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).