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2010 Edgar Award Winners

The 2010 Edgar awards were announced on April 29th. The Mystery Writers of America give these awards to honor the best fiction and nonfiction in the genre, produced the previous year. The awards began in 1954 and are named in honor of Edgar Allan Poe. John Hart's The Last Child took the award for Best Novel, and Stefanie Pintoff's acclaimed debut, In the Shadow of Gotham, was awarded Best First Novel.

Happiness at Work

In these tough times, there are few people who are completely happy with the current conditions. From business executives to the everyday Joe or Jane, everyone seems to be going through a rough economic and personal crunch. But acclaimed business school Professor Srikumar Rao says that we can learn to create joy no matter what else may be going on around us.

Rao shows you that it isn't the negative thing that happens to you that causes your unhappiness, it's how you see it. Happiness at Work is a thought-provoking new book that moves the mind away from negativity and forces you to resist labeling situations as "bad", but rather seeing them as neutral.

Staying One Step Ahead of the Reader: Andrew Fukuda's Debut

Every so often, a new author comes along with a story that has the power to leave you breathless and stunned by an ending you didn't see coming. New on Kindle this week is just such a story: Crossing by Andrew Fukuda.

Xing (pronounced "Shing") Xu, a Chinese teen, is visible only when he's being tormented or mocked. As such, he moves through life as an almost invisible observer. When a series of mysterious abductions paralyzes his small hometown and high school, Xing's position on the fringes of the community suddenly becomes an advantage. Local police are baffled by the crimes, but Xing, so easily ignored by those around him, sees and hears the things others do not. But does Xing know more than he's telling? In fact, should he be trusted at all?

One of the great joys of this novel is in trying to figure out if Xing is a "reliable" narrator (in the grand tradition of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley), piecing together clues from what is said, or, more importantly, what is left unsaid. It's a tricky, subtle high-wire act that Fukuda pulls off with the skill and elan of a seasoned novelist.

We don't want to give away too much; one of the pleasures of Crossing is the unfolding. It weaves together a great character study, an unblinkingly honest look at the Asian-American experience in modern day America, a harrowing reminder of the mine field known as high school, and a gripping and surprise-filled whodunnit.

A lot for a first novel? Well, yeah.

But Fukuda certainly pulls it off.

Leadership Secrets of Hillary Clinton

I am CEO of a global Leadership Development organization headquartered just outside Washington, DC. Our work has significantly intensified in the past year as a result of the complex issues and new demands facing business leaders. Our world is changing and it's clear to me that how organizations and their leaders respond to both the challenges as well as the opportunities of today will determine their vitality, growth and competitive advantage in the months and years to come. The best of these leaders will use this time to re-energize their employees by helping them tap into their resiliency and giving them the tools and techniques to "bounce back"--stronger and more effective than ever before.

Based on my 20 years of experience coaching executives from all sectors of the business community, I've learned that the true test of leadership is not leading in the best of times--actually that's pretty easy, but it's leading in times of crisis and misfortune, rapid change and even failure. This is when great leaders help others to recognize their unique strengths and leverage their potential by tapping into a core set of beliefs and unique behaviors that help all of us boldly face and effectively deal with whatever comes our way!

You may already be doing this. To discover if you are being resilient and effectively navigating this new business terrain, ask yourself:

- Am I able to adapt to new situations while remaining authentic to my core values and leadership behaviors?
- Can I influence decisions that affect me and my organization?
- Do I communicate effectively to the right people, at the right time, in the right way?
- Do I have a vision that that can be easily articulated and shared with others?
- Do I embrace change and take advantage of new opportunities?

And what are you doing to cultivate resilience across your organization?

- Do you bounce back from challenging situations? Are you providing others with the tools and techniques to do this?
- Are you a continuous learner? Are you helping others set a course of action for their on-going growth and development?
- Do you know how to learn from your mistakes? Are you encouraging others to embrace "lessons learned" and move forward with greater insight?
- Do you live and work with a sense of purpose, inspiring those around you and empowering them to succeed?

