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The Hachette Book Group has hired Rich Johnson, formerly of DC Comics, to look into heading a new graphic novel imprint. In an internal memo released to PW, Hachette announced the decision to go graphic by stating that the publisher "has been looking for a creative way to be part of this exciting category." Johnson, who had been v-p of book trade sales at DC, has been hired as a consultant to consider acquiring titles in a number of categories under the graphic umbrella including licensed manga, original manga, original American comics and graphic novels, webcomics, licensed adaptations and children's graphic novels.

While Hachette did say that Rich will be attending Frankfurt to "make contacts and gather information for this potential new venture," the publisher said it looks forward to releasing a statement with information on the name of the imprint along with details about new hires and staff.

Sony today also announced the premiere of its Connect eBook store. Agreements with a number of major publishing companies have made more than 10,000 eBook titles available to download to the Reader via the companion PC software.

And for a limited time, when a Reader is registered on the Connect site, people will receive a $50 credit towards the purchase of any available eBook titles which can now be reviewed online at ebooks.connect.com.

"Today, we're writing a new chapter in digital technology for reading," said Ron Hawkins, Sony Electronics' vice president of Portable Reader Systems marketing. "Easy and enjoyable to use, the Reader fulfills the promise of electronic reading in a way that no other device has been able to do. Not intended to replace traditional books, but to supplement them, the Sony Reader allows people to take a library of books and other reading material with them wherever they go."

Starting in October, book fans will find the Reader on shelves at SonyStyle stores located in high-end fashion malls throughout the country as well as at about 300 Borders(R) stores, including Borders airport locations. Borders, the exclusive bookstore retail partner for the Reader during the upcoming holiday season, will also sell pre-paid cards for eBook downloads on the Connect service.

Carmen Electra is set to add author to her impressive resume after writing a new book revealing her sexy secrets. The model/actress has written Carmen Electra: How to Look Sexy, which is set to hit bookstores in December 2006, according to American publication Life + Style. A source says, "It's a guide for how to wear clothes, how to put on the right make-up and even how to do your hair up so you look sexy."

Mum's the word when it comes to discussing her most famous charges: Apple and Moses Martin. But Rachel Waddilove - nanny extraordinaire not just to Gwyneth Paltrow's tots but to assorted other celebs' babies over the years - happily shares her tips on the hows (as in, how to get infants to sleep more than two hours at a clip), whats (to do about a reluctant feeder) and whens (to start solids) that plague exhausted new parents. "The Baby Book: How to Enjoy Year One" (just out from Lion UK and distributed here by Trafalgar Square) takes a different tack on some aspects of childcare.

For example, Waddilove recommends starting solid foods when a baby weighs 12 to 14 pounds and is taking a full bottle at each feeding. The American Academy of Pediatrics' official position is to start solids between 4 and 6 months. The author also says that moms who find it difficult to breast-feed their babies should not be made to feel bad about it. "I've had girls in a flood of tears if they find they can't breast-feed, and it's terrible," Waddilove says. "The trouble is that a mom feels so terribly guilty, and they shouldn't."

One of the main issues addressed by Waddilove is sleep. "Babies thrive on flexible routine," she says, adding that it's never too soon to start a routine. She doesn't say how she got Apple to sleep through the night for a seven-hour stretch by the age of 6 weeks, but Paltrow praises Waddilove in the book, describing the "loving structure" and "invaluable advice on everything from breast-feeding to parenting" that characterized the live-in tenure of Waddilove with the Chris Martin-Paltrow family.

*****

The eldest of six children, Waddilove got a degree in nursing and has worked as a nanny for years. She lives in England but travels around the world depending upon where her clients are. Waddilove is herself the mother of three and grandmother of four (daughter Sarah is expecting a third child in January.) "Although I am often called Mary Poppins when I arrive at people's houses and they don't know what to do next, I love to help families, particularly those who are struggling in the early weeks with a little one," she says. "I believe that children are a gift, and that as parents we should be able to enjoy them."

At the start of his talk Wednesday, during which Chavez referred to President Bush as "the devil," Chavez held up a book by Noam Chomsky, "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance," and recommended it to everyone in the General Assembly, as well as to the American people. "The people of the United States should read this ... instead of the watching Superman movies," Chavez later told reporters.

