Jenn Risko

Big news from Shelf Awareness.

Co-founder Jenn Risko is stepping down as publisher of Shelf Awareness, effective tomorrow. Co-founder and editor-in-chief John Mutter will now be full owner of the company.

"Serving as the publisher of the Shelf has been one of the greatest adventures of my life," Jenn said. "I can still keenly remember the moment a rep gave me my first galley: I was a teen working in my hometown bookstore, and I thought getting a galley was the coolest thing ever. I never could have imagined that one day I'd start a business with the book industry's leading journalist and that, together, we would create what would become the bookverse's favorite media company. And that, ultimately, of course, our company would be flooded with galleys every day.

"I am immensely proud of what we have built together. The Herculean work we undertake every day has become the connective glue of our bookverse, evangelizes the importance of our indies, and helps them sell more books. I am most grateful for coming to appreciate the importance and joy of doing something for a living in which you truly and deeply believe."

"For almost 20 years, I have carried the Shelf in my head and my heart, a constant and welcomed companion. It will take some rewiring of my brain to break that long standing mental habit. To jumpstart that process, I am taking time off to read all the backlist I've ignored and to look for ways to find my dopamine off-screen. I look forward to picking up a book, and not knowing if the publisher bought ads for it. I have high hopes of growing unheard-of veggies from seed and napping on the couch with the dogs, who I believe will be amenable. And at some point, I will start dreaming about what's next for me.

"As much as I look forward to my next chapter, the Shelf is part of my DNA, and no amount of remapping will change that. I will always be its biggest fan, and now I will be the crazy one with a giant hat and flags and a foam finger on the sidelines cheering you on to continued success.

"It's not easy to electively walk away from something you've built, where a fair amount of your time is saying 'you're welcome!' and trade shows feel like a victory lap. I have had such a great time getting to know and work with the publishers and booksellers, many of whom I call dearest friends. I am not sure what the next chapter will bring, but I hope it is working with the amazing people I've had the pleasure of getting to know over the last almost 20 years.

"I want to express my special and heartfelt thanks to John for choosing me to be his partner in this extraordinary journey. Together we have enlightened millions of booksellers, industry folks, and book lovers. By all accounts, we genuinely broke the mold of traditional book media, which is a legacy of which we will both always be proud. I remain our company's co-founder and now will move to the bottom of our website as publisher emerita. I'm hoping this title will still get me into good parties, but be forewarned: I will hug the hell outta you when I see you there."

John Mutter said, "I can't thank Jenn enough for all she's done for Shelf Awareness; I've always been so in awe of her drive and creativity. Together, starting in 2005, we took what was an idea for an e-newsletter and made it into a thriving company with a range of products and services that have done so much to help booksellers and the book world. I'm looking forward to relying on Jenn for occasional counsel, frequent chats, and learning about more good Pinot Noir."

Catch up with Jenn at jennrisko@gmail.com and jennrisko.com.

Matt Baldacci

In connection with Jenn Risko stepping down from Shelf Awareness, Matt Baldacci is being promoted to publisher, and Neil Strandberg is being promoted to CEO. Matt will be in charge of sales and marketing and ideas for new products and services. Neil will be in charge of administration, HR, tech, and making new products and services happen.

John Mutter commented: "Both Matt and Neil have already helped immensely in the transition. They're both amazingly talented and experienced in the book world, and I am so looking forward to working with them on a daily basis."

Matt joined Shelf Awareness in 2015 as director of business development. He has an MBA from the Stern School of Business at NYU, and worked for several decades on the publishing side with Simon & Schuster, DK, and St. Martin's Press.

Matt said, "I want to thank Jenn and John for giving me the opportunity to work with them and the amazing people at our great company. As we move forward into this next era, the potential to further their great work of helping independent bookstores thrive is a challenge I accept, and I can't think of better partners in this coming journey than Neil, John, and our colleagues at the Shelf."

