DOGLAND paperback cover!

Plus my weekly shareables: Dogs, diplomats, and Jack freaking Reacher

First of all: Thanks to all of you who have reached out following the death of Alix’s mom, Joann Felsing. We have spent the past couple of weeks grieving, of course, and trying to reassemble our lives into something close to normal. But we have also found great moments of joy and comfort going through old photos, reconnecting with family and friends, and just sitting around telling stories about an extraordinary woman.

We had a memorial service for her in Tennessee last week; we’ll also have one Saturday, Jan. 25, at 11 a.m. at Holy Covenant United Church of Christ here in Charlotte. In lieu of flowers, consider donating to the Friends Committee on National Legislation, an organization Joann and her husband, Dick, worked with and supported for many years.

So ... as I’ve mentioned once or twice, the paperback version of DOGLAND will come out on April 8. But you can see the cover RIGHT NOW:

Isn’t that a beauty?

The dog on the cover is Striker, the Samoyed who is the lead character (at least the lead canine character) in DOGLAND. He was also the subject of a New York Times Magazine story, and we loved May Truong’s photo so much that we’re using it (with permission) for the paperback cover.

I expect I’ll be doing a tour of some sort for the paperback … I look forward to going back out on the road in April sometime and hanging out with y’all again. I’ll announce places and dates here as soon as I know them.

(FYI, I’ve added an Events section down at the bottom of every newsletter now, so you can see things that have already been announced.)

Oh, one last thing:

10 things I wanted to share this week:

1. The writer Patrick Radden Keefe is now a J. Crew model, so I’m expecting my own modeling gig sometime soon—probably airbrushed T-shirts at one of those Wings stores in Myrtle Beach. (NYT)

2. A beautiful double obit of sorts by the great Wesley Morris on Dr. Ruth and Phil Donahue, who taught many of us ‘80s kids about sex. Stick around for the perfect kicker. (NYT)

3. My friend Paige Williams, writing from a bruised and resilient New Orleans after the New Year’s attack. This might set the New Yorker record for my favorite 12-letter cuss word.

4. DOG NEWS: One of my favorite year-enders: We Rate Dogs’ dogs of 2024.

5. MORE DOG NEWS: So can dogs really, like, talk? Maybe so … if they have the right buttons to push. (NYT)

6. JACK REACHER NEWS: The new novel, IN TOO DEEP, is very good—the Child brothers have toned back both the violence and the convoluted plotting.

7. MORE JACK REACHER NEWS: Season 3 of the TV series coming next month!

8. Alix and I blazed through the entire Season 2 of THE DIPLOMAT in one night. It feels so much like “THE WEST WING on Netflix” that adding Allison Janney to the cast is perfect.

9. We also enjoyed the three available episodes of ELLIS, a British mystery (Britstery?) about a troubleshooting cop sent in to help police departments solve tricky cases.

10. Let’s send you home this week with Tom Jones and the Blind Boys of Alabama doing the old gospel standard “Run On” backstage at an Australian blues festival, with Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi looking on. Tom Jones has still got the chops, brother.
    

    

Upcoming events:

• Feb. 8: Savannah Book Festival (I’m speaking at 2:20 p.m., just before my bud Joe Posnanski)

• Feb. 22: Southern Voices in Hoover, Alabama

• March 30: Distinguished Speaker Series at Lanier Library in Tryon, NC

• April: DOGLAND paperback tour (dates TBA)

Have a great weekend, everybody…

—TT