Newsletter 04/10

April 2010

This is my first Newsletter since December and I hope everyone had a good winter despite the record-breaking global warming freeze in most of the country.

I’ve just read and corrected the galley proofs of my new book, The Lion, and it’s off to the printer. The Lion will be published June 8, as scheduled, in a limited edition of one million copies which will be offered to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. In order to avoid long lines and disappointment, I suggest you pre-order your copy or copies online, or call your bookstore and ask them to reserve a copy for you. When these million copies are gone, there will be no more copies available to the public — unless the publisher goes back to press for another half million or so. But don’t take a chance on being left out — Order now while supplies last! The Lion will make a great Father’s Day gift, or a belated Mother’s Day gift. And don’t forget birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, christenings, bar mitzvahs, or relatives in prison. And if you’re like me, you like to have a heavy book in your hand when you answer the door to a solicitor or census taker. Two whacks upside the head usually gets rid of them.

I’m still working on Captain which will be published sometime in 2011. I’m about halfway through the book and I’ve figured out what it’s about. At first it was supposed to be about a long boring flight from Rome to New York. But then I decided to introduce the element of computer failure over the Atlantic. Well, as you can imagine, the flight gets interesting at that point. I’m actually flying from Rome to New York in May, so if the computer goes down I can see firsthand if I’m getting it right.

I just autographed my income tax check and like millions of other Americans I probably won’t get a thank you note from the IRS. It’s like the whole IRS is made up of my nieces and nephews.

Just to remind everyone, the prequel to The Lion, titled The Lion’s Game, will be reissued in mass market paperback on May 3, and in the larger trade paperback edition on May 19. It’s not necessary to read or reread The Lion’s Game before you read The Lion, but it’s not a bad idea either. I mean, do you really remember The Lion’s Game? I don’t, and I wrote it. This reissued edition of The Lion’s Game includes a sneak preview chapter from The Lion and also a new Author’s Introduction.

Not much new on the movie front except that the manuscript of The Lion is out with about sixty producers and studios and we’re waiting for the offers to start rolling in. I did get an offer from the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences for one million dollars if I’d stop sending manuscripts to Hollywood. My agent is negotiating.

Well, that’s about it. I hope you’re all enjoying the spring and that you’ve managed to find something to read before The Lion comes out in June, just in time for beach reading.

Sincerely,