Book Sense is pleased to announce the addition of four publishers to the ranks of its Publisher Partners: Rugged Land, Words Distributing Company, Red Wheel/Weiser, and Four Walls, Eight Windows.

Rugged Land Books is a new American publishing company that seeks to create and produce the most entertaining fiction and nonfiction available. It publishes only six hardcover titles per year in order to focus the greatest possible editorial and marketing effort on each book. The company name comes from the last line of Herodotus' classic narrative, The Histories: "It is better to live in a rugged land and rule, than to cultivate rich plains and be subject to others." Beginning in March 2002, Rugged Land's inaugural list features two novels: A Nasty Bit of Rough by David Feherty and Henry's List of Wrongs by John Scott Shepherd; followed by two works of nonfiction: Steel My Soldiers' Hearts by Colonel David H. Hackworth and The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

Formed in 1997 and located in Oakland, California, employee-owned and operated Words Distributing Company represents a select group of outstanding publishers exclusively to the book trade. The 35 different publishers currently served by Word represent titles from a wide spectrum of categories ranging from literature, travel, mystery, crime, children's, feminist, lesbian, complementary healing, comparative religion, new age, gifts, and games.

In December 2000, Michael Kerber and Jan Johnson, both formerly of Tuttle Publishing, along with a group of partners, purchased Samuel Weiser Inc., an esoteric publishing house with a long and storied history of 50+ years, widely known as the most distinguished publishers of metaphysical books in America. They relaunched the house under the new name of Red Wheel/Weiser in May 2001; the change reflects the addition of a new imprint -- Red Wheel -- which focuses on spirituality, inspirational, and "spunky self-help" titles. The Weiser Books imprint is still alive and well, focusing on classic metaphysical and occult subjects. Together, Red Wheel/Weiser publishes between 70 to 80 new titles a year.

Four Walls Eight Windows was founded in 1987 to publish quality nonfiction and literature, a time-honored mix that it maintains today. Publisher John Oakes, together with a staff of three, releases about thirty books a year from offices in New York City. Some recent titles include The Mystery of the Aleph: Mathematics, the Kabbalah, and the Search for Infinity, by Amir D. Aczel; a new edition of Steal This Book, by Abbie Hoffman; Sizzling Chops & Devilish Spins: Ping Pong and the Art of Staying Alive, by Jerome Charyn; and The Cornelius Quartet by Michael Moorcock.

A warm Book Sense welcome to our newest Publisher Partners!

Mark
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