. . .and for those of you who subscribed within the past ninety days, I trust I’ve laid to rest any worries you may have had that I’d fill your mailbox to overflowing. Quite the reverse, and I apologize for the long silence. I can but hope you had a better time than I did; I spent many of those days in hospital, where I followed a hip replacement with bypass surgery. I’m fine now, and back to buying green bananas, so not to worry.
And there’s a lot going on. Ronald Rabbit is a Dirty Old Man, which Isaac Asimov proclaimed “Either the funniest dirty book or the dirtiest funny book I’ve ever read,” is newly available in ebook and paperback form, and some of you have found it on your own—perhaps with an assist from blogger Andrew Monge, who chose it as one of his five favorite reads of 2017, and raised my spirits with these uplifting words: “In all my years of reading I have never – and I mean never — read a book that made me laugh out loud as much as Ronald Rabbit Is a Dirty Old Man.”
Some of you have been asking for more about Keller, the wistful hitman and philatelist who, as a five-star review on Amazon observed, does tend to overthink things. I initially published his most recent appearance, Keller’s Fedora, as a Kindle Single; then Subterranean Press brought it out in a superb hardcover edition, which sold out in a heartbeat and won’t be reprinted. (Used copies are listed from $91 on up, with one overly optimistic bookseller offering the book for $3214.79. I think that might be a little high.) I narrated the audiobook, and it’s still available, as is the ebook. But anyone who wanted the physical book has been out of luck.
Until now. I’m happy to announce that Keller’s Fedora is newly available as a handsome paperback volume. Note that it’s a novella, not a full-length novel, running to a mere 116 pages. The price is $9.99, and if that strikes you as excessively upscale, consider that you’re saving over $3200 by buying it instead of that high-ticket hardcover. $3200! Just think how many books you can buy with the money you’ll have saved!
There’s more. Luigi Garlaschelli translated the Scudder short stories, then turned his attention to the light-fingered and light-hearted Bernie Rhodenbarr. The Burglar who Counted the Spoons, at #11 the most recent book in the series, is now available for the first time in Italian as Il Ladro che Contava i Cucchiai. (A tip: to find all of Luigi’s skillful translations of my books, just do an Amazon search for “Luigi Garlaschelli Lawrence Block”.)
There’s more on the way in other languages, too. Stefan Mommertz and Sepp Leeb are nearing the end of the Matthew Scudder series, and before the week’s out expect to be publishing Der zweite Tod, Sepp’s translation of Hope to Die. It’ll be the book’s first appearance in the German language. And my thanks to Maria Carmen de Bernardo Martinez, whose Spanish translation of the first Keller book, Hit Man, continues to move nicely as El Sicario. Maca’s at work on the second book in the series, Hit List, and while its Spanish title is as yet undetermined, El Sicario #2 will appear prominently on the cover.
I was still home in early December, when Alive in Shape and Color: 17 Paintings by Great Artists and the Stories They Inspired hit bookstore shelves—and, to a large degree, flew right off of them. The timing didn’t hurt a bit, as no end of free-lance Santa Clauses saw it as the perfect holiday gift book. (The same thing happened a year earlier with In Sunlight or in Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper. You can still get hardcover editions of both of these books at a sharply discounted price—which may go up at any time, though probably not all the way to $3214.79.)
And that’ll do for now, don’t you think? One unlikely effect of the surgery was that I lost much of my ability to type. It’s come back, but I still make more typos than I used to, and can only hope I will have caught them before sending this to you. And if I’ve missed some, well, sotwldoih gezor#g enpl97uatz.
Cheers,
LB
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had such a rough time. It was nice to see your newsletter, I always like to read them. I hope you’ll be back to full strength soon.
Things are looking up, Lorraine.Good to hear from you!
Glad you are back and better. At 71 I can commiserate. I have a pacemaker, and new eyes, and am becoming deaf as a post. Ayway We memmers of the Typo Glub welcome you to memmershib. .