As of Thursday afternoon, "Hegemony or Survival," originally published in 2003, had jumped into the top 10 of Amazon, where it was ranked 20,664 the day before, and Barnes & Noble.com, from a previous ranking of 748. Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Henry Holt, has ordered an additional paperback printing of 25,000 copies.

Chomsky, the famed 77-year-old linguist, has long been an opponent of U.S. foreign policy. His many books include "9-11," a best-selling collection of interviews, and "Failed States," which came out last spring.

"All the media hoopla -- I don't know what else to call it -- is not entirely pleasant," said Chomsky's wife, Carol, who picked up the phone at the couple's Lexington home after just one ring today. "Noam is flooded, absolutely flooded." The problem, she said, and the likely reason her husband of 56 years would not return our call, is the nature of the questions Chomsky is being asked. They're not serious enough, she said.

"Everyone wants to know what his reaction is," Carol Chomsky said. "And that's on the level of gossip and of no consequence at all."

Speaking to The New York Times yesterday, Noam Chomsky told the paper "I continue to work and write," correcting Chavez, who mistakenly said while speaking at the UN that Chomsky was dead.

Bret Easton Ellis had to cancel the promotional tour for the paperback version of his Lunar Park novel due to a broken foot. The American Psycho author tripped on some stairs as he was leaving a dinner party in West Hollywood, fracturing his ankle.

Now he'll hawk the book from home via phone interviews. The situation reminds us of the time a Post colleague broke his ankle, and a rival columnist quipped: "At least it's not his writing foot."

"I wasn't his lover," Cipel, 37, said. "I didn't have sex with him. I never heard anything from him saying that he loved me. The only things that happened were sexual harassments. And unwanted sexual advances and assaults." Cipel, an intelligent, tough, ex-army lieutenant who's spoken to The News over a period of months, recalled that night in 2001. "One night, McGreevey called me and asked me to come over to speak to him about something related to work," Cipel said. "I came to his house and we had a good conversation and, all of a sudden, he asked me to go to a bar. I said, 'I think it's inappropriate for you to go to a bar, you're the governor.' And he said, 'This is my neighborhood. I grew up here, everybody knows me, I'm fine. I just want to get out a little bit.'

"I thought, he's the governor, I guess he knows what he's doing, so we went. There was a state trooper outside guarding the house and the trooper insisted he escort him. McGreevey said no, but we went to a little neighborhood bar in the Woodbridge area and the state trooper is behind us. Everybody inside knows him. He ordered a beer for himself and for me. I said, 'I don't really drink.' "He drank, I think, two glasses. He tells me, 'Come on, be a man, drink a little more.' I just took a few sips. I'd left my briefcase at his house so I had to get it. The bar had a liquor store and he said he wanted to buy liquor. He bought Jagermeister. I drove him back home, I got my bag and he said, 'The news is coming on, please stay, I want to talk to you about something.'

"He was pouring us drinks and he was drinking his. I didn't feel any warning signals or hostile atmosphere. I've thought a lot about this since. I thought he was just a normal guy. McGreevey was drinking. I said, 'I really have to leave, it's getting late.' He escorted me to the door and all of a sudden he said, 'I need to give you something, but it's upstairs.' "I said, 'Okay, I'll wait,' and he said, 'No, come with me, it'll be easier.' I was innocent, I had no clue this guy had any intentions. We went to the upper level. To the right was a bedroom and to the left, a den with his office. "He turned and pushed me with a lot of strength to the bedroom, and I was in shock. He put his hands to my chest and pushed me into the bedroom. He pushed me onto the bed and jumped on me.

"We wrestled and he stopped. And there was this moment when the two of us were in the room. And I asked him, 'Why did you think I was gay?' And he said, 'Everybody's a little bit gay.' I was very embarrassed. "If you would have asked me, before this happened, what would I do? I would say I'd punch the guy in the mouth. But I completely froze, and I just hurried out, out of the house. I went home and I couldn't sleep." When he saw his boss the next day, Cipel said, the only thing McGreevey said to him was, "I got rid of the liquor." "I never thought this would happen to me," Cipel added. "I realized my whole life was in the hands of this man. He controlled the police, appointed the judges, the attorney general. I'm a new immigrant, with only a visa. I didn't know what to do."

