ESPN boxing blog: Four Kings by George Kimball “terrific”

George Kimball gives Bernard Hopkins a copy of his book, Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the Last Great Era if Boxing, at the Pavlik-Hopkins Pre-Fight Press Conference

ESPN Fight Credential: Pavlik vs Hopkins blog had some laudatory things to say about the “Pavlik–Hopkins and the Era of the Four Kings” panel discussion held at Caesars Palace on Saturday October 18. Reporter Don Steinberg filed three blog entries about the panel. Here’s one:

The guest panelists who discussed George Kimball's terrific book "Four Kings" shared some awesome inside stories.

Emmanuel Steward on Tommy Hearns' loss to Marvin Hagler in 1985: "The night we lost that fight was the most painful night of my life."

Bob Arum on Hearns's 1984 knockout of Roberto Duran: "The best knockout I've ever seen."

Larry Merchant said he always knew how concerned Hagler was about an opponent by seeing how many quarters of a pound under 160 Hagler weighed in at. Steward told how he got Leonard drunk to talk him into fighting Hearns into a 1989 rematch for $12 million.

Bottom line: Check out the book. -- Don Steinberg (read all three ESPN blog entries)

Purchase Four Kings, by George Kimball, at McBooks.com

George Kimball’s Four Kings: Boxing’s Golden Era

Four Kings
Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the Last Great Era of Boxing

By George Kimball

Their names are legendary: Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns, and Roberto Duran. They were exceptional boxers endowed with unique combinations of power and speed. They matured in the 1980s and fought each other as middleweights. With unforgettable courage and skill, they ruled the ring and ushered in the last Golden Age of boxing.

Veteran sports journalist George Kimball takes an authoritative look at the rivalries that fueled this great era in sports history. The result is a fast-paced, blow-by-blow account of four extraordinary adversaries and a remarkable boxing epoch.

“George Kimball cooks up some compelling nostalgia by recounting an era when great American fighters bestrode the planet. A former Phoenix sportswriter and long-time Boston Herald scribe (and current Phoenix contributor), he knows the game and, more important, the characters who inhabit it.” --Mark Jurkowitz, The (Boston) Phoenix (read the full boxing book review).

Purchase Four Kings at McBooks.com

From the Depths author Gerry Doyle interviewed on Notes from the Handbasket blog

Octoberguest! Interview with Gerry Doyle

by Laura Benedict, Notes from the Handbasket

I've owed thriller novelist Gerry Doyle a guest spot for a long time. His debut book, From the Depths, came out early last November--just a month after my own debut. Debut writers always go to the head of the line at the Handbasket. Newbies need all the exposure and support they can get!

Gerry's an editor for the Chicago Tribune's Metro section, but From the Depths takes place far from the Midwest. He brings new energy to the techno-thriller with CIA forensic scientist Dr. Christine Meyers, who must work with the Navy SEALS to discover what killed the entire crew of a defecting North Korean sub.

This past summer at Thrillerfest, From the Depths was one of the five finalists for the International Thriller Writer's Best Debut Novel award.

Today he's in the Handbasket to answer a few questions.

Welcome, Gerry!

As a career journalist, what was the instigating factor in your jump into fiction? And thriller fiction at that?

The instigating factor for my jump into fiction is the same as that for my jump into journalism: I just love writing. I've been writing fiction since the time I could pick up a crayon, and my love of the written word was what ultimately nudged me into journalism. Writing a book was almost an accident: An idea that just started gathering momentum as I put it on the page. All of a sudden it was a novel! The thriller genre is one that I think just about all of my work fits into. I tend to launch writing projects from ideas: What if? Why? How? And in the course of answering them, tense and precarious situations tend to unfold.


