"When [microwaves] came out, Time Magazine said it was the death of the stove, but no one saw that the market would plateau so there are people who only cook with a microwave and some only cook with a stove and many (more) use both. It's the same in the book world. Most people use both (conventional books on paper and digital versions), and I'm grateful to digital readers because they got people to read more."

In Bookselling This Week, Ingram Content Group yesterday announced steps the company is taking in response to last week's news that Baker & Taylor will no longer sell to independent bookstores.

As outlined by chief commercial officer Shawn Everson, Ingram is implementing the following:

• "Quick and effective evaluation of credit limits for all independent stores to accommodate the change in the wholesale landscape; credit limits for accounts under $1 million are complete, while the transition is happening now for those over $1 million.
• Fast-tracking new accounts if they were only working with B&T; all accounts will be set up by the end of this week.
• Immediate review of stocking levels in all distribution centers to be sure books are there when indies need them; Ingram has been in frequent and ongoing conversations with publishers to ensure inventory levels and is looking at delivery options to speed supply to the northeast and western parts of the country, especially around the holidays.
• Moving low-volume tier stores to standard terms, effective June 1, 2019, through May 31, 2020, to proactively help stores qualify for improved terms.
• Emphasizing the Booklove program [which offers rebates when certain sales goals are met] and reinforcing the idea that there is margin in Booklove participation; the program includes all sales with Ingram, both wholesale and through IPS/distribution clients, making it easier for stores to hit the rebate threshold. Additionally, Booklove is now featured on booksellers' ipage dashboard.
• Launching an automatic shipment tracking e-mail, for which hundreds of booksellers have signed up.
• Launching Ingram's Stock Check app to help booksellers get even faster information about what's in stock by scanning a book's barcode with their smartphones."

Westwinds Bookshop, the 74-year-old independent bookstore in Duxbury, Mass., will close soon unless buyers are found, the Duxbury Clipper reported.

Owners Doug and Lydia Hart, who purchased the store in 2011 from Chris and Marilyn Haraden, have decided to move on, in part because of the store's financial struggles. Doug Hart told the Clipper that he and his wife have known they would close for "a couple of years" and that they've "invested a fair amount of capital" in trying to keep it open over that time.

Hart explained that in addition to the low margins inherent to the book business, the store has struggled because they chose not to compete with other local stores that sold gift items or served food and coffee. And although the store has had a loyal customer base, it wasn't enough. Said Hart: "It's been a success in every way but financial."

Westwinds has had seven owners since Margaret Carter Metcalf opened it in 1946. When the Harts purchased it in 2011, they did so to save the store from closing. In a statement, the Harts said that the "ideal scenario" would be someone or even a cooperative stepping in to buy the store. They "welcome any inquiries."

Stephanie Williams

Stephanie Williams has been named director of Ohio University Press, effective June 24. She has an extensive background with scholarly publishers, including most recently as director of marketing and sales at the University Press of Kentucky, and prior to that as marketing manager for University of Missouri Press. Williams succeeds Gillian Berchowitz, who retired last December. Beth Pratt has been serving as interim director.

"Stephanie brings a great deal of experience to the Ohio University Press," said executive v-p and provost Dr. Chaden Djalali. "As the oldest scholarly press in the state of Ohio, it is of vital importance that we develop a strategic, long-range plan for continued success. I am confident that she has what it takes to continue and evolve the scholarly excellence of the Ohio University Press."

Milkweed has launched the Milkweed Fellowship, a paid, one- to two-year immersion program designed to offer a comprehensive experience in book publishing for individuals who may not otherwise have access or means to pursue a career in the industry.

The fellowship is "grounded in our belief that books have the potential to change the way we see the world, and that equity is essential to a vibrant, diverse, and empowered literary ecosystem," the publisher said. "We're pleased to introduce this program on the heels of relaunching our internship as a paid program."

The Milkweed Fellowship "intends to provide an alternative route to success in an industry where the prerequisite to an entry-level position is typically an unpaid internship," Milkweed added. "This learning-oriented position seeks to provide entry to those historically underrepresented among workers in book publishing--Indigenous, people of color, LGBTQIA+, and those with disabilities--so they may advance, discover, and champion transformative literature for years to come."

The position, in Milkweed's Minneapolis offices, is full time (non-exempt, 40 hours per week, for 12–24 months), beginning in this September. Compensation includes a salary of $30,000 per year, generous paid time off and health and dental benefits. Applications are now open via Submittable, and will be accepted through June.

