In journalism, the lede is what you start off with, because it’s the most important part of the story. Thus you are well advised to lead off with it—and when you don’t, you’re burying the lede.

So what’s the lede?

It’ll have to wait, because I suddenly find myself neck-deep in items I need to tell you. And the first is a new paperback I’ve just published, and isn’t it pretty?

Some of you have read the title novella on your Kindle; it’s won wide readership as a Kindle Single. And some of you may have had the good fortune to pick up the Subterranean Press hardcover edition before it sold out. But Resume Speed has never appeared in paperback.

You may recall that Keller’s Fedora had a similar history. A Kindle Single, a Subterranean hardcover—and no paperback for all of y’all who prefer a physical book. A few months ago I brought out Keller’s Fedora in paperback, and it’s been our top seller ever since.

So why not do likewise with Resume Speed? And, while I was at it, couldn’t I sweeten the pot a bit? It seemed to me that I had a few stories I’d never included in collections, so why not round them up in, um, Resume Speed and Other Stories?

I found half a dozen of them, from a Craig Rice story I ghosted in 1960 to my Edgar-winning “Autumn at the Automat.” There’s one story that disappeared from view after I published it under a pen name in 1963, another I lost track of years before it was published. Six in all, plus the novella, and I’ve dusted them off, packed them up, introduced them with a 3000-word foreword, and published them with that gorgeous wrap-around cover.

That’s pretty big news. I guess you decided against burying the lede, huh?

Guess again. I’m holding it back, at least until after I’ve told you about a pair of appearances I’ll be making early next month:

Thursday, June 7, 7pm. MWA Crime Fiction Reading Series, KGB Bar, 85 East 4th St, NY NY 10003.

Friday, June 8, 7pm. Noir at the Bar—Queens, Kew & Willow Books, 81-63 Lefferts Blvd., Kew Gardens NY 11415.

You don’t do a lot of readings.

No, what I generally do is stay home. Read, raid the fridge, watch a little TV…

And here you’ve got two readings on consecutive nights. How come?

Well, I could make up something, but the hell with it. I’ll be sharing the stage with a great lineup of writers, but on hand both nights is a fine writer with whom I also share DNA.

Jill D. Block, who made her debut in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and has since published three more short stories, has her first novel coming out June 4, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she shows up at both readings with copies of The Truth About Parallel Lines—and, I can but hope, a pen with which to sign them. The ebook’s already available for pre-order, and if you click now on Amazon, Apple,Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Tolino, you can lock in the $6.99 pre-order price. (It’ll be a buck or two higher come June 4.)

I’ve never cared much for deferred gratification. Has she got anything I can read now?

Well, I suppose so, but—

Hang on, let me guess. You’ve scheduled a summit meeting in Singapore with Stephen King.

No, but—

Okay, how’s this? You’re gonna shut down your bookstore and sell all your books and manuscripts to Otto Penzler.

Already did that. His Mysterious Bookshop cleaned out my storeroom, after I’d spent a week signing everything. If you want anything of mine, that’s where to go for it.

I give up. Either you’ve discovered a cure for bibliomania or you’ve gone and written a new book about Matt Scudder, and one’s about as likely as the other, so—

Well, I can’t help you with the bibliomania. I’m afraid it’s incurable. But, as much to my surprise as yours, I’ve recently completed A Time to Scatter Stones, a 30,000-word novella starring the aforementioned Matthew Scudder.

Honestly?

Have I ever lied to you?

A Time to Scatter Stones. That’s a very Scudderian title.

I’d have said Scudderesque, but I take your point. It takes place in the present, with Matt and Elaine enjoying retirement. (It’s a couple of years after “One Last Night in Grogan’s,” the elegiac final story in The Night and the Music.) A little old for leaping tall buildings in a single bound, Matt figures his adventures are over. Then a new friend of Elaine’s turns up, and he has no choice but to get back in the game.

And this time around he can’t look for assistance to TJ or Mick Ballou. He’s got to do it all on his own.

How can I read it?

Probably a word at a time. Oh, I see what you mean. Well, you’ll have to wait a little while, but Subterranean Press will bring out the book in very early 2019. They’ll be doing it in hardcover, both a signed limited edition and a trade edition. At the same time, I’ll be releasing the ebook. And, somewhere down the line, there’ll be a paperback.

I don’t want to wait for the paperback. It’s bad enough I have to wait for the hardcover. Can I at least pre-order it? I know that Subterranean’s titles tend to sell out in a hurry.

You’ll be able to pre-order A Time to Scatter Stones, but not yet. The cover art’s in preparation, and once it’s ready Subterranean will start accepting pre-orders. I’ll try to let you know when that happens, but your best bet is to get on Subterranean’s mailing list. That way you’ll be the first to hear about this book—and others as well.

Wow. I’m impressed.

Are you? I could go on. I’ve got two new anthologies in the works, on the principle that the writing life is easier if you get other people to do the writing for you. And my partnerships with translators are moving right along, with only two books to go before the entire Scudder series is available in German. But all of that will have to wait for another announcement. See, I don’t want to unbury the lede.

So I’ll just remind you to secure your copy of Resume Speed and Other Stories, and pre-order The Truth About Parallel Lines, and clear your calendar for June 7/8.

Cheers,