On Sale Today: THE DARKROOM OF DAMOCLES by W.F. Hermans

From the acclaimed author of Beyond Sleep, Overlook is proud to publish The Darkroom of Damocles, the first American edition of the 1958 masterpiece by the late Dutch novelist W.F. Hermans. Widely acknowledged to be the greatest Dutch novel of the twentieth-century, this classic work is now available in a new translation by Ina Rilke.

HOW TO FISH in Spirituality & Health Magazine

Perhaps there are some of us who wouldn't expect to read about a new fishing book in a magazine like Spirituality & Health, but Overlook's new How to Fish by Chris Yates is not your ordinary fishing primer. Here's what Spirituality & Health has to say: "Although Chris Yates is not a patient man, 'fishing offers a dimension where, even if you don't cast very far into it, you can be free of the wiredup world and suddenly in touch with an equally complex, less concise but deeper-rooted reality.' Photographer and founder of Waterlog magazine, Yates goes down to the riverbank one autumn morning and takes us with him. Morning slides into afternoon, and Yates describes his appreciation for the shifting scene, the history of the river, and the fish. His obsession is the perch. "The perch," he says, "is as emblematic of autumn as an amber leaf, a field of mist, a russet apple or a plume of bonfire smoke. It is the colour, charm, and soul of an autumn river made fish-shaped." After that, there's a little drizzle: he wonders what it sounds like underwater and if the fish feel it. The light changes and so does the shape of the river. He casts; his quill sails downstream and vanishes. Yates spends the long day at the river, measuring time in the number of casts. Sure that he is in the presence of perch, he waits for a sign; "Perhaps this fly on my pen will lead me to it," The "it" being as much the fish and the fishing itself, for unlike football and golf, fishing is non-linear and the only rules are moral. Fishing "makes us whole again each time we give it expression," This insightful, whimsical, poetical, practical memoir and how-to guide will delight anyone who has ever fished — and anyone who has ever wondered why he does fish."

Meet MAUREEN FREELY, Author of ENLIGHTENMENT, On Tour This Week

Maureen Freely, journalist, novelist and a celebrated translator of the Nobel Prize-winning author, Orhan Pamuk, is in the U.S. this week for the publication of her riveting new novel, Enlightenment. Born in the U.S., Freely grew up in Istanbul and now lives in England.

Maureen Freely will read from her new novel at these upcoming events:

Tuesday, May 13 - PHILADELPHIA, Borders, 12pm and NEW YORK, 192 Books, at 7pm.

Wednesday, May 14 - BOSTON, Red Fez, 7pm.

Thursday, May 15 - NEW YORK, American Turkish Society Event, 6-8pm (registration required)

Fri/Sat, May 16-17 - ANN ARBOR, MI ANN ARBOR BOOK FESTIVAL

Monday, May 19 - BAILEY'S CROSSROADS,Virgina, Borders, 7:30m

THE SECRET ADVENTURES OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE in The Los Angeles Times

Sarah Weinman takes a look at the growing trend of literary figures turning into detectives in The Los Angeles Times. Of the newly released The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte, Weinman writes: "Laura Joh Rowland's first stand-alone novel after a slew of mysteries featuring 16th century Japanese detective Sano Ichiro -- delivers almost exactly what its title promises. Flush from the success of "Jane Eyre" but battling writer's block, as well as the envy of her younger sisters, Charlotte takes an impulsive trip to London to clear up a case of literary misunderstanding and soon finds herself a witness to the murder of a fetching maid with ties to a conspiracy that would bring down the British monarchy. The plot spins out of control merrily enough and in suitably thrilling fashion, and it's great fun to watch sparks fly between Charlotte and the handsome spyman Mr. Slade."