Jean Vanier, the author of 30 books on spirituality and community who founded L'Arche communities "for adults with learning disabilities, living alongside those without them," died May 7, the Guardian reported. He was 90. From modest beginnings, L'Arche has 150 communities in 38 countries, "supporting 3,500 people with learning disabilities, with day services as well as residential homes." Faith and Light, a similar group he helped found, has 1,500 communities in 83 countries.

"I had no plan, I just met people and people with disabilities awoke my heart," he once said. The Guardian wrote that in 1964, Vanier "bought a small, rundown house without plumbing or electricity in the village of Trosly-Breuil, north of Paris, and invited two men with learning disabilities--Raphaël Simi and Philippe Seux--to share it with him. Both had been living in an asylum and were without family."

"I had no idea of starting a movement or establishing communities outside Trosly, even less outside France," he later said. "At one moment I even said we should stay the size of one carload--so if no one came to help me, I could at least continue to travel by bringing everyone in the car."

Vanier's many books include Community and Growth (1979), Becoming Human (1998), Befriending the Stranger (2005) and Life's Great Questions (2015). He was awarded the £1.1 million (about $1.4 million) Templeton Prize in 2015 for making "an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension."

Jesuit priest and writer James Martin told the New York Times: "He was one of the great saints of our time. Of all the people in our time who minister to people on the margins, I would say he and Mother Teresa were the avatars for Catholics. Jean Vanier showed us the great strength of tenderness and vulnerability and weakness, which is Christ's message."

Blavity offers a list of 15 independent black bookstores across the country where readers can "grab a good book and support a black-owned business." Among the stores: the newly opened Lit.Bar in the Bronx, N.Y.

"Finally feels like...," Main Street Books in Mansfield, Ohio, posted optimistically on Facebook to accompany a photo of its sidewalk chalkboard, which reads:

Spring...
...Break (woo-hoo!)
...Showers (enough!)
...Cleaning (nope)
...Reading (now yer talkin'.)

At Chronicle Books:

Courtney Payne has been promoted to associate director of trade sales. Previously she was senior trade sales representative.

Ian Delaney has been promoted to associate sales manager. Previously he was assistant sales manager.

The Chasers by Renato Rosaldo (Duke University Press).

Tomorrow:
On Point: Dr. Jennifer Ashton, author of Life After Suicide: Finding Courage, Comfort & Community After Unthinkable Loss (Morrow, $24.99, 9780062906038). She will also appear on Fox News' Health Talk with Dr. Manny.

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 this weekend from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, May 11
4:40 p.m. Elizabeth Cobbs, author of The Tubman Command: A Novel (Arcade, $25.99, 9781948924344). (Re-airs Monday at 5:40 a.m.)

6 p.m. Jessie Morgan-Owens, author of Girl in Black and White: The Story of Mary Mildred Williams and the Abolition Movement (Norton, $27.95, 9780393609240). (Re-airs Sunday at 10 a.m.)

7:45 p.m. Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman, authors of The Hill to Die On: The Battle for Congress and the Future of Trump's America (Crown, $28, 9780525574743), at Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C.

8:40 p.m. Veronica Hinke, author of The Last Night on the Titanic: Unsinkable Drinking, Dining, and Style (Regnery, $29.99, 9781621577294). (Re-airs Monday at 5:20 a.m.)

9 p.m. Joseph E. Stiglitz, author of People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent (Norton, $27.95, 9781324004219).

10 p.m. Senator Mike Lee, author of Our Lost Declaration: America's Fight Against Tyranny from King George to the Deep State (Sentinel, $27, 9780525538554). (Re-airs Sunday at 9 p.m. and Monday at 12 a.m. and 3 a.m.)

10:55 p.m. Melinda Gates, author of The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World (Flatiron, $26.99, 9781250313577), at Politics and Prose. (Re-airs Sunday at 7 p.m.)

Sunday, May 12
12 a.m. Alison Dagnes, author of Super Mad at Everything All the Time: Political Media and Our National Anger (Palgrave Macmillan, $29.99, 9783030061302), at Kramerbooks and Afterwords in Washington, D.C. (Re-airs Sunday at 6:15 p.m.)

12:50 a.m. Emily Bazelon, author of Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration (Random House, $28, 9780399590016) at Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, N.Y.

4:20 p.m. Jared Cohen, author of Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America (Simon & Schuster, $30, 9781501109829), at Politics and Prose.

8 p.m. Daniel Immerwahr, author of How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $30, 9780374172145), at Politics and Prose.

9:55 p.m. Bhaskar Sunkara, author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality (Basic Books, $28, 9781541617391), at the Strand in New York City.

11 p.m. Jacqueline Jackson, author of Loving You, Thinking of You, Don't Forget to Pray: Letters to My Son in Prison (Arcade, $24.99, 9781948924320), at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, N.C.

