We have some important “Publishing News” to share here that is both kind of sad and also a reason to celebrate. Doubleday Books (Random House) has plans to posthumously publish David Rakoff’s last book, “”Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish: A Novel”, and it should be available at your favorite bookstores around mid-July, 2013.

Sadly, David Rakoff passed away last year but this is not keeping his latest book from making it to the presses. We’re sure that David would love knowing that his fans will get one more chance to be entertained by his stories. Seriously, David was truly an original and he always had a very unique writing style. He is one of the finest and funniest essayists of our time. He was also a really great guy.

Also, as a side-note, we want to mention that the cover for this book was designed by Chip Kidd, who was both a business colleague, and most importantly, a good friend. Knowing this is what makes everything sort of bittersweet. But this book getting out there is really a tribute to David Rakoff’s genius, we hope you enjoy reading it.

Since David Rakoff’s next book, “Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish: a Novel” will be published posthumously this year by Doubleday (Random House) we thought we would mention an extremely wonderful thing done by WBEZ Chicago Radio at their Official Website for THIS AMERICAN LIFE.

Besides being a very talented Author, David Rakoff also made many appearances at Book Tours, Lectures, and, most notably, on a Radio Show called THIS AMERICAN LIFE. Down below is a “Special Tribute to David” they broadcasted after he passed away. Please give it a listen. Then, on their site, you can listen to many different shows that David actually appeared in. There are some really good ones like “Who’s Canadian?”, “Poultry Slam 1998″, “Office Politics”, and many more. There are even some very good interviews. So, to be very entertained, please CLICK HERE.

Also, you can look for David’s last book to hit bookstores around mid-July, 2013.

David Rakoff, recipient of two Lambda Book Awards for Humor, insists that optimism is an irresponsible fad in his book “Half Empty.” Meanwhile, author of “The Official Preppy Handbook,” Lisa Birnbach and book jacket designer and novelist Chip Kidd team up with hilarious results to bring you “True Prep.” This lecture was presented by the Boston Book Festival and recorded on 10/16/10.

It’s with a heavy heart that we remember our Good Friend, the Author, David Rakoff. He recently passed away and over at the BIOGRAPHILE Website a Writer named Rose Nagle-Yndigoyen wrote a wonderful tribute to him that we wanted to share. She talks about his work and the books he created but, more importantly, she touches on what he was truly like as a person. The piece is well thought out & very touching. So, Thank You Rose. I’m sure his Family would love this. Plus, we know many of our Readers here will enjoy reading it. Thanks again.

A statement from David Rakoff’s longtime hardcover editor, Bill Thomas:

“It is with a deeply heavy heart that I tell you our dear friend and beloved author David Rakoff passed away today at the age of 47. As many of you know David had battled cancer over the last few years; quite recently it became apparent that the cancer had returned in a form that could not be treated.

David wrote three bestselling books for Doubleday - FRAUD, DON'T GET TOO COMFORTABLE and HALF EMPTY. Because David's writing was so goddamn funny, he was often mischaracterized as a satirist, but a satirist employs exaggeration to drive home social criticism, and David saw and portrayed the world clearly. Underneath the indelible wit and perfect turns of phrase lay a sadness that people can be so cruel and selfish, and a belief that the only weapon against the world's brutality was kindness and beauty. And so he lived - he was the most gracious and considerate of men. Civility mattered a great deal to David, but for him manners were not merely a social lubricant; he believed deeply that every person was due true and meaningful attention.

It is one of the reasons hundreds of people loved David. Of course he was incredibly charming, witty and learned, a brilliant raconteur with the quickest mind imaginable. And though his life was cut infuriatingly short, it was rich beyond measure. In addition to his writing, David was a stage and screen actor, a playwright, a screenwriter (the short film for which he adapted the screenplay and starred in, "The New Tenants," won an Academy Award), a brilliant radio essayist for "This American Life," and an accomplished visual artist. He was also one of us - David spent nine years working at HarperCollins, and I urge everyone, especially assistants, to read his essays "Lush Life" (from FRAUD) and "The Satisfying Crunch of Dreams Underfoot" (from HALF EMPTY) for excruciating but uproarious portrayals of this our publishing culture. For publicists, go to YouTube and view "David Rakoff and Dave Hill Go On a Book Tour." He really did understand.

David called me five weeks ago and told me had finished his new book, which was not due until the Fall. He also told me we would be publishing it posthumously. (Characteristically, he apologized for giving me this news on the phone. Canadian to the end.) The book is a novel, in verse, called LOVE, DISHONOR, MARRY, DIE; CHERISH, PERISH. I had my doubts about the project when he proposed it, but I was wrong. It is written with humor and sympathy and tenderness, and proves him to be the master of an altogether different art form. The story leaps cities and decades as David sings the song of an America whose freedoms can be intoxicating, or devastating. It is the clearest expression of David's insistence on beauty and the necessity of kindness in a selfish world. I can think of no more fitting tribute to David than publishing the hell out of it.”

Here is a personal statement that Chip Kidd would like to express:

“It is with infinite sadness that I note the death this week of writers David Rakoff and Mark O’Donnell, two dear friends I had the privilege of knowing and working with for many years. They were also mutual friends, and that they would die within a few days of each other in the prime of their lives is a gut-punch to say the least. I had been trying to prepare myself for David because I knew for some time he was quite ill, but then for Mark to go so suddenly, well, there just aren’t words for it. Here is how I’ll remember them, in a photo booth together in 2004, at my 40th birthday. Their lives and work were proof that there is some good in the world. Now less so. Xxoo CK”