Novelist Warren Adler Comes Home Again with FUNNY BOYS

In a recent article in the Jewish Journal, Dr. Morton Teicher reviews Warren Adler's new novel Funny Boys: "The tumler, to follow Adler's usage, is a comic, singer, clown, actor, jokester, master of ceremonies, noise-maker, prankster, fun-generator, and over-all buffoon. Many of those who filled these roles in the Catskills went on to great fame – Danny Kaye, Sid Caesar, Joey Bishop, Buddy Hackett, Milton Berle, Jerry Lewis, Red Buttons, and Jackie Mason, to name just a few. Adler's tumler is Mickey Fine, a young man who is an aspiring comedian. He works in his father's ladies underwear store in Brooklyn and attends CCNY at night. For several summers, he has been a bus boy, a waiter and a "substitute tumler." As the story opens in the 1930s, he is hired to work as the tumler at Gorlick's Greenhouse, a Catskill Mountains resort near Fallsburg, which has a special clientele of Jewish and Italian gangsters who come for the weekends. During the week, their wives, children, and girl friends are in the hotel. The reality base for the story is reflected in the authentic names of these mobsters – Kid Twist Reles, Albert Anastasia, Pittsburg Phil Strauss, Louis Lepke (Buchalter), Bugsy Goldstein, and Frank Costello, among others. In any case, the fast-paced story holds the reader's interest as it inevitably reaches a happy ending. Author Warren Adler has written five collections of short stories and more than 25 novels, including The War of the Roses, which was made into a popular movie for which he wrote the screenplay. He grew up in Brooklyn so that he is familiar with the setting for part of his story. After graduating from New York University, he worked for several newspapers. He served in the army during the Korean War, stationed in Washington DC where he remained when he was discharged. He ran an advertising and public relations agency, owned radio and TV stations, and started a magazine. Since 1974 when his first novel was published, he has devoted himself full time to writing. He lived in Hollywood for many years, finally coming back to New York "from a forty-odd year exile in other parts of America." Referring to Thomas Wolfe's last book, You Can't Go Home Again, Adler refutes "the wisdom of this great title of the novel by Thomas Wolfe, the fabulous and favorite writer of my youth. Few read him now, although my guess is that one day he will have his long overdue revival." Adler has returned home to New York "And here I am. Home again." One consequence of his being back in New York is this latest novel which will make readers glad that Adler has come home again."

London Review of Books Features TODAY I WROTE NOTHING by Daniil Kharms

Tony Wood considers the achievements of the Russian writer Daniil Kharms and Today I Wrote Nothing, edited and translated by Matvei Yankelevich, in the current issue of The London Review of Books. "Yankelevich has written a sensitive introduction that treads a careful path through the many interpretative possibilities open to Kharms readers. What emerges most strongly from the selection is the character of Kharms’s world: both the one he created, in which Gogol and Pushkin tumble across a stage cursing each other and four-legged crows have five legs, and the one in which he was uncomfortably living. It would be wrong to draw too direct a line between the two, but their most obvious shared feature is the violence: carried out, in the case of the stories, or misanthropically imagined, in the case of diary entries and other writings."

Robert Blair Kaiser Chases the Mystery of the RFK Assassination in "R.F.K. MUST DIE!"

Robert Blair Kaiser's classic work on the assassination of Robert Kennedy will be published next month as the world marks the 40th anniversary of the RFK's tragic murder in Los Angeles on June 4, 1968. The new edition of "R.F.K. Must Die!" has been completely revised and rewritten by the author, who had unprecedented access to Sirhan Sirhan during the trial, which ended in a conviction in April 1969. Now available in paperback, "R.F.K. Must Die!" is an indispensable contribution to the literature of political assassinations and the quintessential book on Robert Kennedy's murder.

Mark Booth Explains THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE WORLD at the New York Open Center on June 22

Author Mark Booth will discuss his controversial book The Secret History of the World at the New York Open Center on Sunday, June 22. Booth will look at how Hebrew prophets, medieval and Renaissance astrologers, and the Freemasons understood the origins of consciousness, the structure of reality, and the purpose of life, and also explore whether we can experience the same supernatural patterns of meaning in our own individual lives that they and other writers steeped in the esoteric tradition, from Sophocles to Cervantes to Dickens to George Eliot to Tolstoy. For more information, call 212.219.2527.

