Ken Follett's "The Pillars of the Earth" gets a sequel

Hollywood’s not the only place to bank on sequels. Ken Follett, who in the last decade or so has focused on writing thrillers ("Whiteout," "The Third Twin"), is returning to the medieval past and his greatest success, "The Pillars of the Earth," the whopper-sized 1989 novel about the building of a Gothic cathedral in 12th century England.

Scheduled for a fall release, the 988-page sequel, "World Without End," will be published by Dutton Books. Dutton announced the book earlier this year, and the advance galley arrived this week in the mail along with another huge historical novel scheduled for fall publication by the Overlook Press: an unabridged version of John Cowper Powys’ Arthurian epic, "Porius."

Why mention them now? Out of sheer relief. One of the challenges reviewers face is in fully appreciating a very long novel when the turnaround time between assignment and deadline is mercilessly short--something exacerbated when publishers bar early access to a hot book (the Harry Potter series, for example). Dutton certainly could’ve orchestrated some buzz over Follett’s book by keeping it out of reach until it arrived in bookstores. Powys, on the other hand, is not an easy author to warm up to: He wrote long, sometimes rambling (and spectacular) epics that required plenty of time and patience. In both cases, the early arrival of review copies seems aimed at building good word of mouth among newspaper book sections and other literary publications so that both will stay visible among the crowd of fall releases.

Nick Owchar

‘The Blair Years’ arrives soon in the U.K.

Here in the United States, we await next week’s arrival of two competing books on Hillary Rodham Clinton--publishers Little, Brown and Alfred A. Knopf have been changing publication dates in recent weeks in the rush to beat each other to the bookstores.

In the U.K., public attention is on the forthcoming release of Alastair Campbell’s diaries in one volume, "The Blair Years," in which the British prime minister’s former press secretary describes behind-the-scenes turmoil in Tony Blair’s government.

Even though, as the Guardian reports, there have been "extensive cuts to protect the confidences of world leaders such as Bill Clinton, George Bush and the Queen," the book is said to be very unflattering to Blair. Blair, his wife and others have called (without success) for the book’s publication to be delayed. Advance word is that the book is raw and candid. But what does this mean? Are readers going to learn that politics in Blair’s government involved backroom deals, arguments and profanity? Wow, what a revelation. One hopes that any candor the book might show will pertain to substantial issues, such as the origins of policy decisions affecting millions of people. British readers will find out soon (American readers too if they visit Amazon’s UK site); Campbell’s book is slated for publication there in early July. 

Nick Owchar

(Photo: The Associated Press)

Sister Prejean memoir

Sister Helen Prejean, the bestselling author of "Dead Man Walking," has been hard at work on her autobiography, "River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey to Death Row."

Publisher's Weekly reports  that the Pulitzer Prize-nominated nun has signed with Random House executive editor Daniel Menaker. The book, to be released in early 2009, will chart Prejean's work with the poor, her relationship with a priest and her transformation into political activist.

Kristina Lindgren

Ryszard Kapuściński and the Communists

The only news event that Alfred A. Knopf probably expected to tie with the appearance of "Travels With Herodotus," the final book by the late Ryszard Kapuściński set to be published  on June 11, was the author's death in January at age 74.

But the International Herald Tribune along with several German publications report that secret police files have been released indicating that the famed Polish journalist, whose books include "The Soccer War" and "The Shadow of the Sun," was an informer who wrote reports for Communist intelligence agencies from 1967 to 1972.

Long thought to be a Nobel Prize front-runner, Kapuściński, in his final book, reflects back on his many global assignments and how the ancient Greek historian taught him to appreciate and understand events. But instead of attention focusing solely on that book, a debate is developing in Poland between those condemning Kapuściński for not revealing his involvement and those attempting to exonerate him, several German papers report, "on the grounds that -- the informing -- didn't harm anyone." The website Sign and Sight  has posted details from the European press concerning Kapuściński's code name as well as the names of other prominent  intellectuals who, in the past, were outed for their Communist involvement.