Levin, my mother used to say, “This is the most interesting time in life. Every night when I go to sleep I can try to guess what’s going to hurt when I wake up.” And she was a lot younger when she made that observation than I am now.
Best of health, dear LB.
Thank you!
LB:
Speed Recovery, Hope you are back to full fighting strength soon.
Best Regards, SRT
Thanks, Scott!
Glad to hear you’re recuperating, LB. Don’t worry about the typos. It just means your line editor finally has something to do 🙂
Gotta keep her busy, don’t I?
I hope you have a perfect and complete recovery. Here’s to more bananas and less meat.
I recently read and enjoyed Me Tanner, You Jane in which a man escapes from a buried coffin with a Swiss Army Knife.
There’s a lesson there. Stipulate in a letter of instruction that you want to be buried with your Swiss Army Knife. Because, well, you never know.
Thank you, Lawrence Bloch, for your entertaining and gripping writing. I first heard of you after watching the Tombstone book starring Liam Neeson and wanted to read more about the writer. I tweeted about it and you shared that tweet, and that gave me a little thrill. Now I’m on my second Scudder book and also dipping in and out of your book on writing. I hope you’re feeling better now and can continue to entertain your fans and readers. You really know how to animate your characters and I feel as if I know them all, especially Scudder. And one of these days when I finally get to visit New York, I’ll retrace his steps.
Thanks, Barbara.
I’m glad to hear you are on the mend, sir! I’m new to the Newsletter but not to your work. I’ve been working my way through some short story collections from the past as well as keeping up with Keller and Scudder. Fair Winds and Following Seas and I always look forward to your next publication. Glad to be following this Newsletter!
Thanks, Don—welcome aboard!
Mr. Block-
I’m so happy to hear you’re feeling better! I’m not sure what I would do without the anticipation of future writing from you. I’ve read every Keller story and book based on a recommendation from a friend and when I was done with those I found the Martin Ehrengraf stories which I devoured and absolutely loved. But somehow I had managed to miss out on both Scudder and Bernie Rhodenbarr so I’m now in the middle of a literary mission- I’m reading both of those series, in order, one after another, alternating between a Scudder book and a Bernie book, and the anticipation for each new (to me) book has been fabulous. So far I’ve read through Eight Million Ways To Die in the Scudder series and I’m a few chapters from finishing The Burglar Who Though He Was Bogart with Bernie. Sometimes I’ll read something from another author between books just to break things up but it’s hard not to immediately pick up the next LB book in whichever series I’m up to. I suppose the bottom line is this: you are currently making my life a little richer and more exciting with each book of yours that I read and I thank you, sir, and wish you all the continued good health and happiness you can possibly handle. After all, once I’m finished with all of these books, I’m going to be looking forward to whatever you have for us next! Thank you!!
Chris, thanks so much!
hello mr.block.good to read that you are on the mend.i’m on another trip through the world of matt scudder (complete series and short stories) and enjoying it as much as the first time I stumbled on a copy of the sins of the fathers back in the eighties.hope you’re up and around soon and doing what you do best and that’s entertaining your legions of fans.good luck sir.
Roger, thanks!
Ok, so I am lying here reading Keller’s Fedora on my (notso)smartphone after having surgery for a fractured hip 2 weeks ago. This is my treat to myself after surgery, as I put the hardcover on my birthday wish list and just last week discovered why I didn’t get it from my loving family! (As you referenced the limited nature of that press run.)
Needless to say I can certainly commiserate with you (minus the bypass, although at 61 that may be in my future!) and what you have been going through in terms of rehab & recovery! Hope you keep getting better everyday, boychick!
Enjoying my self-present emensely!
Alan
Thanks for the good wishes, Alan, and I wish you the same. My role model for the Golden Years is the Tin Woodman.
Truly laughing out loud!
Thanks!
Alan