I suppose you’re referring to Daylight Savings Time.

I am, and its return always sparks joy, although I’d be hard-pressed to tell you why. It seems to promise extra hours, but I’ve never been able to find more than the usual twenty-four in a day. And even those hours that crawl are over all too quickly, and the weeks and months pass in a flash, and don’t ask me where the years go.

I wouldn’t dream of it.

I’m here to wish you all the joys of St. Patrick’s Day, which means the equinox is hard upon us, and how far off is the summer solstice?

It ought to be three months.

Wouldn’t you think so? But just wait and see how quickly the future turns into the past. Why, there’s barely time to preorder The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder before it’s published on June 24^th.

I was wondering where you were going with this.

It’s a difficult pitch to make, because it’s a book I never expected to write, and not an easy one to describe. On the one hand I think it’s one of my very best, a judgment in which my small corps of advance readers seems to concur. At the same time, I can’t see it as having a very large prospective audience; I don’t imagine anyone who’s not already a reasonably ardent Scudder enthusiast would have much reason to read it.

It was really Madison Avenue’s loss when you opted for a career as a novelist.

You think? I couldn’t figure out how to sell this one, and I thought about rounding up enthusiastic quotes—but I hate to do that, because I don’t give blurbs myself, so where would I get off asking for them? Then it struck me that the best thing to do was let the book speak for itself, so I’ve posted the first 3000 words on my website, where anybody’s welcome to read them. That’s about 5% of the complete book, and if you read that much you’ll probably know whether or not you want to read more.

And then we preorder the book?

Or not. The ebook is available for preorder on most platforms —  AMAZON   APPLE   KOBO   BARNES & NOBLE   THALIA   VIVLIO   SMASHWORDS  — at an advance price of $9.99.

And I suppose that price will go up after June 24^th?

No, it’ll probably stay at $9.99. Any day now you’ll be able to preorder the paperback, and its price will be $17.99.

And after publication?

No change. Still $17.99.

I don’t get it. What’s the advantage of preordering?

I’m not sure there is any. Oh, it does protect you against a price increase, but I don’t honestly anticipate one. I guess the main advantage is that you’re guaranteed to be the first member of your granfalloon to read The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder. And you’ll also be spared the need to scribble “Buy Scudder Autobiography” in your calendar for June 24.

So I won’t need to tie a string around my finger as a reminder. Do people still do that?

Did they ever? Look, I realize this isn’t the best sales letter I’ve ever perpetrated, and maybe that’s as it should be. Just because the book’s a hard sell doesn’t mean a hard-sell approach is the answer.

As I’ve said, I think highly of the book—and it seems to me I may have done something that hasn’t been done before. (After I’d completed it, I was to discover that it’s not the first work purporting to be the memoir of an existing fictional character. Georges Simenon published Les Mémoires de  Maigret in 1950. I managed to locate a copy, and found that it was, well, not very interesting. As an admirer of both Simenon and his Inspector Maigret—I spent a very pleasant evening some years ago discussing the Belgian author and his work with Pete Hamill before a small but enthusiastic Brooklyn audience—I’d wanted to like the book; all the same, it was with some relief that I found it surprisingly dull.)

Um, where was I?

I think you said Brooklyn.

I’m not even sure it was Brooklyn, but I remember we had a good time saying nice things about Simenon. But getting back to the Scudder autobiography—

There’s a thought.

—I’ll be going to a midtown studio next week to record the opening of the Dreamscape Audiobook. Peter Berkrot, who’s narrated many of my audiobooks (including A Writer Prepares and Dead Girl Blues) will give voice to Matthew Scudder, while Romy Nordlinger has a sparkling cameo as Elaine.

So there’ll be an audio version, and it’s shaping up to be quite a production. Nice of you to share that with us. When’s the audiobook coming out?

June 24^th, same as the ebook and paperback.

Your birthday.

I know, and how’s that for a coincidence? There’ll be a deluxe signed-and-numbered hardcover edition from Subterranean Press, too, but there’s no release date scheduled yet. I’ll let you know when there is.

In the meantime,  check out the first 3000 words of The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder. See what all the fuss—or lack thereof—is about. Preorder it—or don’t. What’s the matter? Why are you looking at me like that?

Two words, LB. Wishy washy.

Two words? Are you sure? Doesn’t it have a hyphen? I’ll have to look it up. . .

Cheers,

PS: As always, please feel free to forward this to anyone you think might find it of interest. And, if you yourself have received the newsletter from a friend and would like your own subscription, that’s easily arranged; an  email to lawbloc@gmail.com with LB’s Newsletter in the subject line will get the job done.

LB’s Blog and Website
LB’s Facebook Page
Twitter: @LawrenceBlock