Who first encouraged you to write? (read the full interview)


Purchase From the Depths, by Gerry Doyle, at McBooks.com

Peter Wicked: latest historical novel by Broos Campbell finds Matty Graves taking on the French, the British, and a notorious pirate

Library Journal: Peter Wicked “eventful and enjoyable”

The third novel in the Matty Graves series (after The War of Knives and No Quarter) takes place during the Quasi War of 1798 to 1800, an undeclared naval conflict between France and the United States. Recovering from his ordeal during the slave rebellion on the island of Saint-Dómingue, naval officer Matty Graves is summoned to Washington for questioning about his role in the death of his captain and the sinking of a ship. While not formally accused of wrongdoing, Graves is removed from command and ends up "on the beach." —Library Journal (read full historical novel review)

Purchase Peter Wicked from McBooks.com

Fan of Julian Stockwin's Kydd Series builds model of HMS Teazer

Princess Anne in attendance as model of Teazer unveiled at the Ivybridge Library, U.K.

Follow highlights of British modeller John Thompson's progress over the twelve months of his project to build a model of Kydd's first command, the little brig-sloop HMS Teazer. HRH Princess Anne viewed the completed model, on loan to the Ivybridge Library.

John explains how the project came about:

In late March 2007, I contacted Julian to tell him how much I enjoyed his Kydd series of books. There were a number of e-mail exchanges between us, following which, to my huge surprise and joy, I received in the post early one Saturday morning a piece of rope from HMS Invincible (captured from the French in 1747 and sank off Selsey Bill in 1758) beautifully mounted and engraved.

I was so touched by Julian's generosity to a complete stranger that I pondered how best I could return his kindness - and the idea of this build of HMS Teazer germinated.

THE WAY AHEAD So, how would I go about this build? There were no pre-existing wooden model ship kits (Teazer being a composite vessel based on several real ships of the time), but to scratch build her would have taken up to 2 years or more. After research to glean further details of her origins, I deduced (and Julian confirmed) that HMS Teazer was based loosely on the “Cruizer Class” brig rigged sloops in operation from 1797 onwards. The Cruizer class were in fact the most common type of vessel operated by the British Navy and in effect were the real workhorses - and the backbone - of the Navy (read the full model ship-building story).

Purchase the Kydd Sea Adventures, by Julian Stockwin, at McBooks.com

The Book of Matthew: a serial killer outwits detectives in this macabre crime thriller

The Book of Matthew
A Macabre Novel of Suspense

by Thomas White

A series of frightening murders plagues San Francisco. To solve the crimes, Homicide Inspector Clemson Yao enlists the help of Angie Strackan, a realtor who once tried—and failed—to become the city’s first female homicide inspector. The two face off against a ghoulish, black-humored serial killer who whimsically refers to his grotesque murders as “messies.” Gripped by macabre obsession for a decade, he’s evolved into a grandmaster of slow, anguished death, roaming the globe to catalog the most despicable methods of execution and keeping his research in dozens of leather-bound notebooks.

Clem and Angie slowly unravel the murderer’s clues, but their quarry is always one step ahead of them and even an FBI profiler can’t help them pin down the twisted mind behind the crimes. It’s a desperate race against time, for the killer has an agenda. His next victims are already picked out—and it seems no one can stop him.

Purchase The Book of Matthew from McBooks Press

Douglas W. Jacobson’s Night of Flames Wins Wisconsin Library Award

Night of Flames
A Novel of WWII

by Douglas W. Jacobson

The Wisconsin Library Association (WLA) has chose Night of Flames for an Outstanding Achievement Award for 2008.

Every year the WLA’s Literary Awards Committee reviews approximately 250 books written by Wisconsin writers, which were published during the previous calendar year, and selects no more than ten to be recognized as outstanding books. The books are judged o their literary merit as well as the quality of the writing, editing, printing and publishing.

Night of Flames is a sweeping thriller that follows the struggles of Jan and Anna Kopernik, two Polish patriots caught up in the struggles of WWII. When the Germans invade Poland in 1939, they set off a fire storm of violence and destruction. Jan and Anna become separated during the ensuing years of German occupation. Anna flees to Belgium and is caught up in the Resistance there, while Jan escapes to Britain with the battered remnants of the Polish army. (See list of 2008 Literary Award winners.)

