A vivid biography of P. T. Barnum and a picture book about a Parisian mouse circus.

A magician makes a comic and sinister mistake in this unsentimental, magical story.

To start off Friday morning right, here are two newly posted publishing jobs. Like a hardboiled gumshoe, GalleyCat has been investigating publishing work on the mediabistro.com job boards. For your resume-making pleasure, here are the new postings.

First of all, Springer Publishing...

As publishers build fancier eBook offerings and iPhone apps, one writer has decided to use good old fashioned snail mail to serialize his new novel.

Author Nicholas Rombes will publish "Nightmare Trails at Knifepoint" in a series of inventive mailings. The Rumpus...

In what we hope will become a regular feature, here are a few free digital books being offered by publishers. For our first installment, Suvudu has added two new books to their Free Book Library.

First up is Charlie Huston's hardboiled vampire novel, Already Dead. The company is also offering the James Clemens fantasy novel, Wit'ch Fire. Here's more: "On a fateful night five centuries ago, three mages made a desperate last stand, sacrificing everything to preserve the only hope of goodness in the beautiful, doomed land of Alasea. Now, on the anniversary of that ominous night, a girl-child ripens into the heritage of lost...

Today's Featured Book of Color, Pick of the Day is When Heart Turns Rock Solid.

When Heart Turns Rock Solid is an anthropological look at three Puerto Rican brothers, Fausto, Sammy, and Julio and their experiences with drugs, work, school, family and prison. Black writes about the experienced he gained studying these men for eighteen years from Springfield, Mass. He gained the trust of the Puerto Rican community and is able to give an interesting perspective on this group of people.

'Why do we need a space? Online proletarian university now! Blog, video-lectures, podcast, pdf/doc/PP handouts, direct line with students, etc. Lecturers could prepare their seminars at home, people wouldn't pay for travels and could attend from any public library at their convenience. Lack of 'physicality'? No problem: social events in cheap spaces whenever possible (ie, every 3-6 months as Dave suggests).' - mrz

Recently reviewed books of particular interest.

A trove of artifacts and photographs from The Library of Congress, home to the world’s largest baseball collection.