If there's a slow time in the book world - and believe me, that's a big if - it's right now. The big books of the year already are out, in time for holiday buying; publishing staffs soon will be taking vacations, and book editors like me are scrounging for something to write about.

So, my thanks to local scribes who continue to make publishing news, despite the coming holidays.

You already may have read about Westword dining critic Jason Sheehan in Penny Parker's column this week. The take-no-prisoners food writer has just sold his first book, Whiskey Down: A Story of Love, Sex, Death and Kitchens.

Slotted for a 2009 release, the book will recount Sheehan's misadventures working in kitchens across the country.

Sheehan phoned me with the news, his voice full of the sort of unbridled excitement Westword reporters usually avoid, for fear of tainting their edgy street cred. And why wouldn't he be excited? He's not only writing his memoirs at the tender age of 34, but he's also working with Farrar, Straux and Giroux, a publishing house with a stellar reputation.

The book will be like his Westword column, Sheehan says, "full of bad words and horrible allusions and terrible, terrible stories." So don't worry about that street cred. Sheehan's wit, always as sharp as a ginsu knife, will no doubt be served in heaping portions.

Meanwhile, don't expect any wicked words to come from Boulder Rabbi Jamie Korngold's pen. Her food for thought comes in the form of a book about religious inspiration.

Korngold, 41, is known around here as the "Adventure Rabbi." She takes her spiritual outreach into nature, leading retreats and holding services everywhere from mountain peaks and Moab to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Obviously, she's no stranger to risk-taking, but some might say navigating the treacherous waters of the publishing world is tougher than anything she's attempted to date.

Still, Korngold says she's excited about the pending release of God in the Wilderness: Rediscovering the Spirituality of the Great Outdoors with the Adventure Rabbi (Three Leaves Press, $11.95). "I'm really thrilled to give a voice to the people who read my book and say, 'That's exactly what I thought!' "

The slim volume promotes her belief that people don't have to attend church or synagogue every week to maintain their faith; they can find it in the great outdoors. She intertwines passages about the spiritual powers of nature and the lessons God taught in the wilderness with personal stories of her outdoor forays.

Korngold notes that literary agent Carol Susan Roth saw an article about her in USA Today and urged her to write the book. It comes out in April, months after another Korngold project should be complete: the birth of the rabbi's new baby.

In fact, that little project might be under way even as we speak. When I played phone tag with Korngold earlier in the week, she left this message on my voice mail: "I'll be at my desk either until I go into labor, which could be any moment, or at least until 2. Whichever comes first."

You gotta love a patient baby - especially when you're counting on quotes from Mom to fill your column inches.

'Idol' gossip

With new editions of the ubiquitous Chicken Soup for the Soul books coming out all the time - including Chicken Soup for the Couple's Soul, the Preteen's Soul, even the Dog Lover's Soul - this Soup seems to be getting awfully thin, indeed. The newest gruel is titled Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul. (Yep, you read that right.)

It features goopy stories from Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks, Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken and assorted other crooners - all of which makes us yearn for a salty Simon Cowell. Oh yeah, and a strict diet of bread and water.