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Booklist interviewed Minotaur’s head Andrew Martin. Minotaur is the mystery arm of the publisher St. Martins. One part of the article talks about the great success Minotaur has had with award winners and nominees. I think one reason might be taking chances on newcomers. Back when I was with St. Martins, around 2001-2003, they published tons of people but gave them very small advances and small print runs. There was clearly a divide between most authors and the likes of Janet Evanovich.

Barbara Seranella, for example, had just 1500 copies of her first book, No Human Involved, published. Paradoxically, it took off partly because there were so few copies. Collectors sought them out after it got great reviews, and at one point first editions were selling for $500. People would approach Barbara, hand her a pristine book, and say proudly that they had never read it (because it was worth more in an unread condition.) A number of publishers vied for the paperback rights.

Read the interview here.

Barbara Forrest was educated in Louisiana public schools and is professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University. She was one the six experts witnesses for the plaintiffs in the first lawsuit filed over intelligent design creationism, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. Her book, Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design, which she co-authored wih Paul R. Gross, is a carefully documented expose of the intelligent design movement. In the article below she reflects on her role since the publication of the book.

When Paul Gross and I wrote Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design, we fully expected that someone with a child in a public school somewhere in the United States would eventually file a legal complaint to stop the teaching of intelligent design (ID) creationism. We had no idea, however, in January 2004, when our book first came out, that a legal case was already brewing in tiny Dover, Pennsylvania. In December 2004, Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District was filed in the Middle District of Pennsylvania by eleven parents who objected to the Dover school board’s attempt to inject ID into the local high school’s science curriculum. (more…)

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My computer helpfully reminded me that today was Barbara Seranella's birthday. It would have been her 51st. I was invited to the big party for her 50th, the one that marked the miracle of her surviving not one but two liver transplants and a lot of complications. I wasn't sure how many people I would actually know, so I didn't go. Now I wish I would have.

I still keep her last email to me from when she was in the hospital waiting for a third liver that never came. The first part talked shop, and then she ended with:

"I sleep most of the time, nestled in my hospital linen and glad that I am not outside in the cold and wind and snow.

Lots of love, B"

Her new book Deadman's Switchcame out this month. I had the privilege of reading the first draft. I have no idea how she wrote that book. Her health was poor, her energy nil. But she did it.

And even planned on it being a series.





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Barbara Seranella
Born April 30, 1956
Died January 21, 2007

I just learned that my good friend Barbara Seranella, 50, a bestselling mystery author, died peacefully yeserday at the Cleveland Clinic with her husband Ron and her brother Dr. Larry Shore at her side. She was waiting for a third liver transplant. We were emailing back and forth just ten days ago.

I knew she was really, really sick, and it didn't look good, but if you thought that was the end of the story, you didn't know Barbara. She was the most stubborn person I know. And the most generous. She helped me out when I was nobody and she had no reason to. We toured together. I've stayed at her house. I loved her.

Rest in peace, Barbara.