The SoapBoxers

Editor’s note: this was the second Fiction Friday story I published (the baseball-themed Release Point being the first). A co-worker told me that this story gave him nightmares, which I took as a compliment.  Originally published on April 3, 2009, and pulled out of the vault today … Tale of the Wolf!

The wolf was at the top of the food chain. He had stalked his prey for three weeks. He knew her habits better than she knew them. He could have moved in for the kill sooner, but sometimes it was fun to watch.

At the precise time as she had in the past, she broke away from her flock and entered the lush green field of the killing ground. The wolf moved slowly from his lair and followed her into the death zone.

The wolf was wrong. He was not at the top of the food chain. As the wolf closed in on his prey, he was becoming the hunted. The lion surveyed the killing ground. As the wolf pursued his prey, the lion slowly moved into position to capture the wolf.

The girl always took the shortcut through the woods to get back to the dorms. Her friends told her that it was dangerous, especially at night. The girl was not afraid. She had been taking this shortcut for nearly three years, and she knew the woods better than anyone else.

The girl should have listened to her friends. On this particular night, she was not alone in the woods. As she broke into the small clearing in the middle of the woods, she sensed that she was not alone. The wolf pounced on her and forced her to the ground. The girl screamed, but the forest drowned out her screams.

The wolf’s excitement had been building toward this moment, and he was immediately ready. He forced himself upon her, enjoying immense pleasure at the same time that her screams embodied the incredible physical and emotional pain. He finished quickly, and the girl lay on the ground, unable to move. The wolf pulled out his knife. With one strong, swift motion, he plunged it into her torso, finding her heart immediately. As the girl’s life quickly ebbed away, the wolf felt immense power.

The lion watched the full encounter. He waited until he was certain that the wolf had experienced an ultimate high. Then the lion moved quickly into the clearing. The wolf sensed danger and turned, but it was too late. The lion forced his own knife deep into the chest of the wolf, and the wolf was dead before he realized the extent of the danger.

The lion dipped the tip of his finger into the wolf’s blood, and then mixed it with the girl’s blood. As he licked his finger, he could feel the life force of both of them entering his body.

Last night was supposed to be all about the House voting on the bill to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.  A compromise had been reached, and the Republican House and the Democratic Senate were poised to pass a bill and send it to the President for his quick signature.  Crisis averted, economy back on track, cue the chorus of Hallelujah.  The United State of America could once again return to what we do best – spending money!

Suddenly, in a moment, the political wrangling had been shoved to the side.  The politicians put their ideological differences aside and welcomed back one of their own.  Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona), still in recovery from a January assassination attempt, entered the chamber and cast her vote.

It’s worth noting that Giffords, a Democrat, did not return on Friday to help her party defeat the Boehner.v3 bill – which squeaked through with a 218-210 vote.  Instead, she returned to support a bipartisan effort last night.  In truth, her vote wasn’t necessary to secure passage of the bill, as it sailed through by a 269-161 margin.  There’s much to be learned from Giffords’ actions – it is a time to work together, rather than being quite so adversarial.

What does the future hold for congresswoman Giffords?  I hope this is a sign that she will be able to resume her full duties before long.  One of many unfortunate effects of Jared Loughner’s rampage is that her constituents have been without representation in congress.  (A sidebar – perhaps we need to prevent this situation from occurring in the future?  Allow a temporary replacement to be appointed in situations where a legislator is temporarily incapacitated.)

Will she run for re-election in 2012?  I think House Democratic leaders will strongly urge her to do so.  If there was ever a candidate who was a slam-dunk for re-election, it’s Giffords.  Short of a major scandal (along the lines of embezzlement), I’m not sure she can lose.  Her opponents may point out ideological differences, but will this be enough to outweigh public sentiment in her favor?

The fact of the matter is that it’s quite easy to paint Giffords as a martyr for democracy.  She wasn’t shot as she was lounging around the pool or eating filet mignon at an upscale restaurant.  She was shot in the line of duty.  Not even at some mundane committee meeting in a far away building in D.C. – but at an event (Congress on Your Corner) where she was actively soliciting feedback from her constituents.  It wouldn’t take a spin master to turn this to her great advantage.

