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Aux armes, citoyens, formez vos bataillons! Marchons!

(To arms, citizens, form your battalions! Let's march!)

~"La Marseillaise", the French National Anthem, visit Wikipedia for more violent lyrics

Now that July 4^th has passed, it's time for Bastille Day. Falling on July 14^th, Bastille Day marks the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789. The French Revolution proved to be messier than the American Revolution and that's why it continues to capture the imagination of people today. Most narratives, fiction or otherwise, of the revolution have it all: violence, politics, and romance, plus blood. Lots of it.

When many people think of the French Revolution, they think of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (or, let's be honest, the musical!). Les Misérables is actually about a later French revolution, which occurred in July of 1830 long after the Reign of Terror, as the 1789 revolution aftermath came to be called, ended. Victor Hugo is definitely one of the best known French authors to American audiences today. If you're up to the 1232 page task, Les Misérables is certainly worth cracking open this summer (though if it takes you until fall to finish, please don't blame Penguin).

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I hadn't planned to be in Bruges-Belgium's most picturesque town-on its busiest day of the year, but there I was, traipsing through the narrow spectator flanked streets. Everyone was waiting for the star attraction. It wasn't a celebrity or a politician that would be parading by. It was something much more endearing to the people of this Gothic-clad city: it was the blood of Jesus.

It was May 21, the day of the annual procession of the "Heilig Bloed." Though drops of Jesus' blood were sprinkled around Europe, Bruges was the best-known claimant. The locals began an annual procession with the Holy Blood after the Belgian city was saved from the marauding French, which began in 1203 and has lasted into the twenty-first century. Because the blood would liquefy for the faithful every Friday, Pope Clement V gave his official stamp of approval on the Bruges blood in 1310 with an indulgence-a remission of temporal punishment due for sins that have already been forgiven-to those who came to venerate it (after an unnamed blasphemy occurred later that year the blood became stubborn and refused to perform its weekly trick, only liquefying once more in 1388).

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Penguin Group (USA) Racks Up Another #1 New York Times Bestseller as Christine Feehan Continues Her #1 New York Times Bestselling Streak

Penguin Group (USA) achieves its industry leading 21st #1 New York Times bestseller, with Hidden Currents, the seventh book in Christine Feehan's wildly popular Drake Sisters series (Jove), which debuts at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of July 19th. In her Drake Sisters novels, Feehan delivers “everything her fans have come to expect” (Publishers Weekly). With Hidden Currents, she exceeds expectations as the fate of all seven sisters depends on the destiny of the youngest sister, Elle Drake. This book concludes the stories of the seven Drake Sisters and opens the door for the spin-off Sea Haven Series.

With Hidden Currents, Christine Feehan continues her #1 streak. Books from each of Feehan's four series - the Dark Series, the Ghost Walkers, the Leopard Series and the Drake Sisters - have all debuted in the #1 slot on the New York Times bestseller list.

Read an excerpt from Hidden Currents.
 

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I was sitting in one of those chain bar and grills next to one of those chain motels in Boise, Idaho--you know, the literal translation of La Quinta is next to Denny's. I'd finished up a wonderful event at Rediscovered Books and was having a light dinner and a heavy beer. There were three traveling salesmen across the bar (this is not an intro to a joke) talking about how long they'd been out on the road, and I was starting to feel like I was in an Arthur Miller or Eugene O'Neil play. A heavy-set fellow with a handlebar mustache and a corporate insignia shirt was complaining the loudest. "A week and a half."

The shorter guy next to him was commiserating, "Two weeks, and I'm starting to think that my wife and kids have forgotten what I look like."

The guy in the ball cap who was on the other side of the beer taps joined in, "I'm doing the inland empire in one sweep; three weeks."

"I've got you all beat." I sipped my beer and watched as they studied me. "Thirty four days and three to go."

The one with the mustache was the first to ask. "What'a ya sell?"

"Books."

"What kind of books?"