The 2012 The Story Prize has announced its finalists for short story collections that were written in English and published last year in the U.S.

The finalists are:

Stay Awake, by Dan Chaon. A two-headed baby, a child with a sleeping disorder, a near-fatal car accident -- these are just some of the themes around which Chaon builds twelve stories filled with unsettling tension and unexpected resolutions.

In Dominican author Junot Diaz's wildly popular This Is How You Lose Her, he brings back Yunior, the narrator of Drown (1996) and of his prize-winning The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) who takes it upon himself to relate the "...important and necessary story of the inner lives of 'bad boys..." in nine riveting stories.

Battleborn, by Claire Vaye Watkins is a collection of ten stories in which the rich Nevada landscape is as much a character as the individuals who populate these tales.

For the first time in the Story Prize's nine-year history, they are announcing a new award, The Spotlight Award, given to an author who may have slipped under the radar. This year's recipient is Krys Lee for her debut collection Drifting House. Ms. Lee's nine stories tackle the Korean immigrant experience.

The winner of The Story Prize will be announced at the New School's Tishman Auditorium in New York City on Wednesday, March 13th.

Did you ever want to learn to play the piano?

That’s what ten-year-old Zoe Elias wants more than anything in the world, but when her father brings home an organ rather than an elegant baby grand, Zoe’s dreams of playing concerts at Carnegie Hall are replaced with competing in the local Perform-O-Rama organ competition. It may not be what Zoe expected, but she just might find it a crooked kind of perfect.

Linda Urban’s debut novel, set here in Michigan, is funny and poignant and hopeful as it chronicles Zoe’s musical dreams, her quirky family and her lost and found friendships. Give A Crooked Kind of Perfect a listen.

Jack London was born John Griffith Chaney on January 12th, 1876 in San Francisco, CA. An author, journalist, and activist, he was one of the first fiction authors to make a large fortune off of his works and to gain worldwide fame for his writing. His most popular works include Call of the Wild and White Fang, which are available in AADL's collection, along with many of his other works. Call of the Wild and White Fang were also adapted into films.

He died on November 22nd, 1916 in Glen Ellen, CA from what may have been kidney stones.

Picked by the publisher to relaunch Mysterious Press is Michael Kardos's The Three-Day Affair * *. For Jeffrey, Nolan, Evan, and Will who met 13 years ago at Princeton as undergrads, what was supposed to be their annual gathering of golf, booze and guy-talk turned harrowing in a split second, when Jeff, the dot.com millionaire kidnapped the teenage cashier at a spur-of-the moment stop at a convenient store.

When Jeff yelled "Drive!", their lives would never be the same again. As Will narrates what happen in the next three days, their friendship and long-hidden animosities further complicate their nightmarish situation, making the final twist of an ending, a "vicious closing sting".

Award-winning short story writer Kardos' debut novel features "finely drawn characters, clever plotting, a fine surprise ending, and graceful and economical storytelling". He lives in Starkville, Mississippi, where he co-directs the creative writing program at Mississippi State University and edits the literary journal Jabberwock Review.

"A wonderful piece of literary suspense craftsmanship" ( ~Michael Koryta), sure to please fans of Scott Smith's A Simple Plan (adopted into a feature film), and Deliverance (in video format) by James Dickey. Readers might also enjoy Owen Laukkanen's The Professionals (2012).

* * = starred reviews

If the name Dick Wolf sounds familiar, it is likely you are a Law & Order fan and have seen the credits at the end of each episode for the show's Creator/Executive Producer. The Intercept * just released, is his debut novel, and the first in a projected series.

When 5 passengers and a flight attendant of a commercial jetliner thwarted a hijacking attempt over the Atlantic Ocean, New York Intelligence Division Police detective Jeremy Fisk (a rule-breaker with a sharp mind and flawless instincts) suspects that this might only be a diversion; that another potentially more devastating terrorist attack is imminent, and soon.

Krina Gersten, a 4th-generation NYPD and tough-as-nails has been assigned as Fisk's partner. Together they match wits with opponents who are smarter and more agile than any they have ever faced.

"Wolf's espionage and police-procedural hybrid combines the brainy suspense and unfiltered social commentary found in the best Law & Order episodes with perfectly calibrated action".

"A pulsating plotline. Clever characters. Dramatic dialog. Surprising twists. All make for an edge-of-your-seat read that will have thriller fans eagerly awaiting the next series installment", a good thing if you are an adrenaline-junkie.

For fans for Nelson DeMille, Vince Flynn, and Christopher Reich.

* = starred review

Being released just in time to coincide with the much anticipated 3rd season of Downton Abbey, Elizabeth Wilhide's debut novel Ashenden is sure to find eager readers. It is a story about an English country house and the people who inhabit it - upstairs and downstairs, births and deaths, comings and goings, over the course of 240 years.

When siblings Charlie and Ros discover that they have inherited Ashenden Park, their aunt's much-loved house, they must decide if they should sell it. In an interwoven narrative spanning two and a half centuries, we meet the original architect who gave it shape, the families who called it home, the soldiers it billeted during the Great War, the housekeeping staff that ran it, to the young couple who lovingly restored it to shades of its former glory.

Wilhide, author (website) of more than 20 books on interior design, decoration, and architecture gives us "an evocative portrait of a house that becomes a character as compelling as the people who inhabit it."

