Nikki Giovanni, professor of English at Virginia Tech, and her publisher, William Morrow and Co. Inc., have issued Love Poems, a collection of Giovanni's poems packaged in a bright red jacket. She calls it her "Valentine from me to the world."

"From the revolutionary 'Seduction' to the tender new poem, 'Just a Simple Declaration of Love,' and the whimsical 'I Wrote a Good Omelet,' these poems embody the fearless passion and spirited wit for which Nikki Giovanni is beloved and revered," the cover notes say. The poems tell of love gone ("Mothers") and love of friends ("Telephone Poem") and all the many stages of romantic love. One of Giovanni's own favorites is "And Yeah...This Is a Love Poem" for the men who showed up for the Million Man March.

Giovanni is the author of 23 other books of poetry and essays and has been known nationally since the 1960s when her poetry became a voice for black people. She recently received the Langston Hughes Award, whose previous winners include James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Ralph Ellison, and Maya Angelou.

PSYCHOLOGY

Kathleen Brehony (psychology Ph.D. '81) illuminates a new path for people on their midlife journey in Awakening at Midlife: Realizing Your Potential for Growth and Change.

"The symptoms of midlife are a wake-up call," Brehony writes. "f they were not so severe, so disruptive, we could easily dismiss them and continue on unconsciously through the rest of our lives."

Brehony presents middle age as a necessary developmental state in which the "deepest inner strivings of the soul demand expression, even if that expression threatens a well-structured sense of identity."

The book is published by Riverhead Books, 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016, (212) 951-8466, fax (212) 532-9473.

Sharon McCrumb's (English M.A. '85) latest book, The Rosewood Casket, is a tale of family strife, dark secrets, and haunting legends that mix present and past tragedies among mountain people torn between tradition and change.

The book tells the story of Randall Stargill, who lies dying on his southern Appalachian farm. His four sons have come home to build him a coffin from a cache of rosewood he's hoarded for this purpose.

In lyrical style, McCrumb describes the way one son, Clayt, "lay on his back and looked up at the blue sky, streaked only with wisps of cirrus clouds far in the distance. It was a perfect day to watch the travelers on the celestial interstate."

The book is published by Dutton, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc., 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014.

Sharyn McCrumb also has collaborated with her 9-year-old son Spencer and 8-year-old daughter Laura to write a story that appears in Great Writers and Kids Write Mystery Stories. The McCrumbs' story, "Typewriter Man," tells of a boy drawn into intrigue and mystery through his job at a nursing home.

The book also contains stories by Jonathan Kellerman, Scott Turow, and 10 other authors writing with their children, nieces, or other young people. It is published by Random House Inc., 201 East 50th St., New York, NY 10022.

Virginia Tech history professor Hayward Farrar explores the rich heritage of African Americans and the often unheralded contributions they have made to their community and to American culture at large in Leaders and Movements.

In this book, written for young people but of interest to readers of all ages, Farrar traces the roots of African American politics, beginning with resistance to slavery among African Americans--both slave and free--and continuing through emancipation and the Civil Rights Movement. He provides brief biographical sketches of historical and modern-day African American leaders.

The book is part of the African American Life series for children published by Rourke Press Inc., P.O. Box 3328, Vero Beach, FL 32964.

The Roanoke Valley's African American Heritage: A Pictorial History is the first book to identify and acknowledge the achievements and contributions of African Americans in this region. The book, written by Reginald Shareef (public administration and policy PH.D '87), chronicles the societal life and evolution of the African-American community in the Roanoke Valley from 1895-1995 through 275 photographs and accompanying text.

Brief biographies of historical and contemporary local African American educators, business people, lawyers and politicians, doctors and dentists, pastors, entertainers, and other community leaders are interspersed with stories about schools, hotels, hospitals, churches, and institutions important to this community.

The book is published by the Donning Co. and is available from the Harrison Museum of African American Culture, 523 Harrison Ave. NW, Roanoke, VA 24016, (540) 345-4818.

Called "a documentary meditation with photographs, Trailers contains photographs by Virginia Tech art professor Carol Burch-Brown and text by poet David Rigsbee.

Images from the Blacksburg area during the last 14 years examine the life inside trailers and, in Burch-Brown's words "frame the permanence of family life in these impermanent structures." With black velvet paintings, perfume-bottle collections, religious art, and car tires holding the roof down, we see a culture that is part of practically every rural neighborhood today. The view in Trailers is personal, autobiographical, and, at times, piercingly sensitive.

The 92-page book is published by University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, (804) 924-3468.

University computer programmer/analyst James E. Powell has simplified the complex world of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) in HTML Plus! Powell's book provides hands-on tutorials, reference materials, and clear instructions for hypertext authoring, text search engines, and more. He includes HTML tags and summary tables at the end of each chapter.

Readers who go through the tutorials will build a search engine and a web server and will write scripts. They also will learn how to create basic web pages based on sound structural principles. Powell includes other programming languages--Common Interface Gateway (CGI), Scripts, and Practical Extraction and Report Language (Perl).

The book is published by Wadsworth Publishing Co., 10 Davis Drive, Belmont, CA 94002.

Jerry King (student personnel services M.A. '90) takes a humorous look at everything from the male experience to laundromats to diets in Help!! I'm Talking and I Can't Shut Up!! How to Improve Your "Laugh Life."

King shares his experiences and observations in chapters titled, "It's a Guy Thing," and "He Ain't Heavy--He's a Sumo." He relates his travel experience when he asked a waitress in the North if she served grits. Her answer was, "Mista, as long as you have enough money to pay your bill, we serve anyone."

The book is published by Kreative Kommunications, P.O. Box 1139, Hillsville, VA 24343, (800) 528-5559.

Communication studies professors Robert Denton Jr. and Rachel Holloway have edited The Clinton Presidency: Images, Issues, and Communication Strategies, an examination of the Clinton presidency from a communication perspective. Experts analyze the rhetoric, images, issues, and communication strategies employed by the president, the first lady, and others in the administration.

The book is designed to separate image from reality and spin from actuality in Clinton's media presidency. In discussing Clinton's "town meetings," the editors write that "Clinton's natural style as a facilitator and conversationalist met the public's special need for involvement and participation in 1992."

The book is published by Praeger Publishers, 88 Post Rd. W., Westport, CT 06881.

Garrett Mathews (economics '71) has chronicled the 1996 season of the Plaza Blue Jays, a baseball team of 9- and 10-year-old boys, in Hey, Batta, Batta! The author, assistant coach for the team and columnist for the Evansville, Ind., Courier, kept a diary of the activities of the team activities, from tryouts to tournament. His entries document sliding practice, stealing the other team's practice balls, and practices several times a week using Mathews' backyard batting net. "Our team may not win very many games," the author writes, "... but we will lead the league in practice."

The book is available from the author, Garrett Mathews, P.O. Box 15905, Evansville, IN 47716-1905.