher:

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.’ So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton and the dead are returning to life Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Can she vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, sword fights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to read.

THE COMPLETE TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE by um…yup… Edgar Allan Poe

From the Publisher:

All of the tales by the master of the detective and the macabre story. 53 of his best-known poems plus essays and criticisms.

From Me:

Yeah – let Edgar speak for himself…I mean really – THE TELL-TALE HEART… that still creeps me out.

Have you missed any of our selections?  Simply scroll through the blog to see the rest, or go to this handy dandy page that lists all the picks so far!

THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin

From the Publisher:

“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.”

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear–of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey–spanning miles and decades–towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

With The Passage, award-winning author Justin Cronin has written both a relentlessly suspenseful adventure and an epic chronicle of human endurance in the face of unprecedented catastrophe and unimaginable danger. Its inventive storytelling, masterful prose, and depth of human insight mark it as a crucial and transcendent work of modern fiction.

THE COMPLETE DRACULA by Bram Stoker, Colton Worley and Leah Moore

From the Publisher:

Dynamite presents an unprecedented comic book series that tells the complete story of the Lord of the Undead – Dracula. For the first time in 112 years the tale that Bram Stoker intended to tell is told (including “Dracula’s Guest”). If you thought you knew how it began or how it ends, you were wrong. Writers John Reppion and Leah Moore are joined by painter Colton Worley for an odyssey of life, death, and the blood that flows within us all. Boasting a cover by modern master John Cassaday, Moore and Reppion also provide bonus material such as script pages, annotations, and samplings of the original text by Bram Stoker.

FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley

From the Publisher:
A deluxe edition of Mary Shelley’s haunting adventure about ambition and modernity run amok.  Now a Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition with an introduction by Elizabeth Kostova and cover art by “Ghost World” creator Daniel Clowes, Mary Shelley’s timeless gothic novel presents the epic battle between man and monster at its greatest literary pitch. In trying to create life, the young student Victor Frankenstein unleashes forces beyond his control, setting into motion a long and tragic chain of events that brings Victor to the very brink of madness. How he tries to destroy his creation, as it destroys everything Victor loves, is a powerful story of love, friendship, scientific hubris, and horror.

IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE by Eve  Bunting

From Publishers Weekly:

Four sneakered feet, two large and two small, tiptoe through a house chock-full of otherworldly creatures–a vampire, ghosts and a mummy, among others–in Bunting’s second Halloween excursion. Like her Scary, Scary Halloween (which was illustrated by Jan Brett), this book features comically creepy rhymes (“Who’s in the closet, dark as a tomb / Rattling his bones in the gloom-gloomy-gloom?”), a small, built-in mystery (how can such a haunted house be real ?) and a cheery surprise at the end (the owner of the big feet has been more frightened by the weird goings-on than has his little partner). Meddaugh’s illustrations strike a nice balance between scary and silly, and include lots of rewards for observant readers: parents and art-wise children may note a homage to Picasso on one page. All in all, this winning addition to the Halloween bookshelf is sure to prompt as many giggles and shivers as the holiday itself. Ages 3-6.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

THE WEREWOLF’S GUIDE TO LIFE by Ritch Duncan & Bob Powers

From the publisher:

Have you been attacked by a wolf-like creature in the last 30 days? Was it after the sun had set and under a full moon? If you answered, “yes” to both these questions, there’s a very good chance that you were bitten by a werewolf. You now have less than a month before the full moon returns and with it your first transformation into a savage, bloodthirsty beast.

Survival is an option, but first, know this:

• Werewolves are real.
• The majority of lycanthropes who do not have access to this book die during or shortly after their first transformations, generally due to heart failure, gunshot wounds, exposure, drowning or suicide.
• Hollywood horror movies are NOT to be used as guides to living as a werewolf. Their goal is not to educate, but to entertain. As a result, they are largely ignorant of the realities of the condition.
• Ignorance creates monsters; lycanthropy does not.
• You are not a monster.

“The Werewolf’s Guide to Life” cuts through the fiction and guides you through your first transformation and beyond, offering indispensable advice on how to tell if you’re really a werewolf, post-attack etiquette, breaking the news to your spouse, avoiding government abduction, and how to not just survive, but thrive. You cannot afford to “not “read this book. Your very life depends on it.

