New Book Releases: November 9
There you are, and here they are: New Book Releases! Let's start with two famous authors of horror: first, Stephen King, who presents a collection of four novellas; and George W. Bush, who breaks two years of silence following his wreck of a two-term Presidency to remind us all how much he sucked. Bestseller David Baldacci drops Oliver Stone in the middle of an international terror plot, while Fannie Flagg returns with another lovable heroine of the South. Finally, healthcare company insider Wendell Potter blows the lid off his former industry's sickening (literally) PR spin tactics that killed the public option and insured the deaths of millions more Americans, all for the almighty dollar. Congratulations America. But hey, next week you'll have some more great New Book Releases to check out! So if you're not dead, stop in!
The master of horror fiction presents his third four-story collection and first since 2008's Just After Sunset. Stephen King's Full Dark, No Stars (Starting at $14.89: Up to 47% in Savings) brings together four long novellas that all deal with buried secrets, sexual crimes and ghoulish relationships. In "1922," King again returns to Hemingford Home, Nebraska, concocting a sullen tale of a marriage gone horribly wrong. Arlette James moves with her husband Wilfred Leland James onto land willed to her by her father. But when she plans to sell the land, Wilfred does the unthinkable and murders his wife. As he confesses his crime to the reader, the very land he has poisoned with his wife's blood turns against him. In "Big Driver," mystery writer Tess has developed dozens of clever murders for her plots, never thinking that she'd ever have to call on that creativity to slake a thirst for revenge. But after she is raped and left for dead, her literary skills serve as the tools for savage vigilante vengeance. Darcy, the heroine of "A Good Marriage," leads an idyllic suburban life with her quiet husband Bobby. Yet when a gruesome discovery in her garage suddenly blows the lid off Bobby's secret double-life as a sadistic murderer, Darcy world is overturned. Finally, in "Fair Extension," terminal cancer patient Dave Streeter makes a deal with a pragmatic Devil to inflict his eternal bad luck instead upon childhood friend Tom Goodhugh--with hilarious consequences. Buy Now
The best thing George W. Bush has done in his bumbling political career is keep quiet and slink away into retirement. That one good decision ends now with his memoir Decision Points (Starting at $18.89: Up to 46% in Savings), which serves to remind readers just how many mistakes he made during his beleaguered presidency. Released in a timely manner to coincide with the country mostly forgetting how much they disliked him and now dislike his successor, Bush sets out fourteen points in his life where--true to his identity as The Decider--he made big boy decisions. While Mr. Bush touts his No Child Left Behind Act, commanding of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, and his crusade against terror, he (sort of) admits mistakes in his handling of Hurricane Katrina. He doesn't mention anything about his bungling of the occupation of Iraq, failure to capture bin Laden, tacit approval of torture, outing of Valerie Plame, choice of Palpatine as his VP, or decision to let Karl Rove and his political hitmen character-assassinate opponent after opponent. At best, the book serves to humanize the man, although I'm sure no one has any doubt that Mr. Bush is nothing more than an average human being--C average, at best--who has suffered the same struggles with addiction and emotions as humbler persons. Just as with Obama, the man is just a man, not Hitler, not the Savior. But that doesn't go very far toward leaving a lasting legacy as anything but one of America's most depressingly terrible Presidents. Buy Now
Bestselling author David Baldacci brings Oliver Stone and the Camel Club back for another terror-fighting romp. In Hell's Corner (Starting at $19.99: Up to 29% in Savings), Oliver Stone--aka John Carr--is convinced by the President of the United States to return to service with a mission to snuff out increasingly dangerous Russian drug gangs. Yet as Oliver lingers across from the White House in Lafayette Park, his mission suddenly changes when a terrorist bomb rips through the place where the British Prime Minister was scheduled to give a speech. A last minute change of plans saves the leader, but Oliver is immediately tasked with discovering the identity of the terrorists plotters. To do so, he teams with MI6 agent Mary Chapman, beginning a desperate pursuit of the elusive terrorists. As time runs out before the plotters unleash the next phase in their plan, Oliver decides his only choice is to turn to some old friends: the Camel Club. But in doing so, Oliver quickly remembers that you can never fully trust anyone. Will this be his last mission? Buy Now
