October!

Here’s a newsletter that just went out to subscribers:

I apologize.

I’ve been starting most of my business and personal emails that way lately, and a fair share of my conversations, so why should this newsletter be any different? Like everything else lately, I’ve left this too long, and consequently have much to report. So let me Hop To It—

1. The first thing I ought to tell you is that I’m about to clear out of here for three weeks. On October 16, Lynne and I head to Japan, where after a few days of book promotion in Tokyo, we’ll join a small-group tour of rural Shikoku Island. Do I want to spoil its bucolic beauty with internet access? No way—so I won’t be taking a computer along. That means no email until our return the first week of November, and the most unsettling aspect is realizing how scary I find the prospect of being Out Of Touch. (And that, I submit, is reason enough to do it.)

Similarly, LB’s eBay Bookstore will be closed while we’re gone. We’ll be able to fill orders received through Friday, October 12 before we go, but after that date the store will be closed and the listings inaccessible until November 5. As we process orders within a day of receipt, you can order from us in November and be sure of delivery in time for the holidays.

2. It’s almost a year since I finished a fifth Keller novel, and Mulholland Books will finally bring out HIT ME in February. As some of you will recall, I issued a special Philatelic First Edition for Keller #4, Hit and Run, with a genuine USPS personalized postage stamp on the signed-and-numbered title page. It proved popular, and remains a prized item in the aftermarket.

We’re raising our game with HIT ME. Mulholland has authorized Otto Penzler’s Mysterious Bookshop to produce a very special First Philatelic Edition. It will be a true small-press book, printed on a finer grade of paper than the publisher’s trade edition, specially bound, and housed in a custom-fitted slipcase. Like its predecessor, it will be a limited printing, numbered and signed, and will bear a USPS stamp, affixed and canceled for the occasion, showing the book cover.

The price is $75 plus shipping.

But wait, there’s more!

In line with the longstanding philatelic tradition of commemorating an event with a souvenir sheet, we’ve prepared one to celebrate our special edition of Hit Me. Our sheet shows the jacket of the book, edged with mock perforations, along with six classic stamps referenced in the book, including rarities from German East Africa, Martinique, Allenstein, Obock, British East Africa, and a very special item we might call “the Poor Man’s Jenny.”

There's more, but I don't want to clutter up Goodreads. Here's a link to read the rest, and see the souvenir sheet: http://lawrenceblock.wordpress.com/20...