New Rowling, King Books Set for June

Written by Jon Williams

As we wait for spring to kick into full gear, it’s never too early to start thinking about summer beach reading and audiobooks for long trips. There is a wonderful slate of books scheduled for release later this spring and into the summer, but June looks to be a monster, with highly anticipated new titles coming from two juggernauts of the literary world.

It was recently announced that June 24 would bring The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith. This will be the second crime novel featuring private detective Cormoran Strike. The first Strike novel was last year’s The Cuckoo’s Calling, in which Strike investigated the death of supermodel Lula Landry, the adopted sister of his childhood friend. That book, of course, made news (and jumped to the top of the bestseller lists) when it was revealed that Robert Galbraith was, in fact, the pen name of J.K. Rowling, the wildly famous author of the Harry Potter books. After that series concluded in 2007, she made her first foray into writing for adults with 2012’s The Casual Vacancy. When that book was an automatic bestseller, she decided to use a pen name for her next book in order to see how it would perform on its own merits. That plan was foiled shortly after The Cuckoo’s Calling was published; however, it was drawing rave reviews even before the truth about its authorship was revealed. The Silkworm promises to pick up where the first book left off, with Strike this time investigating the case of an author gone missing before the publication of a devastating tell-all.

Before that comes out, though, June 3 will bring a new novel from Stephen King. Like Galbraith’s crime novels, King calls Mr. Mercedes his first “hard-boiled” detective novel, with his own signature macabre twist. The tale deals with a killer who operates by driving a stolen car into crowds of people, and the retired police officer on the trail to track him down before he can strike again. This is King’s first novel since last year’s Doctor Sleep, the long-awaited sequel to his early classic The Shining, and it kicks off a busy month for the horror master. On June 30, Under the Dome returns to CBS, a show based on King’s 2009 tome about a small town mysteriously trapped under an invisible force field that completely seals them off from the outside world. The second season’s premiere episode was written by King himself. In addition, later this year (November 11) King will publish Revival, a story more typical to his roots in the horror genre.

And of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of great stories coming out this spring and summer. Are there any titles you or your patrons are particularly excited about? Let us know in the comments section below.

Rowling Makes Under-the-Radar Return

Written by Jon Williams

The literary world was abuzz this weekend with the news that the book The Cuckoo’s Calling, ostensibly written by debut author “Robert Galbraith,” was in fact written by none other than Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling.

Rowling made her own debut in 1997 with the publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. That was the beginning of a seven-book series detailing the exploits of the boy wizard and his friends as they fought the evil Voldemort in his quest for power and immortality. The books were both a critical and commercial success; Forbes magazine declared Rowling the first person to become a billionaire by writing books. The books also spawned eight film adaptations.

The final Harry Potter book was published in 2007, leaving a question of where Rowling’s writing career would go from there. That question was answered in 2012 with the release of The Casual Vacancy, her first novel aimed at adults. It focuses on the fictional English town of Pagford, which is thrown into chaos by the death of one of its council members. The novel is set to be adapted into a television series for the BBC, to begin airing in 2014.

After the success of Harry Potter, the hype for The Casual Vacancy was enormous. It sold well, but responses were mixed, with critics noting the complete thematic departure from her children’s series—Potter focused on friendship and love, whereas The Casual Vacancy portrayed situations that were dire and bleak. Many felt there was no way Rowling could publish anything without it being compared to the cultural phenomenon that was Harry Potter.

It was partially for that reason that Rowling took on a pseudonym to publish her latest work, which was published in April. She had previously expressed a desire to write a crime novel, and leaving her own name off of it allowed it to stand on its own. The plan worked, with the book drawing strong reviews from such sources as Publishers Weekly and Library Journal. The publisher has since announced that a second book in the series will be published next summer, and that Rowling will continue to write them as Robert Galbraith.

Since it was confirmed on Sunday that Rowling is indeed the author of The Cuckoo’s Calling, sales of the book have exploded, and demand is sure to remain strong. Be sure to have plenty of copies on your shelves for patrons when the audio version comes available in September.