BAG OF BONES

From the publisher:

Four years after the sudden death of his wife, forty-year-old bestselling novelist Mike Noonan is unable to write and plagued by vivid nightmares set at the Maine summerhouse he calls Sara Laughs. Mike reluctantly returns to the lakeside getaway and finds his beloved Yankee town held in the grip of a vindictive millionaire, Max Devore, who is trying to take his three-year-old granddaughter away from her widowed young mother, Mattie. As Mike is drawn into Mattie’s struggle — and begins to fall in love with her — he is also drawn into the mystery of Sara Laughs, now the site of ghostly visitations and escalating terrors. What do the forces that have been unleashed here want of Mike Noonan?

HEART-SHAPED BOX by Joe Hill

From the publisher:

Aging death-metal rock legend Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals…a used hangman’s noose…a snuff film. But nothing he possesses is as unique or as dreadful as his latest purchase off the Internet: a one-of-a-kind curiosity that arrives at his door in a black heart-shaped box…a musty dead man’s suit still inhabited by the spirit of its late owner. And now everywhere Judas Coyne goes, the old man is there–watching, waiting, dangling a razor blade on a chain from his bony hand.

THE ZOMBIE SURVIVAL GUIDE by Max Brooks

From the publisher:

The Zombie Survival Guide is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now. Fully illustrated and exhaustively comprehensive, this book covers everything you need to know, including how to understand zombie physiology and behavior, the most effective defense tactics and weaponry, ways to outfit your home for a long siege, and how to survive and adapt in any territory or terrain.

Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack

1. Organize before they rise
2. They feel no fear, why should you?
3. Use your head: cut off theirs.
4. Blades don’t need reloading.
5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.
6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it.
7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.
8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert
9. No place is safe, only safer.
10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on.

Don’t be carefree and foolish with your most precious asset—life. This book is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it. The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through trusted, proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead. It is a book that can save your life.

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF DEMONS OF & DEMONOLOGY by Rosemary Ellen Guiley and John Zaffis

From the publisher:

“The truth about demons and demonology–in more than 400 entries.The conflict between good and evil can be found in every culture, mythical tradition, and religion throughout history. In many cases, the source of evil has been personified as demons or devils, and in many belief systems, both are considered to be real entities operating outside the boundaries of the physical world to torment people or lead them astray. In some traditions demons are believed to be the direct opposite of angels, working against the forces of good and challenging them. Real or not, demons are at the heart of many fascinating beliefs and traditions, several of which are widely held today.”

THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST by Stuart Neville

From  Publishers Weekly:

“[A] stunning debut. . . . This is not only an action-packed, visceral thriller but also an insightful insider’s glimpse into the complex political machinations and networks that maintain the uneasy truce in Northern Ireland.”

From the Publisher:

“Peace has come to Northern Ireland, but IRA hit man Gerry Fegan is haunted day and night by twelve ghosts: a mother and infant, a schoolboy, a butcher, and eight more of his victims. To appease them, he’ll have to kill his former bosses.”

THE STRAIN by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

From the Publisher:

The visionary creator of the Academy Award-winning Pan’s Labyrinth and a Hammett Award-winning author bring their imaginations to this bold, epic novel about a horrifying battle between man and vampire that threatens all humanity. It is the first installment in a thrilling trilogy and an extraordinary international publishing event.

The Strain

They have always been here. Vampires. In secret and in darkness. Waiting. Now their time has come.

In one week, Manhattan will be gone. In one month, the country.

In two months—the world.

A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Eph Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.

In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing . . .

So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampiric virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save his city—a city that includes his wife and son—before it is too late.

Be afraid… be very afraid.

And then quit being so dramatic and enjoy today’s Spooky Book of the Day:

THE WITCHING HOUR by Anne Rice

Seemed only right to start with witches and Anne Rice!

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW called it a “huge and sprawling tale of horror.”

FROM THE PUBLISHER:  “Demonstrating once again her gift for spellbinding storytelling, Anne Rice makes real for us a great dynasty of four centuries of witches–a family given to poetry and incest, murder and philosophy, a family that over the ages is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous, and seductive being called Lasher who haunts the Mayfair women.

Moving in time from today’s New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam and the France of Louis XIV, from the coffee plantations of Port-au-Prince to Civil War New Orleans and back to today, Anne Rice has spun a mesmerizing tale that challenges everything we believe in.”

As Tess struggles at first to be believed and then later to find the “Well Woman” the family and the town struggle to survive the difficult and complex time they live in.

The book tackles the racism and sexism of the time period as well as the immensely difficult lives of coal miners and their families.  It does all this with a grace and fluidity that make it feel like more of a classic than a debut novel.