Neil Strandberg

Neil also joined Shelf Awareness in 2015, as director of technology and operations. He had been director of technology at the American Booksellers Association and before that was at the Tattered Cover in Denver, Colo., from 1989 to 2012, rising from bookseller to manager of operations.

He has served as a board member of the Book Industry Study Group, was the Tattered Cover representative to the Independent Booksellers Consortium, and was v-p and board member of the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association. In 2007, he won the MPIBA's Gordon Saull Bookseller of the Year award. He began his bookselling career at A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books in San Francisco, Calif.

Neil said, "Jenn and John created an amazing company that reminds us, each day, that booksellers, publishers, librarians, agents, authors, and editors are bound together in an industry that relies on our individual and collective passions to connect books and readers. Whether it is daily industry news as found in Pro or our work to support regional trade associations and sales at independent bookstores through our partner programs, Shelf Awareness sustains our connections with each other and our industry's reach to readers.

"Speaking for my own career, I have had the privilege to learn and grow with three remarkable people: Joyce Meskis, Oren Teicher, and Jenn Risko. It is a great gift to me that what I will conjure on my own to steward Shelf Awareness into the future is enhanced by these singular individuals as well as my current partners: John Mutter, Matt Baldacci, and all of my colleagues at Shelf Awareness--truly gifted people sharing their lives with me (and you) in this business. I'll be blessed if my work helps them do theirs in service to authors, publishers and independent booksellers."

Sower Books, an all-ages, general-interest bookstore with an emphasis on inclusivity, has opened in Lincoln, Neb., 1011 Now reported.

The bookstore, located at 914 N. 70th St., welcomed customers for the first time on Labor Day. Owner Tory Hall, who worked as a bookseller for approximately seven years before starting her own store, noted that while Sower Books welcomes all ages and interests, the store has a focus on marginalized voices, community building, and local creators.

"You can be dorky and enthusiastic here, and that's going to be okay, and you're going to be seen and loved," Hall told 1011 Now.

The store has been operating online since 2023, and though the bricks-and-mortar store officially opened only a few days ago, Hall has been hosting community activism gatherings there for a while. Hall's future event plans include book clubs, children's events, cat adoption events, and more. 

She explained that the bookstore's name is a nod to both Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and the statue of a sower that adorns the top of Nebraska's capitol building.

Story Line Books will open this fall inside the historic Union Depot railroad station in St. Paul, Minn., Bring Me the News reported.

The bookstore will reside in the depot's Head House and carry an all-ages, general-interest inventory. Owner Danielle Miller, who had a career in law before deciding to open a bookstore, noted that there will be a particular emphasis on adult fiction and children's books. Her event plans include storytimes, book clubs, and author events.

"When I started making the move to Minnesota, I began dreaming of a store in St. Paul because it's such a reader town," Miller said in a statement. "The first available spot for lease I found was this location. It felt like the universe was telling me to go for it. It's the right size, the right vibe, and the right people."

The Star Tribune, meanwhile, quoted Miller as saying: "I've spent the last eight years in a career that drained my mind and soul. I can't believe I'm getting this opportunity to spend my days surrounded by books and other people who love them!"

Victoria Thompson (Monica Z. Photography)

Victoria Thompson, who began her career writing historical romance novels before turning to mysteries with the bestselling Gaslight Mystery series, died August 23. She was 76. The series, which followed socialite-turned-midwife Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant Frank Molloy as they solved murders and fought injustice in turn-of-the-20th century New York City, was nominated for six Agatha Awards, an Edgar Award, and a Bruce Alexander Award. Murder in Rose Hill, the 27th Gaslight Mystery, was published in April 2024.  

While continuing to write the Gaslight books, Thompson launched her Counterfeit Lady novels, a historical series featuring Elizabeth Miles, a young con woman who uses her skills to right wrongs and help those in need in early 1900s New York City. That series was nominated for the Sue Grafton Memorial Award from the Mystery Writers of America. The seventh book, City of Betrayal, was published in December 2023 and took place in the harrowing days leading to women finally securing the right to vote in 1920. 

