Posted: 03 Feb 2010 07:03 AM PST

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Lynchburg, VA, February 03, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Paranormal Romance fans will enjoy the new and refreshing kNight Series Online Magazine. Many of the interesting features include News articles, Book of The Month Club, featured authors and publishers, movie trailers as well as an online bookstore. The magazine will review and post monthly book reviews on new paranormal romance books to help readers find new authors and books.

Membership/Subscription is free to anyone who wishes to join. Members will have the opportunity to join the Book of the Month Club. Members will have the ability to chat live online with featured authors about their books. Discussion forums for members to meet with other members and live chat about their favorite books.

"It is a good place for anyone who loves paranormal books to meet and talk with paranormal authors." Says owner T.L. Mitchell, paranormal romance author. "The website is not just for authors and publishers, but the readers and fans. I wanted a safe place where readers could find the books they enjoy and eventually meet the authors. A paranormal book store is available on the website as well for readers to find the books they love to read."

Since so many book stores have been closing, many avid readers have the same complaints: Where to buy books? Many readers are turning their attention to online bookstores, like Amazon. But there are some readers who complain that browsing through Amazon's huge list of books are difficult. Even with Listmania and the many forums there is still the problem with finding new authors and new releases.

kNight Series Online Magazine hopes to provide the paranormal romance readers with help to their online book browsing problems. Mitchell admits the online magazine may not solve all the problems of browsing, but at least readers will be introduced to new authors and new reading opportunities.

kNight Series On-Line Magazine is located at www.knightseriesonlinemagazine.com.

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Book Reviews - MLive.com

Posted: 30 Jan 2010 08:12 AM PST

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By The Saginaw News staff

January 30, 2010, 11:00AM

FOR ADULTS

"Women's Home Workout Bible"

by Brad Schoenfeld, CSCS, CPT

Human Kinetics, 2010, 319 pages, $19.95

Master trainer Schoenfeld sorts out fitness hype from truth in this straightforward guide that teaches women how to set up and use a home gym. He goes over how to shop for equipment, then shows how to use it in a series of full-color photo illustrations. Exercises are color-coded by body area, then divided into chapters based on what types of equipment are used, so you're not frustrated by workouts that call for gadgets you don't have. Plans for outfitting gyms start at $100 or less, but routines for conditioning, sculpting, stability and fat loss are provided for any budget.

— Lynn Heitkamp, Zauel Library

"Her Fearful Symmetry"

by Audrey Niffenegger

Scribner, 2009, 416 pages, $26.99

"Her Fearful Symmetry" opens with the tragic death of Elspeth Noblin. Elspeth leaves her London flat and a substantial amount of money to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina, with one condition: That their mother (Elspeth's twin, Edie) never steps foot in the flat. The 20-year-old twins, full of quirky thoughts and behaviors, move to London and eventually develop complex relationships with Elspeth's neighbors including her former lover, Robert. The mystery behind the troubled relationship of the elder twins mirrors the struggles of the younger twins to establish themselves as individuals. The story really develops with the reemergence of Elspeth as a calculating, broody ghost, destined to stay in her home watching over her loved ones. The desperation of all of the characters as they struggle to regain control of their lives leads to a shocking conclusion. "Her Fearful Symmetry" marks the long-awaited return of Audrey Niffenegger ("The Time Traveler's Wife"). While the two books differ substantially in substance, they share a similar haunting spirit.

— Amy Churchill, Zauel Memorial Library

"Arguing with Idiots: How To Stop Small Minds and Big Government"

by Glenn Beck

Threshold Editions-Mercury Radio Arts, 2009, 325 pages, illustrated, $29.99

Too many times, after a polite discussion, we think of the perfect reply, usually just as we are about to go to sleep at night. It isn't because we are stupid, it is that we are not used to debating. Glenn Beck presents the rejoinders to political declarations that are devised to shut you up in a political discussion. Glenn and his staff have taken the most common arguments for big government that they have heard over the years and present the facts you need for you to give an instant reply. It's rough out there, don't go unprepared.

— John Sheridan, Hoyt Library, Local History and Genealogy

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The Book Blurb: Guilt by Association - Salon

Posted: 03 Feb 2010 06:34 AM PST

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If you paddle around long enough in the small pond that is literary publishing, sooner or later someone is going to ask you to write a blurb. When my first book was accepted by a publishing house, I was the one forced to beat the bushes for some author with a decent enough reputation who was willing to put it on the line by praising my book: guilt by association. Most of the writers I asked agreed to spit out a few complimentary words, to be seen in public with me so to speak. I was very grateful. Ann Beattie, on the other hand, who had been my teacher for a week, politely declined, stating that if she fulfilled all the blurbing requests she received, she'd never have time to read anything but other people's manuscripts. I was annoyed with her at the time, but I understand her better now.

A few months ago, I received a request to blurb someone's novel. At first I felt flattered that this writer and his publisher had decided my name on the back cover, with a few words of praise, would accord a certain legitimacy to the project. The subject of the book was something I had established myself as an expert in, but it was more complicated than that. Though I had never read this writer or met him, we had professional acquaintances in common. This last detail meant I had to tread carefully. As I said, literary publishing is a very small pond--one of the many reasons I don't write book reviews anymore. I agreed to look at the manuscript, and only then would I be able to let him know whether I could endorse his novel. This, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, was my first mistake.

A few days later, the manuscript dutifully arrived with a note that thanked me in advance for reading and potentially blurbing it. I already felt oppressed, so it sat there for a few weeks, calling to me like one more pesky thing I had to do between teaching and writing and reading things I had actually chosen of my own accord. I have so little time for pleasure reading as it is, and now I'd commited to reading this stranger's novel and to saying something about it. What if I didn't like it? I couldn't very well turn around and say, sorry, I think you book stinks and I can't be asked to lend my name to such an abomination. It didn't even have to really stink. What if I simply wasn't crazy about it? How could I justify recommending it to others, just because I'd been asked to do so, and felt a certain professional noblesse oblige?

I considered lying. I too have a book coming out soon, and I could plead being too swamped by my own edit to read anyone else's work a la Ann Beattie. This would have been the perfect excuse. But I'm pathologically reliable and true to my word, so I thought I'd better just suck it up and read the damn thing, then decide how to proceed. For the record, "it was ok; I didn't hate it," is not the kind of blurb he was looking for. It read well enough, had some historical interest, but I was half-way through before the narrative grabbed me, though it might have simply been the literary equivalent of Newton's first law--the story was finally in motion and I was propelled towards its end whether I liked it or not. There is also a mildly obsessive need to know how things turn out after you've already read a hundred pages. "The first hundred pages are a slog, but you'll find yourself catapulted towards the end by dumb curiosity and physics."

That's not what I said. I looked at other book jackets and found the vocabulary of the blurb: moving, and powerful, and lucid, and penetrating. I cobbled these words together along with a line or two of summary, added a mysterious though vague comment about its ending, and hope it is neutral enough that anyone who reads it will get a good idea of the book's contents, without thinking that I loved it.

Of course, like all cheaters, now I question all the other blurbs I've read while flipping through magazines or browsing through bookstores. Are they the truth, are they out-and-out lies, or are they the result of unavoidable professional compromises and obligations? Probably a combination of all three.

No, it's not a bad book, and it's sure to find readers who'll love it. I am just not one of them, though, ironically, my name will appear on the back cover. Guilty by association--I will accept my punishment.

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