The HBO series Game of Thrones brought a whole new audience to George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books. Get ready for season 2, based on the second title in the book series, A Clash of Kings, (RH/Ballantine, 1999).

It’s not coming until April, but HBO’s promotion machine (the second teaser trailer has already hit the screen) will keep it in on people’s radar.

Tie-in editions in trade pbk (9780345535412), mass market (9780345535429) and audio (9780449011102) are scheduled for late February.

Lawrence Lessig, best known to librarians for his work on copyright, also founded RootStrikers.org (previously, Fix Congress First!), a web site aimed at reducing the influence of money on politics. His latest book is Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress–And a Plan to Stop It, (Hachette/Twelve, Oct). He will appear on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Tuesday.

On a quite different note, Food Network host, Anne Burrell (Secrets of a Restaurant Chef and Worst Cooks in America) and author of Cook Like a Rock Star: 125 Recipes, Lessons and Culinary Secrets (RH/Clarkson Potter, Oct) appears on the show tonight.

On Tuesday, Comedy Central’s Colbert Report features journalist Mark Whitaker, author of My Long Trip Home, (S&S, Oct), a memoir that examines his parent’s lives and marriage. Whitaker describes the marriage as “doubly scandalous;” they were not only an interracial couple in the 1950’s, but the relationship began when Whitaker’s white mother was his African-American father’s professor at Swarthmore. Below, Whitaker describes the book.

Stephen King fans have been busy unearthing Easter eggs in the unusual online promo for A&E’s two-night, four-hour mini series based on his novel Bag of Bones, starring Pierce Brosnan. The site, billed as a prequel to the series, features creepy black and white photos laden with King references.

A more traditional, but equally creepy, trailer is also online.

The tie-in is available in mass market and trade editions.

Bag of Bones – Movie Tie-In Stephen King Trade Pbk 9781451678628 / $16.00 Mass Mkt: 9781451678604 / $7.99 Publisher: Pocket Books – (2011-12-06)

TNT kicked off a series of movies based on popular novels last night with an adaptation of Scott Turow’s Innocent (full line-up, with tie-ins, here).

The cable channel just announced that the series will continue in the spring, beginning with an adaptation of Patricia Cornwell’s Hornet’s Nest, (Penguin/Putnam, 1996), the first in the three-book Andy Brazil novels. In this title, two detectives, played by Virginia Madsen and and Sherry Stringfield (ER), investigate a serial killer and are joined by young reporter Brazil, played by Robbie Amell.

It began filming in Wilmington, NC this week.

The other two books Andy Brazil books are Southern Cross (Penguin/Putnam, 1999) and Isle of Dogs (Penguin/Putnam, 2001). They were not as well-received as Cornwell’s series featuring the forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta (the latest in that series, Red Mist, is coming next week).

Fiction rarely gets attention on the political talk show, Face the Nation. Breaking precedent, Kathryn Stockett (The Help) was the featured in discussion about race in the South, along with three other authors who grew up in the south, Walter Isaacson (Steve Jobs), Michael Lewis (Boomerang) and Condoleeza Rice (No Higher Honor).

Cable channel TNT did so well with its Rizzoli & Isles series, based on Tess Gerritsen‘s mystery novels, that it returns for a second season, beginning Monday, Nov. 28.

Perhaps inspired by the success of that series, TNT is about to launch Mystery Movie Night, which features full-length movies based on best-selling mysteries by various authors. It kicks off on Nov. 29 with Scott Turow’s Innocent, starring Bill Pullman as Rusty Sabich. Pullman has big shoes to fill.  Harrison Ford played Sabich in the 1990 adaptation of Turow’s earlier title, Presumed Innocent. Below is the schedule of the five other movies in the series, with tie-ins (there is none for the Turow, which came out trade paperback in May, Grand Central, 9780446562416).

TNT clearly expects that Mystery Movie Night will be a success. Shooting is about to start in Wilmington, N.C. on the first in the spring series, an adaptation of Hornet’s Nest by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam/Penguin, 1996).

