Book News, In Brief

Author Rick Riordan and his new series, The 39 Clues, get this week's 'The Next Harry Potter' write-up in the NYTimes. You may remember Riordan from last year's write-up in the LATimes, where his Percy Jackson & the Olympians series was proclaimed -- you guessed it -- 'The Next Harry Potter.' I'll say this for Riordan. He's got one hell of a press agent.

From the AP: The author of the best-selling novel The Horse Whisperer is recovering in a hospital after eating poisonous mushrooms during a holiday in Scotland, his agent said Tuesday. Nicholas Evans' agent said the writer, his wife, her sister and the sister's husband became sick after cooking and eating mushrooms they had picked in the woods Aug. 23. I had a similar experience once, only I was at a Wu-Tang concert, and the mushrooms were psychedelic.

Having completely forgotten that the majority is rarely right, HarperCollins has just launched authonomy, a "global community site to find/promote new writing." Here's an even wordier, loftier description from the authonomy website: authonomy is a brand new community site for writers, readers and publishers, conceived and developed by book editors at HarperCollins. We want to flush out the brightest, freshest new literature around - we’re glad you stopped by. If you’re a writer, authonomy is the place to show your face – and show off your work on the web. Whether you’re unpublished, self-published or just getting started, all you need is a few chapters to start building your profile online, and start connecting with the authonomy community. And if you’re a reader, blogger publisher or agent, authonomy is for you too. The book world is kept alive by those who search out, digest and spread the word about the best new books – authonomy invites you to join our community, champion the best new writing and build a personal profile that really reflects your tastes, opinions and talent-spotting skills.