When you are a second generation governor with excellent approval ratings and awhile to go before a viable space opens up in the White House, what to do? Why, if your name is Andrew Cuomo you write a book! A book about being governor, specifically. more ›

Apparently bereft over the season end of Downton Abbey, American women have set their sights on an erotic British novel, Fifty Shades of Grey, about a naive college student's seduction by a billionaire businessman and its accompanying graphic depictions of BDSM: "Uncoiling from the floor, rising lazily, like a jungle cat, he points the end of the riding crop at my navel, leisurely circling it — tantalizing me. At the touch of the leather, I quiver and gasp." But don't laugh—women are apparently excited enough to do it with their dudes after reading this! more ›

Barney Rosset, the passionate publisher of Grove Press and an ardent defender of free speech, died Tuesday after a double-heart-valve replacement. He was 89. During his long career, Rosset published and fought censorship battles over such controversial books as D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer, and William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch. With his imprint Grove Press, Rosset championed Samuel Beckett here in America, and published Che Guevara, Ho Chi Minh and The Autobiography of Malcolm X. According to the Times obituary: more ›

Hers is a tale no one would want to call their own, but it seems the four years Amanda Knox spent imprisoned in Italy will pay off in the form of a $4 million dollar book deal. Bet you didn't see that coming, eh? After an intense bidding war with multiple publishing houses, the 24-year old American exchange student, who was acquitted of the murder of her British roommate just a little over four months ago, has finally settled on a book agreement with HarperCollins. more ›

The Thanksgiving issue is always a big deal for food magazines, but who does Rachael Ray think she is—the Queen of Sheba? Her 30-minute highness decided that this month's holiday-themed issue of Every Day With Rachael Ray is so special that her subscribers can just go ahead and pay double for it, whether they want to or not. more ›

In an attempt to soften declining revenue and profit, the NY Times is rolling out a new paywall system for NYTimes.com. According to its own article, "Beginning March 28, visitors to NYTimes.com will be able to read 20 articles a month without paying, a limit that company executives said was intended to draw in subscription revenue from the most loyal readers while not driving away the casual visitors who make up the vast majority of the site’s traffic." more ›

Borders, the Michigan-based bookstore chain, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this morning. The company says it will close 200 underperforming stores and "shed much of its staff." Borders Group President Mike Edwards said, "It has become increasingly clear that in light of the environment of curtailed customer spending... and the company's lack of liquidity, Borders Group does not have the capital resources it needs to be a viable competitor." In other words, Amazon has really taken a bite of out their business. more ›

Earlier this week, Gawker published excerpts of Sarah Palin's upcoming book, America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag. Well, the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate was not happy about it, Tweeting, "The publishing world is LEAKING out-of-context excerpts of my book w/out my permission? Isn't that illegal?" to which Gawker responded with links to Wikipedia's fair use entry and Stanford's copyright and fair use information. Still, News. Corp-owned publisher Harper Collins has sued Gawker on behalf its bestselling Mama Grizzly, asking that the website be banned from "further copyright infringement." more ›

Remember that scene in the documentary Kurt & Courtney where one of her childhood friends reads a list of goals that a teenage Courtney Love supposedly wrote? They included meeting Michael Stipe and getting famous, and they all came true! She has occult power, and now she's using it to get published in the holy of holies for any writer, The New Yorker. more ›

Exhortations to "Close the deal you c---" and "Stop being a f---ing p----y" are allegedly commonplace at GDS International, which is being sued by a 26-year-old Egyptian-American female employee for an unspecified sum. Lobna Abdelrehim is alleging "discrimination" based on gender and religion, as well as "retaliation" for opposing discrimination in the workplace—her lawyer Jack Tuckner tells the Post that GDS's publishing sales culture is "an extreme sort of jock fraternity ethos that's really unfathomable in this day and age. The bosses are all aware of it, and they could care less. It's like a throwback into the 1950s." more ›

The NY Times reports that the Star-Ledger, NJ's largest paper (15th largest in the country, with a daily circulation of 345,000), "will cut its newsroom staff about 40 percent by year’s end, one of the largest reductions in a single move by a major American paper." This comes after grim talk from its publisher, Advance Publications, saying that the newspaper would fold if there were not a number of concessions made from staff and unions. The unions agreed to new deals and the Times explains that buyouts will be given to "about 150 news employees who requested them." A memo said that many employees applied for buyouts and some will be turned down. Some employees said It's possible that the paper will hire new employees, too. more ›