Purchase Night of Flames: A Novel of WWII, by Douglas W. Jacobson at mcbooks.com

Jewish Princess Cookbook: humor and recipes celebrate the JP in everyone

If you ask almost any Jew "What does a Jewish Princess make for dinner?" the answer would probably be the punchline of an old joke: "reservations." Ask Georgie Tarn and Tracey Fine, however, and they'll respond with one of their unique recipes, such as Bloody Mary Borscht.

"We were tasting our borscht recipe and we thought, 'Why not jack it up a little bit?' So we gave it a kick," Tarn said.

That kick: tomato juice and vodka.

The U.K. duo of Tarn and Fine, lifelong friends and co-authors of "The Jewish Princess Cookbook: Having Your Cake and Eating It" (McBooks Press, $18.95), said they've written the book in the voice of a classic Jewish Princess, or JP, an illustrated character in the book whom the authors describe as their shared alter-ego.

According to the cookbook, which was first published across the pond in 2006, being a JP involves adhering to a princess pledge, like "buying lots of evening shoes and wearing them" and "embracing my mishegosses, because they make me who I am." Most importantly, the JP must always abide by the three Ps: staying positive, productive and princess-like in every way.

Tarn and Fine got the idea for their cookbook after a self-proclaimed midlife crisis. Both were successful in their careers (Tarn was an aerobics trainer, while Fine ran a giftware company), but they wanted to try something new. -- Molly Binenfeld, The Jewish Journal
(read the full interview)

Purchase The Jewish Princess Cookbook at McBooks.com

Jewish Princess Cookbook authors Tarn & Fine pitch to Jewish book festivals

The Jewish Princess Cookbook
having your cake and eating it . . .

by Georgie Tarn and Tracey Fine

Cookbook authors Georgie Tarn and Tracey Fine flew from their native Britain to the U.S. to attend the Jewish Book Council’s Book Network conference in Los Angeles. Georgie and Tracey took part in the Meet-the-Authors program on May 28 where they pitched their humorous take on classic and nouveau Jewish recipes to more than 150 of the council’s Network members. Members who like what they hear, will sign up Georgie and Tracey for appearances at Jewish book fairs this coming fall. Good luck, ladies. Our fingers are crossed.

Contrary to popular stereotype, the Jewish Princess is simply a woman who knows how to make the most of herself and how to enjoy life to the fullest. She also knows that good food is a large part of that enjoyment. The Jewish Princess Cookbook shows her how to have her cake and eat it too.

Purchase The Jewish Princess Cookbooks at McBooks.com

Broos Campbell, author of Matty Graves series, interviewed by JAAL

James Blasingame, from the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, corresponded with historical fiction author Broos Campbell by e-mail.

James: Your books are easily compared to the Aubrey-Maturin sea adventures written by Patrick O'Brian, such as those that formed the basis of the Master and Commander movie. Anyone who enjoys the authenticity of his descriptions of sea battles will enjoy your detailed narratives of the strategems of war at sea even more. Tell us a little about your work on a tall ship. Did you ever think you would wind up writing about it?

Broos: That's a tremendous compliment. I don't deserve it, but thank you all the same. My time in a square-rigger isn't extensive—just long enough to say I've done it, really. I kept telling the other crewmembers that I was going to write a book about being aboard, but at the time it was more of a way to explain why I was there than anything else. I used to dread going aloft, and sometimes they looked at me funny. I mean, it might've been my imagination, but probably not entirely.

James: Crewing on a sailing ship is surely a dangerous proposition. Were you ever in a situation where you wondered if you would make it home alive? –James Blasingame, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy (read the full interview)

Purchase Broos Campbell’s Matty Graves novels at McBooks.com