Michelle Vega, executive editor, Berkley, who had been Thompson's editor for the past 10 years, said, "Editors often talk about dream authors, and I can say unreservedly that Victoria Thompson was a dream author. She was unwaveringly professional, could adeptly handle anything thrown her way and was also incredibly kind, funny, and compassionate. I first started working with Vicki when her longtime editor Ginjer Buchanan retired 10 years ago. Vicki's brilliant Gaslight series was already so well-established, her sleuths Sarah and Frank so beloved, that I wondered what I could bring to the table. 

"Vicki immediately put those fears to rest and was gracious and receptive to my input from day one. When she started the Counterfeit Lady books, her second series with Berkley, I had the absolute pleasure of getting to brainstorm and work with Vicki from the ground up on something new. I enjoyed every minute and I know she did too. Not only did Vicki really love to write, she loved delving into the history that brought Sarah and Frank and then later Elizabeth and Gideon to life. She delighted in watching the mystery come together in a way that would be satisfying to readers. She truly loved her craft, and it came through on every page. I feel so very honored that I got to be a small part of that process and that I had the unparalleled joy of being her friend."  

Thompson held a B.A. in English and Secondary Education from the University of Maryland. In 2012, she earned a Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania, a program for which she was also a professor from 2000 to 2023. She also taught in the Continuing Education Department at Penn State University and was a frequent speaker at writers' conferences across the country. In 2012, she received a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times magazine. 

Politics and Prose at the Wharf, Washington, D.C., hosted the launch event for Jerusalem Demsas's essay collection On the Housing Crisis (Atlantic Editions/Zando). She was in conversation with Jeffery Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Atlantic, where Demsas is a staff writer.

Posted by Schuler Books, Ann Arbor, Mich.: "We want to pay tribute to one of the most amazing booksellers Ann Arbor has ever known. After 22 years, we are saying goodbye to Jessie Martin, who is retiring. Stop in to see this display of her favorite books. We love you, Jessie!"

"Teamwork makes the dream work!" Murder By the Book, Houston, Tex., noted in sharing a video of the staff's response to "when the boss says it's not a two person job."

Sunderworld, Vol. I: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry by Ransom Riggs (Dutton Books for Young Readers).

Tomorrow:
CBS Mornings: Carol Hoenig, author of Before She Was a Finley (All Night Books, $20, 9781632261441).

Also on CBS Mornings: Elin Hilderbrand, author of Swan Song (Little, Brown, $30, 9780316258876).

Good Morning America: Preston Perry, author of How to Tell the Truth: The Story of How God Saved Me to Win Hearts--Not Just Arguments (Tyndale, $22.99, 9781496466891).

Drew Barrymore Show: Erin French, author of Big Heart Little Stove: Bringing Home Meals & Moments from The Lost Kitchen (Celadon Books, $38, 9781250832313).

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.

Sunday, September 8
8:50 a.m. David Daley, author of Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right's 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections (Mariner, $32.50, 9780063321090), at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, Wash. (Re-airs Sunday at 8:50 p.m.)

2 p.m. Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy, authors of Our Kindred Creatures: How Americans Came to Feel the Way They Do About Animals (Knopf, $35, 9780525659068).

3:05 p.m. Francis S. Barry, author of Back Roads and Better Angels: A Journey into the Heart of American Democracy (Steerforth, $35, 9781586423889).

4:15 p.m. Sean Carberry, author of Passport Stamps: Searching the World for a War to Call Home (Madville Publishing, $22.95, 9781956440553).

6:55 p.m. Andrew W. Kahrl, author of The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America (‎University of Chicago Press, $35, 9780226730592).