In a last-minute addition to its holiday-season list, Delacorte Press, an imprint of the Bantam Dell Publishing Group, is expected to announce today that it will publish Hannibal Rising on Dec. 5. The 356-page novel chronicles the early life of Dr. Lecter.

Mr. Harris just handed in the manuscript for Hannibal Rising last month, and Bantam is rushing to publish the book in time for the crucial holiday sales season. It also hopes to capitalize on the February 2007 release of the movie version of the new novel, for which Mr. Harris also wrote the screenplay. The movie, which is produced by the Dino De Laurentis Company and marketed by the Weinstein Company, stars Gaspard Ulliel, the French co-star of the 2004 film A Very Long Engagement, as the young Dr. Lecter.

Irwyn Applebaum, publisher of Bantam, said the timing was fortuitous. "Usually even the best-selling books have an eight-week excitement cycle," he said. "But for this book, the movie excitement will hopefully be at its height just as the book goes through that cycle, so it's a very good opportunity for this book to have an extended hardcover life."

Close readers of Mr. Harris?s previous novels, which also include ?The Silence of the Lambs? and ?Red Dragon,? may recall that Dr. Lecter saw his entire family killed during World War II in Eastern Europe. The new novel, which covers the young Hannibal from age 6 through 20, will shed more light on the circumstances of those deaths, with a focus on Dr. Lecter?s memories of his younger sister, Mischa.

The first project under the agreement is an adaptation of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series, Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter in Guilty Pleasures, which comes out in October. The series will feature the artwork of Brett Booth (Heroes Reborn: Fantastic Four) and tell a story of fantasy, romance and horror centering on an alternate reality where the U.S. government has declared the undead as legal beings. While attempting to coexist with humans, the vampires, zombies and werewolves still wreak havoc at times, and that's when Blake steps in.

In the coming months, Marvel and the Dabel Brothers will adapt George R.R. Martin's Hedge Knight series, Orson Scott Card's Red Prophet and Raymond E. Feist's Magician: Apprentice.

Marvel has signed on as the exclusive publisher for Dabel Brothers Productions, obtaining the marketing, print and distribution rights. The Dabel Brothers will continue to operate as an independent entity working with science fiction, fantasy and horror authors on story development.

Stephen King hooked me about three decades ago with that sharply faceted, blood-stained jewel, The Shining. Through the years he's bumped my gooses with kiddie vampires, tingled my spine with beloved pets gone rabid, justified my personal fear of clowns and made me think twice about my cell phone. I've always considered The Stand--a long-time favorite--a towering tour de force, and have owed its author a debt as this was the first novel I could convince my older son to read from cover to cover. But with Lisey's Story, King has accomplished one more feat. He broke my heart.

Lisey's Story is, at its core, a love story--heart-wrenching, passionate, terrifying and tender. It is the multi-layered and expertly crafted tale of a twenty-five year marriage, and a widow's journey through grief, through discovery and--this is King, after all--through a nightmare scape of the ordinary and extraordinary. Through Lisey's mind and heart, the reader is pulled into the intimacies of her marriage to bestselling novelist Scott Landon, and through her we come to know this complicated, troubled and heroic man.

Two years after his death, Lisey sorts through her husband's papers and her own shrouded memories. Following the clues Scott left her and her own instincts, she embarks on a journey that risks both her life and her sanity. She will face Scott's demons as well as her own, traveling into the past and into Boo'ya Moon, the seductive and terrifying world he'd shown her. There lives the power to heal, and the power to destroy.

Lisey Landon is a richly wrought character of charm and complexity, of realized inner strength and redoubtable humor. As the central figure she drives the story, and the story is so vividly textured, the reader will draw in the perfumed air of Boo'ya Moon, will see the sunlight flood through the windows of the Scott's studio--or the night press against them. Her voice will be clear in your ear as you experience the fear and the wonder. If your heart doesn't hitch at the demons she faces in this world and the other, if it doesn't thrill at her courage and endurance, you're going to need to check with a cardiologist, first chance.

Lisey's Story is bright and brilliant. It's dark and desperate. While I'll always consider The Shining, my first ride on King's wild Tilt-A-Whirl, a gorgeous, bloody jewel, I found, on this latest ride, a treasure box heaped with dazzling gems.

A few of them have sharp, hungry teeth.

