It seems to me that until this novel, all of my other releases have observed release dates set by publishers precisely. This time things are different. THE MASUDA AFFAIR, scheduled for release July 28 (today) in the UK, suddenly went on sale on Amazon UK a little over a week ago. And now a fan in the U.S. writes me that he preordered copy, scheduled to be released in this country October 28, will actually be shipped to her August 2. What gives?

I'm not complaining, but isn't…

Things have been all around unsatisfactory. All those years of work. All those books. All of those miserable hours of promoting them. All of the diappointments. And nothing much to show for them.

So I blew the advances for my latest two novels (plus a sizable chunk of savings) on a painting.

Theoretically it was not supposed to be released until the 28th of July, but I've noticed that for Amazon such dates are flexible. U.S. release is not until October 28., yet I'm told it will be available some time in August. It's all very strange, but not at all bad if that gives me a little extra time to sell a few books before the libraries have them.…