The 12-title longlist has been released for the C$100,000 (about US$73,985) Giller Prize, which honors "the best Canadian novel, graphic novel or short story collection published in English." The finalists, who will be unveiled October 9, receive C$10,000 (about $7,400) each. The winner will be named November 18. The Giller Prize is sponsored by Scotiabank, CBC Books, Mantella Corporation, Indigo, and the Azrieli Foundation. This year's longlisted titles are:

A Way to Be Happy by Caroline Adderson 
Death by a Thousand Cuts by Shashi Bhat 
What I Know About You by Éric Chacour, translated by Pablo Strauss 
Bad Land by Corinna Chong 
Curiosities by Anne Fleming 
Prairie Edge by Conor Kerr
This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud 
Held by Anne Michaels 
The Cure for Drowning by Loghan Paylor 
Peacocks of Instagram by Deepa Rajagopalan 
In Winter I Get Up at Night by Jane Urquhart 
real ones by katherena vermette

Selected new titles appearing next Tuesday, September 10:

Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI by Yuval Noah Harari (Random House, $35, 9780593734223) traces flows of information throughout human history.

Who Could Ever Love You: A Family Memoir by Mary L. Trump (St. Martin's Press, $29, 9781250278470) is a memoir by Donald Trump's niece.

I Once Was Lost: My Search for God in America by Don Lemon (Little, Brown, $30, 9780316567695) is the journalist's memoir about his faith.

The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation That Shocked the World by Ben Macintyre (Crown, $32, 9780593728093) chronicles the 1980 hostage situation at the Iranian embassy in London.

How to Love a Forest by Ethan Tapper (Broadleaf Books, $28.99, 9798889830559) is a forester's guide to understanding and caring for forests.

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout (Random House, $30, 9780593446096) is the fifth novel in the Amgash series, featuring characters Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton.

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty (Crown, $30, 9780593798607) follows the passengers of an airplane flight who all learn their future death dates.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune (Tor, $28.99, 9781250881205) is book two in the Cerulean Chronicles fantasy series.

The Women Behind the Door by Roddy Doyle (Viking, $29, 9780593831687) is a mother-daughter story about a woman trying to leave her successful life behind.

Den of Iniquity by J.A. Jance (Morrow, $30, 9780063252585) is the latest mystery with private investigator J.P. Beaumont.

Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel by Kiersten White (Del Rey, $28.99, 9780593724408) is a gothic fantasy about a lady vampire's journey of self-discovery.

The Crayons Give Thanks by Drew Daywalt, illus. by Oliver Jeffers (Philomel, $9.99, 9780593690574), is the 13th picture book in which a group of lovable and very opinionated crayons take center stage.

Splinter & Ash by Marieke Nijkamp (Greenwillow, $18.99, 9780063326262) is the author's middle-grade debut and the beginning of a fantasy series that stars queer and disabled heroes.  

Paperbacks:
The Great Menopause Myth: The Truth on Mastering Midlife Hormonal Mayhem, Beating Uncomfortable Symptoms, and Aging to Thrive by Kristin Johnson and Maria Claps (Fair Winds Press, $24.99, 9780760388266).

How to Hide in Plain Sight by Emma Noyes (Berkley, $19, 9780593639023).

The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen (Biblioasis, $19.95, 9781771966283).

The Best Short Stories 2024: The O. Henry Prize Winners edited by Amor Towles (Vintage, $18.99, 9780593470619).

Not a Speck of Light: Stories by Laird Barron (Bad Hand Books, $19.99, 9798218036065).

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

Hardcover
Hum: A Novel by Helen Phillips (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books, $27.99, 9781668008836). "Helen Phillips takes us on a wild, anxious ride into the (near?) future: an AI-driven world. Fast-paced and tense, Hum ponders the current state of technology and its effect on human behavior. A brilliant, futuristic page-turner!" --Caroline Buchta, Andover Bookstore, Andover, Mass.

Pearl: A Novel by Siân Hughes (Knopf, $25, 9780593802564). "A shatteringly beautiful story of a woman's search for answers about her mother's disappearance. Through shifting memories, the reader moves through Marianne's trauma and changing understanding of her mother. This aches and amazes in equal measure." --Allyson Howard, Invitation Bookshop, Gig Harbor, Wash.

