The End Is Near

by Joy Bean -- Publishers Weekly, 7/17/2006

The End, the 13th and final installment in the Series of Unfortunate Events, is coming soon, and HarperCollins plans to send off the series with a bang. The book's first printing is a whopping 2.5 million copies, with a laydown date of October 13, the same day that author Lemony Snicket (okay, actually Daniel Handler) is scheduled to appear on the Today show.

Also due out this fall: The Beatrice Letters, an interactive package that contains letters between Lemony Snicket and Beatrice (the mysterious woman to whom each SUE book is dedicated), in the vein of Griffin and Sabine. The title, which purports to answer the long-burning question "Who is Beatrice?" arrives in bookstores in September with a 500,000-copy first printing.

And for the first time, a boxed set of the complete series will be available, also on October 13, with a 300,000-copy first printing and a price tag of $150.

To help promote the books, Snicket will be heading out on an 13-city tour that begins, not surprisingly, October 13. His first stop will be at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square in Manhattan, where the book's illustrator, Brett Helquist, will join Snicket in the festivities.

Those who turn out to see Snicket on tour are certain to be entertained, as he will be touring with the Gothic Archies, a band that includes the Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt. The Gothic Archies have recorded a CD called The Tragic Treasury: Songs from "A Series of Unfortunate Events," which contains 13 songs, one for each of the books in the series. The CD will be released on October 10.

Not a bad finale for such a dire series.