As had been predicted, convicted fraudster Conrad Black has made use of Margaret Atwood’s LongPen again, to promote his new Richard Nixon bio overseas. Lord Black, who is barred from leaving the United States as he awaits sentencing, made a surprise “appearance” at a London Waterstone’s yesterday, signing books electronically from the calm and quiet of his Palm Beach, Florida mansion. The Guardian described the event as follows:

Rehabilitation has to start somewhere, and for the former owner of the Telegraph it began between the “true crime” and “black interest” shelves, where he sold “about 20” copies of his biography of Richard Nixon to 22 paying guests. At £30 per book, his evening’s work at least began rebuilding a fortune that once exceeded £175m.

[…]

Black admitted he would have to be “brain dead” not to be contemplating the four walls of a prison cell, although he refused to say whether he would attempt any more money-spinning LongPen signings from prison.

No word yet on how Peggy feels about all this, but we’re thinking she’s probably not one of Black’s bigger fans, even if she did virtually interact with him during a LongPen publicity event in Toronto recently. Maybe she can express her displeasure with him once he’s in prison by appearing on his LongPen monitor every day during dinner, eating bag lunches with husband Graeme Gibson and impugning the quality of the prison food.