Dayton author to discuss book on theme park safety

Dayton author to discuss book on theme park safety

NILES — “Thrill rides are becoming kill rides.” Jeffrey P. Stoneking will discuss that remark and other claims he makes in his new book, “Theme Park Safety Failure$,” during a 6 p.m. presentation June 27 at Borders, 2102 Niles-Cortland Road S.E.

Stoneking, who is from Dayton, has experience in the theme park industry as operations and safety counsel with The Walt Disney Company’s North American properties, and he has held several positions with Kings Entertainment’s Kings Island near Cincinnati.

In his book, released by AuthorHouse, he decries the complete absence of laws governing the operation of rides, where minors, and in some cases volunteers of nonprofit organizations, are staffing parks.

McCain to be subject of daughter’s book

NEW YORK — Meghan McCain, daughter of the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, is working on a picture book about her father, Sen. John McCain.

The story, currently untitled, will be published by Simon & Schuster the first week of September, around the time of the Republican national convention.

Financial terms were not disclosed; however, Simon & Schuster said a portion of its net proceeds would be donated to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which helps wounded veterans and military personnel. Meghan McCain, known for her blog, McCain Blogette (www.mccainblogette.com), has no current plans to make a similar contribution, according to Simon & Schuster spokesman Paul Crichton.

McCain’s wife, Cindy McCain, had agreed earlier this year to write a memoir for Penguin Group (USA), but she changed her mind, citing time limitations, and the deal was canceled.

Memoir coming from Madonna’s brother

NEW YORK — The mystery is solved: Madonna’s brother, Christopher Ciccone, is writing a memoir about his sister, to be released in mid-July by Simon Spotlight, an imprint of Simon Schuster, which has been promoting a celebrity memoir without identifying the author or contents.

Ciccone will work on “Life With My Sister Madonna” with Wendy Leigh, who has written biographies of Liza Minnelli and Grace Kelly and a highly critical book about Arnold Schwarzenegger. The book will have a first printing of 350,000. Financial details were not disclosed.

Ciccone, 47, has worked often with his sister, who will be 50 this summer, designing and directing her 1993 “Girlie Show” tour and serving as artistic director of her 1991 documentary, “Madonna: Truth or Dare.” But according to Madonna’s spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, they are no longer close. She had no initial comment on the book, but told The Associated Press that “Madonna has not cooperated with any biography about herself.”

Also in Spotlight

NEW YORK — Academy Award-winning actress and “Dancing With the Stars” sensation Marlee Matlin is working on another book, this one a memoir to come out in 2009 and tentatively titled “I’ll Scream Later.”

According to publisher Simon Spotlight, the 42-year-old mother of four will confide about her “unresolved issues and battles with addiction and abuse, much of which she kept hidden from the public and her family.” She also will “delve into her loves and life in Hollywood,” including such television shows as “Picket Fences,” “The Practice” and “The West Wing.”

Her other books include a novel, “Deaf Child Crossing,” and the young people’s stories “Leading Ladies” and “Nobody’s Perfect.”

Book in ‘Sex and the City’ film doesn’t exist

NEW YORK — A consumer alert for those who have seen the “Sex and the City” movie: There is no such book as “Love Letters of Great Men,” which Carrie Bradshaw reads while in bed with Mr. Big.

The closest text in the real world apparently is “Love Letters of Great Men and Women: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day,” first released in the 1920s and reissued last year by Kessinger Publishing, which specializes in bringing back old works.

Richard Davies, press manager for online bookseller AbeBooks.com, said he has received hundreds of queries about the book’s existence. In fact, enough readers have been directed to the Kessinger anthology on the Internet that it ranked No. 134 on Amazon.com last Tuesday afternoon.

Combined dispatches