Bestselling novelist and Oscar-nominated screenwriter (Fried Green Tomatoes) Fannie Flagg returns with another Southern novel starring a charming female protagonist. The heroine of I Still Dream About You (Starting at $13.96: Up to 46% in Savings) is 60-year-old Birmingham native Maggie Fortenberry, a former Miss Alabama who is now convinced that she has every reason to go jump in the lake and be done with it. Depressed with the loss of her best friend Hazel Whizenknott--whose business she can't keep afloat--and reticent over what she perceives as a life of missed chances and transgression, Maggie is intent on committing suicide. If only people and life would stop interrupting her! Like the mystery of the mansion on top of the hill, and the arrival in town of the annoying real estate monster Babs Bingington, and the full package of goat cheese in the fridge. Maggie--always the stickler for neatness--can't possibly leave such messes behind. But as she approaches the end of her unfulfilled life, she starts to discover that perhaps she's been giving herself a bum steer all along, and if she could only stop, relax, and look around, she might find her dream life already in progress. Heartwarming and rich, the book is another winner from Fannie Flagg. Buy Now
If you still somehow believe that the healthcare bill passed by Congress is a socialist ploy, please PLEASE read this book. Former CIGNA VP of communications Wendell Potter turned Congressional whistleblower when he realized that his industry was willfully distorting the national debate about healthcare. His book Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Coprorate PR is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans (Starting at $16.18: Up to 38% in Savings) lays out details of how Potter and his colleagues in the publicity departments of corporate healthcare actively sought to disinform the public about healthcare reform legislation. From starting rumors of deathpanels and cries of "socialism" (gamely preyed upon by Republican sycophants), to creating fake voter organizations and forged scientific reports, the tactics these companies use are not just despicable, they're murderous--given how the companies have used them to protect their bottom lines while cutting off sick patients and making healthcare costs impossible for tens of millions of Americans to afford. Potter testified before Congress that to not pass a public option would be to tacitly approve of these companies continuing their heinous abuses. Consider yourselves spun. Buy Now
The master of horror fiction presents his third four-story collection and first since 2008's Just After Sunset. Stephen King's Full Dark, No Stars (Starting at $14.89: Up to 47% in Savings) brings together four long novellas that all deal with buried secrets, sexual crimes and ghoulish relationships. In "1922," King again returns to Hemingford Home, Nebraska, concocting a sullen tale of a marriage gone horribly wrong. Arlette James moves with her husband Wilfred Leland James onto land willed to her by her father. But when she plans to sell the land, Wilfred does the unthinkable and murders his wife. As he confesses his crime to the reader, the very land he has poisoned with his wife's blood turns against him. In "Big Driver," mystery writer Tess has developed dozens of clever murders for her plots, never thinking that she'd ever have to call on that creativity to slake a thirst for revenge. But after she is raped and left for dead, her literary skills serve as the tools for savage vigilante vengeance. Darcy, the heroine of "A Good Marriage," leads an idyllic suburban life with her quiet husband Bobby. Yet when a gruesome discovery in her garage suddenly blows the lid off Bobby's secret double-life as a sadistic murderer, Darcy world is overturned. Finally, in "Fair Extension," terminal cancer patient Dave Streeter makes a deal with a pragmatic Devil to inflict his eternal bad luck instead upon childhood friend Tom Goodhugh--with hilarious consequences. Buy NowThe best thing George W. Bush has done in his bumbling political career is keep quiet and slink away into retirement. That one good decision ends now with his memoir Decision Points (Starting at $18.89: Up to 46% in Savings), which serves to remind readers just how many mistakes he made during his beleaguered presidency. Released in a timely manner to coincide with the country mostly forgetting how much they disliked him and now dislike