The shortlist has been unveiled for the 2019 Arthur C. Clarke Award, given to the best science fiction novel whose U.K. edition was published in the previous year. The winning author, who will be announced July 17 at the Foyles flagship bookshop in London, receives £2,019 (about $2,625) and a commemorative engraved bookend. This year's shortlisted titles are:

Semiosis  by  Sue Burke
Revenant Gun  by Yoon Ha Lee
Frankenstein in Baghdad by  Ahmed Saadawi
The Electric State  by Simon Stålenhag
Rosewater by  Tade Thompson
The Loosening Skin by Aliya Whiteley

---

Nominees have been announced for the 2018 Shirley Jackson Awards, which honor "outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic."

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, May 14:

The First Wave: The D-Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in World War II by Alex Kershaw (Dutton Caliber, $30, 9780451490056) chronicles the first day of the Allied invasion of Normandy.

The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 by Rick Atkinson (Holt, $40, 9781627790437) is the first in a trilogy exploring the American Revolution.

Full Count: The Education of a Pitcher by David Cone and Jack Curry (Grand Central, $28, 9781538748848) is the memoir of the former Yankees pitcher.

Howard Stern Comes Again by Howard Stern (Simon & Schuster, $35, 9781501194290) is the memoir of the shock jock.

The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver (Putnam, $28, 9780525535942) is the first book in a new thriller series featuring expert tracker Colter Shaw.

Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell (Knopf, $25.95, 9780525656135) is a collection of eight short stories.

Strangers and Cousins: A Novel by Leah Hager Cohen (Riverhead, $27, 9781594634833) follows a wedding in a small town with big secrets.

The Night Before: A Novel by Wendy Walker (St. Martin's Press, $26.99, 9781250198679) is a thriller about a blind date gone wrong.

A Place to Belong by Cynthia Kadohata, illustrated by Julia Kuo (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, $17.99, 9781481446648) is a middle-grade novel in which a Japanese-American family moves to Hiroshima after they are released from a U.S. internment camp.

Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard by Alex Bertie (Little, Brown, $17.99, 9780316529037) is the online personality's account of life as a transgender teen.

Paperbacks:
An Unwanted Guest: A Novel by Shari Lapena (Penguin Books, $16, 9780525557647).

When Einstein Walked with Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought by Jim Holt (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $16.75, 9780374538422).

The Scholar: A Novel by Dervla McTiernan (Penguin Books, $16, 9780143133698).

Movies:
The Sun Is Also a Star, based on the novel by Nicola Yoon, opens May 17. Yara Shahidi stars as a teenager who falls in love during a tumultuous time for her family. A tie-in edition (Ember, $12.99, 9781984849397) is available.

A Dog's Journey, based on the book by W. Bruce Cameron, opens May 17. Josh Gad is the voice of a dog who finds meaning through human relationships. A tie-in edition (Forge, $14.99, 9781250225375) is available.

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:

Hardcover
The Parisian: A Novel by Isabella Hammad (Grove Press, $27, 9780802129437). "The Parisian, a captivating novel of cultural assimilation, deprivation, and sacrifice in times of war, is quite simply a beautifully vivid, immersive love story. While these attributes alone would make The Parisian a compelling read, it is Hammad's writing that marks this work as one of the greatest novels I've read in recent years. The descriptions are sharp and lush, and her depictions of her characters feel recognizably familiar yet are expressed with a felicity for language that is altogether exceptional. This is a novel for everyone who craves a timeless love story and admires superb writing." --Lori Feathers, Interabang Books, Dallas, Tex.

The Light Years: A Memoir by Chris Rush (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $27, 9780374294410). "Rush's memoir depicts the wild, drug-filled days of his youth with such luminous prose it feels as though we're with him, careening from one adventure to another. That this book exists is proof that Rush makes it through every situation he encounters, and he brings such generosity to those who were alongside him that it's impossible not to care about him or his family and loved ones. The Light Years offers a perfect glimpse into the counterculture of the '60s and '70s, and that time came alive for me through his writing. A perfect pick for those who lived through that time and those who wish they could." --Katie Orphan, The Last Bookstore, Los Angeles, Calif.

Paperback
Lawn Boy: A Novel by Jonathan Evison (Algonquin, $15.95, 9781616209230). "Mike Muñoz is a broke, unemployed, sexually confused 22-year-old Chicano man living in Washington State, just trying to find the right path to his American dream. One setback after another is laid in front of him, and Mike wonders if he will ever make the leap from survival mode to working toward his goals. I loved this book for the sincere, engaging way the author addresses the issues of class distinction and cultural discrimination, and Mike is such a funny, tenacious, lovable human that you can't help but ache for his disappointments and cheer for his victories. I hope everyone reads this inspiring novel." --Cassie Clemans, Roundabout Books, Bend, Ore.

