Bad dog (food)!.... I have been following the tainted dog food scandal with interest and horror -- the cynicism of the wheat gluten manufacturers in China (who were adding plastic scrap to the gluten because it makes the gluten appear to have higher protein content) is just appalling, and the idea that your pet would be killed by someone's greedy manipulation of their food is quite depressing.

Last year, my friend Sally and I wrote THROW ME A BONE, a cookbook for dog food, treats, and snacks -- partly for fun, and partly because I had gotten very leery about commercial dog food -- not because I'm psychic and could foresee the Chinese gluten scandal, but because years ago, when I switched my dog (my now long-gone, much-beloved Irish setter) from supermarket dog food to high quality stuff, her health completely changed for the better. I'm not a knee-jerk skeptic, but I really did see in practice how much it affected her to be on a really healthy diet.

So when I got Cooper, I decided to start him on good food, and he's a lean, mean, canine machine. I certainly don't cook everything for him -- I wish I had the time to do that, but I don't -- so I give him very good food that I get mail-order, and make him food when I can.

This is all a preamble to some good news, which is that at the end of May Simon and Schuster is re-releasing THROW ME A BONE in a quality paperback edition. Look for it in stores, or you can click through here on the picture of the book and it will lead you to Amazon.

Rin Tin Tinning...full-time now. I'm spending the winter in California doing my last bit of reporting for my Rin Tin Tin book, which gets more and more interesting as time goes on. I spent the afternoon at the house that belonged to Larry Trimble and Jane Murfin, the people who owned and trained Rin Tin Tin's rival, Strongheart. The house was modest, which surprised me, since Trimble and Murfin were very successful. Then I was informed that the house I was in was actually the dog house, and Trimble and Murfin lived in a grander place just up the hill...

California here I...come! I'm heading west for six weeks (until December 22) to finish reporting on my Rin Tin Tin book. I won't be doing any formal appearances or readings while I'm out there, but if any of you are Rin Tin Tin collectors and have interesting things to show me or tell me, please, please send me an email and I will be in touch. . .

Perhaps you've noticed...how out-of-date my website is. Shame, shame! I have been totally and utterly remiss in not putting in 1)new pieces to read 2)new lecture/reading dates 3)new reviews, interviews 4)new, new, new anything. But I do have a legitimate excuse -- I've been busy! My bouncing baby boy has been running me ragged, so my writing has slowed to a trickle and my website updating has slowed to...what's slower than a trickle? A drizzle, perhaps. In any case, I promise to update the site, post some new pieces, and give you a rundown on my upcoming appearances in the next few days. Thanks for your patience...

Don't blame me if you're still humming 'Sweet Caroline'... Well, actually, you can blame me. I just did my first ever radio piece, for National Public Radio's 'Morning Edition', and I am so proud I could pop. It explored an extremely serious issue, namely, why people in Boston insist on singing Neil Diamond's 'Sweet Caroline' during the middle of the eighth inning at Fenway Park. (Answer: Just because.) You can hear the piece on the NPR archives, at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4930465. I might just get hooked on this radio stuff, by the way. It was REALLY fun to do. . .

Making book!!! I just got a shipment today of Best American Essays 2005, which I edited this year -- which means I chose the winners and wrote the introduction. It looks great, and I'm happy with my selections -- a fairly eccentric mix of some mainstream pieces (from magazines like The New Yorker) and some very quirky interesting things from small publications like River Teeth.
I love these Best American collections -- they are great reading for the attention- and free-time-impaired (count me among them) and often an opportunity to read stuff you wouldn't usually see. For instance, I had never even heard of some of the small journals that yielded finalists, so it was a real treat to discover some new literary universes. I'll ask my webmaster to put a picture of the book on the site so you can click through directly to order it, but in the meantime just click through on any of my other books and it'll send you to Amazon, and you can find it yourself.

Well, at last!!!!...my new book will be out October 2 -- a month earlier than I had originally thought. Also, the name has been changed (as you'll see from my next item). It's now called My Kind of Place: Travel Stories From a Woman Who's Been Everywhere. BUT, it's still a collection of stories that are primarily about places and situations. I guess you would call them travel stories, even thought they don't really fit the traditional "genre" description of travel pieces. I'm also going on a big book tour in early October, so I'll be posting a list of my appearances here.

Blue Crush crush.... Yes, yes, yes, I really did write the story that the movie Blue Crush is based on. It is called 'The Surf Girls of Maui' and it is included in my book The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup. And no, I did not appear as an extra in the movie, but thanks for asking.

Capturing the Friedmans.... Seems like a lot of you heard my interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air recently (if not, you can listen to it on the NPR website, I'm sure). A lot of what we talked about was my profile several years ago of David Friedman, who performs as the children's clown Silly Billy. David's family is the subject of the new documentary Capturing The Friedmans, a brilliant and sad movie about the Friedman family disintegrating after David's father and brother were accused of child molestation. A lot of people have written to ask where they can find a copy of my story. It was called 'Seriously Silly', and it is included in my collection, The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup.

In case you were wondering.... the DVD of Adaptation is coming out soon, but the first release is going to be just the movie. There definitely will be a 'special edition' released a little later, which will include lots of added material. I don't have the dates on that, but rest assured there will be a big, fat, value-packed version of the movie that will be available in the not-so-distant future.

Cuba libra: I have a story coming out in the May issue of The Atlantic Magazine about oxen in Cuba. It's excerpted from a collection by Cuban and American writers and photographers called Cuba on the Verge: An Island in Transition, being published by Bulfinch this spring.

Bone Appetit! I'm helping a friend write a cookbook of dog biscuits and meals (favorite recipe so far: Corn Dog Biscuits). If you have any great treats you make for your beast, please send them to me at webmail@susanorlean.com!

A new paperback edition of The Orchid Thief, which includes a new foreward by me about the movie, is now available in fine bookstores everywhere, and on Amazon.

Adaptation, a movie by Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman based on The Orchid Thief, is currently in theatres.

Susanorlean.com has launched! But you already know that because you're here. This site is very much a work in progress. I'll be adding more articles, keeping you informed about my goings-on, and expanding the Adaptation movie page.