Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week

How do you know you're having a run of amazingly good luck? When Publishers Weekly chooses your debut novel for a ★ starred review from among tens of thousands of other new titles submitted for their consideration—and then decides to make your book its designated Pick of the Week:

Down East editor-in-chief Doiron takes a provocative look at the ties between fathers and sons, unconditional love, and Maine’s changing landscape in his outstanding debut....Equally a story of relationships and an outdoor adventure, this evocative thriller is sure to put Doiron on several 2010 must-read lists

I have been overwhelmed by the positive early reviews of The Poacher's Son. This experience is what most first-time authors dream about. I've worked hard, but I've also been tremendously fortunate. 

Deep Freeze

So orange trees are withering in Orlando, and Atlanta was forced to close its zoo to protect the chimps from chillblains. The Deep South is currently in a deep freeze. Every winter, Maine suffers its fair share of subzero temperatures so it's strange to turn on the radio and hear that it's colder in Jacksonville, Florida, than it is in Jackman, Maine (a frontier town up near the Quebec border). Over at the day job, I have some reflections on how Mainers deal with winter's inconveniences—although I expect my sage advice will come as cold comfort to anyone who just spent the morning sliding around on black ice in Birmingham, Alabama.

Kirkus Lives!

According to Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus Reviews has gotten a new lease on life:

In an email to colleagues today, Kirkus Reviews managing editor and nonfiction editor Eric Liebetrau said the publication, which last month was said to be closing with staff leaving by the end of 2009, is working toward an arrangement with an acquiring company to continue publication.

I enjoyed the conceit of having a starred review in Kirkus' final issue, but I'm glad that the magazine will survive.

The Poacher's Son Gets Kirkus Starred Review

I haven't blogged about this before, but I'm utterly humbled that The Poacher's Son received a ★ starred review in the final issue of Kirkus Reviews:

A Maine Game Warden fights to clear his no-account father of murder charges in this deeply felt actioner...His decision leads to a series of disastrously self-destructive actions that Doiron makes perfectly credible, all interspersed with a series of flashbacks to Mike [Bowditch]'s childhood that are both tender and chilling. C.J. Box goes East. Like Box, Doiron will have his hands full trying to top his accomplished debut.

Last month, Nielsen Business Media made the decision to shut Kirkus down when it couldn't find a buyer for the seventy-six year-old publication. The January 1, 2010 was the magazine's very last issue, and I can't believe I'm in it. Thank God it was a glowing review.

How to Disappear Completely

On my pre-sell tour for The Poacher's Son, I picked up an interesting tidbit from a woman who owns a mystery bookstore. She told me that Agatha Christie's novels no longer sell very well. Buyers continued to pick up the used books, she said, but sales of the new edition trade paperbacks had fallen off precipitously in recent years, at least in her store. I found this report fascinating given that the Poirot TV adaptations continue to air regularly on PBS and cable networks.

It's interesting how authors fall in and out of fashion. I remember when the late Jim Thompson suddenly became a hot property after Black Lizard reissued his sensationally disturbing novels in the 1980s. Nobody would have been more surprised by that turn of events than Thompson himself, I bet. 

It would be shame if a new generation of readers is missing out on the fun of solving Christie's puzzles. Never having read a biography of Dame Agatha, I realize that all I know about the woman comes from her fiction. I know she "disappeared" for a few days in 1926 and later married an archeologist whose work took them to the Middle East, but that's about it. Most authors would probably prefer to be known for their books rather than their lives, I'm guessing. But that sentiment may also be a thing of the past.

PS. I've never seen Agatha, the 1979 film starring Vanessa Redgrave and Dustin Hoffman, but I know it offers a fictional explanation to Christie's disappearance. Maybe I should add it to my Netflix queue for the next time Maine gets a blizzard like the one howling out my window.