Paperback
Prophet by Helen Macdonald and Sin Blaché (Grove Press, $20, 9780802163400). "Prophet hooked me with its uncanny Twin Peaks x Twilight Zone mise-en-scène. This page-turning thriller is deceptively fun despite a deadly serious, thought-provoking core. I was delighted by the sly pop culture nostalgia!" --Amanda Qassar, Warwick's, La Jolla, Calif.

Ages 4-8
We Are Definitely Human by X. Fang (Tundra Books, $18.99, 9781774882023). "As a human, this book resonated with me. X. Fang has the best illustrations out there right now. I love the warmth she adds to each drawing. Her books are a blast, and I'm excited to see this one. Each book feels like a classic." --Claire Margetts, Weller Book Works, Salt Lake City, Utah

Ages 9-12: An Indies Introduce Title
The Lonely Below by g. haron davis (Scholastic, $14.99, 9781338825121). "This is the book version of that prickly hair-on-end feeling you get when you just know something is watching you. The first middle grade novel that has left me unsettled in quite a long time, and through a refreshingly unique protagonist." --Katie Pionk, McLean & Eakin Booksellers, Petoskey, Mich.

Teen Readers
Under the Surface by Diana Urban (Putnam Books for Young Readers, $19.99, 9780593625088). "Hold on to your seats! This dark thriller has it all: a fast-paced adventure in the tunnels under Paris filled with long-dead bodies, broken friendships, ghoulish hunters, and enough action to keep you flipping the pages. Keep the lights on!" --Maureen Palacios, Once Upon a Time, Montrose, Calif.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

With novels like Clockers and Lush Life, Richard Price (The Whites) has long been lauded as an expert observer of urban life in the United States. Lazarus Man, a streetwise story of a small group of New Yorkers brought together unexpectedly by tragedy and the quest for redemption, will only enhance that reputation.

On a spring morning in 2008, 42-year-old Anthony Carter is pulled from the rubble of a five-story East Harlem apartment building 36 hours after it collapsed with a "primordial volcanic roar." An unemployed, recovering cocaine addict whose wife and stepdaughter have left him for California, Anthony happened to be walking by the building on his way to a job interview at the moment of the accident. After he appears on television describing his rescue--"like something out of the Bible"--he's transformed improbably into a sought-after motivational speaker at events that include a community rally against gun violence and the funeral of a teenager killed in a street shooting.

But Anthony isn't the only person whose life has been altered irrevocably by this catastrophe. Felix Pearl, a young videographer and photographer, is drawn to the collapse in his neighborhood and records the events. Mary Roe, a Community Affairs police officer charged with interviewing witnesses and searching for potential survivors, as well as Royal Davis, a disgruntled funeral director who sends his son out on the street with cards trolling for business from victims' families, are also drawn involuntarily into the event's reverberations.

With his keen eye, efficiently constructed scenes, and, above all, crisp dialogue that evokes Price's work on TV shows that include The Wire, he follows the lives of these world-weary characters over the course of roughly 10 days, while artfully revealing the elements of their pasts that have brought them to this singular moment. At the center of the story is Anthony, whose teaching career halted after an attack by a student, and who has struggled since then to gain footing in life. His sudden unearned celebrity only complicates his personal challenges. But almost equally intriguing is Mary, enduring her own marital fracture as she doggedly pursues her hunch about one unaccounted-for resident of the apartment building, all the while haunted by memories of her father's boxing career.

Lazarus Man's appeal mainly depends on Price's skill in stirring readers' sympathies for these engagingly flawed characters and portraying the world they inhabit with a gritty realism. To the extent there's any drama in the novel, it's reserved for a moment close to the end of the story, but when it appears it only provides further evidence of Price's confidence and talent. --Harvey Freedenberg, freelance reviewer

Shelf Talker: A tragic building collapse in New York City brings together four characters struggling in different ways to right their lives.