Is it wrong to play on the sympathy of the public for political gain?  Of course not.  This is politics, where you push every advantage and the game is no holds barred.

(Let us not forget the six people that died in the January shooting – Christina-Taylor Green, Dorothy Morris, Judge Roll, Phyllis Schneck, Dorwan Stoddard, and Giffords staffer Gabe Zimmerman.)

According to most observers, the biggest losers in the new collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association are the rookies.  There will be a new cap for rookies.  A team will be alloted a bucket of money to distribute among rookie contracts based on the slotting of their picks (the team with the #1 pick will be allowed to spend more money than the team with the 18th pick, for example).  A team could choose to spend all of the money on their top pick and non-tender their others pick, if you wish (along this is not likely to happen).

There has been much complaining about unproven rookies making more money that veterans who have been in the league a long time.  While we can argue all day about whether athletes are overpaid, within the existing context of player salaries, I really wonder if this is an attempt to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.  I have a couple of concerns with the new rookie cap.

It removes accountability for owners.

You know the best way to keep rookie salaries from spiraling out of control?  Have owners put their foot down and refuse to pay.  Pass on a guy who wants too much money and make a safer, cheaper, pick instead.  This happens in the baseball draft all the time, when prospects drop due to concerns about signability (baseball draftees often have a lot more options, since many of them are high schoolers or have college eligibility remaining). 

Not willing to pass on Joe Smith (who is demanding $50 million) to settle for Bob Jones, who is willing to take $25 million?  Guess what?  This means that Joe Smith is worth $50 million to you.  Suck it up and write the check.  Otherwise, let him drop a few spots and have your rivals pay the big bucks.

No upside for rookies

The new CBA calls for rookies to sign contracts for four years, with a team option for the fifth year.  In baseball, a player gets arbitration when they have accrued slightly less than three years of major league service.

If you blossom as a pro and out-perform your contract, there’s no reward.  You’re still going to make the same money.  This doesn’t sounds so bad, except that teams can cut a player who under-performs their contract.  In other words, the teams are protected against under-performance and at the same time don’t have to pay for over-performance.

Some writers say that teams need to be able to lock players up for five years because of how much money and effort goes into coaching.  Just a second … are these also the same writers who talk about a top pick being able to step in and start on day one?  These are contradictory statements.

There needs to be some sort of escape for the rookies.  Perhaps something as simple as baseball’s arbitration system, which would kick in after a player has three years of service.  Perhaps an “overachiever” pool of money to be divvied up each year.  Perhaps allowing playing time to trigger free agency earlier (maybe a sliding scale that gives a 7th round pick more “credits” toward free agency than a 1st round with the same amount of playing time – since the 7th rounder overachieved more than the 1st rounder?)

Taking money away from deserving veterans?

Sure, there are some underpaid veterans in the league.  Guys who have paid their dues with many years of stellar performance in the league.

Then we see the Cardinals giving $63 million over five years to Kevin Kolb.  Kolb has done a helluva job of carrying a clipboard for the Eagles, but has he really earned that contract any more than, say, Andrew Luck (the presumptive #1 overall pick in the 2012 draft)?  Sure, Kolb has “potential”, but at this point in his career has more inteceptions (14) than touchdowns (11).

Get back to me when you stop talking out of both side of your mouth, owners.

Regular readers to The Soap Boxers know that I am a die-hard Colorado Rockies fan. I have rooted for the franchise since December of 1992, several months before they played their first game. I have stuck with them through thick and thin. Mostly thin – but it’s easier than it seems, since I was a Cubs fan prior to my reformation.

I have enjoyed watching a lot of Rockies players over the years, from the Big Cat, Vinny Castilla, and Larry Walker in the early years, to Todd Helton suffering with me through the lean years, and finally the current crop including Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez.