New Fiction from PENNY VINCENZI

This is a terrific year for Penny Vincenzi fans. In June, Doubleday is bringing out An Absolute Scandal, another blockbuster novel set in the boom-and-bust years of the 1980s. And in October, Overlook will publish An Outrageous Affair, a mesmerizing page-turner that will delight new and old fans alike.

A mysterious, tragic accident in the 1950s; an inexplicable suicide twenty years later. What was the strange link between the two - and Caroline Hunterton's long-buried past? A secret which could not be kept for ever, especially from her two daughters, Chloe and Fleur. Fate had separated the sisters in time and distance - but bound them in mutual hatred - until journalist Magnus Phillips decided to tell the story that would tear their lives apart. Moving from wartime Suffolk to fifties Hollywood, from glitzy Madison Avenue to London's theatrical aristocracy and the machinations of cheque-book publishing, An Outrageous Affair explores the extraordinary, sometimes fatal, consequences of truth. Penny Vincenzi's electrifying novel An Outrageous Affair will be available in bookstores in October 2008.

I AM BLIND AND MY DOG IS DEAD: Classic Cartoons by S. Gross Reviewed on Bookslut

Sam Gross's classic collections of cartoons, I Am Blind and My Dog is Dead, is reviewed by Josh Cook on Bookslut: "Drawing subject matter from common myths, fairy tales, and the foibles of existence, nearly all the cartoons are worth a chuckle or a snort . . . the book is an excellent filler gift for any occasion certain to bring some laughter and joy to whoever receives it. This collection won't challenge for define the art of single panel comics, but it would be a welcome addition to any bathroom's or coffee table's idle time reading library."

Overlook Preview: THE PLOT AGAINST PEPYS by James Long and Ben Long

Coming soon is a gripping piece of English history from the father and son writing team of James Long and Ben Long: The Plot Against Pepys: The Untold Story of Espionage and Intrigue in the Tower of London. The early review attention has been stellar.

“Samuel Pepys is most famous for the diary he kept between 1660 and 1669, as well as his eyewitness accounts of the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London. As secretary of the admiralty, he played an important role in the development of the British navy. Yet in 1679, Pepys was imprisoned in the Tower of London on suspicion of treason, charged with being a secret Catholic and supporter of the Catholic Duke of York. Prolific novelist James Long and his son Ben Long investigate the mystery behind this arrest. Drawing on letters, government documents, and, where relevant for background, the famous diary, they piece together the plot against Pepys, identifying the role played by the mysterious Col. John Scott. The charges against Pepys were dropped a year later. While providing exhaustive sourcing, the authors present their findings in a non-academic style, more like that of a readable, entertaining crime thriller.”—Library Journal

"The authors recount how the Pepys investigation revealed the seamy underside of English political culture that included anti-Catholic hysteria, corruption, and betrayal. The story unfolds like a well-constructed detective novel, as each discovery leads to another layer of deceit. The Longs navigate the murky waters of the plot effectively, despite the large cast of characters and the narrative’s twists and turns. The result is an absorbing chronicle of political intrigue set against a tumultuous period in English history.”—Booklist

More Raves for THE WENTWORTHS

Katie Arnoldi's The Wentworths continues to draw rave reviews, and it now sits at #1 on The Malibu Times bestseller list and at #10 on the Los Angeles Times Bestseller list. Bloggers are loving it too, and this recently posted review on Bibliolatry called Funny Scum, may be just be the best one yet. And book blogger Ashley Merrill, on Front Street Reviews, wrote: " I can’t even formulate a word that can adequately describe this story. Wonderful, amazing, hilarious, sobering, entertaining; all of these words just don’t do justice to this piece of work."

Gerard Donovan's SUNLESS on The Believer's Short List for Best of 2007

Gerard Donovan's Sunless has been nominated for a 2007 Best Book Award from The Believer magazine! This extraordinary novel is set in the near future under the clear skies of Utah, and chronicles the darkly funny and emotionally stunted growth of a life overwhelmed with pharmaceutical solutions. Sunless is a masterful work of fiction from the author of Schopenhauer's Telescope, Julius Winsome, and the forthcoming Young Irelanders.