Read my story "Sunset Hill," in Lamoille Lamentations

Hey all. Check out my story Sunset Hill, currently in the May edition of Lamoille Lamentations. Read the whole issue! There are a lot of good writers inside, and I'm glad to be a part of it! And don't forget to vote for your favorite story.

Hey, Little, Brown & Company!

So it turns out your wonder girl teen author is a plagiarist. Kaavya Viswanathan, “author” of
How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life was accused by Random House of plagiarizing the work of their YA novelist Megan McCafferty. I read the 27-page report written by RH that highlights 45 similar passages between McCafferty’s books and Viswanathan’s debut novel. It’s hard to believe this was a case of “unconscious” plagiarism as Viswanathan claims.

Little, Brown gave Viswanathan a two book deal worth $500,000. That's half a million, folks! Incredible. There are SO many talented writers hawking novels right now, trying to get agents, trying to get published (myself included; if you need other names, I can give you plenty). But LB couldn’t resist the marketing angle of a 17-year old writer! And female at that, in this trendy world of popular chick-lit. It was a can’t miss deal. But it’s gone oh, so wrong. Now the movie rights, which were sold to DreamWorks, are up in the air. Just give the film money to McCafferty. Make a film of her novel. Cut Kaavya Viswanathan out of the deal totally. She shouldn’t profit anymore from her plagiarism.

I have an offer for you, Little, Brown & Company. I have a very funny comedic novel titled Into the Sunset that I promise is all original, and not cribbed from another writer. I will give it to you for half of what you paid your teen sensation. $250,000. Call me.

Kudos For Kudrow!

Ellen Meister's soon-to-be-published, soon-to-be-bestseller Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA has scored the perfect reader for the audio book version: Lisa Kudrow! Good going, Ellen! Pub date on the novel is August 1.



Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA is a novel about three women who come together when Hollywood announces plans to shoot a movie in their children's schoolyard. Maddie Schein is an emotionally-needy ex-lawyer whose marriage is on the rocks. Brash Ruth Moss has it all except for one thing: her husband was left brain-damaged and sexually uninhibited from a stroke. Timid Lisa Slotnick wants nothing more than to fade into the scenery, but is thrust before the spotlight by her alcoholic mother, a singer whose career has failed.

"Serious literary fiction with a pop edge."

I guess I received a sort of backhanded compliment for my novel Into the Sunset. This is a rejection I received today from the small press Impetus:

Dear Me.(sic) Capone,

While your novel sounds interesting, Impetus doesn't publish mainstream
fiction--only serious literary fiction with a pop edge, that falls
in-between the mainstream and commercial presses.

All best,

Jennifer Banash

Publisher
Impetus Press

So, my work isn't "serious" or "literary," but it is mainstream. Woo-hoo! That's what I've been trying to tell everyone else who rejected it!