Nick Owchar

Michael Connelly trivia quiz

Want a signed first edition of Michael Connelly's latest novel, "The Overlook," without leaving your house? Take the trivia quiz on the thriller writer's website  by June 22. Five winners, chosen at random from among those who get all 15 questions correct, will be selected on June 23. The test comes with a warning, however: "This quiz contains spoilers for the book! Do not play unless you've read the book."

Kristina Lindgren

Touring L.A.'s literary landscape

On Saturday, a company specializing in offbeat tours of L.A. will offer "Pasadena Confidential," touted as "delving deep into the weird and horrible past of one of L.A.'s most exclusive suburbs."

Topics explored on the Esotouric bus tour include more than 70 murders, arsons, kidnappings, robberies and suicides having a Crown City connection. Included are the Robert F. Kennedy assassination (Sirhan Sirhan was living in Pasadena at the time), "Eraserhead" star Jack Nance's death and magician-rocket scientist Jack Parsons' "death by misadventure."

Also on deck: A June 16 tour titled "John Fante's Dreams of Bunker Hill," and later in the summer, "Charles Bukowski's Los Angeles."

Orli Low

Useless America

At the end of his appearance at the Central Library last night, Jim Crace raffled off a copy of “Useless America,” perhaps the rarest and most elusive of his works. This, after all, is a book that doesn’t exist, the product of a computer error — or, more accurately, a series of computer errors — that began when Crace signed the contract for his latest novel,  “The Pesthouse” (Doubleday/Nan A. Talese: 256 pp., $24.95). At the time, Crace didn’t have a title; so that his British publisher, Penguin, would have something to put on the contract, he offered the only sentence he had written: “This used to be America.” Somehow, that got transposed into “Useless America” and so the non-existent book was born.

“You know how computers are,” Crace joked from the stage of the library’s Mark Taper Auditorium. “They’re promiscuous.”

Pretty soon, “Useless America” was listed at Amazon UK, where it rang up 28 customer reviews, most of them five-star. Eventually, Crace himself began placing orders, boosting his Amazon UK ranking to 86. Here’s a metaphor for how the publishing industry does (or does not) work. So compelling was the saga that Nan A. Talese, Crace’s American editor, decided to publish “Useless America” after a fashion, putting out 75 copies of a trade paperback edition, complete with dedication, note on the text, and an array of fictional blurbs on the back. The volume even has an ISBN number, as well as a brief introduction in which Crace explains the origin of the work. The catch? Every other page in the book is blank.

Of course, a blank book is another kind of metaphor, a symbol of the possibilities that literature provides. Yet as Crace understands, we live in an era in which those possibilities are often sublimated to faster, flashier entertainments, or to the exigencies of the bottom line. Already, Crace noted, collectors have offered $1,000 for a signed copy of “Useless America,” which is itself a comment on the relative value of artifacts and words. The author’s advice? “Auction it on EBay,” he suggested to the woman who won the raffle, after promising to sign the empty book.

David L. Ulin

Photo: Jim Crace (The Associated Press)

History doesn't have to be stuffy

Charles Rappleye has been awarded the third annual George Washington Book Prize for his "Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, the Slave Trade, and the American Revolution."

Interested in golf books? Go ask Alice (Cooper, that is)

As humiliating as a bad round of golf can be (and it can be pretty humiliating), golf can save your life. That’s Alice Cooper’s message in the memoir “Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: A Rock ’n’ Roller’s 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict,” written with Keith and Kent Zimmerman (Crown: 272 pp., $24.95) Playing a round of golf every day turned out to be the perfect answer to all the chemical temptations of the rock-star life. Not to mention that all that sun has been good for Cooper’s pale complexion. One of the more amusing parts of the book are the photos contrasting his “creature of the night” stage wear with his wise choice of looser, milder threads on the links (black leather gets in the way of a full swing).

Literary debut for Ralph Ellison’s literary executor

On its list of new releases, Fulcrum Publishing has a political novel titled “A Man You Could Love,” which the publishing house plans to release at Book Expo in June and then follow it up with a multi-city author tour. The book might have quietly joined the many early summer releases arriving at bookstores if it hadn’t been written by John Callahan.