It always pains me when I see a good player leave town. It was a foregone conclusion that Matt Holliday would be traded because the small market Rockies couldn’t afford him. This wasn’t a consideration with Jimenez, as he was locked up at a very reasonable price through 2014 – $2.8 million this season, $4.2 million next year, $5.75 million team option in 2013, and $8 million team option in 2014 (Jimenez can – and likely will – void the 2014 option if traded). In other words, this was a great starting pitcher, cost controlled for another 3.5 years, and we still let him go.

Still, I’m OK with the deal. This is why?

• We got a good deal. When the rumors of Jimenez being on the trade block initially surface, most observers felt that this was simply Dan O’Dowd gauging interest – with little interest in actually making a deal. Some also felt that this was a bad time to trade Jimenez, since he had struggled down the stretch in 2010 after a 15-1 start and had also struggled to start this year, However, Jimenez had been pitching much better since the start of June, and had been downright dominant on the road all year. A number of American League playoff contenders were rumored to be interested. Drew Pomeranz is one of the best pitch prospects in baseball, and Alex White and Jason Kipnis were the 1st (White) and 2nd (Kipnis) round picks in 2009. It’s a nice haul.
• It addressed needs. It’s no secret that the Rockies have struggled to get production out of the second base spot since … um, have we ever had a decent offensive player at second base? Adding two quality young arms should also add depth to the rotation in future years. Pitching injuries seem to be a rite of passage in Denver; you can never have too many starting pitchers. All three players are also quite young (Kipnis is 24, White and Pomeranz are 22) and should still have several years of improvement ahead of them.
• It could screw the Yankees. I have positive feeling for the Indians, and wouldn’t mind seeing them make the playoffs. If they happen to face off against the hated Yankees in the playoffs, I wish for them to have every possible weapon at their disposal. If Jimenez was going to be traded, Cleveland is a good spot for him.

You won’t see the name of Pomeranz in the official record of the transaction. Draftees must have been under contract with their team for a full year before becoming eligible to be traded. This is an odd little rule baseball enacted after the Pete Incaviglia trade in 1986. A stupid rule, but a rule nonetheless. Instead, you’ll see a Player to Be Named Later … and on August 15, that PTBNL will become Pomeranz.

As usual, I’m juggling a lot of balls at the moment. That tends to be par for the course these days.

Amazon Associates

One of the more interesting – and profitable – ventures stemmed from Amazon’s recent decision to sever ties with California residents who were members of the Amazon Associates affiliate program. A lot of people took a financial hit when this happened. Previously, they were making commissions when they referred sales to Amazon. This revenue dropped to zero. This has happened in several other states, but I personally knew some people who were affected in California.

My simple solution to this problem is to have a middleman from a non-affected state step into the middle. Let’s call this person “Kosmo”. Kosmo provides new tracking IDs to the affected people that are tied to his account and then replace the old ids with the new ones (this only takes a few minutes for an entire site). Amazon then pays Kosmo, who then takes a cut and passed on the lion’s share of the money to the site owner. This creates two separate relationships. Amazon no longer has a direct relationship with the site owner.

Interested in knowing more details? Email me at kosmo@ObservingCasually.com

The Cell Window – Kindle version

I’m very happy to announce the release of The Cell Window for Kindle.  This is one of my all-time favorite stories, and probably the one that took the most work – requiring six weeks to complete the 10,000 word tale.  This is the story of Duncan, a tech-savvy voyeur who invades the lives of his employer’s customers.  I distributed free copies of this story to a lot of my friends, and it tended to evoke a reaction from everyone.  My friend Jaylene commented that if I weren’t married, she’d be a bit freaked out to be around me.  (I guess all the weirdos are single people?).  You really SHOULD find the story a bit disturbing.

You can buy the story on Amazon for 99 cents or you can be a big spender on pony up $3.79 for my short story collection Mountains, Meadows, and Chasms, which also contains the story (along with 73 other stories).

If you buy either book, please leave a review when you are finished.  All I ask is that you be honest with your feedback.

Other writing

I’ve been renting myself out in recent weeks in an effort to keep the lights on at Hyrax Publications.  You’ll be able to see articles on financial and insurance topics over at The Digerati Life.  At this point, I’m not looking for any additional work in that arena, but I am entertaining any offers to do some freelance short fiction.