There have been worries that NJ's biggest paper, the Star-Ledger, will close, as it has been losing $30-40 million a year. The publisher outlined that it could stay opened if 200 buyouts are accepted by staff and union concession are met. Last week, its mailers union agreed to a new deal and yesterday the deliverers union reached a deal with Advance. Now all that's left is finding 200 employees willing to take buyouts, but Advance president Donald Newhouse said, "We're very hopeful that everything will fall into place." more ›

The NY Sun reports that Jones received a $40K advance for her booked titled, "Untitled Novel" and Marchand received $75K for hers, called "Broken Silence" -- the former is four years late, and the latter is two years overdue. C'mon ladies, even 50 Cent turned in a manuscript for the publishing house! However, maybe they should be cut some slack since they each did some jail time when they (or a ghost writer) could have been laying down some ink about their lives. And besides, Kim was busy writing her other book, The Price of Loyalty, due out later this year through St. Martin's Press. more ›

Martial arts master and star of movies and television, Chuck Norris, is suing a New York publishing company along with a Brown University student who established an Internet site that passes along purported facts about him. The Norris-facts phenomena is a longtime Internet meme and the actor says that he doesn't mind when sites continue it as long as they are non-commercial. Ian Roberts, the Brown student who operates one Norris-facts site, teamed up with Penguin publishing to market a book compiling the humorous two-liners. According to a separate site, the following are the most popular facts about Chuck Norris. more ›

Former New York City Mayor and Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is finding that his campaign for highest office is foundering in Florida--the state that his campaign has identified as a crucial crucible. The primary vote in the Sunshine State will occur on Jan. 29, and with approximately six weeks to go, Rudy's trailing competitors Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. According to a survey conducted by pollster Scott Rasmussen, Romney is tallying 27% support, followed by Huckabee with 23%, and then Giuliani with 19%. Giuliani's organization dismissed the results of the Rasmussen poll as unreliable. more ›

With street-side Christmas trees going for more each year and the average apartment size decreasing, we propose the adoption of a new holiday standard: Enjoy your Christmas Tree in a highball glass. To wit: Clear Creek Distillery’s Eau de Vie of Douglas Fir, 375 milliliters of pine flavored brandy, found at Red Hook booze and esoteric spirits emporium LeNell’s. This small, $45 bottle is cheaper and has a lesser environmental impact than deforestation, and will definitely last longer than most trees (at least if used sparingly). Made in Oregon from the actual buds of Douglas Fir trees, the Eau de Vie has a faint green color that’s not surprisingly “all natural.” Sample cocktail: Substitute some Douglas Fir brandy for half the amount of rum called for in a traditional mojito recipe. Keep the mint and the lime, and call it a Tannenbaum. Start a new household tradition today, but enjoy responsibly – this tree could burn your liver down. more ›

Resumes are being accepted to fill a sudden vacuum in the self-proclaimed “drug ring” that is Gawker. On Friday afternoon, at the end of a long Gawker post about palling around with the n + 1 crowd – who happen to be publishing a long think-piece on Gawker in their new issue – editor and cewebrity Emily Gould abruptly announced that managing editor Choire Sicha was to resign. And she would be joining him.... more ›

Edward Albee’s 1958 play The Zoo Story was a watershed moment in American theater, despite being ignored for two years by New York producers. Though the riveting two character play marked the arrival of a significant new American voice, it first premiered in Germany; not until 1960 was The Zoo Story performed in the U.S, and then not even in New York, where it’s set. Albee’s breakthrough one-act concerns a random, ultimately violent encounter between... more ›

Controversial publisher Judith Regan dropped a 70-page lawsuit on her old bosses at Harper Collins and News Corp yesterday. The $100 million defamation suit claims she was the victim of a smear campaign in order to protect Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid (read: Rupert Murdoch's political agenda). She states they asked her to lie to federal investigators about her one-time lover and former police commish, Bernard Kerik (who at the time was working with Regan on... more ›

Standing at just under 2 feet tall on a "tower" display stand, and containing around 800 pages -- there's a new book in town! And it's not going to fit in many people's apartments. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unstable building at 37th Ave. and 31st St. in Queens, a stabbing on State St. and 3rd Ave. in Brooklyn, and an organ transport on the Cross Island Parkway in Queens.
• GrandOpening on the LES is following up its single-table storefront Ping Pong concept with another slice of Americana: the drive-in movie theater. $75 will secure all six passenger seats in a ragtop Ford Falcon. We recommend burning the two extra tickets for a less awkward double date.
• In what to us makes NJ Gov. Jon Corzine seem like a candidate for a "Ripley's, Believe it or Not!" segment, the reformed seatbelt wearer had 10 pounds of excess bone growth removed from his femur during surgery today. Ten pounds!
• The Times' Freakonomics blog notes that panhandlers may earn more than low-ranking NYPD cops.
• Four tales of people who just had to leave the city.
• The New York Post will soon start publishing a Page Six glossy magazine that will weigh in at almost 100 pages and come as an insert with the Sunday paper.
• Friends and family gathered today for the official naming of the block at 53rd St. and 8th Ave. as Jerry Orbach Way.