One of the best ways I've found to do all of the above, is to watch what successful leaders do when faced with difficult circumstances and then adapt their strategies to your own business situations. That's what I've done in my new book, Leadership Secrets of Hillary Clinton. Hillary has fascinated me for years now as I've watched her face adversity and bounce back time after time during her personal leadership journey. There's little doubt that she is one of America's most visible success stories and she has become a powerful force on the world stage. I believe she is a perfect example of the "resilient" leader. We can gain many insights into our own leadership success by examining her "secrets"--a unique formula of open-mindedness, intense focus, and adaptive authenticity--and then applying them to our everyday business activities.

In each chapter, I have defined one of Hillary's "7 secrets" for successful leadership and given examples from her personal experiences which I hope you will find both entertaining and enlightening. Then I've described 5 things you can do today to build that particular leadership competency for yourself and within your team. There are self-assessments to help you get started and practical suggestions for how to put each "secret" into action. Some of the "secrets" include Being Resilient; Getting Connected; and Embracing Change.

I hope this book will be a useful roadmap for leaders at all levels within your organization and one that each of you can share with your team as you help them to build their own capacity for resiliency and, ultimately, exceed their wildest expectations!

--Rebecca Shambaugh

Capturing the Spirited Life of Al-Anon Co-founder Lois Wilson, On Paper and in Film.

The Hallmark Hall of Fame special When Love Is Not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story airs on CBS on Sunday, April 25th at 9 p.m. ET. It is based upon William G. Borchert's authorized biography, The Lois Wilson Story: When Love Is Not Enough. Lois Wilson was co-founder of Al-Anon and the wife of Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson. Here is an excerpt:

For more than fourteen years prior to Lois Wilson's passing, my wife and I had the privilege of knowing her as a close and dear friend. I was also honored when Lois gave me permission to write a screenplay based on her and her husband Bill's life together and the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. Titled My Name Is Bill W., the movie starred James Garner as Dr. Robert Smith, James Woods as Bill Wilson, and JoBeth Williams as Lois.

Before I wrote this film, Lois generously allowed me to tape many of her remembrances of years past and her struggles before, during, and after Bill's drinking years. I used some of these poignant and intimate recollections to create a true-to-life movie that garnered a number of awards including a Best Actor award for James Woods.

But the film focused to a large extent on the accomplishments of Bill and Dr. Bob and the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, barely addressing Lois's own personal inner conflicts that led to the founding of Al-Anon. Her biography, The Lois Wilson Story: When Love Is Not Enough, was long overdue.
In accepting Lois's confidence, I promised her one important thing--that I would always tell the truth of her story. She was comfortable with that, knowing that I would share the warts as well as the beauty marks, the pain as well as the joy, the intimate as well as the obvious.

For Lois, it was always Bill. I remember the Saturday afternoon I sat with her on the back porch of Stepping Stones, their home in Bedford Hills, New York, and read the movie script for her approval. When I finished, she simply smiled and said: "Bill would have loved it." And I recall the evening we were chatting in her living room about their early days together and she remarked: "I used to think my life really began the day I met Bill. He was handsome and exciting and I just knew he was capable of great things. I guess I was as addicted to him as he was to alcohol. Then he got sober--and I got well."

But that deep love between them remained. As Lois Wilson lay dying in Mount Kisco Hospital with a breathing tube down her throat so that she couldn't speak, I was told she scribbled a note to her nurse, "I want to see my Bill." A family member gave permission for the tube to be removed. Lois was able to breathe on her own long enough to say goodbye to the friends and loved ones gathered at her bedside. She died later that day at the age of ninety-seven.

In writing her authorized biography, I hoped that many of the poignant and intimate remembrances Lois shared with me will help the reader come to know the lady I knew and to understand the enduring gifts she left us and the entire world. For Lois Wilson was also capable of great things. Perhaps that's why her greatest dream was that some day the whole world would live by the Twelve Steps of AA and Al-Anon and there would be true peace upon the earth.

Indeed, the famous writer Aldous Huxley once said that when the history of the twentieth century is finally written, the greatest achievements America will be known for is giving the world Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon.

