Writer Ruse
A youtube video touting great hoaxes caught my eye this morning. Since it was long, I didn’t click on it, but it led me to google the theme. Since this blog has literary pretensions, here’s a fun item from a piece by Adam K. Raymond at mentalfloss.com, edited by yours truly:
Penelope Ashe, a bored Long Island housewife, wrote the trashy sensation Naked Came the Stranger. Her promotional tour hit talk shows and bookstores. Soon it was learned the author was as fictional as the novel, which was actually the work of Mike McGrady, a Newsday columnist disgusted with the lurid state of the modern bestseller. He decided to expose the problem by writing a book of zero redeeming social value and even less literary merit. He enlisted the help of 24 colleagues at the paper, assigning each a chapter and saying there should be “an unremitting emphasis on sex.” He also warned that “true excellence in writing will be quickly blue-penciled into oblivion.” Once he had the smutty chapters in hand, he edited the prose to make it worse. In 1969 an independent publisher released the first edition. The part of Penelope Ashe was played by McGrady’s sister-in-law. To the journalist’s dismay, the cynical ploy worked. The media was fascinated with the salacious daydreams of a “demure housewife” author. The New York Times wrote: “In the category of erotic fantasy, this one rates about a C.” By the time McGrady revealed the hoax a few months later, the novel had sold 20,000 copies. Far from sinking its prospects, the revelation pushed sales even higher. By the end of the year there were more than 100,000 copies in print, and the novel had spent 13 weeks on the Times’s bestseller list. As of 2012, it had sold nearly 400,000 copies. It is still selling modestly, currently ranked 659,571 at Amazon, where there are 15+ millions titles. Its Kindle rank is 81,816. I’m not sure how many titles are available for Kindle, but it’s probably in the millions. According to Wiki, the novel became the basis for an adult film of the same title in 1975. As reported by The Washington Post, McGrady and the other writers had nothing to do with it. They did, however, see the movie at a Times Square theater. It starred Darby Lloyd Rains. During one vivid scene someone shouted “Author, Author!” and 17 people stood up. That too may be fabrication, but it’s funny. McGrady passed away in 2012. Here’s the “author”:
And here’s the cover. The pic came from a Hungarian skin magazine:
And here’s Darby Lloyd Rains:
Speaking of books with no redeeming value, I’ve finished another round of proofing of my latest, Class of ’67, a novella. The word count has gone north of 20,000. It’s a violent thriller that’s also about the bittersweet comedy that is life at 70. I hope the latter provides some redeeming value. If not, so what.
Funny how some in the mainstream media are lauding George W. Bush as an example of great leadership because of a video the ex-president has posted about the struggle against Corona. They count on citizens having short memories.
Last night a cousin who lives in Italy, whom I’ve never met in person, posted a picture of his mom on her wedding day. Rosina is a sister, the youngest sibling, of my late mom. I never met her. During my mom’s struggle with Alzheimer’s she would frequently call out Rosina’s name, although they hadn’t seen each other since 1949. Here’s the photo, which was probably taken in the 1920’s or early 30's. Thanks, Nunzi.
My Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Fortezza/e/B002M4NLJE
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Vic-Fortezza-Author-118397641564801/?fref=ts
Read Vic’s Stories, free: http://fictionaut.com/users/vic-fortezza
