I should be posting about a wicked cool overlooked book today but I'm reading a ton of nonfiction for my next column and it is all too new to be overlooked (if that makes any sense). I also just finished Cross Creek and while that is not overlooked, it wigged me out to the extreme and does not meet wicked cool status on any level. (More on that in a day or two.) But I'm at least thinking about how I should be thinking about wicked cool books. So that's something, right? (sigh)

Several links of note have come to mind however:

1. Liz Hand reviews Patti Smith's Just Kids in a way that makes me desperately want to read it. To wit: "A brief stint at Glassboro State Teachers College ended with her expulsion when she got pregnant. She gave up her infant for adoption and a few months later, in the summer of 1967, boarded a bus to New York City with some drawing pencils, a notebook, $32 she pinched from a purse left in a phone booth and a copy of "Illuminations" by Rimbaud, her "archangel" and spiritual mentor. "It was for him that I wrote and dreamed. . . . His hands had chiseled a manual of heaven and I held them fast."

2. Speaking of Liz Hand, her short novel, Illryia is coming out for teens this May from Viking - a welcome announcement for those of us who have been longing for it since its PS Publishing release. A bit: "Obsessive love between two young cousins in a once-great New York theatrical clan, set against the backdrop of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" and the ruins of their family's Hudson Valley compound. " (See Mumpsimus review here.)

3. And more on Liz Hand - does anyone know what became of her YA novel Wonderwall which was supposed to by out last fall from Viking? It was in the catalog but then never appeared and has now all but vanished. Inquiring minds want to know whatever became of it.

4. Rebecca Skloot's The Immortal Life of Henriette Lacks is picking up more and more steam from positive reviews. Talk about a book for Black History Month! From the Boston Globe:

In time, Deborah Lacks [the daughter] joins forces with Skloot. The trail takes them to where it all began: Johns Hopkins. They meet Christoph Lengauer, a researcher who believes that the Lackses have been treated poorly and should be entitled to some of the proceeds from sales of their mother’s cell lines; the economically struggling family suggests they would like most of all to have health insurance. Lengauer invites Skloot, Deborah and her brother Zakariyya to see the HeLa cells.

In the end, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’’ is a fascinating read and a ringing success. It is a well-written, carefully-researched, complex saga of medical research, bioethics, and race in America. Above all it is a human story of redemption for a family, torn by loss, and for a writer with a vision that would not let go.

They don't want money, just health insurance. If that isn't America in the 21st century, I don't know what is. Must read for sure though - especially as it is as much about the writer on the trail of her subject as the subject herself.

5. Gwenda has several links on the amazon vs macmillan war. I especially agree with her assertion about Scott Westerfeld's post - he explains the bits that do and do not matter about the whole thing. As a writer and reader it all annoys me to no end although ultimately, it just makes the kindle that much less appealing. But then again, I've never complained about actually opening a book which is apparently a big deal for others. (I also like cds and vinyl however - so I imagine my opinion carries little weight.)

6. RE: vinyl and cds, I have to tell you I have no interest, at all, in anything Taylor Swift has to sing about. She is just so bloody bland. And Beyonce reminds me of Whitney back in the day - great singer but is she going to rock my world for decades? I'm not so sure. We got the complete B.B. King for Christmas - now that's talent. (My son however still loves Jewel and Johnny Cash - equally. Go figure.)

7. Finally, Kage Baker. What an amazing writer. If you like SF at all and are not aware of her work then you are really missing something. Gwenda is right that most of the world will likely not realize what we lost in her but they should. Here's a review I wrote in 2007 of two of her Company books - Rude Mechanicals and the collection Gods and Pawns. Here is why I adored Rude Mechanicals so much:

Rude Mechanicals takes place in Hollywood in 1934, and is from start to finish one of those excellent screwball comedy romps that I am unashamedly fond of. If you exchanged the cyborgs Lewis and Joseph for Myrna Loy and William Powell in any one of the Thin Man movies, you would have a version of Rude Mechanicals that fits on AMC any night of the week. Lewis is back in time to work on a theater project as a translator for director Max Reinhardt. His real goal is to obtain an exact copy of Reinhardt’s notes and promptbook, however, which a collector in 2342 would like to purchase. That is what the Company does -- it finds things from the past and either duplicates them or keeps them safe for customers in the future. It’s all about the money (some things never change), but for Lewis things take an unexpected turn when his fellow cyborg Joseph shows up looking for a favor. It turns out that Reinhardt’s project at the Hollywood Bowl is endangering a treasure the Company had Joseph bury long ago. He has to find it and move it, and Lewis has to help provide cover. It sounds easy, but just about everything that could go wrong (in the most hilarious fashion possible) does. In the climax Joseph is dressed like Mr. Peanut and crashes a porn film being shot in a swanky house in the hills. Baker has successfully plugged a pitch-perfect 1930s wacky aesthetic into Rude Mechanicals.

For the record, Max Reinhardt was a real theater director who did put on an “epic theater” production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Hollywood Bowl before going on to direct a very ill-fated film version of the play in 1935 (James Cagny and Shakespeare? No wonder it wasn't a success). Baker grew up in the area and clearly knows the town and its rich history. There is a real rumored treasure, there was an infamous party house, and the set-up for what Lewis and Joseph find themselves in the middle of is quite firmly entrenched in what is known to be real and true. The personalities, of course, all belong to the author, and she does a fine job with the witty banter and snarkiness that seem to be hallmarks of this particular pairing. Add the Subterranean Press design and JK Potter illustrations and cover and Rude Mechanicals should be considered a boon not only to sf fans, but to anyone with affection for the glorious era of old Hollywood.

Off to review two books for Booklist now and a third baseball picture book (this time on Roberto Clemente). Then....well then who knows but many books await reviewing as the catchup from revision mania continues.

[Second post pic is of Henrietta Lacks.]