A small image of the cover for the U.S. edition of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union has found its way online.

Steven Barclay Agency, which books Michael Chabon’s speaking engagements, posted a thumbnail of the cover on its Web site. Asked if it had a larger version, the agency said it couldn’t provide one since it didn’t have the right to distribute it further.

The cover appears to feature Alaska Native art, fitting with the story’s plot line of a Yiddish homeland in Alaska. The cover also features a city with tall buildings.

The U.S. edition differs significantly from the UK edition, which featured a police car.

Michael Chabon fans waiting for his next novel, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, can now get a sneak peek at the novel in the latest issue of the Virginia Quarterly Review.

“We’re not permitted to post the excerpt online (sorry), but anyone who subscribes can get instant access to the piece online (while they wait for their print issue to arrive),” editor Ted Genoways said via e-mail.

Alternatively, you can also order a single copy of the issue for $11.

Chabon is also scheduled to read the excerpt, titled “The King in Black,” at the Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison, Wisconsin on Oct. 19, Genoways said.

“Not only will Michael be reading, but we’re also sponsoring a conversation between Chris Ware and Marjane Satrapi, and reading by Dan Chaon (who Michael chose for the O. Henry in 2001),” Genoways said.

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is scheduled to hit bookstores in May 2007.

“And in case anyone is worried. The new novel is fantastic,” Genoways said. “You won’t be disappointed.”

In his intro to the quarterly, Genoways previews Chabon’s piece.

“More than a mere work of fiction, the novel is a counterfactual experiment imagining a different outcome for post-Holocaust Jews.”

“It is the year 2000,” Chabon explains in the intro, “but the world is not as we now know it. Israel does not exist, and Alaska is not-quite-Alaska.”

Genoways wraps up, saying, “The novel — and excerpt published here — is, at heart, a great detective story in the style of Raymond Chandler. (Chabon’s title for the excerpt is a winking reference to Chandler’s story ‘The King in Yellow.’) Nevertheless, the ghost of the Holocaust pervades.”

The latest VQR also features an excerpt from a work-in-progress by Art Spieglman (Maus), and new subscribers will also receive a fiction supplement designed by Chris Ware (Acme Novelty Library).

Michael Chabon will author a 16-part serialized novel in The New York Times Magazine, temporarily called “Jews with swords,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning author announced Friday.

Chabon provided no plot details about the Times stories other than the working title, which he swears is “the working title only!” The stories are scheduled to begin hitting print sometime in early January after Michael Connelly’s serial completes, Chabon wrote on his Web site.

Chabon also announced Friday that he had been replaced as the screenwriter for Disney’s martial arts picture Snow and the Seven.

A brief recounting by Chabon of the end of his job on the film went like this: “They love you, but they want to go in another direction.” “What kind of dir–” “More of a fun direction.” “Oh.”

No word on who has replaced Chabon.

Chabon said his next novel, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, is “completed and headed for copy-editing.” It should hit bookstores in May 2007, much sooner than anticipated (Chabon said in December it wouldn’t hit stores until winter 2007).

Chabon noted that the film adaptation of Mysteries of Pittsburgh is “about to enter the magical estate known as ‘principal photography,’ in the great city of Pittsburgh.” News reports circulated earlier this week that Nick Nolte has joined the cast. (Nextbook, by the way, is carrying an account of that crazy 80’s extra casting call).

But don’t expect any new news on the film adaptation Kavalier & Clay, at least not from Chabon. He posted this missive on his site regarding the film: “Status: Complying With Polite Request To Stop Posting About It On This Website, Already.”

Chabon’s previous posting regarding the film had been to say the Natalie Portman might get cast as Rosa Saks. Unlike usual with Chabon’s Web site updates, links to the posting began widely popping up throughout the blogosphere, and several Hollywood news Web sites quoted it at length.

Cinematical quotes Chabon’s wife, Ayelet Waldman, as saying Kavalier & Clay has “not yet been greenlit.”

Waldman also updated her Web site, with an update on the family:

“We’re in Maine, on something of an extended vacation. Vacation for us means we don’t do anything but work and play with the kids. It’s been pretty grand, but frankly I’m surprised I haven’t done as much reading as I expected. Maybe it’s because the kids are obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and we watch it every night. I’ve also spent time getting my butt kicked at Scrabble, as usual. Playing Scrabble with my husband is exactly no fun at all.”

Michael Chabon says “there’s no substitute” for MacDowell Colony, where he’s written parts of his last three books.

Chabon and his wife, Ayelet Waldman, take turns going to MacDowell on two-week trips each year, The New York Times reported today.

“The work just becomes the center of your entire existence,” Chabon said. “You can’t be a good parent and have your work be the center of your entire existence. They’re mutually exclusive.”

The Times said Chabon has written “important parts” of Kavalier & Clay, The Final Solution, and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union while at the colony. “The last time I was at MacDowell I wrote a 70,000-word draft of a novel,” Waldman said, referring to Love and Other Impossible Pursuits. “I was completely inspired, I’ve never written like that before or since.”

A book signing in Florida by Michael Chabon scheduled for tonight has been canceled due to the NCAA championship game between the University of Florida and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Chabon’s appearance at the University of Florida’s Hillel Jewish Center was canceled after a conflict arose related to the game, The Gainesville Sun reports. The University of Florida’s Gators face-off against UCLA’s Bruins in tonight’s game.

Oddly, the paper reports Chabon was supposed to be signing his new novel, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. That book doesn’t hit the stands until January 2007.

The Center for Jewish Studies, the event’s sponsor, has no plans to reschedule Chabon.

Original reports had Chabon canceling the appearance personally just to see the game. However, Chabon says that’s just not true.

“That’s crazy,” he told GalleyCat. “I don’t give a shit about basketball!”

He adds: “I have missed WORLD SERIES games because I had a speaking gig, and I love baseball inordinately.”

Chabon’s agent has offered to reschedule, but the school has yet to respond.

Correction: This story originally stated Chabon canceled the event himself, based on what the newspaper article reported. This has since been corrected.