That’s what you’re gonna go with? “A Vision for 2020?”

Kind of lame, huh?

I think the preferred phrase is “locomotionally challenged.” But it could be worse. You could have an exclamation point at the end. Or a string of dots.

I took them out.

Oh. Maybe you should just, um, cut to the chase.

You’re probably right. I’ve got a lot to get to, and I’ll start with the party at 6:30pm this Wednesday, January 8, at the Mysterious Bookshop. It’s to launch From Sea to Stormy Sea, my new art-based anthology just out from Pegasus. Jerome Charyn‘s coming, as are Janice Eidus and Warren Moore. They may read from their splendid stories. They’ll definitely sign copies of their splendid books as well as FSTSS, and I’ll be signing my own latest release, Hunting Buffalo with Bent Nails.

And it’s a party?

Well, that’s a hard word to pin down, isn’t it? At Mysterious Bookshop, a party means they set out some folding chairs so the partygoers can sit down. And sometimes they even hand out bottles of water, and the occasional saltine.

Sounds festive.

The books are the real draw. They’ll have copies of the hardcover edition of Hunting Buffalo, and that’s not all. To make Wednesday’s event even more of a party they’re offering quite a number of my scarce backlist titles at 50% off. See, I sold them my own entire stock of books a couple of years ago. They’ve been the go-to source for my work ever since, and if you can fill in the gaps on your shelves at half price…

We’d be fools not to, wouldn’t we? But I have a feeling the store’s in Manhattan.
At 58 Warren Street, in Lower Manhattan, and easily accessible by subway.

For you, maybe. I live halfway across the country. What can I do?

You could move, but there’s an easier solution. Call (212) 587-1011 and they’ll take good care of you. Even if you’re planning on attending, it might be a good idea to call ahead and lock in a copy of Hunting Buffalo; they should have a good supply, but might very well run out.

But to get back to the headline, my sense of 2020 is that it’s going to be a very busy year. The last day of February—Leap Day, that is to say—will see the release of the Subterranean Press hardcover edition of The Burglar in Short Order. The signed-and-numbered Limited Edition sold out in a hurry, and the $30 hardcover trade edition will be gone by the time the book goes to press. (I’ll be bringing the book out as a paperback and ebook, and I’ll let you know as soon as we’re

able to accept pre-orders. But if you want the hardcover, jump on it now.)

While I was teaching at Newberry College, I made some contacts at the University of South Carolina in nearby Columbia, and arranged to donate my papers to their library. Rounding up everything has been a continuing adventure, treating me to more than a few trips down Memory Lane while steering me to works of mine I’d largely forgotten. I turned up around a dozen out-of-print early novels that have every right to join Campus Tramp and Kept in my Collection of Classic Erotica.

Hey, what’s with all the stamps?

It’ll be nice to have those early books back in print, but I also encountered some works that have never been published at all. One’s fiction, one’s nonfiction, and a third falls somewhere in between the two. I can’t go into too much detail now, but they should make for an interesting second half of 2020.

The stamps, man. What’s that about? Sheesh, there’s another one!

And there’s a new crime novel I completed last spring. After shopping it around some, I concluded that it’s not a sufficiently commercial work to do well with a traditional publisher. It’s dark, it’s repellant, and not every reader is going to like it.

But some will. Friends who’ve read it tell me it’s one of the very best books I’ve written. And in the next breath they wonder if it’s actually publishable.

I know that I like it, and that it came out the way I wanted it to, and I’ve reached an age where I don’t really have to give a tinker’s dam about anything else. So I’ve made the decision to publish the book myself. I’m not sure when it’ll come out, but probably not before June, and all I can tell you right now is the title—The Colors of the Night.

Not a bad title. No idea what it’s supposed to mean, but it does have kind of a nice ring to it. But will you please explain this parade of stamps?

Oh, the stamps. I’m glad you asked. Well the first is Martinique #2, and then you have a 5 Rupees stamp from Zanzibar, and then a US stamp issued in 1938. It’s a 19¢ stamp, and it has Rutherford B. Hayes on it, and he was our 19th President.

