Postscripts

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What's Selling

You can find art and photography books we like in several sections in this week's issue, but here's what's selling at several area stores: At BookPeople, head book buyer Peggy Hailey says that anything Tolkien-related is "flying out the door," in addition to David Hockney's Secret Knowledge: Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters (Viking, $60). "His contention is that the reason the old masters were able to draw and paint with such lovely accuracy is because they were basically projecting shadows on a wall and tracing," she points out. "We're selling loads of the Little Lit books," Hailey says, which you can find out more about on p.28 (see the Strange Stories for Strange Kids review). The Wildlife of Star Wars (Chronicle Books, $40) is a big deal at BookPeople, although none of the spate of photo books about the September 11 tragedy has distinguished itself as a bestseller there. Elsewhere in the nation, New York September 11 (PowerHouse Books, $29.95) by Magnum photographers seems to be taking off. At Mitchie's, two buying extremes are taking place: Both The Other Side of Color: African-American Art in the Collection of Camille O. and William H. Cosby Jr. (Pomegranate, $65) and Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur (Basic Books, $24) by Michael Eric Dyson and The Rose That Grew From Concrete (Simon & Schuster, $20), another book about Shakur, are selling well. Dragon's Lair Comics & Fantasy is selling plenty of the work of fantasy artist Boris Vallejo -- "kind of like the stuff you'd see in heavy metal but better," says assistant manager Lincoln Cargill. Anatomy for the Artist (DK Publishing, $40) is a perennially hot item at the store, and Chip Kidd and Paul Dini's amazing Batman Animated (HarperPrism, $29.95) is racing out the store.

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Boggle News

See p.72 for an interview with Daniel "Smit-- Goff: Boggle Warrior, who won the Chronicle's Boggle of the Bands for Book-Learnin' contest last Sunday at Threadgill's South. The event raised $339.64 for Literacy Austin.

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'El Andar' Contest

El Andar magazine is seeking submissions to its second Literary Excellent contest. Submissions up to 4,000 words must be received by December 31 in the categories of fiction, memoir, or creative non-fiction or three poems of any length. $15 reading fee. Entries to the Paula Award, founded by Isabel Allende in memory of her daughter, must be by writers 18 or under; submissions to the Paula Award are free. All entries must relate to Latino life and experiences, but the contest is open to writers of all ages, nationalities, and levels of experience. $1,000 first prizes, and second-place winners will receive $200 in each category. Entries may be submitted in Spanish, English, or a mixture of both languages. See www.elandar.com for complete guidelines.