his successor, Bush sets out fourteen points in his life where--true to his identity as The Decider--he made big boy decisions. While Mr. Bush touts his No Child Left Behind Act, commanding of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, and his crusade against terror, he (sort of) admits mistakes in his handling of Hurricane Katrina. He doesn't mention anything about his bungling of the occupation of Iraq, failure to capture bin Laden, tacit approval of torture, outing of Valerie Plame, choice of Palpatine as his VP, or decision to let Karl Rove and his political hitmen character-assassinate opponent after opponent. At best, the book serves to humanize the man, although I'm sure no one has any doubt that Mr. Bush is nothing more than an average human being--C average, at best--who has suffered the same struggles with addiction and emotions as humbler persons. Just as with Obama, the man is just a man, not Hitler, not the Savior. But that doesn't go very far toward leaving a lasting legacy as anything but one of America's most depressingly terrible Presidents. Buy NowBestselling author David Baldacci brings Oliver Stone and the Camel Club back for another terror-fighting romp. In Hell's Corner (Starting at $19.99: Up to 29% in Savings), Oliver Stone--aka John Carr--is convinced by the President of the United States to return to service with a mission to snuff out increasingly dangerous Russian drug gangs. Yet as Oliver lingers across from the White House in Lafayette Park, his mission suddenly changes when a terrorist bomb rips through the place where the British Prime Minister was scheduled to give a speech. A last minute change of plans saves the leader, but Oliver is immediately tasked with discovering the identity of the terrorists plotters. To do so, he teams with MI6 agent Mary Chapman, beginning a desperate pursuit of the elusive terrorists. As time runs out before the plotters unleash the next phase in their plan, Oliver decides his only choice is to turn to some old friends: the Camel Club. But in doing so, Oliver quickly remembers that you can never fully trust anyone. Will this be his last mission? Buy NowBestselling novelist and Oscar-nominated screenwriter (Fried Green Tomatoes) Fannie Flagg returns with another Southern novel starring a charming female protagonist. The heroine of I Still Dream About You (Starting at $13.96: Up to 46% in Savings) is 60-year-old Birmingham native Maggie Fortenberry, a former Miss Alabama who is now convinced that she has every reason to go jump in the lake and be done with it. Depressed with the loss of her best friend Hazel Whizenknott--whose business she can't keep afloat--and reticent over what she perceives as a life of missed chances and transgression, Maggie is intent on committing suicide. If only people and life would stop interrupting her! Like the mystery of the mansion on top of the hill, and the arrival in town of the annoying real estate monster Babs Bingington, and the full package of goat cheese in the fridge. Maggie--always the stickler for neatness--can't possibly leave such messes behind. But as she approaches the end of her unfulfilled life, she starts to discover that perhaps she's been giving herself a bum steer all along, and if she could only stop, relax, and look around, she might find her dream life already in progress. Heartwarming and rich, the book is another winner from Fannie Flagg. Buy NowIf you still somehow believe that the healthcare bill passed by Congress is a socialist ploy, please PLEASE read this book. Former CIGNA VP of communications Wendell Potter turned Congressional whistleblower when he realized that his industry was willfully distorting the national debate about healthcare. His book Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Coprorate PR is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans (Starting at $16.18: Up to 38% in Savings) lays out details of how Potter and his colleagues in the publicity departments of corporate healthcare actively sought to disinform the public about healthcare reform legislation. From starting rumors of deathpanels and cries of "socialism" (gamely preyed upon by Republican sycophants), to creating fake voter organizations and forged scientific reports, the tactics these companies use are not just despicable, they're murderous--given how the companies have used them to protect their bottom lines while cutting off sick patients and making healthcare costs impossible for tens of millions of Americans to afford. Potter testified before Congress that to not pass a public option would be to tacitly approve of these companies continuing their heinous abuses. Consider yourselves spun. Buy Now
