Disgraced fabricating memoirist James Frey is planning to redeem himself in two weeks with a new book, Bright Shiny Morning, clearly labeled as fiction. But there's some spadework to be done first, in terms of publicity and whatnot, and it seems Frey hasn't been too careful about, you know, "the truth" or whatever, in the run-up to his literary rebirth. He granted Vanity Fair an "exclusive" interview and got in return a "softball profile... which paints Mr. Frey as a wounded victim of market forces," in the words of the Observer's Leon Neyfakh. But it turns out Frey also talked to a UK trade publication called The Bookseller, which posted its interview to the Web just a few hours after Vanity Fair. Then there's Frey's worn claim that he first submitted his memoir A Million Little Pieces as a novel but was convinced to relabel it as a memoir. Pieces publisher Nan Talese was not pleased, to say the least, to hear that Frey has resumed saying this:

"He said this again?" she said, her voice rising in indignation. "I can’t believe he said that! You’d better check that because it’s simply not true."

When will Nan Talese, and the rest of the publishing industry, find a damn writer they can trust? If not James Frey, then who??

6:31 AM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Ryan Tate
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nightwatchman_flamekeeper at 07:13 AM on 04/30/08
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"When will Nan Talese, and the rest of the publishing industry, find a damn writer they can trust? If not James Frey, then who??"

Isn't it obvious? Roger Clemens.
In Other News... at 07:38 AM on 04/30/08
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And then he did a sitting with Annie "You're Welcome, Pedophiles!" Leibovitz, in which he wrapped his naked self in pages from a Gay Talese essay collection.
Dickdogfood at 09:22 AM on 04/30/08
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Considering how fervently Talese defended the truthiness of Frey's books in particular and memoir writing in general, all's I can say is HA HA SUCKER.
bigspike at 09:31 AM on 04/30/08
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James Frey: "I never did an interview with Vanity Fair or wrote a book called A Million Little Pieces."
PickleTitsTurner at 10:07 AM on 04/30/08
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James Frey: "I have never written a book. Ever. Because I don't know how to read. Heroin made me dyslexic, which is odd, because I never did heroin in real life, only in the books I never wrote."
LATTEFACTOR at 10:19 AM on 04/30/08
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Nan's got a couple he-said/she-said's out there. From yesterday's R&M about Gay's new book:

Of course, (Gay) notes, "I have a version of events and she has a version. That's why I have a writer interviewing her. Nan's recollections will be integrated with mine."

Says Nan: "I haven't been interviewed by anyone. Gay is a wonderful writer and I trust him. But this is his book. I am not a participant in any way whatsoever.
miss_msry at 10:44 AM on 04/30/08
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Plausible deniability. Gotz to luv it.
GollyG at 11:16 AM on 04/30/08
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"You'd better check that because it's simply not true."

NOW she wants fact checking?
Koreanish at 11:19 AM on 04/30/08
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The Lie That Doesn't Tell The Truth.
24-7 at 12:21 PM on 04/30/08
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James Frey. Dr Phil. Jessica Nederlander Seinfeld.
Oprah sure knows how to pick them.