Recently in Looking for Peyton Place Category

First our homes. Then our toys. But how about this week’s report that more than half of 33 brand-name lipsticks tested contained lead?

I'd definitely call this everyday drama. I mean, lipstick is a staple in most of our lives. Apparently, the worst offenders are the reds. Do you use red lipstick? Are you worried?

I use a lighter mauve color, but still, I find the reports unsettling. Nothing I read tells how lead from lipstick might enter our bodies. Is it from lipstick we happen to swallow? Or is the damage done just by putting the stuff on our lips? And what about makeup? Blusher can be pretty red, and, technically, it covers a larger area than lipstick.

I’m always attracted to stories like this because of the mercury poisoning element in Looking for Peyton Place. Or maybe I wrote the issue into that book because it interests me.

The tricky issue with lead on the lips is that, like mercury poisoning, one exposure won’t do the harm. It’s cumulative. That’s lots of lipstick over lots of months, which is, I guess, how women use it. Oh boy. I’m starting to scare myself. If I was pregnant, I’d probably switch to lip gloss and, even then, put a coat of chapstick underneath.

Forewarned is forearmed, I supposed, so let's wear the reds in moderation. But here’s a thought. If your lips are dry and you don’t need color, try bag balm. Country vets use it on the udders of cows, and it hasn’t killed a one yet.

So, LOOKING FOR PEYTON PLACE has been on sale for nearly two weeks now. Hopefully, you've seen it on the stands and have either bought it or, certainly, looked at the new format. Actually, this is the second year that my publisher has chosen to put a book of mine out as a Premium Edition. It's a little taller and thicker, with larger type and, yes, a slightly larger price than the traditional massmarket edition.

Do we like it? I'd be curious to know what you think. Me, I have mixed feelings. One the one hand, I understand that publishers are looking for a new format to increase sales and profits. On the other hand, quite honestly, this format just ... doesn't do it for me. I find the size awkward, the larger print negligible. What do you think? I'd like to hear pros and cons, posted in the Guestbook. Please!

Tuesday, June 27, is the big day, which means that today we are five days shy of the paperback pub of LOOKING FOR PEYTON PLACE. The other night, a friend asked me what I'm feeling at a time like this. And yes, the answer is anticipation. It isn't quite the heart-in-the-mouth pulsing that happens on the eve of the hardcover debut of a book, like when LOOKING FOR PEYTON PLACE first came out last July. But it's still vaguely nerve-racking.

I mean, what happens if the books didn't get to the stores on time, as happened with when THREE WISHES UPS suddenly went on strike? Or if the reading public is totally distracted by something in the news, as happened with UPLIFT when terrorists hit the World Trade Center? Or if another book takes so much room in the stores that booksellers don't even bother to put the book out, as happened just last summer with the new Harry Potter, the new John Irving, and the hardcover of LOOKING FOR PEYTON PLACE?

Oh, these problems pass. The hardcover of LOOKING FOR PEYTON PLACE did eventually get out on the shelves and made up for lost time, but I was concerned until I knew that.

So right about now, I'm hoping that nothing interferes with the paperback debut of LOOKING FOR PEYTON PLACE, that the gorgeous new cover is going to draw people to it at the start of this summer season, and that word about the upcoming 50th anniversary of the original PEYTON PLACE will draw in even more readers to my book.

Hope with me, please!

I just got word that Pocket Books will be printing 980,000 copies of the paperback edition of LOOKING FOR PEYTON PLACE. This is 130,000 more than are in print of last summer's paperback release, THE SUMMER I DARED. Why the difference? Two words: Premium Edition.

If you recall, last summer's paperback came out in a new format -- a little taller than the customary mass market paperback, a little thicker, a bit larger print, and a slightly higher price. Well, booksellers were unsure of whether this new format would fly. Since THE SUMMER I DARED was the first of its kind to hit the shelves -- a guinea pig of sorts -- they ordered fewer copies, taking a wait-and-see stance. The book did sell, and very well, hence the bump in orders this year.

June 27th is the date. Mark your calendars.

Speaking of pictures (see previous blog entry), the one of me on the cover of LOOKING FOR PEYTON PLACE is a case in point. The whole entourage came to my house that day, and their idea was that I should look like Grace Metalious in the famous shot of her, titled "Pandora in Blue Jeans," which was, incidentally, the original title for LOOKING FOR PEYTON PLACE.

I wasn't wild about the idea of this shot, and had a devil of a time even finding a plaid flannel shirt. I felt awkward wearing it, felt awkward making this kind of comparison between me and Grace Metalious. I think the resulting picture shows my ambivalence. It isn't one of my best.

Let me know what you think. The picture is on the cover of LOOKING FOR PEYTON PLACE. Haven't seen it? The paperback comes out June 27. Look for it there!

My book group met Monday night to discuss "The Bookseller of Kabul." The book tells of an Afghani bookseller and his family, and is based on things that the author purported to see and hear during five months of living in his home. She changed the names of the characters but claims that everything else in the book is true-to-life.

Apparently, having now read the book, the bookseller is furious at the author, claiming not only that much of what she wrote is false, but that he and his family are now so endangered that they are unable to live in Afghanistan. The controversy is on-going as I write this.

My book group spent much of the evening weighing the bookseller's motives against the author's responsibility. Naturally, as a writer, I look at the issue through a special lens. I write fiction and have never once, knowingly, based an entire character on a real person. But what if someone claimed that I had? What if that someone claimed his or her life had been hurt? How would I feel? What would I do?

Ironically, this is the very premise of Looking for Peyton Place, wherein the lives of my characters were directly, and negatively, affected by Grace Metalious's book, Peyton Place. Grace had it easy in this instance, since she was dead. But it's an interesting issue, don't you think?