Mitchell and John had the opportunity to visit with Justin Cronin as he signed books for us. He is a professor of English at Rice University in Houston, and is somewhat breathless about the rave over his new book, The Passage. He has a 13 year daughter, and seemed to enjoyed talking with Mitchell.

Mitchell with Justin Cronin

The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy, Clive Cussler’s rollicking sequel to The Adventures of Vin Fiz (2006), has just been released.  Signed editions and exclusive signed limited editions of The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy are available at VJ Books (http://www.vjbooks.com).

In The Adventures of Hotsy Totsy (May 2010: Penguin), Casey and Lacey Nicefolk are two regular, all-American brother-and-sister twins who have a secret.  In their barn there is a mysterious widget that can turn any small object into a life-size replica.

Since their parents are out-of-town, the twins decide to have some fun and create a real working powerboat using a model boat and their newly found gizmo.  Casey and Lacey take their new powerboat and enter a race up the Sacramento River.  But during the race, they find that their powerboat is no ordinary boat and that the race is no ordinary race.  This is a romping adventure where being the first to cross the finish line is not the only prize.

Clive Cussler is the bestselling author of the Dirk Pitt series, the Oregon Files series, and the Numa Files series–all nautical mystery/thriller novels.  Some of the novels in the Dirk Pitt adventures include… (more…)

VJ Books has received: The Return by Ben Bova, Meg: Hell’s Aquarium by Steve Alten, The Magic Thief Book 2: Lost by Sarah Prineas

The latest installment in James Patterson’s series for our younger audiences is now available to order.  Check it out!

Comfortable in their new safe house, Max and the rest of the Flock finally begin to feel optimistic about their newly-gained freedom. Then the Machine Geeks appear–part machine, part human, totally destructive. They are in the service of an ominous Mr. Chu, who has his eyes on the Flock and their unique abilities. And if he can’t have them, he’ll make sure nobody else can either!

Patterson is the author of novels–from The Thomas Berryman Number (1976) to Honeymoon (2005)–that have won awards including the Edgar, the BCA Mystery Guild’s Thriller of the Year, and the International Thriller of the Year award.

Scat - Carl Hiaasen

Signed First Editions are now available to order.

“Once again, Hiaasen has written an edge-of-the-seat eco-thriller. When their unpopular biology teacher goes missing in a suspicious fire during a field trip to the Black Vine Swamp, Nick and Marta don’t buy the headmaster’s excuse for her absence and decide to do some investigating of their own. Eco-avengers; an endangered, hunted panther; illegal pipelines in the Everglades; and an underachieving student with the nickname “Smoke” all play a part in this gripping novel.  ” - School Library Journal

Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida, where he still lives with his family.

(www.vjbooks.com, Sept. 2008)

(Publisher’s Weekly, Sept. 29, Dave McKean)

A lavish middle-grade novel, Gaiman’s first since Coraline, this gothic fantasy almost lives up to its extravagant advance billing. The opening is enthralling: “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.” Evading the murderer who kills the rest of his family, a child roughly 18 months old climbs out of his crib, bumps his bottom down a steep stairway, walks out the open door and crosses the street into the cemetery opposite, where ghosts take him in. What mystery/horror/suspense reader could stop here, especially with Gaiman’s talent for storytelling? The author riffs on the Jungle Book, folklore, nursery rhymes and history; he tosses in werewolves and hints at vampires—and he makes these figures seem like metaphors for transitions in childhood and youth. As the boy, called Nobody or Bod, grows up, the killer still stalking him, there are slack moments and some repetition—not enough to spoil a reader’s pleasure, but noticeable all the same. When the chilling moments do come, they are as genuinely frightening as only Gaiman can make them, and redeem any shortcomings. Ages 10–up. (Oct. 2008)

Get your copy of The Graveyard Book today from www.vjbooks.com!

(marketwatch.com, Nov 20)

Mystery Writers of America (MWA) has announced that the organization will name James Lee Burke and Sue Grafton its 2009 Grand Masters in honor of the Bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe’s birth next year. Not since 1978 has the organization presented dual Grand Masters.

MWA’s Grand Master Award represents the pinnacle of achievement in the mystery genre and was established to acknowledge important contributions to the genre, as well as significant output of consistently high-quality material. The awards will be presented at the 63rd Annual Edgar(R) Awards banquet on Thursday April 30, 2009 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.

According to MWA executive vice president Harry Hunsicker, the Edgar Awards — or “Edgars,” as they are commonly known — are named after Edgar Allan Poe, whose 200th birthday will be marked next year. “One of the great pleasures of my tenure at the helm of MWA has been informing two of the most talented writers on the planet that they have been selected as (more…)

(Journalinquirer.com, Nov. 24, Richard Tambling)

This chapter book (Science Fair) by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson is outrageously funny at times.

But of course it’s based on an outrageous idea: that a foreign agent might use the projects at a middle school science fair to bring America to its knees.

It’s a plot by Grdankl the Strong, leader of the country of Kprshtskan. One of his agents has schemed to trick filthy rich kids into unknowingly participating in his scheme by getting their mommies and daddies to obtain top secret technology for their projects, which can be hijacked for ulterior motives.

Through circumstance, average kid Toby Harbinger and his best friends Tamara and Micah must battle their way through humiliation, false accusations, and even danger to save us all.

Order your signed copy of Science Fair from www.vjbooks.com today!

(Publisher’s Weekly, Max Leon, Nov. 10)

I am of that population segment that is constantly derided as “not reading anymore,” and is therefore treated by publishing companies as a vast, mysterious demographic that’s seemingly impossible to please. Kind of like the way teenage boys think of girls. The reason we read so little in our free time is partially because of the literary choices available to teenagers these days. The selection of teen literature is even more barren now that the two great dynasties, Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl, have released their final installments. Those two massive successes blended great characters, humor (more…)