Followers

Saturday, April 29, 2006

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.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

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.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

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.

Monday, April 03, 2006

"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!