Texas Pages

Nominally, he warrants books blog coverage because he did write the "Greyhawk" series of adventure novels.

But really, he's known as the co-creator of "Dungeons and Dragons." And just a guess here -- but if you are between the ages of, say, 35 and 50, and you ever intentionally read a science fiction book, you probably were a fan.

Am I right?

Obituary below.

The nominees in the true crime category of the 2008 Edgar Awards include a couple of books with Texas connections, though not exactly the kind of thing that Texas likes to brag about.

One is Kerry Max Cook's "Chasing Justice: Story of Freeing Myself After Two Decades on Death Row for a Crime I Didn't Commit."

The other is "Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy," by Vincent Bugliosi.

Today's fake memoir news comes via The Associated Press, which reports that "Love and Consequences" author Margaret B. Jones has confessed that her memoir about growing up as a half-white, half-Native American girl in South-Central Los Angeles is a fraud. The story is attached below.

Last week, Misha Defonseca confessed that her "Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years" was false.

Galleycat.com is asking publishers -- "Why Do We Keep Publishing Fake Memorists?"

But Ishamael Beah, who is touring college campuses, says he still stands by "A Long Way Gone," what he said in , which has been challenged by an Australian newspaper.

This week's tempting literary buffet includes:

* Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult (Atria, $26.95). Prolific issues-driven author this time takes on capital punishment, religion and organ donation.
* The Ancient by R. A. Salvatore (Tor, $25.95). Continues the fantasy world created in 2004's The Highwayman.
* Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana by Anne Rice. Ms. delighted her fans this week by saying that the Vampire Lestat isn't dead, after all, and he'll be making a future book appearance. Not here, though -- this is Ms. Rice's second book in her series on the life of Christ.
* Dead Time by Stephen R. White (Dutton, $25.95). Colorado psychologist Dr. Alan Gregory solves another mystery.
* Lush Life by Richard Price (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $26). Clockers' author turns his eye on Manhattan's Lower East Side, in a novel centering around a seemingly random shooting.
* A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer (St. Martin's, $27.95). A modern update of The Count of Monte Cristo.
* The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson (Grand Central, $23.99). Follows a Southern family after a young girl's body is discovered in its pool.
* Standing Tall: A Memoir of Tragedy and Triumph by C. Vivian Stringer and Laura Tucker (Crown, $24.95). Memoirs of the coach of the Rutgers women's basketball team.