Get Grillin'

Steven Raichlen is one of America's grilling authorities. Available exclusively on Kindle until June 10th, Raichlen's How to Grill gets to the core of the grilling experience by describing everything from how to set up a three-tiered fire to how to grill a prime rib, a porterhouse, a pork tenderloin, or a chicken breast. You'll learn techniques for smoking ribs, cooking the perfect burger, rotisserieing a whole chicken, barbecuing a fish--as well as inside tips on grilling pizza, shellfish, vegetables, tofu, fruit, and s'mores. Bringing the techniques to life are over 100 all-new recipes including Beef Ribs with Chinese Spices, Grilled Side of Salmon with Mustard Glaze, Prosciutto-Wrapped, and Rosemary-Grilled Scallops.

Author Reveals Family Secret in Remarkable Literary Debut

Have you read and loved Kathryn Stockett's The Help or Toni Morrison’s Mercy?  Featured this morning in a USA TODAY review which hailed the book as a “remarkable debut,” we’re excited to present a similar, yet new voice in literary fiction that is now available on Kindle:  Francine Thomas Howard.  Her book, Page from a Tennessee Journal is based on a long-held family secret of her grandfather’s true identity and explores the complex relationships of whites and blacks during the time of Jim Crow laws.  Read on to see what editor, Terry Goodman, had to say about Howard's debut.

Dear Reader:

In Francine Howard’s stunning debut, Page from a Tennessee Journal, rural Tennessee of 1913 remains an unforgiving place for two couples--one black, the other white--who stumble against the rigid boundaries separating their worlds. When white farmer Alexander McNaughton falters into forbidden love with Annalaura Welles he discovers that he has much more to fear than the wrath of her returning gun-toting husband.  Alexander’s wife--flinty and pragmatic Eula Mae--wages her own battle against the stoicism demanded of white women of her time and social standing.  Former sharecropper John Welles, flush with cash from his year's sojourn working the poker tables in "the second best colored whorehouse in all of Nashville," wrestles with his devils as he struggles to assign blame for his wife's relationship with a white man.   The convergence of the lives and choices of these fascinating characters--made from fear, pride, determination, spite, nobility and revenge--leads to a heart-pounding and heartbreaking climax that feels at once original, audacious and inevitable. 

Page from a Tennessee Journal reads like a novel from someone who has been writing for ages.   It’s nuanced, powerful, shocking and sexual.  It masterfully exposes the shame of subjugation and subtly shows how fifty years after the Civil War, for most white people in the South; African-Americans were still thought of as slaves and black women chattel at best.   The characters you think you're going to hate have more resonance than you think they will and the characters you feel will be all-too noble reveal themselves to be all-too flawed. 

Page from a Tennessee Journal is populated with vivid, deeply human characters of all ages, races and social strata.   From the very first chapter you’ll know you’re in the hands of an accomplished, mature and secure voice.   I hope you’ll be as impressed and moved by the honesty, compassion and raw power of Page from a Tennessee Journal as I was.

Sincerely,

Terry Goodman
Senior Editor, AmazonEncore

Celebrate Earth Day by Protecting Oceans

Guest Blogger Margaret Southern, The Nature Conservancy

Earth Day’s 40th anniversary is today! How are you going to be celebrating?

Here at The Nature Conservancy, we’ve been thinking about ways we can help protect oceans – which contain some of Earth's most fragile and critical habitats. Help us celebrate Earth Day by following these three easy steps to help protect our oceans.

Photo Credit: Jeff Yonover

1.    Use Reusable Bags

What you buy and who you buy it from can be a great way to make a statement about the environment. But it’s not just what you buy that can have an impact on the planet, it’s how you bring those items home.

Whether it’s organic fruit or a plastic toy, most of us end up schlepping things home in plastic bags – around 100 billion a year in the United States alone, according to the Worldwatch Institute.

These bags and other plastic debris are choking our waterways, killing hundreds of thousands of marine mammals, birds and sea turtles annually and swirling around in our oceans in large gyres.

But there is something you can do about it. Ditch the plastic and start carrying reusable shopping bags. If you were to replace just 10 plastic bags a week with a reusable bag, you’d be saving 520 bags a year!