McGreevey's book, due in bookstores Tuesday, details his inner battles with his homosexuality, his rise in New Jersey politics and his double life as a married father and a closeted gay. He described bedding the man whom he claims blackmailed him while his wife, Dina, was in the hospital after delivering their daughter.

He recalls how New Jersey state troopers were parked outside as he met with Golan Cipel, the man he would later put in charge of New Jersey's counterterrorism efforts despite having no experience. Cipel repeatedly has denied that he is gay. McGreevey recounts how he took Cipel by the hand and led him upstairs in December 2001.

"We undressed and he kissed me. It was the first time in my life that a kiss meant what it was supposed to mean ? it sent me through the roof," he wrote. "I was like a man emerging from 44 years in a cave to taste pure air for the first time, feel direct sunlight on pallid skin, warmth where there had only ever been a bone-chilling numbness." "I pulled him to the bed and we made love like I'd always dreamed: a boastful, passionate, whispering, masculine kind of love," he wrote.

We would like to request the following application to be dismissed due to problems with confidential exhibits listed on the website and updated exhibits the applicant wishes to provide in place of exhibits that have been submitted for this filing.

Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company, today announced that it is removing from its website the materials originally created for classroom use in conjunction with the ABC Television Network docudrama, "The Path to 9/1l," scheduled to air on the ABC Television Network on September 10 and 11, 2006. A new classroom discussion guide for high school students is being created and will focus more specifically on media literacy, critical thinking, and historical background.

"After a thorough review of the original guide that we offered online to about 25,000 high school teachers, we determined that the materials did not meet our high standards for dealing with controversial issues," said Dick Robinson, Chairman, President and CEO of Scholastic. "At the same time, we believe that developing critical thinking and media literacy skills is crucial for students in today's society in order to participate fully in our democracy and that a program such as 'The Path to 9/11' provides a very 'teachable moment' for developing these skills at the high school level. We encourage teachers not to shy away from the controversy surrounding the program, but rather to engage their students in meaningful, in-depth discussion."

The new guide clearly states that Scholastic had no involvement with developing the ABC docudrama, and that the company is not promoting the program, but that the program can provide a springboard to discussion about the issues leading up to 9/11, terrorism and the Middle East. The guide will focus on three issues:

1. Media Literacy -- what is a docudrama; how does it differ from a documentary; what are the differences between factual reporting and a dramatization?

2. Background to 9/11 -- what are some of the causes of unrest in the Middle East and other parts of the world that give rise to attacks on the U.S. and other countries?

3. Geography and Culture -- there is a long history of conflict in the Middle East. How well do students understand each of the countries involved and what influences their behavior?

Laura Albert, the woman who perpetrated the J.T. LeRoy literary hoax, finally 'fesses up. The literary hustler sits down for an interview with the fall issue of the Paris Review, marking her first interview since she was exposed as a hoaxster by the New York Times in February 2006. In the interview, Albert is unapologetic, even defiant, and - surprise, surprise - claims she is the real victim in a Q&A with Senior Editor Nathaniel Rich.

"She doesn't at all deny it," said Philip Gourevitch, editor of the Paris Review. "She lays it all out in an unapologetic confession. I think the mood is she feels she is misunderstood," he said. Albert, a 40-year-old woman, wrote fiction in the guise of a male many years younger, recalling life as a heroin addict, a homeless teen, victim of child abuse, teen prostitution and transgender bias.

Her works include two novels, "Sarah" and "Harold's End," as well as a short story collection with the now ironic title, "The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things." As her literary following grew, people clamored to meet and interview J.T. LeRoy in person, so she eventually convinced Savannah Knoop, the half sister of Albert's longtime partner Geoffrey Knoop, to partake in the charade.

Readers in several states, including New York, California and Illinois, filed lawsuits saying that Mr. Frey and the publisher had defrauded them by selling the book as a memoir rather than as a work of fiction. In June the cases were consolidated to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Under the terms of the agreement, which has been accepted by 10 of the 12 plaintiffs who are part of the consolidated case, both Mr. Frey and Random House will pay out no more than a total of $2.35 million, which includes the cost of refunding customers, lawyers? fees for both sides and a yet-to-be-specified donation to charity.

