Daughter of God - Indonesian Bestseller

My publisher in Jakarta, Dastan Books, reports that the translation of Daughter of God was the #1 bestseller in Indonesia for the month of August and seems on track to repeat that for September.

First Space Tourist is Iranian Born Anousheh Ansari

New Scientist magazine reports that, "The world's first female space tourist launched her multi-million dollar adventure on Monday, blasting off with two professional astronauts from the Baikonur Cosmodrome bound for the International Space Station (ISS).

"Ansari, a 40-year-old engineer who made her millions in the US telecommunications sector after emigrating from Iran at the age of 16, is planning to take pictures, shoot film and write an Internet travel blog in space. She will also carry out medical and biological experiments for the European Space Agency."

Is there ANY doubt that had Ansari remained in Iran, she would have been kept barefoot, pregnant and covered from head to toe?

Muslims want further apology from pope

The headline of this post comes from an AP story that begins:

"Muslims in Turkey,ake a clear apology for his remarks on Islam, instead of saying only that he was 'deeply sorry' that Muslims had taken offense."

Well, as my thriller, Daughter of God, makes clear, I'm not a big defender of the Vatican, but I'd say that the Muslim death and violence over the Pope's words pretty well validates what he said.

I say the Pope's apology should wait until all the imams behind the violence apologize for 9/11 and the other terrorism committed in the name of Islam.

There is a great discussion on this over on my friend John Dvorak's Blog.

Sloppy, Sloppy, New York Times

Back when I taught journalism at UCLA, I used to point to the NYTimes as an example of a well-edited newspaper.

Well, as Jayson Blair and many other instances have shown, the NYTimes today is as guilty of journalism crap as any other rag. The articles have factual holes and reek of political and other bias, faulty information gathering, failures of attribution etc.

Journalist and author Seth Mnookin points out a more recent editorial lapse in his blog, Feeding the Monster.

If you're a Red Sox fan or just want to read sports writing that would bring tears of joy to the eyes of the venerable Red Smith, you need Seth's book.

Heading for Warsaw

No, no ...NOT Wausau ...

I've been amazed over the past months at the popularity of my books in the rest of the world. Turns out that foreign publishers actually realize that they have to (gasp!) promote a book . Imagine that!

Anyway, my books have been hugely popular, especially in Europe. The recent royalty check from Germany was stunning and Polish translations have done so well that my publisher there is paying for my wife and I to fly to Warsaw for a promotional tour.

When Vanity Fair flew me to Rome this spring for a photo shoot, I stopped over in Amsterdam where I met with my Dutch publisher who -- ever the professional -- showed me their upcoming promo campaign.I can only imagine how refreshing it would be to have an American publisher who showed such enthusiasm and had an appreciation for promotion.