Well, hello there, and welcome to Spring! The days are getting longer, the air is getting warmer---but let me stop right there before someone accuses me of Northern Hemispheric chauvinism. For those of you below the Equator, it's the nights that are getting longer, and the air's getting colder, and--- But you know all that. If you read the most recent newsletter, you also know that I've worked up plans for a philatelic edition of Keller's fourth adventure, HIT AND RUN, coming in June from HarperCollins. Keller, as you also know, is a stamp collector. He returned to the hobby of his boyhood in the final chapters of HIT MAN, when he was contemplating retirement and figured he'd need a hobby. Stamp collecting ate up much of his retirement fund---does that sound familiar to those philatelists among you?---so he's gone on working, but killing people is just what he does for a living. Stamp collecting is his life. I'm a collector myself---how's that for coincidence?---and it's been gratifying for me to see the Keller books develop a following in the philatelic community. With HIT AND RUN imminent, I felt it might be fun to create a philatelic and bibliophilic collectible to mark the book's publication. So let me see if I can explain what I've come up with. The Philatelic Edition of HIT AND RUN will consist of a copy of the hardcover First Edition, bearing on the flyleaf or title page (I haven't decided yet) an imprint identifying it as such. All copies will be serially numbered and hand-signed by the author---that's me---and each will also bear a special genuine U. S. personalized postage stamp showing the cover of the book, tied to the page with a hand-applied cancellation bearing the book's official publication date (June 24, 2008, my 70th birthday, and how's that for timing?) and the city (that'd be New York, duh). And there may be some further philatelic enhancement elsewhere in the book. Hmmm. I see a lot of hands out there, so let me take your questions. Yes? What's it going to cost? A mere $35 plus shipping. That's ten dollars above the regular retail price of the book, so if all you want is a reading copy, you're better off picking it up from an online or brick-and-mortar bookstore. But the $10 surcharge isn ’t much for a collector's item. I wanted to keep the price low, so that anyone who wants it will be able to have it. How limited is it? Quantities are limited to the number of orders we receive, and to the number of First Printing copies the publisher makes available to us. Again, our goal is to make a collector's item available to a full range of collectors, rather than to create a super-rarity. May I order more than one copy? Order as many as you like. However, there's no quantity discount, no wholesale pricing, which pretty much rules out buying for resale. You may order extra copies as gifts, or with an eye toward investment---although I can't say I see this as the next Google. However, if we get more orders than we're able to fill, we reserve the right to limit quantities. All right, I'm sold. How do I order? Here's a link: http://www.lawrenceblock.com/content_shopping.htm. (Click on the John Keller Novels link to get to the books!) You'll probably want to do this sooner rather than later, as we'll be filling orders in their order of receipt. We won't process your order or charge your credit card until the books are ready to ship, which should be shortly after June 24th. In the next few weeks our ads and notices will be appearing in stamp collector publications, and the order volume may be a trickle or a gush, it's impossible to predict. As a newsletter subscriber, you're getting the word first---so if you want to make sure of a copy, well, a word to the wise and all that. . . That's HIT AND RUN. What about the first three books? Hey, thanks for reminding me. If you want hardcover firsts of HIT MAN, HIT LIST, or HIT PARADE, you'll have to look in the aftermarket. We don't have copies for sale. But what we are going to do is offer a set of the three books in paperback. Our price for the set is $35 postpaid, and I should point out that you can get them cheaper from a retailer, as they list @ $7.99 each. However, we'll furnish signed copies, and each will carry a slight philatelic enhancement. If that's worth the difference to you, the same link will take you to that offer. For convenience, here it is again: http://www.lawrenceblock.com/content_shopping.htm. What about overseas orders? We welcome them. The price is the same---$35---but of course we have to charge a little more for shipping, as always. I don't have any more questions right now, but suppose I think of one later? Then what? David Trevor will probably be able to answer them. The fellow's a mine of useful information. Email him at [email protected] I have more news---that book I just finished, which I promised to tell you about. But it's going to have to wait for the next newsletter. I know, I know. I'm an awful tease. . . LB www.lawrenceblock.com -- 喜欢一个人 是没有道理的 在搞笑的背後 我的心清楚的让 这种感觉 没有界线地 无边蔓延~ 我喜欢你 所以 我会悄悄隐藏我的心 不让你发现 当初的纸条 不只是一个玩笑.. --

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