I’m also making an effort to kick-start my novel, which has been laid aside a bit to make time to chase after young kids.  (I should clarify that.  I’m referring to my own kids.)

The book will be a nice little serial killer novel.  I’m starting basically from scratching, putting aside about 8000 words that I had written previously.  I’ve circulated the newly written prologue to a few trusted friends, and it has received very positive reviews.  Now I just need to write the rest of the book …  I’d love to finish by some time in 2012.  It’s going to be a ton of work (and require a fair amount of research), but it should be a lot of fun).

There’s much debate in Washington – and much discussion around the nation – about whether or not to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. Realistically, everyone knows that the debt ceiling must be raised. In recent history, neither party has had a track record of balancing the budget. There’s chatter about cutting spending, but when the rubber hits the road, members of both parties have their own pet projects.

Wondering how to make some money in the financial markets?  Figure out where the money will go after the gold bubble bursts.  When people realize that the speculators have turned gold into a de facto currency – while at the same time criticizing de jure (fiat) currency – they may realized that investing in shiny rocks might not be the best idea in the world.  When the crash comes, investors will be scrambling for a safe place to put their money.  If you can figure out where they will put their money, you might be able to ride a bit of a surge when demand outstrips supply in that market (at which point, you should consider selling).

The NFL owners ratified a new labor deal with the union. It could be a while before the players ratify the same deal. More often than not, I side with players in sports labor issues – but not this time. I really feel that many of the tactics of the players – most notably their sham decertification of union (a union which continues to bargain on their behalf) – amount to bargaining in bad faith. I’d actually be interesting in having the courts weigh in on the issues. If a deal isn’t done soon, we’re looking at the possibility of some lost games (pre-season, at least) and a compressed off-season. The proposed shortened free agency period seems like a very bad deal for the players – giving them little time to shop around for a deal. Personally, I’ve been staying away from the NFL for the last two years after my team signed Brett Favre – and I’m really close to walking away from the NFL permanently. There’s plenty of baseball year-round to keep my occupied.

The Colorado Rockies have been listening to trade offers for ace Ubaldo Jimenez.  In talks with the Yankees, they were reportedly looking for a deal in which Yankees catching prospect Jesus Montero – an elite hitting prospect – did not make up the bulk of the value in the deal.  Although Jimenez’s number are not close to his 15-1 start at the beginning of last year, he’s not doing as poorly as you might thing.  After a horrible start to the year (0-5, 5.86 ERA though the end of May), Jimenez is 6-3 with a 2.58 ERA since June 1.  A big key to his success has been a dramatic reduction in number of walks.  Jimenez has also been downright dominant this year on the road – a 2.28 ERA and a stunningly low .158 batting average allowed.  I’d prefer to keep Jimenez, but I trust GM Dan O’Dowd.  After all, he did very well in the Matt Holliday trade, obtaining Carlos Gonzalez and Huston Street in the deal.

I’ve been reading an old book by a favorite author lately. The Kindle edition of Lawrence Block’s Killing Castro is available for $2.99.  Not only in the story set in 1961, it was published in 1961 under a pen name.  I’m about 75% of the way through the book, and am thoroughly enjoyed it.  How often can you read a 50 year old book by an author who is still producing new books?

Speaking of Amazon … if you like The Soap Boxers, consider using the big Amazon ad at the top of the right side of the screen as your entry point into Amazon.  This will give us a small commission when you buy things, and there is no additional cost to you.  Consider this to be payment for the many articles on this site 🙂

I recent bought a Kindle.  As some of you know, I’ve long been a proponent of printed books and have resisted to urge to jump to e-readers.  Why the change of heart?