That might still seem like small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but imagine the numbers if everyone in your neighborhood gave up plastic bags. Or everyone in your town! Every little bit adds up.

 Our online community has already been sharing tips on their favorite reusable bags, where to find them and, of course, how to remember to bring the darned things into the store in the first place. 

2.    Choose Sustainable Seafood

Oceans provide the primary source of protein for more than 1 billion people around the world. And for centuries, the ocean’s bounty seemed inexhaustible. But humans have altered our oceans' ability to provide for us.

While the Conservancy is tackling that problem by working with communities to restore degraded habitats and rebuild depleted fisheries, it’s important that people remember to choose sustainable seafood.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium seafood guide is the go-to source for making the most responsible seafood choices.  They even have a pocket guide to ensure that the information is always at your fingertips. Forgot your guide? Just text Blue Ocean’s FishPhone to help you choose sustainable seafood at the grocery store or in a restaurant.

More and more chefs are also realizing that sourcing sustainable seafood for their restaurants is an important step in ocean conservation.

“By value, around 70 percent of the seafood eaten in North America is ordered in restaurants, which means chefs in particular have a need to source seafood responsibly,” says Dan Barber, executive chef/co-owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns.  “That means considering not just the appetites of our diners, but also the health of the oceans.”

Read more about why ocean conservation is so important to Barber and world-renowned chef Mario Batali (and be sure to check out their sustainable mackerel recipes).

3.    Green Your Gardening

What could gardens and oceans have in common? A lot, it turns out.

Conservancy marine scientist Steph Wear has spent a lot of time in the water. After seeing firsthand what chemicals and toxic substances can do to coral reefs (like toxic algal blooms and overgrowth of seaweed on coral reefs), it’s no wonder she refuses to use chemicals on her suburban central Florida yard. 

Wear explains how pesticides and other lawn chemicals end up in our waterways and provides tips on how to maintain a beautiful yard without harsh chemicals or pesticides.  And what about your vegetable garden? Wear says that a square-foot garden can produce up to five times the produce that a traditional garden of the same size would yield, while using 90 percent less water and 95 percent fewer seeds (and of course, it’s chemical-free!).

4.    Extra Credit: 

Finally, in honor of Earth Day, you can treat yourself and do something special to protect coral reefs at the same time – adopt a coral reef or see Disneynature’s OCEANS between April 22 and April 28 (a portion of ticket sales will go to the Conservancy’s coral reef work in The Bahamas).

Happy Earth Day!

Kindle Exclusive: A Brief History of Birth Control

TIME Magazine's Sex, Love, Freedom and the Paradox of the Pill: A Brief History of Birth Control is now available exclusively in the Kindle Store. The book traces the invention of the Pill half a century ago by its unlikely pioneers--from the early feminists looking for a way to free women from the fears of frequent childbirth, to a prominent Catholic doctor who was seeking a treatment for infertility and instead found a guarantee of it. It traces the social upheavals that coincided with the Pill's arrival and asks which ones it actually caused. It follows the unfolding attitudes of women toward the first form of contraception that they could totally control--and the backlash in recent years among social conservatives who once welcomed the pill as a blessing and now challenge it as a threat. And it explores the social, political and philosophical issues that men and women face when considering the most private questions of family life.

"We're happy to be able to offer our customers this exclusive book from TIME Magazine's executive editor Nancy Gibbs in the Kindle Store," said Melissa Kirmayer, Director, Kindle Content. "Timed to the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill, Sex, Love, Freedom and the Paradox of the Pill is a timely and important addition to the Kindle Store, available for our customers to download and start reading in less than 60 seconds."

The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices

Where does your chocolate come from? Does it matter if your coffee is fair trade or not? It matters--more than you might think.

In Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices, Julie Clawson takes us on a tour of everyday life and shows how our ordinary lifestyle choices have big implications for justice around the world. She unpacks how we get our food and clothing and shows us the surprising costs of consumer waste.

Clawson argues that how we live can make a difference not only for our own health but also for the well-being of people across the globe. The more sustainable our lifestyle, the more just our world will be. For today only, to commemorate Earth Day, you can download Everyday Justice for free.