The NY Sun opens the books on Bellevue Hospital's creative output. That's right, Bellevue has been publishing literature under The Bellevue Literary Review. Perhaps it's about time the 271 year old walls began to talk. more ›

You may know Peter Yarrow best by his first name. He was part of the '60s folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary. The group launched their career at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village in 1961 and went strong for nine years. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck at Richmond Terrace and Federal Place on Staten Island, a water rescue at Chambers St. and River Terrace off Manhattan, and a homicide at Bruner and Barnes Aves. in the Bronx.
• A Connecticut doctor lost his family yesterday after two men broke into his home and held them hostage, while one family member was taken to a nearby bank to withdraw money. After killing the man's wife and two teenage daughters, the suspects set the house on fire before being apprehended at a police road block.The doctor survived a head wound and is in stable condition.
• The Weekly World News, the checkout line eye-catching tabloid that brought us Batboy, is folding in early August. There are rumors in the publishing world that Teen Vogue may follow suit.
• A stripped-down, one act version of the Broadway production Suessical will be playing at the Lucille Lortel Theater on Christopher St. this summer and all tickets are free.
• A puzzling brickwork sybmol built into a wall on Pearl St. in 1832. The building was destroyed, but the section of wall was preserved to keep the mystery alive.
• Curbed looks around the Domino Sugar plant on Brooklyn's waterfront.
• G-Unit member and rapper Tony Yayo rejected an offered plea deal that would have him serve nine months for slapping and punching a 14-year-old on 25th St. this March.
• 22-year-old Derick Phanord was arrested and charged with animal cruelty after police said he confessed to tying his dog to a tree, dousing it with clorox and then gasoline, and then setting the pitbull on fire. Phanord pleaded not guilty, but police say that in his confession, Phanord admitted he left his dog to die because it was "unfriendly."
• ConEd hasn't cornered the market on poor service. Blackouts are happening all over San Francisco today, and the servers for sites Craigslist, Live Journal, VOX are all temporarily offline.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a partial roof collapse on Union St. in Brooklyn, a person under a train at Coney Island and Brighton Beach Aves. in Brooklyn, and a slashing at Dyckman St. and Broadway in Manhattan.
• Artie Fufkin speaks! Paul Schaffer, who was the musical director of the Blues Brothers, keyboardist for Bill Murray's lounge singer character on SNL, and the bandleader for David Letterman's "The World's Most Dangerous Band" since 1982, is publishing his memoirs. Yeah!
• A local moving company is converting a number of its trucks from diesel to biodiesel fuel in an effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
• The producer of a Broadway show called "My First Time" is employing a mindreader to determine who gets free tickets to the show. Recipients must affirm via a psychic they are virgins.
• A 17-year-old was shot several times in the head as he lay in bed in the middle of the afternoon while visiting relatives in the Bronx.
• Juana Yolfo is a Spanish-speaking 106-year-old woman who was born in Puerto Rico before moving to Brooklyn and then settling in the Lower East Side more than 40 years ago. She's celebrating her birthday this week after more than 50 years as a NYC resident.
• Al Sharpton as Apollo Creed? The reverend is getting in shape to pummel Giuliani if there's any hope the latter's electoral prospects brighten.
• Carroll Gardens parents are in a huff about youthful neighborhood ruffians, who are disrespectul to adults and unmindful of younger children as they engage in shenanigans and otherwise behave like hooligans.

There's a thought-provoking essay in the Observer suggesting it's time to take down the huge American flag in the heart of the terminal. The flag was placed in Grand Central soon after September 11, 2001, and MTA Metro-North spokeswoman says the flag's "nearly four stories tall" size is "basically unprecedented." (There is also a smaller, standard sized flag in the hall.) more ›

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The Mayor's Office of Theater, Film, and Broadcasting, which coordinates film and television production and issues permits around the five boroughs, is considering rules that could potentially severely restrict the ability of even amateur photographers and filmmakers to operate in New York City. The NY Times reports that the city's tentative rules include requiring any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a single public location for more than a half hour to get a city permit and $1 million in liability insurance. The regulation would also apply to any group of five or more people who would be using a tripod for more than ten minutes, including the time to set up the tripod. Does the Gorillapod count? more ›