• The battery life issue is not as much of a concern as I would have thought.  I was under the false impression that battery life would be measured in hours or maybe a day or two.  In actuality, battery life is measured in weeks.
• Although I feel that a lot of the eBooks are priced too high in comparison to the corresponding printed version, there’s one genre where this isn’t true: public domain works.  You can download the works of Shakespeare, Milton, Verne and countless others for free!
• It’s not just an e-reader.  Until recently, I wasn’t aware of the fact that the Kindles have a built-in web browser.  I’m told that this is clunky but functional.  That’s fine for me.  I don’t own a smart phone, so it will be nice to have a book that doubles as a web browser when I’m, stuck in a waiting room for hours.  If you have a 3G version, you get free access to the internet when you’re traveling.  Amazon does reserve the right to charge for “excessive use”, which does make some sense – I’m sure they’re paying a pretty penny to have this service provided to Kindle users.  On the other hand, it makes it easier for people to buy more books.
• Not only can you borrow Kindle books from your friends, you’ll soon be able to check them out from the library, too.  In the near future, Amazon will be working with Overdrive to deploy this functionality.  The Nook (a Kindle competitor) currently allows checkouts from libraries.

I’ve been slowly coming around to the idea of buying a Kindle for the last few months.  I told myself that I’d wait until I’d earned enough money from my web endeavors to pay for one – at the time, this would have taken quite a while.

Recently, however, this changes.  I lined up a freelance gig that will bring in a bit of money.  At that point, I started looking around at Kindles.

Shortly thereafter, a friend mentioned that he had a Kindle that he was looking to sell.  It was a Kindle 2 (the current model is a 3), but had built in 3G (only available in the pricier versions of the Kindle 3.  We struck a deal, and the K2 should be arriving before long.

Going into play on Saturday, the Pittsburgh Pirates are in a tie for second place in their division, just one game behind the Brewers.

The last time the Pirates wrapped up a winning season, I was starting my senior year of high school.  The year was 1992.  George Bush (the elder) was president.  Jeffrey Dahmer had recently been sent away to prison, the original Dream Team was romping to victory in Barcelona,  and Hurricane Andrew had just smashed into Florida.  In other words, it has been a long time.

The fall of the Pirates has been due in large part to running the team on the cheap – pocketing revenue sharing money from teams like the Yankees and Red Sox without any attempt to use the money to field a competitive team.  The modus operandi for the Pirates has been to trade away talented players before they become too expensive to hang onto, and to sacrifice quality for affordability in their top draft picks.  For a team with a championship history – the team of Honus Wagner, Pie Traynor, and Roberto Clemente – it’s a sad state of affairs.

The Pirates hired Clint Hurdle as their manager in the off-eason.  Hurdle had struggled through several losing season with the Rockies before breaking through and winning the pennant with the 2007 club.  He was fired after a terrible start in 2009 and replaced with Jim Tracy – who led a dramatic turnaround that led the Rockies back to the playoffs.  The irony?  Tracy was fired by the Pirates in 2007 after a failed stint with the team – and the Pirates managerial job is now held by the man who was fired in Colorado to make room for Tracy!  Although I do think the firing of Hurdle was justified (things had just run their course), I do have respect for him as a manager, and am pleased to see him doing well.

There are a lot of “feel-good” stories with Pittsburgh.  Joel Hanrahan (an Iowa kid) was beginning to run out of opportunities before being installed as the closer in Pittsburgh.  Hanrahan is 26 for 26 in save opportunities with a 1.34 ERA.  Jeff Karstens has shaved nearly 2 runs off his career ERA and stands at 2.55.  Kevin Correia posted a 5.40 ERA last year for San Diego – even with the benefit of an extremely pitcher-friendly Petco Park.  This year, he’s making a run at a 20 win season, standing at 11-6 with a 3.74 ERA (he has decisions in 17 of his 18 starts, which is nothing short of amazing). (Note: all stats are through Thursday).  I’m nominating Correia as my dark horse candidate for the Cy Young award.  If he manages to win 20 games – for the PIRATES – how can you fail to give him the award?

Around the diamond

Derek Jeter returned to the Yankees lineup after his stint on the DL and once again is closing in on 3000 hits (if he had a two hit game after we went to the presses Friday night, then he’s already reached the milestone). 

