Actor Kevin Costner has signed a book deal with Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books imprint for an adventure series. It begins with The Explorers Guild, Volume One: Passage to Shambhala in 2014. The book is aimed at a broad group of readers, ranging from “young adult to more mature mystery and adventure enthusiasts.”

Writer and art director Jon Baird (pictured, left) also worked on the project with Costner (middle), which will be illustrated by Rick Ross (right). Rob Weisbach and Fonda Snyder at Rob Weisbach Creative Management negotiated the deal with publisher Judith Curr. Atria senior editor Sarah Durand and assistant editor Daniel Loedel will edit the book.

Here’s more from the release: “Behind the staid rooms of an old world gentlemen’s club operates a darker, more mysterious organization: The Explorers Guild, a clandestine group of adventurers who seek out the places where light gives way to shadow and reason is usurped by myth … Set against the backdrop of World War I, with Western Civilization spiraling into chaos, the first installment in The Explorers Guild series, A Passage to Shambhala, concerns the Guild’s quest to find Shambhala, the golden city of Buddhist myth. Each member is driven toward the City for a different reason: one believes that finding it will save his brother’s life; another hopes that it will reveal a path to spiritual enlightenment. Some believe the power of the city can be used to restore peace, while others are certain that Shambhala is responsible for bringing mankind to the brink of apocalypse.”

As rumors swirled last week that Oprah Winfrey may start a book club on her new cable network, Kitty Kelley (pictured) revealed some behind-the-scenes drama at the book club in her unauthorized biography of Winfrey.

Kelley’s 544-page biography comes out tomorrow. GalleyCat picked out a few choice passages about the book club so you can know what to expect. For instance, the book spends pages analyzing James Frey‘s appearance on Winfrey’s show.

Frey had been a book club pick, but once he was exposed for fabricating portions of his memoir, Winfrey roasted him on national television. According to the biography, Winfrey apologized to the author in the green room after her televised rebuke. Here’s a quote: “The New York Times and The Washington Post wouldn’t let it go. We had to stop it. I’m so sorry, but they were investigating us. And we just couldn’t have that,” Winfrey reportedly told Frey.

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