Books/Publishing News

EDINBURGH (Reuters) - The ghost of Charles Dickens is walking the Music Hall stage at Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms, 150 years after the great Victorian novelist appeared in person at the same location to read his works.

A new all-ages picture book from Random House, Boys of Steel The Creators of Superman, aims to tell a new generation of readers what really led to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's most famous creation. Written by Marc Tyler Nobleman and illustrated by Ross MacDonald, it tells the true story of the events leading up to two teenagers' creation of a character that would change the course of popular culture.

ALBANY, N.Y. - It's been a fixture on kitchen counters, refrigerator tops and junk drawers for decades.

(Reuters) - Billionaire financier Ronald Perelman agreed to pay $80 million to settle a decade-long lawsuit with trustees for the comic-book publisher formerly known as Marvel Entertainment Group Inc, according to court papers.

SEATTLE - Helene Cooper's "The House at Sugar Beach," a memoir about growing up in Liberia during that country's civil war, is the latest book selected by Starbucks to be featured at its stores nationwide.

LONDON - British writer Simon Gray, author of literate, bittersweet plays and acerbic diaries, has died at 71, his publisher said Thursday.

"Highway to Hell — Dispatches From a Mercenary in Iraq" (Broadway Books 273 pages, $24.95), by John Geddes: It's a chatty British page-turner that describes a lot of "slotting along a dual carriageway."

David Gilmour's 15-year-old son did not just hate school. He seemed to have a psychological allergy to it.

NEW YORK - Going negative against Democrat Barack Obama isn't just a campaign strategy for Republican John McCain. It's also a good formula for selling books.

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Warner Bros. has acquired rights to the book "Drink, Play, F@#K," a comedic male retort to the femme-centric best-seller "Eat, Pray, Love."

"Breaking Dawn" (Little, Brown and Company, 754 pages, $22.99) by Stephenie Meyer: The heartbreakingly beautiful vampires, loyal werewolves and emotionally torn humans are back for one last round in "Breaking Dawn," the fourth and last installment in the fanatically loved "Twilight Saga" series.

NEW YORK - Harry Potter is still king, but the final book of Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series did manage a million-selling debut.

Harry who? A year after J.K. Rowling wrapped up the blockbuster Harry Potter saga, author Stephenie Meyer has booksellers almost ready to forget the brilliant young wizard. Her Twilight books, about the tangled relationship between a handsome vampire and an endearingly ordinary teenage girl, have become reliable smash hits. When Breaking Dawn, the last of the four-book series, comes out on Aug. 2, it's expected to surpass all her previous efforts, with an initial print run of 3.2 million copies.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Author Tom Vanderbilt used to drive politely, merging as soon as he saw signs that his lane was ending, until one day on a New Jersey highway when he sped past the suckers in the slow lane.

LONDON (AP) — Author Salman Rushdie is threatening to sue a publisher over a book by a former bodyguard that he says portrays him as cheap, nasty and arrogant and depicts his police guards as drinking on duty.

"Discovery at Rosetta" (W.W. Norton & Co. Inc. 288 pages. $22.95), by Jonathan Downs: It's the most important Egyptian artifact ever discovered — the key to the tale of the astonishing ancient civilization and its many accomplishments.

"Can You Ever Forgive Me? Memoirs of a Literary Forger" (Simon & Schuster, 128 pages, $20), by Lee Israel: "She is a bright, talented actress," Noel Coward once wrote of Julie Andrews, "and quite attractive since she dealt with her monstrous English overbite."

NEW YORK (Reuters) - When Jonathan Miles wrote "Dear American Airlines," a novel modeled on a complaint letter, he never imagined his promotional tour would resemble a series of support group meetings for disgruntled travelers.

"Red Sky in Morning" (HarperCollins Publishers. 352 pages. $24.95), by Patrick Culhane: Inspired by his father's World War II experiences, Patrick Culhane has written a flawed novel about a compelling and shameful piece of American history.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling announced on Thursday that she will publish a book of wizarding fairy tales in December and donate an expected $8 million in proceeds to her charity for vulnerable children.