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Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you had wonderful and safe celebrations…ours, at a friend’s house, featured a magnum of very good Champagne that lasted a mysteriously short period of time shared between six people. (Next year, we’ll have to invest in at least two, or perhaps a  jeroboam…)

I have a New Year’s Day tradition, begun ages ago, of watching “Blackadder” episodes while moving very little. Yesterday I continued this hallowed ritual, sharing it with my mother, who is laid up with a very bad back. I carted the Mini Mavens with me over to my sister’s house and while they read, slept, and played with their younger cousin, my mom was introduced to the glory of Rowan Atkinson’s rubberfaced antics and a very young Hugh Laurie’s foppish splendor as the Prince of Wales (nothing like the Laurie of “House” atall atall.)

Anysleepyafternoonhow, after yesterday’s videofest, today I’m jonesing for new reading material. I do have a few early 2009 releases to recommend to you, before I ask for your recommendations. Here they are:

Entertaining Disasters: A Novel (With Recipes) by Nancy Spiller (Counterpoint): Pay no attention to the Publishers Weekly review that says this is “a static character study of a whining foodie.” It’s a lot more than that, and if Spiller never quite reaches the heights of meaning, it’s because her reach exceeds her grasp — and that’s far better than most of the genre muck on bookstore shelves. Don’t read this one too quickly. It needs patience, so you’ll understand why many of the recipes are bizarre and “unexecutable,” according to PW. There are reasons for that. I look forward to Spiller’s next book.

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Baumeister (Penguin): Baumeister is another debut novelist who also happens to be a slow-food aficionado, and she imbues this lovely, Maeve Binchy-esque book with slow-won wisdom. Each chapter is built around an individual’s story and a single ingredient, but all of the characters are attending a remarkable cooking class at a restaurant called Lillian’s (the chef/teacher is the eponymous owner). Think Binchy’s “Scarlet Feather” crossed with Kate Jacobsen’s “The Friday Night Knitting Club.” Perfect book for a cold January evening, preferably with some artisanal hot chocolate close by.

In the Shadow of the Master: Classic Tales by Edgar Allan Poe and Essays by Jeffery Deaver, Nelson DeMille, Tess Gerritsen, Sue Grafton, Stephen King, … Lisa Scottoline, and Thirteen Others edited by Michael Connelly (William Morrow): I know that one year’s end In/Out list said using periods for emphasis it “OUT,” but then, I’m never really in, so about this book let me say: Just. So. Good. Get it! Read it! Re-read “The Masque of the Red Death.” I defy anyone to find a modern story that’s as evocative and creepy all at once.

What are YOU reading that’s new for 2009? Or looking forward to reading in 2009, new or not?

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NB: Last week it was photo insertion that was giving me fits; today, it’s link insertion. I beg your indulgence as I figure out what WordPress wants from me! Meanwhile, I’m publishing this so there’s something new to read…

When last I wrote, it was to tell you about a new favorite bookstore…it just so happens that I had another fun bookish encounter while I was in NYC. While arriving at the NY1 studios to tape segments on children’s books for the holidays (BTW, our own Reading Rockets has a very cool list here), I literally ran into dynamic mother-daughter author duo Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark, who had just finished an interview. I’d talked with them ages ago when I was AOL Books editrix, but had never met either one of them in person. Why am I telling you this, besides the fact that it was awfully cool to have a drive-by author sighting? Because Mary Higgins Clark told me that they will be here in DC in the spring for book promotion and said she would be happy to consider coming to “Author, Author!” for an interview. That’s not a done deal, but I’m hopeful that with a little planning, our team will be able to bring you interviews with one or both of these extremely popular novelists.

Another snapshot: Yesterday I emailed M.J. Rose to congratulate her on a great review from Patrick Anderson in The Washington Post for her new book The Memorist. She had literally just read the review and said she was “floored.” Since a visitor named Carole yesterday asked if we could interview M.J., the answer is a resounding “Yes!” I’ll be in touch with her publicist this week and will let you know as soon as possible when you’ll be able to read that interview. If you haven’t already read Rose’s previous novel in this series, The Reincarnationist, I highly recommend it — these books are really different, and a great way for historical novel fans to get a dose of romantic fantasy (or is it fantastic romance?).

And now for something completely different…a bit of news that makes me very happy. My colleague John Freeman (until last year president of the National Book Critics Circle, and an extremely talented critic) has been named American editor of Granta magazine. The last time John emailed me, earlier in 2008, he was so exhausted from his tenure as head of the NBCC that he said he was heading into seclusion with a case of Fanta and a complete set of “Knight Rider” DVDs. Either he’s completely recovered, or he’s traded those in for a case of Lilt and a complete set of “AbFab” DVDs. Heck, I’ll raise a can of Lilt in congrats for a job well-won by Freeman. I’m looking forward to some really interesting new Yankee content in my beloved Granta, which is the one litmag I almost always make time to read.

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When I asked Richard Peabody how he found writers to contribute to his anthologies, one of the things he brought up (as you’ll see in our interview) is the fact that he and his co-editor Lucinda Ebersole allow the women to write anything and any way they want to — which is not necessarily what working authors are allowed to do for publication in our culture. Peabody is speaking specifically about the divide between realistic and experimental fiction, but his observations hold true for other fictional divides as well.

While talking to authors over the past years, I’ve heard this again and again — that an author would like to write something new or significantly different from her previous work, but her publisher wants the same thing as last time.

That’s not surprising; publishing is a business, and books are products, much as we dislike admitting it at times. The quandary is that books often contain art, too. It’s good to know that people like Peabody and Ebersole remember that and honor it.

I hope you’ll enjoy this interview, and that it will make you consider what gives the Washington area a literary identity and community.

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This week, we’ve got something a little different on Author, Author!: Instead of a novel or memoir by a single author, we’re featuring Electric Grace: Still More Fiction by Washington-Area Women edited by Richard Peabody and published by Peabody’s own Paycock Press.

Peabody is best known as one of the founding editors of Gargoyle magazine — and he’s also the sole surviving editor, since he still puts out the publication, now with co-editor Lucinda Ebersole. You may not know Gargoyle, but its influence and Peabody’s tireless work have been two factors keeping Washington, DC literary life vibrant for the past 30-odd years.

Electric Grace is packed full of stories of every genre, length, and voice, including works by Michelle Brafman, Merle Collins, T. Greenwood, Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, Faye Moskowitz, Barbara Mujica, Jessica Neely, Amy Stolls, Hananah Zaheer, and Christy J. Zink.

We’ve got ten copies of Peabody’s collection to give away on this winter Monday, and hope you’ll claim yours (after reading our guidelines, naturally) by telling us something about your favorite female writer — DC-based, or not!

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