To claim a refund, readers who bought a copy of the book on or before Jan. 26 must submit proof of purchase. This will not be limited to a dated receipt however: hardcover buyers, who are entitled to a $23.95 refund, must submit page 163 (chosen at random, according to the source familiar with the negotiations); paperback buyers (entitled to $14.95) must send in the front cover of the book; those who bought the audio book ($34.95) will have to send in a piece of the packaging, and those who bought the e-book, at $9.95 apiece, must send in some proof of purchase.

People making a claim will also have to submit a sworn statement that they would not have bought the book if they knew that certain facts had been embroidered or changed.

Mr. Frey declined to comment. But his lawyer, Derek Meyer, said, "We worked with Random House on whether to resolve these lawsuits and the desire to move on became a powerful incentive to resolve what are otherwise very weak cases."

Mahfouz's novels depicted modern life in his beloved neighborhood of Islamic Cairo, a teeming district of millennium-old mosques and winding alleyways. He brought to life his city's traditional families as they faced the 20th century's upheavals, including the changing role of women. But he raised controversy among conservatives with his calls for religious tolerance. In 1994, an Islamic militant stabbed the then-82-year-old Mahfouz, accusing him of blasphemy because of one his novels, "Children of Gebelaya," a religious allegory that depicted Islam's main prophet, Muhammad.

Still, Mahfouz continued to write, often dictating stories. He was hospitalized last month after falling in his home and injuring his head, then died Wednesday morning after a sharp decline, Dr. Hossam Mowafi said. "His wife last night was whispering in his ears and he was smiling and nodding," Mowafi said. The Nobel prize, which he won in 1988, introduced to the world a man seen by many as the Middle East's greatest writer, with 34 novels, hundreds of short stories and essays, dozens of movie scripts and five plays over a 70-year career.

In a condolence statement, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak praised Mahfouz as "a cultural light" who expressed "the values shared by all, the values of enlightenment and tolerance that reject extremism." President Bush was saddened at Mahfouz's death, calling him "an extraordinary artist who conveyed the richness of Egyptian history and society to the world," the White House said.

*****

An unlikely condolence came from the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest Islamic group. A statement on the group's Web site Wednesday said "Children of Gebelawi" was seen as a "violation" of Islamic tenets. Still, Brotherhood leader Mohammed Mahdi Akef said two senior figures of the group intend to attend Mahfouz's funeral on Thursday. "We are not gods to punish and reward people. It's not time to judge him or history, we're asking for (God's) mercy for him. He is a great writer," he told the Associated Press. Mahfouz's literary prominence, modesty and irrepressible sense of humor enabled him to unite Arabs from across the political spectrum ? even those who differed with his backing for normalization of ties with Israel after Egypt signed the 1979 Camp David peace accords.

At the time of her death, Princess Diana was wearing a diamond ring given to her by Dodi Al-Fayed, according to a new book by Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell. The $5,000 ring was a friendship ring, not an engagement ring, according to Burrell, who claims the princess was not ready to remarry. "Her precise words to me were: 'I want another marriage like I want a bad rash,' " he writes in his new book, serialized in Britain's Mail on Sunday.

Why does the ring matter? Because Dodi's father, Mohammed Al-Fayed, claims his son, a Muslim, was about to pop the question, so the young lovers were killed on royal orders. It is a claim everyone implicated strenuously denies. "He [Dodi's father] must accept the Princess and Dodi had no more than a summer fling," Burrell writes. "The world must stop believing Diana and Dodi were due to get married, because that simply isn't true."

Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty Magazine, said that Burrell's motives may not be entirely pure. "Paul Burrell needs to make money, and he makes money from his memories of Diana," Seward said. "But they are pretty valid, because he was there and nobody else was."

Burrell writes that Diana had no plans to marry her companion, Dodi Fayed, who also died in the 1997 Paris car crash along with their driver, Henri Paul. Just days before the fatal accident, Dodi had reportedly given Diana a gold Bulgari ring.

"She made it clear this was not an engagement ring. It was nothing more than an addition to her collection of costume jewelry," he writes. "She said how romantic he had been and giggled with relief that the ring had not been more significant. 'Pheeeew!' She gave an exaggerated sigh, suggesting she was happy and that engagement was the furthest thing from her mind."

Burrell also wrote in "A Royal Duty" that Diana was not serious about Dodi, observing that "All the princess' closest friends know the identity of the only man with whom she had enjoyed a happy, long-term relationship since her divorce. And it was not Dodi al Fayed." The man's name was not revealed.