Best Literary Service Threatened by the JOA

Rocky Mountain News Books editor Patti Thorn likes mysteries and light fiction. She also respects serious literature. And she harbors a profound curiosity about the current publishing scene, from self-published e-books to monolithic houses, the travails of local writers and the struggles -- and victories -- of independent bookstores. For the past several years, she's dished up a Sunday book section that's a delicious blend of humor, insight, gossip, analysis and wisdom, a section that focuses on Colorado while placing the state's literary doings in a national context. But come April 2001, the News will never again publish on Sunday -- and given the current economic climate, we're not willing to make book on what will happen to Thorn's section.