The National Book Award winners were announced last night, with T.J. Stiles winning the Nonfiction prize for The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. 

Check out The National Book Foundation's website for the complete list of winners and finalists in all categories.

Have you checked out our selected links in the far right column of the science fiction/fantasy/horror page?  I'd especially like to point out SciFan, a database filled with thousands of titles and authors that allows you to search for books by themes, release dates, series names and more.  

SF Site has tons of book reviews, author interviews and fiction excerpts.  SFF Net connects you to more than books if you're interested in writing speculative fiction yourself, or finding out more information about the SF community and its conventions.

This is just scratching the surface about what's available.  Have fun exploring!

This powerful and beautifully written novel is sure to be a classic. Winner of the Impac Dublin Literary Award and named of the Ten Best Books of the Year by the NY Times, Out Stealing Horses tells the story of a 67-year-old Norwegian man reflecting on his turbulent and very memorable youth. Trond Sander has moved to a remote cabin on the Norwegian/Swedish border, a place that is also the location of the last time he saw his father. The title refers to a tragic incident involving his then best friend who causes a horribly accidental gun accident following a night carousing and stealing horses. I had heard Per Petterson’s writing compared to that of his literary hero Dickens and it is indeed rich with voice and character. This is one of those rare achievements combining a riveting story with exquisite writing. It’s a book you will read and buy for friends. I did!

Electric Literature is a quarterly that strives to offer literary fiction for contemporary consumers, via paper, blog, Kindle, iPhone, YouTube, Twitter and audiobook. Writers such as Michael Cunningham, Colson Whitehead and Lydia Davis have been featured.
Check out their Twitter feed, YouTube channel and Facebook page.

The Financial Times and Goldman Sachs announced the 2009 Business Book of the Year: Liaquat Ahamed's Lords of Finance: 1929, The Great Depression, and The Bankers Who Broke the World. This year's winner tells the story of how mistakes made by four central bankers fueled the world economic collapse of the late 1920s.

Other finalists this year included:

• Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism by George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller
• Good Value: Reflections on Money, Morality, and an Uncertain World by Stephen Green
• Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century by Nandan Nilekani
• The Match King: Ivar Kreuger and the Financial Scandal of the Century by Frank Partnoy
• In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic by David Wessel

When he created the popular graphic novel Bone, Jeff Smith created something truly original. “Bugs Bunny meets Lord of the Rings,” is the way he likes to describe his part action part comic book series. Learn more about how this artist got his startand how comics and graphic novels have changed over the years by watching Cartoonist: Jeff Smith, Bone, and the Changing Face of Comics.

It's been 160 years since the great master storyteller Edgar Allan Poe died at age 40, and only 7 people attended his first funeral. Fans decided it was time for him to be honored properly with a full scale memorial in Baltimore on October 11 of this year. The author/editor Ellen Datlow describes the funeral service in her blog and shares the eulogy she wrote for him.

If you'd like to honor the great one yourself, watch this performance by Vincent Price of Poe's poem The Raven and revel in the chilly goodness of his macabre sense of story.

SciFi Wire is running 31 specials for 31 days of Halloween. Day 3 is a list of the 10 Scariest Stephen King Novels.  I don't agree with the all the list.  I think It should have definately been included.  What do you think?  For fun, follow along with all the specials for the month including greatest toys based on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu. Loved it!  I think I need me a pair of Cthulhu plush slippers.

Comics professionals choose the nominees and vote for the winners of the Harvey Awards, recently announced at the Baltimore Comi-Con.  Here's a Comic Book Resources article about the event itself, and a quick summary of the winners.

Best New Series:  Echo, by Terry Moore
Best Writer: All-Star Superman, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly (art)
The Umbrella Academy, by Gerard Way (Dave Stewart as Best Colorist and Gabriel Ba as Best Artist)
Best Anthology: Comic Book Tattoo: narrative art inspired by the lyrics and music of Tori Amos
Best New Talent: The Mice Templar, by Bryan J.L. Glass

In Jonathan Tropper's entertaining new novel, This is Where I Leave You, thirty-something Judd Foxman tells the story of sitting shiva after the family patriarch dies. The tale takes place over one week.  Judd's marriage has just fallen apart when he discovered his wife Jen is having an affair with his radio personality boss. Now unemployed, Judd recently moved into a rundown apartment. On top of those traumatic events, the thought of sitting around for seven days with his dysfunctional family is disturbing, as is the disorienting grief he feels about losing his father. Tropper's style perfectly blends pathos with laugh-out-loud moments. Several wonderfully awkward situations (which may offend some readers) showcase Tropper's great imagination and talent. I agree with an Amazon reader who says, "If all books were like this, I'd spend my life reading."

MinnPost.com has just lauched a "Book Club Club." The new page offers book clubs news and suggestions, as well as a list of Minnesota book clubs that are open to the public. Local book clubs can register to receive invitations to events and a monthly email with news, tips, and coupons; clubs will also be entered in drawings for literary event tickets and prizes.

There's been a lot of controversy over the proposed Google Books settlement, with many players getting involved in the litigation, pro and con. Here's a good summation of what's happening, called The Google Books Settlement: Who is Filing and What are They Saying?

"What pays for all this?" he asked. "Grief in the face of inevitable death," said Crake. "The wish to stop time. The human condition." Not the most optimistic outlook, but that remains one of my all-time favorite lines from one of my favorite novels, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. This book is vintage Atwood – part dystopia, part absurdly funny, part tragic, and filled throughout with a haunting sense of relevance. This is the story of life gone wrong in a near future world in which genetic engineering is applied to everything from the food to transgenic pets (ask for a pigoon at PetSmart sometime). Driving the plot is an exciting adventure that carries the reader through to the climax and leaves you wondering about the fate of the main character, Snowman. I’ve read the book twice already and am on the (long) waiting list for Atwood’s newest novel, “The Year of the Flood” in which it looks like Snowman may make an appearance (if he ever survived). Forget “Flash Forward” and “V” on the television…sit at Snowman’s feet and hear an amazing tale. If you're someone who would like to stop time you can do so for 374 pages with this outstanding novel.

If you're considering adopting a shelter dog, the library has lots of resources to help.  Even if you're not adopting a dog this month, you'll find some great dog stories and irresistible photos!

Join comic book enthusiasts October 10 and 11 at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds for FallCon. Over 175 comic book writers, artists, inkers, retailers and publishers will be at this event. For more information, go to the Midwest Comic Book Association's website.