Hi there!

I wasn't expecting to be in your in-box again quite so soon, but there's a been a big change to the release of The Long Man.

It will now be appearing alongside The Point Man in early 2010 - not on its own this July.

The reason is simple. Retailers around the country, most prominently Barnes & Noble and Borders, told Tor they wanted both books at the same time so that people who bought the new one could easily satisfy their curiosity about the old one, and people who bought the old one could easily make the leap to the new one. It remains true that you can read either one without needing the other, but the retailing consensus was, people will want both. And I have to say, I can't argue with that. I made sure you wouldn't need the other book, but I know what the collector's mind is like, and how much fun it is to have everything.

Now, if this were comics, you could just ship The Point Man earlier than scheduled, alongside the previously-scheduled Long Man. …

Back in July of last year I ran a short piece on my blog alerting people about Ric Estrada's failing health and asking for his fans to just drop him a line telling him how damned good he was. I subsequently heard that a lot of people did this and that it helped bring cheer to Ric, so that's an excellent result. Sadly Ric has passed away and his wife, Loretta, has passed this email on for people to view.

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Dear Friends and Family,

My sweet Ric passed away at about 7am this morning after a rapid decline in his health over the past week as the result of advanced prostate cancer which no longer responded to treatment. All of our children except for Ric's daughter Zilia were able to be here to share in supporting him in his transition to the next life. We had several hours with Ric after his passing to talk, sing, laugh, cry and say our goodbyes. We are all on the emotional ride that will take a different course for each of us. I am so grateful for Ric and our …