At a book signing in Toronto last night, Conrad Black appeared “relaxed and smiling” from his home in Palm Beach, where Black is spending time ahead of sentencing next month in Chicago. Sitting at the other end of one of Margaret Atwood’s famous LongPen devices, Black joked with reporters, signed books, and responded to reports that former prime minister Jean Chrétien’s leaked memoir impugns his good name.

[Black] said that, despite affirmations to the contrary in Chrétien’s new autobiography, it was Chrétien who suggested Black try to become a senator while attempting to become a member of Britain’s House of Lords.

Though the “he said/he said”-type dispute must seem academic to a man facing hard time, Black’s eagerness to engage with the Canadian public seems to confirm one thing: even cyborgs love the limelight.