Bay Area Literary Tidbits

The disappearance of Nina Reisner in the winter of 2006 captivated the Bay Area, as immediate suspicion fell on her brilliant, eccentric computer geek husband Hans Reisner. Nina’s body was never discovered, but Oakland prosecutors charged him anyway with her murder. His behavior at the trial was erratic and disturbing and he finally confessed that he had killed his beautiful Russian-born wife. He then led authorities to her body, which he had hidden in the East Bay hills.

San Francisco Chronicle reporter Henry Lee covered the case, and even live-blogged the trial. Lee has now sold a book on the pair’s tumultuous relationship. Here is the report from Publisher’s Marketplace:

San Francisco Chronicle reporter Henry Lee's THE BEAUTY AND THE GEEK, the story of the Linux programmer accused of making his ex-wife disappear who was eventually convicted of her murder without the body being found until a last-minute change of heart led to a surprise ending, to Tom Colgan at Berkley, in a nice deal, by Jeff Gerecke at Gina Maccoby Literary Agency (World English).

Another Chronicle reporter, Steve Winn, has also sold a book:

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Steven Winn's COME BACK, COMO: The Runaway Mutt Who Ran Off with My Heart, the tender and humorous story of his uncommonly rich experience with a scraggly, man-hating dog from a local animal shelter who was bent on breaking his sanity, his bankbook, and his heart -- based on a popular ten-part series in the Chronicle, to Lisa Sharkey and Nancy Miller, for Collins, in a pre-empt, by Amy Rennert at Amy Rennert Agency (world).

Zoe Carter, a Berkeley writer, has sold a memoir about her dying mother’s explicit plan to kill herself, and how that decision enmeshed and changed her family:

Zoe Carter's IMPERFECT ENDINGS, about a family coming to terms with their mother's plan to commit suicide after a long illness, to Amanda Murray at Simon & Schuster, by Sharon Skettini at Sterling Lord Literistic.

Christina Meldrum’s debut novel Madapple, , has been selected as one of Amazon’s top books of the year.

Thursday Literary Musings

Lots of Bay Area literary news:

Zyzzyva editor Howard Junker is stepping down after 25 years. The Los Angeles Times takes a look at what he accomplished.

Novelist Harriet Chessman writes about her first novel on Meg Waite Clayton’s great new blog about writing.

Christina Meldrum, the author of Mad Apple, appears on Ron Hogan’s blog Beatrice. She talks about the research behind her book, specifically the question of whether a novelist who bases her writing on fact must present those facts accurately in a book.

The Times of London gives City Lights Books the star treatment.

Mad about Madapple

I have been to a lot of nice book parties. The one with the best food was thrown by Nancy Oakes and Pamela Mazzola for the release of their cookbook, Boulevard, named after the well-regarded restaurant. That’s the only book release party I have attended where I was served tuna tartare in ceramic spoons, prawns in saffron rice, and buttermilk fried chicken. More than 600 people showed up to sample the food and ogle over the glossy cookbook.

Julie Flynn Siler had a great party, too, at a beautiful estate in Ross, the wealthy enclave in Marin County that is home to Sean Penn and Robin Wright. The caterer set up food in a rustic barn and the guests spilled out onto a lawn facing the house and pool. There were shade trees everywhere, creating a cool green canopy. And since the book, The House of Mondavi, was about wine, there was plenty to drink.

My writing group, North 24^th, threw a really fun party in November for the release of Susan Freinkel’s book American Chestnut: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree. We all brought dishes to share and hung out in a beautiful house in Sea Cliff. I knew a lot of the people there, so it was a really intimate and fun affair.

But I have a feeling I am about to see the best party yet.

Last week, I went to my mailbox and pulled out a large format envelope. It was so big and fancy I thought it was a wedding invitation. I opened it to find an invitation on thick green cardstock mounted on black velvet. It was a request to attend a May 17 party for the release of Christina Meldrum’s book, Madapple.

Underneath the invitation was a 5 x 6 replica of the book. It had Madapple’s glossy cover and a few chapters of the book. The invitation screamed “important” and “noteworthy” and “fun” from every page.

Now Christina is a class act and one of the most beautiful women I know. But this small sampler is not just her creation. Her publisher, Knopf, helped pay for the invitation and reprint, which is highly unusual in this day of penny pinching and declining profits. It’s all part of the publisher's concerted push behind Madapple. A few weeks ago, Knopf hosted a party in San Francisco to introduce Northern California booksellers to Christina. The company wined and dined the store owners and made sure they knew that Madapple was going to be big.

There is already great buzz about the book, which will be released May 13. It’s a book about a teenager girl that is part thriller and courtroom drama, sprinkled with lessons on botany and spirituality. Madapple is being marketed to the young adult market, but is really a cross over that appeals to adults as well. It got starred reviews in Kirkus and Booklist.

It's going to be great fun to watch this ride.

Christina Meldrum