Okay, so the blogosphere is abuzz now with the revelation that James Frey’s best-selling A Million Little Pieces, billed as a “memoir,” is actually “made-up-oir.”

From Smoking Gun:

Police reports, court records, interviews with law enforcement personnel, and other sources have put the lie to many key sections of Frey’s book. The 36-year-old author, these documents and interviews show, wholly fabricated or wildly embellished details of his purported criminal career, jail terms, and status as an outlaw “wanted in three states.”

In addition to these rap sheet creations, Frey also invented a role for himself in a deadly train accident that cost the lives of two female high school students. In what may be his book’s most crass flight from reality, Frey remarkably appropriates and manipulates details of the incident so he can falsely portray himself as the tragedy’s third victim.

Am I the only one whose mind jumped associatively to the ruckus over Primary Colors?

Moral of the story: when you’re drafting that proposal for your non-fiction book, be sure to include a few ideas for some post-publication shell-games to titillate the media, embarrass at least one public figure, and keep that title o’ yours high up on the NYT bestseller flagpole ;-)