Gin Phillips is as thoughtful in person as she is in her writing.  She came by our offices while on tour for the book and we had a great conversation about how the story came about and why she chose to tell it from multiple perspectives.   I picked up on some dualities in the book that Gin had not even realized were there but was pleased to discover.  You’ll have to give it a read and see if you saw what I did!

– Dana Barrett, Podcast Host

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Want more of the Better World Books Podcast now? Click here to check out the rest of the great authors who stopped by or called in for a chat!

Comments or questions about the podcast? Feel free to comment here on the blog, or email me at podcast AT betterworldbooks.com.

And I was not the only one.  Eric had some adoring fans in our office who were happy to get to meet him too (and unhappy with me – because I gave them no advance warning so they didn’t have their books with them to get an autograph!)

From Left: Kimeke Armstrong, Eric Jerome Dickey and Curtis Hoosier

When we sat down to chat, we talked about everything from Eric’s stand-up comedy days to his summer vacation and of course we also got around to talking about his latest book, TEMPTED BY TROUBLE.

The book is the story of a couple who lose their jobs and lifestyle during the current economic crisis and who are pushed (and pulled) into some (very) bad choices out of desperation.  It’s a dark tale about good people who do bad and bad people who do worse.  The book has all the shadows and grit of a classic black and white movie up to an including the mysterious man in the fedora.  It  will keep you turning pages until the very end.

I hope you enjoy the interview – and pick up a copy of the book!  It’s a great discussion book for book clubs too.

– Dana Barrett, Podcast Host

Like this interview? Subscribe to the podcast today!

Want more of the Better World Books Podcast now? Click here to check out the rest of the great authors who stopped by or called in for a chat!

Comments or questions about the podcast? Feel free to comment here on the blog, or email me at podcast AT betterworldbooks.com.

I’ve got a list longer than my arm of books I plan to read… yet somehow I can’t quite get to the classics.  Alas, as it turns out, I have plenty of time in the car.  So I finally decided to tackle a classic audio style – and I’m glad I did!  At the moment I’m about 1/5th of the way through Ayn Rand’s ATLAS SHRUGGED and I’m totally into it.  Kind of don’t want to get out of the car when I get to my destination.

If the idea of listening doesn’t seem as pure to as reading, well, I totally understand that… but if you weren’t going to get around to it for another 10 years anyway, audio is a great alternative.

Here are a couple you may not have realized you could get your hands on:

And check it out… TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is read by Sissy Space and LOLITA is read by Jeremy Irons, so you’ll be in for a pretty great experience!  Are you an audiobook fan?  Ever tried a classic on audio? Did it work for you?

Peter Carey: PARROT AND OLIVIER IN AMERICA
Emma Donoghue: ROOM
Helen Dunmore: THE BETRAYAL
Damon Galgut: IN A STRANGE ROOM
Howard Jacobson: THE FINKLER QUESTION
Andrea Levy: THE LONG SONG
Tom McCarthy: C
David Mitchell: THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DE ZOET
Lisa Moore: FEBRUARY
Paul Murray: SKIPPY DIES
Rose Tremain: TRESPASS
Christos Tsiolkas: THE SLAP
Alan Warner: THE STARS IN THE BRIGHT SKY

Not all the titles listed here are available for sale in the US just yet, but most are and the rest are coming soon!

The 2010 shortlist will be announced on Tuesday September 7th and the winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2010 will be revealed on Tuesday October 12th and we’ll keep you posted!

To read more about the books and the process, check out The Man Booker Prize website.

Lauren, the just slightly older sister is known for her hugely popular YA books TTYL and TTFN and her new series for younger readers that starts with LUV YA BUNCHES.  And Susan, whose second book A SOFT PLACE TO LAND was recently released, is well on her way to being a favorite among book clubs and critics alike.  You may remember my earlier interview with Susan about her first book, BOUND SOUTH.

A while back, I had a chance to sit down with the sisters in their first ever joint interview and they were not shy!  We talked about what it was like growing up together and how their relationship has shaped their writing.

This was actually one of my favorite interviews to record.  It was like hanging with a couple of my girlfriends over a glass of wine.  Of course instead of wine, we had microphones, but you get the idea.  And I have to admit something else here too:  this interview has been in post-production for a long time.  Long enough for the title of Susan’s new book to actually change!  You’ll have to listen to the interview to hear what the title was originally going to be.

So, without further ado… enjoy the interview!  I know I did.

– Dana Barrett, Podcast Host

Like this interview? Subscribe today!

