Publishers Lunch

Fiammetta Giorgi has been appointed as head of rights for Mondadori in Italy. Claudia Scheu, who previously held the position, will act as a consultant for the publisher.

Alexander Roesler has been promoted to editorial director at S. Fischer Verlag in Germany, starting on March 1.

Christopher Paul Carey has joined Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. as director of publishing. He was senior editor at Paizo, a publisher of roleplaying games.

Cat Zappa has joined Dreamscape Media as executive director of content and strategy. She was previously a sales director at Harper Christian.

The 24-year-old woman recently found dead in a suitcase in Greenwich, CT -- Valerie Reyes, of New Rochelle -- worked at the Barnes & Noble in Eastchester, NY.

Bookselling
Barnes & Noble signed a long-term lease for one its two Hawaii locations. Its relocation to the 14,000-square-foot space in Kahului shopping center from its longtime location in Lahaina Gateway Center last year was originally intended to be temporary, but it has now signed a five-year lease.

Forthcoming
The Guardian remains the leading embargo-breaker for US political books, obtaining Andrew McCabe's forthcoming THE THREAT: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump. "In his sharpest criticism, McCabe writes that after firing Comey, Trump and the White House counsel, Don McGahn, acted like mobsters by in effect offering McCabe protection in return for loyalty. 'The president and his men were trying to work me the way a criminal brigade would operate,' McCabe writes, recalling an Oval Office meeting soon after his elevation to acting FBI director."

For the Record
"Complexifier" may have not been in wide use until yesterday, but Merriam Webster says the first known use of "complexify" was in 1830 and yes, lexicographer Peter Sokolowski indicated in a Tweet that Bezos's use was "a perfectly good derivative noun." (Complexifier is also a word in French.) And yes, the American Media attorney Jon Fine whose email to Jeff Bezos was disclosed yesterday is the same Jon Fine who worked for Bezos at Amazon for seven years, serving as director of author and publisher relations before leaving the company at the end of 2014.