Thoughts on Fall TV

October 23, 2007

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The most buzzed about show of the fall has definitely been ABC’s mortality tale Pushing Daises. Well, guess what? I was on it! Okay, I, myself, wasn’t on it but one of my book covers was, sort of, and that’s close enough for me.

Okay, did everyone see the episode a few weeks back about the cars that ran on dandelions? Well, I’m friendly with the show’s creator, the brilliant Bryan Fuller, and he told me that when the show’s make-up artist was coming up with how they’d costume the dandelion showroom car models, one of the inspirations was the cover of my novel Misadventures in the (213). The make-up artist didn’t know that Bryan and I were friends. She just brought in the book and said, ‘What about this?’ and Bryan said, ‘That guy’s a friend of mine!’ Check out the similarity below.

Readers have asked me where the cover idea came from. I wish I could say it was mine, all mine, but it all came from the publisher’s in-house designer. When it was first sent to me to look at, I was really thrown at first. On the surface, it had nothing to do with the story of my book about friends on the fringe of show biz but I set it on my coffee table and every time I’d walk by, I’d smile at it. In a few hours, I was officially in love.

I asked where the image came from and I was told it was a fashion photo from the 60’s or 70’s. I have no idea who the model is but I’d love to give her a copy of the book, if she’s still alive. John Stamos, of all people, had a bet with his wife at the time, Rebecca Romijn, that the woman on the cover was me in drag. Sorry, Blackie, no dice.

It was a very effective cover in terms of getting people’s attention. If bookstores had the choice of facing one book forward on a shelf of books, my book was a prime choice because it was so striking. When I did my first tour, Bridget Jones Diary was really hot and its cover also featured a face. I used to make our covers kiss, hoping some of Helen Fielding’s sales magic would rub off on me.

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