Book News, In Brief

Penguin Canada plans to promote the release of their new Dracula sequel, Dracula: The Un-Dead, with a blood drive.


37% of U.S. consumers say that they are interested in purchasing an e-reader, yet less than half that number have actually bothered to buy one. AdWeek attempts to figure out why the 'i-Pod moment' has yet to arrive for e-Books.


John Q. Olsen is a self-publishing, street husking, outlaw author. Sure he's regularly harassed by the Telluride cops for running a one man, mobile bookstore without a license, but on the bright side, at least he's not bitching to bookstores about carrying his work.


Remember the controversial and completely incompatible 'White girl' cover art for Justine Larbalestier's 'Black girl' book, Liar? Well, publisher Bloomsbury has bowed to the public outrage, announcing that they will actually use a photograph of a Black girl to, you know, represent a Black girl. (If you were waiting for them to admit any wrong-doing, though, you're just gonna have to keep on waiting.)


Someone left a smiley face made out of peanut butter on the front window of a Connecticut Borders. In a classic bit of Bush-era overreaction, the local authorities have released a statement saying, "We understand that kids will be kids and sometimes resort to pranks. But because exposing someone with a peanut allergy to peanut butter can become serious and even cause death — it could almost be thought of as an act of terrorism." And they're serious!