Good news for Stephen King fans! The “Master of Horror” and novelist Stewart O’Nan have teamed up to write A Face in the Crowd, a chilling new e-book set for release August 21. It will be the duo’s second baseball-themed collaboration.

Here’s the plot summary from StephenKing.com:

“Dean Evers, an elderly widower, sits in front of the television with nothing better to do than waste his leftover evenings watching baseball. It’s Rays/Mariners, and David Price is breezing through the line-up. Suddenly, in a seat a few rows up beyond the batter, Evers sees the face of someone from decades past, someone who shouldn’t be at the ballgame, shouldn’t be on the planet. And so begins a parade of people from Evers’s past, all of them occupying that seat behind home plate. Until one day Dean Evers sees someone even eerier...”

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When I was a kid, one of my favorite things about summer was the Pizza Hut Book-It Program. The program, which is still around today, rewards children for meeting monthly reading goals by giving them free pizza and other treats. Though I’m no longer eligible for free prizes, I still make it a point to read as much as possible, especially during the lazy days of summer.

So in that spirit, here’s a reading challenge, if you choose to accept it – finish a book from each of the following categories before the official close of summer on September 21. That’s only three books. Can you do it?

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Joyland, a new murder mystery by horror master Stephen King, is slated to hit bookstores in June 2013. The upcoming novel is the tale of Devin Jones, a young carny forced to unravel the mystery of a vicious murder. Titan Book’s Hard Case Crime, a line of pulp-styled crime novels, will publish Joyland.

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E.L. James’ erotic Fifty Shades trilogy dominates the New York Times’ Bestseller List (combined print and e-book fiction) with all three books placing in the top three. The titillating tales rank in order of their release with the first novel, Fifty Shades of Grey, coming in first and Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed coming in second and third.

The books don't thrill everyone, however. Librarians across the country have banned the Fifty Shades trilogy for being too racy, a move the publisher decries as censorship.

"These events resonate as unfortunately considered decisions, especially as the actions withdraw from circulation a book with one of the highest demand curves in recent history," said a rep for Random House.

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Monday, April 23 is World Book Night (WBN), a day when thousands of people around the world will give away free books in an attempt to spark interest in the written word and ultimately create a better society.
 
“Books can have an incredibly beneficial impact on people’s understanding of the world and the building up of empathy, “Jamie Byng, the creator and chair of World Book Night said in an interview with TIME. “The more people you have reading, the saner and safer a society is."

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Amazon Publishing has acquired rights to a series of novels featuring one of the world’s most iconic characters – Bond, James Bond. Amazon.com and Ian Fleming Publications yesterday announced that Amazon Publishing will reintroduce Fleming's James Bond novels to the North American audience.

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