Logrolling In Our Time
Long ago, there was a brilliant publication called SPY magazine. It was way too snarky for the time, and folded up before the internet even got rolling, but it was the kind of magazine that really was FUNNY. I mention the internet because it could never find a large enough audience to succeed in a print-only business model, but I suspect that they would have thrived, or at least stayed afloat, in a world where online resources can often be a cheaper delivery channel.
I thought about Spy this morning as I read the below information about Nelson DeMille and Dan Brown. Spy had a segment called "Logrolling In Our Time" where they would show blurbs on various books where Author A raved about Author B, and then coincidentally Author B would have equally lavish praise for Author A's work. It was not even close to their funniest bit, but one that stuck with me.
In any event, I thought of it here. Nelson DeMille was recently quoted about Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code (perhaps you've heard of it) as saying:
Some time ago, he said, he was asked to comment on the manuscript of “The Da Vinci Code.” Mr. DeMille did not predict the eventual fuss. “I said, ‘This is ridiculous! It makes no sense,’ ” he recalled. “And, well, we all know what happened with that.”
Well, a closer look at the cover of The DaVinci Code reveals the following:
"Dan Brown has to be one of the best, smartest, and most accomplished writers in the country. The Da Vinci Code is many notches above the intelligent thriller; this is pure genius." -- NELSON DEMILLE, #1 New York Times best-selling author.
Hm. Thanks to the Fine Books Blog for pointing this out.
As a side note, per the Wikipedia entry on SPY Magazine, they recently published an anthology of the magazine called SPY: The Funny Years which I think I might have to check out at some point.