What a coincidence.

No, they planned it that way. And that’s how Keller learned to name the presidents in order.

Wonderful. But what on earth are they doing here?

Looking good, don’t you think? You really don’t have to be a stamp collector to admire the bits of paper one affixes to envelopes—or used to, back in the days when people wrote letters. Look at the Kaiser’s yacht, will you? It’s on the 5 Mark stamp of a series issued by all the German colonies. This one’s from the Caroline Islands.

Be still my heart.

But they’re also here to introduce a new book of mine that’s just been released; the ebook and paperback are already on sale,and there’ll be a hardcover edition with library binding available soon. The book is Generally Speaking, and there’s a subtitle: All 33 columns, plus a few philatelic words from Keller.

And here’s what it looks like:

Very nice.

It’s attractive, isn’t it? A few years ago I wrote a column for Linn’s Stamp News, then as now the world’s preeminent philatelic publication. It was a popular monthly feature, and two years in I made an ebook out of the first two dozen columns, but never did much with it. After another year  I felt the column had run its course, and I decided it was time to give it up.

And the time came when the combination of advancing age and declining interest led me to sell my stamps. Keller, my fictional hitman, still collects with undiminished enthusiasm, but he’s younger than I am, and has quite a bit more in the way of discretionary income.

So now you’ve published all your columns? And included some of Keller’s thoughts on the subject?

Not just his thoughts. I’ve chosen six excerpts from the various Keller books and interspersed them among the columns. And my Goddess of

Design & Production, whose cover you admired, sprinkled stamp illustrations—including the ones shown here—throughout the text. Some of them are referenced in the columns, while others illustrate Keller’s adventures. That 24¢ Air Mail, for example, is how Keller’s daughter got her name.

The airplane’s upside down.

Spotted that, did you? Now I think you owe it to yourself to buy the book. It’s at Amazon, of course, and from all these on-line retailers as well. The ebook, with color illustrations throughout, is $7.99. The hefty paperback is $16.99. If you’re a philatelist yourself, you’ll probably want this book.

I’m not.

But do you have friends who collect? Here’s a wonderfully appropriate gift for any and all of them. And you can be sure they don’t already have it, because it’s just been released.

Let me think…

And you really don’t need to be a stamp collector to get a lot out of Generally Speaking. One can’t write about stamps without exploring history and geography. There’s a chapter called “How Much is That Dachshund in the Fenster?” that deals with the runaway inflation that paved the way for Hitler’s rise to power. Another, “If You Turn Me Down Once More I’ll Join the Czech Foreign Legion,” examines a little-known aspect of the First World War and the Russian Revolution. I could go on…

And evidently did. But I have to admit it does sound like a painless way to get a history lesson.

It’s also a natural for Keller fans. I hear frequently from readers who tell me the wistful assassin has managed to make stamp collecting interesting for them; they may not feel the urge to become collectors themselves, but they’d like to know a little more about these objects of Keller’s desire.

So people who like Keller will buy Generally Speaking.

Well, I hope so. I think they’d enjoy it.

And the excerpts in Generally Speaking will lead stamp collectors to your Keller novels.

Gee, I never thought of that. You think it might happen? Because it would certainly be nice if it did. You look puzzled. Is something wrong?

I was just wondering. What’s the word I’m looking for, do you happen to know? Is it disingenuousness or disingenuity?

I think they’re both acceptable words, and share the same meaning. Why?

Oh, no reason. You really want people to buy this book, don’t you?

I want people to buy all my books. But yes, I’d like to see a run on copies of Generally Speaking. So here are the links again: Amazon  Barnes & Noble  Kobo  Apple  Scribd

And that, I daresay, is more than enough from me. I’ve got to go rooting in storage bins. If I’m lucky, I’ll find something of passing interest. And if y’all are lucky, I’ll ship it straight off to South Carolina instead of, gulp, publishing it.