Want more of the Better World Books Podcast now? Click here to check out the rest of the great authors who stopped by or called in for a chat!

Comments or questions about the podcast? Feel free to comment here on the blog, or email me at podcast AT betterworldbooks.com.

And to help you make the most of it, here are some beachy beach books to go with your Banana Daiquiri:

Barefoot by Elin Hildebrand
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
Life’s a Beach by Claire Cook
Catch of the Day by Kristan Higgins

Now admittedly all of these beachy books which I have judged by their beachy covers maybe a bit on the girly side.  If you’re looking for a manly man beach read, try one of these!

Hothouse Orchid by Stuart Woods
Honeymoon by James Patterson
Evidence by Jonathan Kellerman
Just After Sunset by Stephen King

Admittedly these are not the top 8 of all time, but they are in fact all books with beaches (or something like that) on the cover that you can get used in our fabulous Dog Days Sale!

Towner, a self described liar and crazy woman had vowed never to return to Salem after witnessing the suicide of her twin sister as a teen.  Following the tragedy she spent time in a mental institution complete with electro-shock therapy that has left her memory of the incident and her teenage years spotty at best.

Back in Salem, Towner stumbles through the returning memories of her past and into some present day craziness between her Great Aunt Eva’s disappearance and the disappearance of a young pregnant girl Towner meets on her first day back in town.  Both situations seem somehow tied to the creepy uncle, Cal Boynton who helped raised Towner’s twin.
Are you confused yet?  The Whitney family relationships are maybe a bit unnecessarily complex, or are they?  Remember, our narrator is both crazy and a liar.

Now… on to the witches.  I said Salem, Massachusetts…you knew they were coming, didn’t you?  There are witches in the book, though not in a goofy Bewitched kind of way.  There is a clear religion vs. spirituality theme running throughout the book along with some psychic stuff (i.e. the lace reading) and host of characters who either embrace or deny these philosophies for various reasons.

Perception vs. reality also plays a huge part in the book.  The very act of reading lace has everything to do with how you look at it and who is on the other side.  Each character in the book is written with purpose and with quirks that I think would make for some good book club discussion.  Take the missing Aunt Eva for example, she is a strong defiant woman who embraces her gift of lace reading, holds the family and the town together in many ways and speaks in clichés.  Then there’s Rafferty, the possible love interest for Towner, who is a local police officer, a former alcoholic and a single dad.  And May, Towner’s mother, is a gun-toting recluse who has revived the art of lace making while rescuing battered women.

The book is complex, and though you may realize a plot twist is coming, you’re not really sure what it’s going to be, which to me is masterful.  I mean, don’t you hate when you’re reading (or sitting in a movie) and you’re like “Oh – okay, I know what’s happening here… that guy is already dead…” (or whatever).

I think the beauty of a book like THE LACE READER is that you could read it on the beach for the story alone, OR you could really dive in and discuss and debate the characters and themes.  For me, the beauty is also that I’ve found an author that I’d be happy to read again.  And the good news is her next book THE MAP OF TRUE PLACES just came out!

– Dana Barrett, Editor

The first award goes to our top vote getter Invisible Children.  They have  launched innovative programs that advance education and create lasting stability in war torn Northern Uganda.

Through the Readers’ Choice grant, Invisible Children will provide comprehensive literacy training to 400 individuals displaced by the conflict and now returning to their ancestral homes. These 400 participants will use their literacy skills, paired with micro-finance training, to help create and manage small businesses that will change the lives of their families, create opportunities for friends and neighbors, and advance the economic standing of their community at large.

And this year we wanted to make sure it wasn’t just about votes, so we put all of our applicants up for committee review.  And the winner of the second $20,000 grant goes to The Cooperative for Education (CoEd)!  They are a Cincinnati, OH, and Guatemala City-based 501 non-profit organization. By promoting traditional and technological literacy, CoEd’s sustainable programs help Guatemala’s vulnerable children gain vital skills and break the cycle of poverty. Its Culture of Reading Program (CORP) improves the quality of education in rural Guatemalan schools and increases literacy for indigenous Mayan children.

The Culture of Reading Program (CORP) improves the quality of education in rural schools, increases literacy for the Mayan children and aims to address inadequate teacher training and materials.  The Readers’ Choice grant will help provide 65 primary-school teachers in rural Guatemala with training in effective reading instruction and 2,340 books for their classrooms.

For more details on the grants and organizations check out our press release and congrats to both of these wonderful organizations!