For Ages 4 to 8
The Little Guys by Vera Brosgol (Roaring Brook, $17.99, 9781626724426). "These little guys are just about the cutest things in all the forest, and when they band together, they can do just about anything, can take just about anything... can get all they need. But just how much is too much? And just where do the needs of the whole forest come in? These little guys will warm your heart as they open their hearts to the needs of others both big and little." --Angie Tally, The Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, N.C.

For Ages 9 to 12: An Indies Introduce Title
Nikki on the Line by Barbara Carroll Roberts (Little, Brown, $16.99, 9780316521901). "Nikki on the Line thrums with life, energy, and adolescent self-discovery. With a relatable, driven protagonist, Roberts deftly weaves a story of realistic struggles through the themes of genetic gifts and curses--and their complicated relationship with who we choose to be. Fun and perfectly balanced, this book is impossible to put down, even for readers who know nothing about basketball." --Heather Smith, Linden Tree Children's Books, Los Altos, Calif.

For Teen Readers: An Indies Introduce Title
The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman (Disney-Hyperion, $18.99, 9781368024969). "When mutilated bodies start to show up in the small town of Four Paths in rural upstate New York, the townsfolk know it can only mean one thing: The Gray is back. Existing on an alternate plane, The Gray (not unlike the Demogorgon/Upside Down in Stranger Things) has been terrorizing the town since its inception but the founding families of Four Paths have always been able to keep it from crossing over. This time, dark familial secrets could allow The Gray to break through, and it's up to four teen descendants of the founders to set aside their differences to keep the terror at bay. Gripping and terrifying, The Devouring Gray will have you sleeping with one eye open, if at all." --Javier Ramirez, The Book Table, Oak Park, Ill.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

Nearly seven decades after it takes place, the reverberation of a brutal crime in the life of one of its victims is the subject of Susan Richards Shreve's pensive 16th novel, More News Tomorrow. Shreve (Miracle Play) combines elements of a classic mystery novel with a contemporary psychological thriller to create a story whose surface simplicity conceals depths of emotion.

On June 17, 1941, as the sun rises at a remote campsite in the northern Wisconsin woods, the body of Josephine Grove, dead by strangulation, is discovered. Her husband, William, a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant with a Ph.D. in physics, quickly confesses to the murder. In the chaotic aftermath, their four-year-old daughter, Georgianna, is rushed away to Ann Arbor, Mich., to be raised by her maternal grandparents. For all its shocking brutality, the crime is the type of event many families would choose to consign to memory's equivalent of a locked cabinet and then discard the key.

But Georgianna is incapable of such an act of suppression. After decades of work as a cultural anthropologist in Botswana, long-widowed when her husband was killed in the Vietnam War and now entering her eighth decade, she lives in Washington, D.C., where she has turned her house into what she calls the "Home for the Incurables," a refuge that's a "hotel of lost souls" for dozens of strangers who have appeared at her door over more than 40 years.

On her 70th birthday, Georgianna receives the first in a series of letters from Roosevelt McCrary, who, as an 11-year-old, was among those at the scene of Josephine's death. Roosevelt and his mother, Clementine, were traveling with the Groves to the summer camp run by William; Clementine was to work there as a cook. Georgianna is spurred by this correspondence to gather her children and grandchildren for a return to the murder site on the 67th anniversary of the killing, where she hopes to find evidence that finally will exonerate her long-dead father.

Shreve writes from the perspectives of Georgianna and her 13-year-old grandson Thomas, with flashbacks seen through William's eyes. While maintaining maximum suspense until the final pages, she patiently reveals facts that make Josephine's killing, if hardly excusable, at least somehow comprehensible. Though its tone is muted, Shreve's descriptions of a setting that's both serene and dangerous add texture and color to the tale, one she charges with the suspenseful account of a terrifying incident involving Georgianna's young granddaughter. Most effectively, she conveys Georgianna's anguish, as her refusal to believe her father capable of a crime of such shocking savagery clashes with the irrefutable fact of his confession. As is true for the account of the canoe trip that brings Georgianna and her family back to a place that has forever shaped her life, this is a story whose journey is as rewarding as its destination. --Harvey Freedenberg, freelance reviewer

Shelf Talker: An aging woman returns to the scene of her mother's murder, hoping she'll find proof that her father is not the killer.