One of the lovely things about writing is when a new edition of my work show up. It always feels like a freebie–I get a new book for my brag shelf without having to do any more work. What’s not to like?

Recently I received editions of two different anthologies. First was the French edition of Crimes by Moonlight, the MWA anthology edited by the astounding Charlaine Harris. It contains my story “Taking the Long View,” or as the French say, “Long terme.”

Interestingly, this is not the cover that showed up on Amazon.co.fr, which is:

I like both, and would be hard-pressed to say which I prefer. Dana Cameron, who has a story in here, too, says she thinks the red-and-white design says vampire, where the one they used says werewolf. I’m just hoping that it says Buy me!

I also got a copy of the large print edition for Death’s Excellent Vacation.

Now to place these with pride on my shelf!

I recently got a peek at the cover for the German translation of Wolfsbane and Mistletoe. Or should I say Werwölfe Zu Weihnachten, which translates to “werewolves at Christmas.” I’m happy to see they’re using the wundebar Lisa Desimini illustration from the original edition.

The book itself will be out from DTV in October of this year, which will be sehr gut.

A New Year is supposed to be put one’s focus on that which is new. New outlooks, new projects, and so on. And I am working on new stuff. I’m hip-deep in the new “Where are they now?” mystery, Charlaine Harris and I are working hard on our new urban fantasy anthology, and I’ve got short pieces scheduled for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. I’m even going to appear in a whole new sub-genre–I’ve written a noir PI story for a Bleak House anthology edited by Carolyn Haines. Of course, publishing pipelines are long, so that stuff won’t hit the shelves until later this year, or even in 2010.

For now, my new releases are actually new editions of older books.

• Without Mercy was just released in a Wheeler Publishing Large Print trade paperback. I find it odd to look at my work in large print. It somehow looks as if the whole story is being told in shouts. I’d plug in the new cover, except it looks just like the hardcover.

• Many Bloody Returns will be released in an Ace trade paperback on February, 3. The cover is a little new, so I’ll go ahead and post it.

• Though I can’t read enough Polish to tell what the release date is, Fabryka Slow has posted information about the Polish translation of Many Bloody Returns, or Krwawe Powroty, complete with a cover illustration. The newness here comes from it being my first Polish translation, and the cover, which is a whole new look–see for yourself.

• Curse of the Kissing Cousins will be released as a Berkley Prime Crime paperback on May 5. Though it’s technically a reprint of Without Mercy, with the spiffy new cover, the new title, and the new publisher, it feels like a new release, and I’m planning to hit the road to promote it. There will be a new author photo as well, which was actually taken January 2 of this year. Or does this count as a new edition of the old author…

Apparently the German edition of Many Bloody Returns, due out in October, has changed.  Here’s the new cover, with the new title:

Speaking of Many Bloody Returns, I’ve got a picture of the cover of the trade paperback, too. It’s coming out in Feburary 2009.

There may be some odd cultural reason why they switched the illustrated vampire to looking left in Germany, when he looks to the right in the US. I’d say it was a mirror image, but it is a vampire…