HOORAY IT’S BOOK DAY! Below are some of the titles new for this Tuesday, but not all of them as I’m sure you’re aware, so if I’ve missed anything: yell! Also, be sure to check back on Friday for my review of Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool by Brian Ashcraft and Shoko Ueda!

Without further ado, here are some of this week’s lovely new titles!

Star Island by Carl Hiaasen
Meet twenty-two-year-old Cherry Pye (née Cheryl Bunterman), a pop star since she was fourteen—and about to attempt a comeback from her latest drug-and-alcohol disaster.

Now meet Cherry again: in the person of her “undercover stunt double,” Ann DeLusia. Ann portrays Cherry whenever the singer is too “indisposed”—meaning wasted—to go out in public. And it is Ann-mistaken-for-Cherry who is kidnapped from a South Beach hotel by obsessed paparazzo Bang Abbott. Now the challenge for Cherry’s handlers (über–stage mother; horndog record producer; nipped, tucked, and Botoxed twin publicists; weed whacker–wielding bodyguard) is to rescue Ann while keeping her existence a secret from Cherry’s public—and from Cherry herself.

The situation is more complicated than they know. Ann has had a bewitching encounter with Skink—the unhinged former governor of Florida living wild in a mangrove swamp—and now he’s heading for Miami to find her… Will Bang Abbott achieve his fantasy of a lucrative private photo session with Cherry Pye? Will Cherry sober up in time to lip-synch her way through her concert tour? Will Skink track down Ann DeLusia before Cherry’s motley posse does?

All will be revealed in this hilarious spin on life in the celebrity fast lane.
Via CarlHiaasen.com!

The Korean War: A History by Bruce Cumings
“A bracing account of a war that lingers in our collective memory as both ambiguous and unjustly ignored.

For Americans, it was a discrete conflict lasting from 1950 to 1953 that has long been overshadowed by World War II, Vietnam, and the War on Terror. But as Bruce Cumings eloquently explains, for the Asian world the Korean War was a generations-long fight that still haunts contemporary events. And in a very real way, although its true roots and repercussions continue to be either misunderstood, forgotten, or willfully ignored, it is the war that helped form modern America’s relationship to the world.

With access to new evidence and secret materials from both here and abroad, including an archive of captured North Korean documents, Cumings reveals the war as it was actually fought…”
via Amazon!

Mass Effect: Retribution by Drew Karpyshyn
Here’s the product description: Humanity has reached the stars, joining the vast galactic community of alien species. But beyond the fringes of explored space lurk the Reapers, a race of sentient starships bent on “harvesting” the galaxy’s organic species for their own dark purpose. The Illusive Man, leader of the pro-human black ops group Cerberus, is one of the few who know the truth about the Reapers. To ensure humanity’s survival, he launches a desperate plan to uncover the enemy’s strengths—and weaknesses—by studying someone implanted with modified Reaper technology. He knows the perfect subject for his horrific experiments: former Cerberus operative Paul Grayson, who wrested his daughter from the cabal’s control with the help of Ascension project director Kahlee Sanders.

But when Kahlee learns that Grayson is missing, she turns to the only person she can trust: Alliance war hero Captain David Anderson. Together they set out to find the secret Cerberus facility where Grayson is being held. But they aren’t the only ones after him. And time is running out. As the experiments continue, the sinister Reaper technology twists Grayson’s mind. The insidious whispers grow ever stronger in his head, threatening to take over his very identity and unleash the Reapers on an unsuspecting galaxy.

via Del Rey

Starcraft II: Limited Edition Strategy Guide by BradyGames
Product Description: The Signature Series treatment makes the strategy guide a COLLECTIBLE ITEM for StarCraft II fans. Single-player CAMPAIGN WALKTHROUGH covers all possible mission branches, including bonus objectives throughout the campaign. Exclusive MAPS found only in the official guide show locations of units, enemy bases, and key terrain points.
Dedicated BATTLE.NET guide explains how to find and manage friends, chat with other players, and use the “matchmaking” system to find multiplayer matches at appropriate skill levels.
Dedicated MP BEGINNER guide offers early build suggestions for all 3 races, plus strategies for first-time players.
MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER STRATEGY is gleaned from matches with amateur gamers, plus professional players from all over the world.
Multiplayer coverage includes RTS basics; coverage of ALL TERRAN, PROTOSS, and ZERG UNITS; COMBAT strategies, and MULTIPLAYER MAPS.

via Amazon

All right, I put Starcraft II on there SMIPLY because I’m a huge Blizzard gaming nerd and because it makes me squee with glee, even if I probably won’t use it. WHATEVER! Don’t judge.

As usual, happy reading and if you have any questions, comments or words of wisdom please leave them here! Or on Twitter! OR email me!