More on the English country house and its inhabitants, try Secrets of the Manor House : inside British country homes in the early 1900's (2012), a PBS video.

For a closer look at the interiors, how about Henrietta Spencer-Churchill's gorgeously photographed Classic English Interiors? Or come along on the The English Country House : a grand tour by Gervase Jackson-Stops and James Pipkin.

For those of you who could not wait until Sunday, do you know you can watch the first 10 minutes of Season 3 right now?

Jacob Grimm, eldest of the famous storytelling duo The Brothers Grimm, was born on January 4th, 1785 in Hanau, Germany. He and his younger brother Wilhelm were mythologists, linguists, and authors of hundreds of folktales. They also collected and revised many traditional German folktales, believing the stories to be great expressions of German culture and literature.

Some of their most famous works include stories that are still highly popular and well-known today, like Snow White, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty. Though many versions of their stories exist today, the original Grimm fairy tales contained common themes of violence and brutality. For instance, at the close of the original Snow White, the evil queen is forced into iron shoes and made to dance until she drops dead. Seen as inappropriate for children, their stories weren't very popular when they were first published, but the brothers worked to make them more child-friendly as they produced newer editions, and their popularity grew.

Many of their stories can be found in AADL’s Fairytales and Folklore collection, including ones that have been re-written, re-told, or re-interpreted by other cultures. Some, like Snow White, Cinderella, and Rapunzel have been made into popular movies, as well as operas and ballets. The Grimm Brothers and their lives were the subjects of a fantasy film in 2005.

Related Posts:
200th Anniversary of Grimm's Fairy Tales
Two Tales "Dark and Grimm"

A runaway bestseller in its native Germany since its publication in 2011, Alex Capus's Leon & Louise has just been longlisted for the German Book Prize. This story of enduring love that survives the tribulations of two world wars is inspired by the author's French paternal grandfather, a police chemist at the Quai des Orfèvres.

Leon Le Gall and Louise Janvier met as teenagers in the summer of 1918 in the village of Saint-Luc-sur-Marne. Their tentative romance was cut short when both were severely wounded by German artillery fire. When they met up in Paris a decade later, circumstances and their strong conviction about family and responsibility kept them apart. The Occupation of Paris during WWII sent Louise into the wilds of Africa and Leon under the watchful eye of the SS. Their love, however remain constant.

"On its surface, this is a story about enduring love. But it is also about the way that power can be abused, particularly in times of war, and the daily sacrifices people make to preserve what they hold most dear."

Capus was born to a French father and a Swiss mother. He spent his formative years in his grandfather's house in Normandy and may account for the lovely depiction of the locale (map) as the haven for Parisian holidaymakers at the turn of the 20th century. As a student of history and a former journalist, Capus was able to recreate, in great details and stoic realism the Nazi occupation of Paris and the hardships on its citizens.

A captivating read for a cold dreary day. Will appeal to fans of Tatiana de Rosnay. Readers might also like The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman, and Anita Shreve's Resistance.

At the end of November, Locus Magazine polled its readers to determine the best science fiction and fantasy novels of the 20th century as well as the best of the 21st century so far. As of this week, the results are in. Unsurprisingly, old favorites like Tolkien, Asimov, and Ursula K. Le Guin took top slots, sharing the spotlight with George R.R. Martin's wildly popular Game of Thrones novels as well as up-and-coming writers like Paolo Bacigalupi.

Check out the top books in our catalog, and visit Locus for the full results. Science fiction and fantasy are more popular than ever right now, and you can also find the film or television adaptations of many of these books in our collections!

Best Science Fiction of the 20th Century:
1. Frank Herbert, Dune (1965)
2. Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game (1985)
3. Isaac Asimov, The Foundation Trilogy (1953)
4. Dan Simmons, Hyperion (1989)
5. Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)

Best Fantasy of the 20th Century:
1. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (1955)
2. George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones (1996)
3. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit (1937)
4. Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)
5. Roger Zelazny, Nine Princes in Amber (1970)

Best Science Fiction of the 21st Century:
1. John Scalzi, Old Man's War (2005)
2. Neal Stephenson, Anathem (2008)
3. Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl (2009)
4. Robert Charles Wilson, Spin (2005)
5. Peter Watts, Blindsight (2006)

Best Fantasy of the 21st Century:
1. Neil Gaiman, American Gods (2001)
2. Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (2004)
3. Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind (2007)
4. China Mieville, The Scar (2002)
5. George R. R. Martin, A Feast For Crows (2005)

For lesser-known reads that made the lists (but don't have holds queues yet!), check out Cory Doctorow's Little Brother, Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates, or Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's Roadside Picnic.

One of the best things about audiobooks is finding a voice that makes the character come alive, a voice that makes you feel as if the character herself is speaking to you. I found such a voice in Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s Dairy Queen.

Fifteen-year-old D. J. Schwenk has always done what was expected of her, taking on the brunt of running her family’s small Wisconsin dairy farm when her father injured his hip. When a family friend sends Brian Nelson, the quarterback from her high school’s rival football team, to help out on the Schwenks’ farm that summer, D. J. decides to do something unexpected and try out for her high school’s own football team.

Narrator Natalie Moore’s perfect Wisconsin accent brings this hilarious story to life, and whether you’re a football fan or not, you’ll find yourself cheering D. J. on in her quest to try something unexpected. The series continues with The Off Season and Front and Center.