Ricochet – Wednesday, Nov. 30. — Set in Savannah, this is based on the 2006 book by romantic (more specifically, “steamy”) suspense writer Sandra Brown. Tie-in: Ricochet by Sandra Brown, Pocket Books/S&S, Nov, 9781451678574

Hide – Tuesday, Dec. 6 — Based on the second title in Lisa Gardner’s D.D. Warren series, featuring a female Boston detective. Tie-in: Hide by Lisa Gardner, Bantam/RH, 9780553588088

Silent Witness – Wednesday, Dec. 7 —  Dermot Mulroney plays a defense attorney based on Richard North Patterson’s 1997 legal drama, a follow-up to Private Screening. Tie-in: Silent Witness by Richard North Patterson, St. Martin’s/Macmillan, Oct., 978125001484-9

Good Morning, Killer – Tuesday, Dec. 13 — Based on the second book in April Smith’s series set in Montana and featuring iconoclastic FBI agent Ana Grey. Tie-in: Good Morning, Killer by April Smith, Vintage/RH, Nov, 9780307950345

Deck the Halls – Tuesday, Dec. 20 — Based on the first book in Mary Higgins Clark and daughter Carol Higgins Clark’s series of holiday mystery novels, this one stars Kathy Najimy as a cleaning-woman-turned-private-eye. Tie-in: Deck the Halls, Pocket Books, Nov, 9781451678581

The first full-length trailer for The Hunger Games is set to debut on Good Morning America Monday during the  8 a.m. hour. It will also be displayed on GMA‘s jumbotron in Times Square.

Josh Hutcherson, who plays Peeta Mellark in the movie, will introduce the trailer. The movie, starring Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen is based on the first book in Suzanne Collins’ trilogy and is scheduled for release on 3/23/12.

The second in the series, Catching Fire is scheduled for Nov. 22, 2013. In keeping with the traditions set by the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises, the final book in the series, Mockingjay, may be divided into two films, but no announcements have been made about that yet.

Co-starring in the film are:

Liam Hemsworth … Gale Hawthorne

Stanley Tucci … Caesar Flickerman

Woody Harrelson … Haymitch Abernathy

Elizabeth Banks … Effie Trinket

Donald Sutherland … President Snow

Two tie-ins are being released; an Official Illustrated Movie Companion as well as a regular tie-in edition. Both will be released by Scholastic on Feb. 7.

HBO confirmed this week that they are developing a made-for-tv movie about Ponzi-schemer Bernie Madoff with Robert De Niro as producer and expected to play the lead.

It will be based on two books, the recently-released Truth and Consequences: Life Inside the Madoff Family by Laurie Sandell, based on interviews with Madoff’s family (they appeared on Sixty Minutes last week to help promote the book) and The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust by Diana B. Henriques (Times Books/Holt/Macmillan) published earlier this year (the author appeared on the Today Show in April).

Novelist John Burnham Schwartz is writing the screenplay.

It’s been reported for over a month that HBO is planning to produce a pilot for a possible series based on Jonathan Franzen’s novel, The Corrections. Now it’s official. UPDATE: Project cancelled.

Dianne Wiest and Chris Cooper will play the parents of the dysfunctional Lambert family, but no word on who will play their three children (offering a great opportunity for speculation). Noah Baumbach will direct from the script he is co-writing with Franzen.

For a while, it looked like it might not happen, but Summit has announced a release date of March 15, 2013 for Orson Scott Card’s 1985 science fiction classic Ender’s Game. It will be directed by Gavin Hood  (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Tsotsi).

No casting announcements have been made yet.

One of the year’s most heavily reviewed debuts, Swamplandia! by Karen Russell has been acquired for a half-hour comedy by HBO. Scott Rudin, known for his literary adaptations, has signed on as producer, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

HBO has several other literary projects in the works, including an adaptation of Jonathan Frazen’s The Corrections (also with Rudin), and Neil Gaiman‘s American Gods. Earlier HBO announced plans for Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad  (in April, but no news since), Mary Karr’s memoir Lit (June) and Robert Graves’ I Claudius  (June).

