Time for an update, innit? It seems to me I have a few things to tell you. Now if I can only remember what they are. . .

Well, I suppose the first thing to report is that HIT & RUN, the fourth book about Keller, after spending an enjoyable year between hard covers, is now ready to emerge as a mass-market paperback. Now I know that’s of little immediate concern to most of you, as you already own the book, and very likely a first edition at that. (And some of you are proud owners of the Philatelic Edition. At least I hope you’re proud. You are, aren’t you? Oh, good.)

But now you can stock up on paperback HIT & RUNs. (Or should that be Hits & Runs? Oh, never mind.) Bestow copies upon all your friends. Hand them out at stamp shows. You’ll think of something.

Speaking of Keller, some of you expressed concern that his career might have ended with HIT & RUN. (That was after you’d got done worrying if he’d still have a pulse at the book’s end.) Well, I can’t say whether there will be any more books about Keller---I can’t really say whether there’ll be any more books, period, of which more later---but I’m pleased to report that there’s a new Keller story beginning in the July/August issue of American Stamp Dealer & Collector. This fine philatelic publication has reprinted several of Keller’s adventures over the past couple of years, and now they will be running a brand-new story, “Keller in Dallas,” in two or three installments. The story takes place in the present, a year or two after the conclusion of HIT & RUN, and I hope the non-philatelists among you will have as much fun reading the story as you’ll have trying to find a copy of the magazine.

I have a pair of stories coming up in the next few months in Ellery Queen. One’s “Without A Body,” a short-short with an interesting history. It was commissioned some ten years ago by Esquire; I was one of five or six writers asked to write something inspired by the Sante and Kenny Kimes murder case. (You could look it up.) A private investigator friend of mine was doing some investigative work for the defense, so I talked to her and spent a day at the trial and wrote an impressionistic piece from the victim’s point of view. Esquire meanwhile had second thoughts, paid everybody, and returned all the stories. I quite forgot about it until it turned up on my hard drive, whereupon I sent it to EQMM, where I’m pleased to say it’s found a home.

The other story for EQMM, “Who Knows Where It Goes,” is very much a creature of the moment, and specifically of the current economic downturn.

And there are a few more short stories coming up in original anthologies. Dark End of the Street, edited by S. J. Rozan and Jonathan Santlofer, will provide a home for “Scenarios,” Indian Country Noir, edited by Liz Martinez and Sarah Cortez, will do the same for “Getting Lucky,” and “Clean Slate” is due in Warriors (George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois). So, although I’m not working on a novel and don’t have one in the planning stages, I don’t know that it’s accurate to say I’m retiring. Shy, perhaps, but not retiring.

For a while there, it looked as though I was retiring from walking as well. When I finished writing STEP BY STEP: A Pedestrian Memoir, I was ready for a break. (I walked two marathons a week apart last spring, and that may have had something to do with it.) They say running and walking are addictive, but they’re nowhere near as addictive as inactivity. The result of all of this was that, by the time the book came out, I found myself in the position of one of those poor schnooks who drops a hundred and fifty pounds on “The Biggest Loser,” writes a book to tell the world how he did it, and then gains it all back with interest just in time for the book tour.

My own book tour was minimal---a few days in Los Angeles, a couple more in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines---but by the time it was over I got the point, and the day after my plane landed at Newark I got back on Atkins and the pavement. I’m up to forty miles a week, which is where I intend to plateau for a while, and I’m planning on a marathon in the fall. So there.

What else? I suppose I should talk some about film and TV. That, after all, is what everyone always asks about. (It’s funny---people show up at a talk or signing because of their fondness for books, and all their questions are about the movies. Don’t ask me why.)

But there’s not much to say. Keller’s in development as a TV series, and a pilot has been written, but I don’t know that any of that is going anywhere. A brilliant screenwriter/director has optioned Tanner, and I’m hopeful he’ll be able to make something happen. And a somewhat less brilliant screenwriter---uh, that would be me---has adapted A Ticket to the Boneyard for the screen; we’ve had a couple of serious nibbles, but nothing more substantial than that as yet. We’ll see.

Short films are another story. We’re still selling DVDs of Mark K. Sullivan’s film of "Cleveland In My Dreams"and now Marton Varo has filmed another of my short stories, “A Bad Night for Burglars.” I haven’t seen it yet, there’s a screening I hope to attend Friday at Anthology Film Archives, and if things work out I may be able to offer DVDs at LB's Bookstore.

This might be a good time to mention that inquiries about rights to any of my work should be directed to my film agent, Matthew Snyder, at Creative Artists Agency. (That’s MSnyder@caa.com) Many of my short stories are evidently adaptable as short films, and I am happy to accommodate film students and young filmmakers by offering very reasonable terms for non-exclusive rights to a story for non-commercial use.

At LB's Bookstore, we’re still offering the Treasure Chest, a big box full of assorted goodies. But we’ve changed our policy and will only ship this item to US addresses. If you want a Treasure Chest, or anything else we’ve got for sale, now might be a good time to order. One of these days David Trevor will take a vacation, and things slow down significantly when that happens.

Oh, before I forget, I had the great privilege recently of participating in a roundtable discussion at Newsweek's offices, in the exalted company of Kurt Andersen, Robert Caro, Annette Gordon-Reed, Susan Orlean, and Elizabeth Strout, with Jon Meacham of Newsweek moderating. What a group, with four or five Pulitzer Prizes among them; there was, as JFK remarked once at a state dinner, never so much talent gathered under one roof since Thomas Jefferson dined alone. I don't know who thought to invite me, or why, but I have a wonderful time. It's all written up in the magazine's July 13 issue, on the newsstand or here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/204211

And that’s more than enough news. Be well, and enjoy the summer. Or the winter, if you’re in that other hemisphere.

LB