It’s often noted that Jeter will be the first Yankee to reach 3000 hits.  This is interesting, but it really doesn’t add anything to the accomplishment.  Would Jeter’s achievement be diminished if he played for a team which already had some guys with 3000 hits in their career (the Pirates, for example)?  Of course not.  Neither, then, does the fact that he’ll be the first Yankee with 3000 hits add to the accomplishment.  If anything, it points out a bit of an oddity in baseball.  With all the superstars that have worn pinstripes, you’d think at least one of them would have racked up 3000 hits for the Yankees.  Had he stayed healthy, Lou Gehrig surely would have joined the 3000 hit club 70 years ago.  In recent decades, the Yankees have tended to acquire stars rather than develop them – and it’s almost impossible to have 3000 hits for a team unless you play nearly your entire career with them.

Albert Pujols returned to the Cardinals lineup on Wednesday night – a month ahead of schedule.  I discussed the issue with a friend of my who is a huge Cardinals fan.  He was in agreement that it would have made more sense to shut Pujols down until after the All Star break to make completely sure he’s healthy.  The benefit from a few extra games before the break isn’t worth the risk of aggravating the injury by trying to come back too early.  However, I’ll assume that the medical staff for the team knows that they are doing.

The All Star game is on Tuesday.  I absolutely love the All Star game.  I’m not much of a fan of the home run derby (too artificial) but love seeing the biggest stars in the game in the field.  I definitely agree with the sportswriters who would like to see the rosters trimmed a bit – and also agree that not every single player needs to get into the game.

Go National League!

Darren Wieters felt the butterflies in his stomach. The 39 year old had been working toward this moment for his entire career. It was the final game of the season, and Wieters had entered the game with 2994 career hits. The sports world was resigned to the fact that Wieters would have to come back one more year to enter the 3000 hit club.

Wieters privately wondered if his body could take another year of abuse. His left knee would need to be scoped in the off-season, and the shoulder needed the cortisone shots more frequently in recent years. Another regimen of off-season workouts, just to stay in shape for a handful of hits next year. That did not sound like much fun at all – but it was the price of greatness.

Wieters had left off the game with a single. Another single in the third, a double in the fifth, a double in the sixth, and yet another single in the eighth had put him on the cusp of history. He had five hits in five at bats, pushing his career hits total to 2999 – the brink of immortality.

Wieters watched Sean Graham line out hard to the third baseman for the first out of the inning. Wieters collected himself, took a deep breath, and took the short walk toward the batter’s box.

“Go get ’em, Dee Dub” yelled Graham. Wieters nodded absently, lost in his thoughts.

The flashbulbs around the park lit up the darkness. Every fan in the stands knew the importance of this moment. Just one more hit would stamp Wieters’ ticket to the Hall of Fame. Any hit would do – an infield single or a home run – it didn’t make a difference. Another hit would also give Wieters a rare six hit game – and make him the first to ever reach the 3000 hit plateau with a six hit game.

The opposition, however, was not going to simply roll over. Especially not in a tie game. The Dragons pitching coach jogged out to the mound and signaled for a lefty to come in to face Wieters.

Wieters took some unhappy practice swings – annoyed not only by the prospect of an unfavorable lefty-lefty match-up, but also with the delay in the action.

Finally, the southpaw finished his warm-up pitches and toed the rubber. Wieters dug in at the plate. Wieters knew that this guy would try to get him to expand his strike zone, so he watched the mid-90s fastball go – barely missing the plate.

The next pitch got more of the plate than the pitcher had planned, and Wieters drove the ball toward deep center field. The crowd roared when they realized that the ball was going to fall in for a hit. Wieters felt the presence of first base under his feet – his #3000! He never broke his stride and raced toward second. As he neared the bag, the third base coach was giving him the stop sign, but Wieters knew he could beat the throw. He kicked it into high gear and roared toward third base. He would become only the second player to enter the 3000 hit club with a triple!

He lost his footing as he approached third base. He stumbled, then fell – but his momentum was still propelling him toward the bag. He reached for the base. Yes – his hand was in before the tag!

“OUT!” roared the ump.

