New Year New Books

Jenn and I are back and ready for a new year of books, books and more books...and few cups of coffee as well.

Speaking of new books, here is one to look out for "Old City Hall" by Robert Rotenberg!! Before Christmas we mentions that Robert Rotenberg had stopped by the store. Robert actually stumbled upon us while visiting the area doing research for his new book, which he was kind enough to read me a small sample of. It is really kind of cool to have an author stumble into your book store but then to have him read to you from his work in progress that's special...



(I notice my hair is kind of wild here, the left over of my pho Mohawk from Halloween.)


Robert Rotenberg is one of Torontos top lawyers, defending, as he likes to say, everything from murder to shoplifting. He lives in Toronto with his wife, a television producer at CBC News; their three children; and their little dog, Fudge.

Old City Hall opens with a bang, or perhaps a stab: Canada's leading radio show host, Kevin Brace, comes to the door of his luxury condominium with his hands covered in blood and tells the newspaper delivery man: 'I killed her.'The 'her' in question is his young wife, whose body lies in the bathtub of their suite, a knife wound through the sternum.

So, if he killed her, where's the mystery? That's the question asked by the detectives plowing through what should be an open and- shut case. Even Kevin's defense attorney doesn't know what really happened, because he refuses to talk to her or to anyone else after muttering those incriminating words. With the discovery that the victim was actually a self-destructive alcoholic, and the appearance of strange fingerprints in the Brace apartment, the mystery gets more complex just as it should be getting simpler.

Robert Rotenberg claims and celebrates the city of Toronto as a character as exciting and vital as the Dickensian ensemble populating the story. Douglas Preston rejoices that Rotenberg's 'Toronto settings make this most multicultural city in North America come alive.' Elmore Leonard has Florida; John Lescroart, San Francisco; Robert Parker, Boston; Scott Turow, Chicago; George Pelecanos, D.C. And now, in Old City Hall, Rotenberg creates in modern-day Toronto a canvas as diverse and surprising as the city itself.

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On another note, I am just checking my email and Charles de Lint's(one of my Favourite Canadian authors) has sent out a new Newsletter with a reminder about Andrew Vachss' virtual book store event tomorrow night (well tonight Wednesday, Jan 14th. I am just getting to some of my email today). You can get more information about it at www.vachss.com.

TERMINAL
After years of carefully working the edges, a blood-commitment forces Burke's return to his former career: "violence-for-money."

Claw, once the shot-caller of a white supremacist prison gang is free . . . and terminally ill--he desperately needs a pile of cash to bet on a long-shot cure. He tells Burke about a punk who once purchased protection from him, a man who claims to know the truth behind a "cold case, " the unsolved rape-murder of a thirteen-year-old girl. The killers are all weathly men today, ideal blackmail marks. But wealth is power, and the informant needs Claw's protection again. Burke decides to roll the dice. A win would give Burke the two things he lives for: Money and Revenge. A loss would turn "terminal" from a diagnosis into a certainly, and not just for Claw.

Author Bio
Andrew Vachss is a lawyer who represents children and youths exclusively. His many novels include the Burke series and two collections of short stories. His books have been translated into twenty languages, and his work has appeared in Parade, Antaeus, Esquire, Playboy, The New York Times, among other publications. He divides his time between his native New York City and the Pacific Northwest.


This online author event is sort of new with the net being able to handle live video streams. Another Canadian author Margaret Atwood is credited with inventing this new fad but with a twist. Atwood had a robot hand called the LongPen invented for her, so she coud "attend" book signings all over the world without having to leave the comfort of her home. Combined with a remotely via video feed and robo-hand, that signs the books at the actually bookstore. Now some of you are asking will this replace the traditional book signing tour? Probabley not but the net is opening up a lot new marketing ideas for bookstores and authors!

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Anyways back to Charles De Lint who has a new adult novel coming out in March called "The Mystery of Grace"!!

Three years after his last major adult novel, Charles de Lint returns with a new tale of magic, loss, and redemption, his first book set in the Southwest. Centered on a remarkable female protagonist and entirely self-contained, this is a modern contemporary fantasy as invented band pioneered by de Lint himself. Altagracia—her friends call her Grace—has a tattoo of Nuestra Señora de Altagracia on her shoulder; she's got a Ford Motor Company tattoo running down her leg; and she has grease worked so deep into her hands that'll never wash out.

Grace works at Sanchez Motor Works, customizing hot rods. A few blocks around her small apartment building is all her world—from the grocery store where she buys beans, tamales and cigarettes to the library, the little record shop, and the Solona Music Hall. Which is where she meets John Burns, just two weeks too late.

Grace and John fall for one another, and that would be wonderful, except that they're both haunted by unfinished business. Before their relationship can be resolved, they're both going to have to learn things they don't know about the world of the living and the world beyond. About why it's necessary to let some things go.

The Mystery of Grace is a hardcover. The cover art for the "The Mystery of Grace" was created by the very talented and amazing artist John Jude Palenca.



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Thanks to my parents(We love you guys!! Best Christmas Present Ever!!) Jenn and I spent New Years in the Dominican!! My Sister and her Boyfriend and my parents came along as well and a great amount of fun and relaxation was had by all.

We didn't spent all of out time lounging around the pool or the beach! We did get out and explored the area!

Here we have sugar cane fields! Pretty.

On one of our tours we went were brought to a Fair trade family run farm, Called Maria's Place. You guessed it run by Maria's family. Here they grow and sell coca beans, vanilla, cinnamon, honey(well they don't grow honey but they do have honey bees) and COFFEE!


This is Maria's husband, who is roast coca beans and coffee beans in this photo.