Twenty-four-year old Russell was selected as one of The New Yorker’s “20 Under 40” top fiction writers. Reviewing Swamplandia! in the NYT Book Review, Emma Donoghue (Room) called it high comedy, “Vividly worded, exuberant in characterization, the novel is a wild ride: Russell has style in spades.” The paperback is currently on the Indie Paperback Fiction Best Seller list, after 12 weeks. It reached a high of #9.

Swamplandia! Karen Russell Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Knopf – (2011-02-01) ISBN / EAN: 0307263991 / 9780307263995

A teaser trailer for Stephen King’s Bag of Bones, a two-night, four-hour A&E mini-series starring Pierce Brosnan, coming in December, debuted during Sunday’s second-season premiere of The Walking Dead. While it hinted at the story’s creepiness, it gave little away.

The following behind-the-scenes video, narrated by the star, offers a bit more:

The book is available in mass market and trade editions, as well as on audio, read by King (S&S Audio, 9780743551755 and large type from Thorndike). No tie-in has been announced.

Bag of Bones Stephen King Retail Price: $7.99 Mass Market Paperback: 752 pages Publisher: Pocket Books – (1999-06-01) ISBN / EAN: 067102423X / 9780671024239

…

Bag of Bones: 10th Anniversary Edition Stephen King Retail Price: $14.00 Paperback: 560 pages Publisher: Scribner – (2008-10-21) ISBN / EAN: 1439106215 / 9781439106211

The premiere of the second season of AMC Network’s [corrected; we earlier referred to it as USA Network’s] Walking Dead drew a total of 11 million viewers and broke basic cable ratings in several demographics.

No surprise, then, that the various compilations of the source comics also rose on Amazon sales rankings. Leading the pack is the seventh volume which arrives tomorrow:

The Walking Dead, Book 7 Robert Kirkman Retail Price: $34.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Image Comics – (2011-10-18) ISBN / EAN: 1607064391/ 9781607064398

For those who just can’t get enough of the gore, The Walking Dead Chronicles: The Official Companion Book goes behind the scenes of the first season.

The Walking Dead Chronicles Paul Ruditis, AMC Retail Price: $19.95 Paperback: 208 pages Publisher: Harry N. Abrams – (2011-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 1419701193 / 9781419701191

The comic series creator, Robert Kirkman, published  the first in a projected series of original Walking Dead novels last week (more on Kirkman here).

The Walking Dead: Rise of The Governor Robert Kirkman, Jay Bonansinga Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books – (2011-10-11) ISBN / EAN: 0312547730 / 9780312547738

The second season of HBO’s Game of Thrones, this one based on the second book in George R.R. Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice series, A Clash of Kings, is in the midst of filming. A “teaser trailer” aired before the season premiere of Boardwalk Empire on Sunday and is available on the web. It’s really nothing more than the tagline, so we won’t waste your time with it (if you must, check it out here). It doesn’t even reveal the beginning date, which hasn’t been set (the HBO site simply indicates “Spring 2012”).

Don’t weed copies of other titles in the series yet. Back in July, HBO programing chief Michael Lombardo told TV reporters, that, in terms of how long the series will continue, he doesn’t know if all the books will be adapted, but that he “takes very seriously the passions of fans for the book series.”

So far, five books have been published and two more are expected.

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2) George R.R. Martin Retail Price: $17.00 Paperback: 784 pages Publisher: Bantam – (2002-05-28) ISBN / EAN: 0553381695 / 9780553381696

Season two of AMC’s hugely successful The Walking Dead, based on the graphic novels by Robert Kirkman, premieres on October 16th.

For those who just can’t get enough of the gore, The Walking Dead Chronicles: The Official Companion Book goes behind the scenes of the first season.

The Walking Dead Chronicles Paul Ruditis, AMC Retail Price: $19.95 Paperback: 208 pages Publisher: Harry N. Abrams – (2011-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 1419701193 / 9781419701191

Also coming in October is a novel by Kirkman, with co-writer, horror novelist, Jay Bonansinga, the first in a projected series of original Walking Dead books (more on Kirkman here).

The Walking Dead: Rise of The Governor Robert Kirkman, Jay Bonansinga Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books – (2011-10-11) ISBN / EAN: 0312547730 / 9780312547738

Also Unabridged CD, Macmillan Audio