James Frey writes a little known book called A Million Little Pieces. Oprah picks it up and now Frey has sold something like a billion copies. That’s a slight exaggeration, but you get the point. With all that notoriety there was bound to be trouble. According to Publishers Lunch the trouble is in the form of lying and criminal (in this case, not-so-criminal) conduct.

The Smoking Gun went looking for some mug shots of A MILLION LITTLE PIECES author James Frey, which turned into an extensive examination of his account of his years as a drug addict, alcoholic and criminal. After searching police and criminal records in multiple states, and interviewing numerous law enforcement officials and Frey himself, TSG concludes he “demonstrably fabricated key parts of the book” and “wholly fabricated or wildly embellished details of his purported criminal career, jail terms, and status as an outlaw ‘wanted in three states.’” Besides accounts they call “patently dishonest,” TSG says his allegedly exaggerated version of the role he played in a train accident that killed two girls when he was a teenager “is downright creepy and detestable.”

The (no longer) poor guy writes a book and thinks he can blend into the background and enjoy a little fame and fortune. Nope. We’ve got accusations and lawyers, threats and a public brouhaha. Check out The Smoking Gun for all the dirty details.

I’m guessing the moral of this story is this: if you publish a book and no one reads it, then no one will look into your sordid past. Get a big Oprah deal and make a buck or two, and you’re chum in a shark tank.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 10th, 2006 at 7:00 am and is filed under About Authors, About Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.