A happy 2008 to all my fellow thinkers and reflective readers. As you can see from the photo above of my stand-in, the holiday social/dog circuit in Manhattan has been exhausting. Some invigorating news has come our way though: A Dog About Town, the book, has been nominated for the fiction award from DWAA (Dog Writers Association of America — http://www.dwaa.org/). Also, as far as Yours Truly’s 2008 is concerned, I have already seen my hasty resolution to exercise die a quick and merciful death. The long, contemplative walk with witty asides will be the pace for 2008 –not the pell mell dash after ball or Frisbee. This is sensible, because I will need to keep my energy for a renewed commitment to these pages (3 posts per week) and you. J.F. Englert has advised me that the copy edits for A Dog Among Diplomats are nearly done. Well done on that tedious work, J.F. (my paws are ill-suited for that task). In this second book I find myself at the United Nations in search of a murderer and a chocolate-glazed, cream-filled donut. There will also be the German, Italian and Japanese launches for A Dog About Town to keep my strength for –and the hopes that more of my American countrymen, women and dogs discover my work despite Janet Evanovich’s basic monopoly of the “E” section under which our books are presumably to be found in the bookstore. But onwards we go. All the best for this New Year. Yours in Thoughtful Optimism, Randolph
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Hi Randolph! Big congrats on the nomination! A great honor!
We are about 1/2 way through your book, we had a lot of reading to catch up on. We’re loving it, BTW!!!
Have a wonderful and prosperous New Year buddy!
Woofs, Johann
January 12th, 2008 at 6:15 am
I noticed Dog About Town will be available in Japan from April 29.
It’s a national holiday that happens to be the very date that kicks off the spring holiday season. There will probably even be cherry blossoms.
Maybe Randolph will join the joggers running around the Imperial Palace, a beautiful place at any time, but especially in the spring.
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:01 am
Egad! I wrote about the wrong book. It is A Dog Among Diplomats that is due on April 29.
Obviously, I would never be half the detective Randolph is in Dog About Town.