Well, dear readers, I have been a napping and a napping I have been, but here I am, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed – or am I bushy-eyed and bright-tailed? One of the two, for sure. But let’s first announce our new Kritzerland CD release and our new book release, shall we? The CD is the Original Swedish Cast Recording of a musical that is seventy years old this year, a little thing called My Fair Lady. It stars Ulla Sallert as Eliza – she was a Swedish star and would eventually come to star in a Broadway show with Mr. Robert Preston – Ben Franklin in Paris. Jarl Kulle plays Henry Higgins. He’d played Count Carl Magnus-Malcolm in Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night, which was the basis for A Little Night Music, and would return to Mr. Bergman for Fanny and Alexander. It’s a sparkling cast album of great energy and the Lerner and Loewe score shines like the top of the Skatteskrapan building. We’ve also included bonus tracks recordings of the Mexican, Italian, German, and Hebrew cast recordings of My Fair Lady. It’s a whole lot of global My Fair Lady fun. Here’s the cover.

And here’s the direct link to read more about it, hear audio samples, and purchase.

https://kritzerland.com/MFL_Swedish.htm

My latest novel, which is entitled Person Unknown, is also up for pre-order. Here’s the advance praise that adorns its back cover.

“In amnesia thrillers, memory-blanked narrators usually wake up in seedy urban hotel rooms. Not in Bruce Kimmel’s world. His empty-minded hero finds himself in the garage of an unfamiliar family home in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. Even more impressive, while keeping the action mainly in this nominally peaceful vicinity, the author is skillful enough to rev up a full amount of propulsive suspense with sinister SUVs, suspiciously kind strangers, unruly kids and fast-food waitresses, sympathetic and snarky. It’s a bravura example of a unique kind of mystery, neighborhood noir.”

   —Dick Lochte, author of The Neon Smile

“With Person Unknown Bruce Kimmel has written a stand-alone that’s a mystery in more ways than one — it’s not only a whodunnit but a what-the-hell’s-been-done-in-the-first-place? Written in Kimmel’s clean, no frills, style, Person Unknownpulled me in from the opening pages as his protagonist struggles to answer these questions. The reader is fully immersed in the protagonist’s point-of-view. He’s a man trying to put a puzzle together without the pieces. Who is he? Who can he trust? The only way to find out is to read it, which I highly recommend you do.”

—Bill Fitzhugh, award-winning author of the cult favorite Pest Control etc.

“What would you do if you suddenly woke up and you didn’t know who you were, where you were, or what you were doing there? That is the dilemma facing Person Unknown in this fast-moving chess-game of a mystery by Bruce Kimmel – a one-man band of talent. In this wonderfully told story, Person Unknown must be his own detective, but what do you detect if you can’t remember anything? As the great detective, Mr. Holmes, might observe – it’s a two-pipe problem. So, what are you waiting for? Light up!”

   —David Del Valle, noted Hollywood historian and author

Here’s the great cover by Doug Haverty.

And here’s the direct link to purchase your very own signed hardcover copy of the book. I had great fun writing it, although because it’s about an amnesiac, I have no memory of having done so.

https://kritzerland.com/PU.htm

Yesterday was a day. It felt like a Wednesday to me, which was good, since it was a Wednesday. Once again, I only got around four hours of sleep, got up, saw that the order pages were working and the tracks were, too, so I did our usual eBlast and announced on social media. Once that was done, I had a Tommy’s hamburger and fries for food, then had a Zoom meeting with the nice lady who’ll be producing Applause, and we went over our staff needs, casting dates, and all that kind of stuff.

Then I did a quick bank run, came right back home, did some work on the computer, approved the packaging for My Fair Lady, which has now gone off to the printers for printing, then I dozed off for a couple of hours, had a taco and enchilada that were pretty gross, then dozed off for another couple of hours, and here we are.

Today, I’m hoping to get the final book files from Doug so I can send them in. I’ll be talking to the publisher at noon my time. After that, I have to catch up on a few things, I’ll eat something light and fun, and then of course I’ll make an attempt to watch, listen, and relax.

Not sure what’s up for the weekend, but I do have to start going through the Applause script and laying out what I want to do with it. I have an approach, oh, yes, I have an approach, and I have to make sure it will work throughout, which I’m pretty sure it will.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, hopefully, I’ll get the final book files and can send in, have a conversation with the publisher, get the eBook version finished so I have that ready to go closer to when the book is ready, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: When was the first time you heard the Broadway cast recording of My Fair Lady, an album that every family seemed to have? When did you first see My Fair Lady onstage? And did you like the film version? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to finally have the new CD and the new book up for pre-order.