Wieters jump up in protest. The blind bat had missed the call. A piece of history, and he had just blown the call. Wieters was fuming and gave the the man in blue a piece of his mind.

“Yer outta here” yelled Blue when he finally lose patience with Weiters, ejecting the future Hall of Famer from his final game. Wieters shared a few more choice words before retreated toward the dugout. As he approached, Sean Graham tossed him a ball. Wieters grabbed it angrily and hurled it into the stands. He grabbed a bat and began a vicious assault on the water cooler.

It took Darren Wieters a moment to realize that Graham has tossed him the ball from his 3000th hit – and that in his anger he had discarded it like a piece of trash.

I make no secret of the fact that I’m a big fan of crime writer Lawrence Block.  I’ve profiled him in one article and placed him atop my baker’s dozen list of favorite authors.  He has written novels, short stories, and even writes a monthly column in a philately magazine.  Additionally, he has written books for other authors – books that have been instrumental in my own writing.

Just as importantly, he is FUN.  His web site is a departure from the sterile sites you see elsewhere.  If you look carefully, you can see that he is actually selling books on the site (autographed), but the sales seem to take a back seat to the newsletter and other general chatter.  Really, you get the feeling that you are “in the know”.  Even the bookselling sounds like a quaint operation involving one guy shoving each book into a box and hand-printing the address.

Block is 73 years old, and is showing no signs of slowing down.  He recently released a new Matthew Scudder novel, A Drop of The Hard Stuff.  September will see the release of Getting Off: A Novel of Sex & Violence (I have no idea what that might be about) with Block writing under the pseudonym Jill Emerson.

I don’t have the details of Block’s financial status (that would be a bit stalker-ish), but with millions of sales under his belt, I suspect that he doesn’t need to postpone grocery shopping until his Social Security check arrives.  He’s past the customary retirement age, and it would be perfectly understandable if he decided to ride off into the sunset and simply quit writing.  But he hasn’t – he continues to write (although it’s been a damn long time since the last Bernie novel).

Several months ago, I found the septuagenarian on Facebook.  Unlike some authors, who only say something when they’re trying to sell you their new book (or get you to see the movie based on their book), Block interacts with his fans – from the “Rabbit, rabbit” for good luck on the first of every month to the daily affirmations for writers.  In between, he shares interesting insights, stories, and photos (he’s also a world traveler).  He actually – GASP – responds when people comment on his status.  He interacts with his Facebook friends as if they are, well … his friends.  Yes, he does occasionally link to items for sale – but in his typically self-deprecating manner.

He is also a man who embraces technology.  Recently, he has been bombing the landscape with Kindle versions of his short stories.  Brilliant, really, because who can argue that 99 cents is too high a price?  With the relatively low amount of work that goes into preparing an electronic edition, it’s easy to cost-justify the time spent – and it allows fan to get their grubby little paws (er, Kindles) on stories that haven’t been published in many years.

When block turned 73 back on on June 24, he celebrated bu jumping onto Twitter.  More recently, he launched his own blog (smartly opting for WordPress, the same software that powers The Soap Boxers).  What’s next – FourSquare 🙂

All in all, it seems like Lawrence Block is having a great time playing with all the new technology and having a grand time chatting with all his fans.  You want to know a great way to build loyalty in your fan base?  Interact with them as if there were peers – exactly what Block does.

I happen to have a signed copy of a Lawrence Block book.  No, I haven’t been lucky enough to meet him at a signing, nor did I buy one from his site.  While at a chain retail store that sells new and used books, I saw a copy of One Night Stands and Lost Weekends on the bargain shelf for $2.  I already had a copy, but was with a friend of mine who had never read any of Block’s work.  I grabbed the book and intended to present it as a gift.  On the way back to the office, I was flipping to the table of contents (don’t worry – I was a passenger) to tell my friend how many stories were included in my collection.  Imagine my surprise when I found myself in possession of an autographed copy.

I kept the autographed book and bought my friend a nice copy of Enough Rope – which is a far longer collection, anyway.  I’d call that a win-win situation.