Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

According to Yahoo!News, burlesque star Dita Von Teese is suing Macmillan Publishing and a photo agency due to use of her image on Patti O’Shea’s In Twilight’s Shadow.

The papers filed on Friday claim that Dita’s face is “a valuable and integral portion of her celebrity persona” and that the company “commercially exploited her image and likeness to their own gain.”

Looking at the cover ( Larger popup version here) I wouldn’t have guessed that was Von Teese, though I’m reasonably familiar with what she looks like. She, or someone who alerted her, must have recognized the image and known she was the source.

I personally think it’sunderstandable for Von Teese to pursue damages if her image was used without her consent for profit, and if a photo agency sells images they don’t have the rights to sell, then, well, ruh roh indeed.

However, you and I and other members of the Bitchery know that Authors Are Not In Control Of Their Cover Images - but does the average person reading E!Online know that? My hope is that O’Shea doesn’t suffer any fallout from ignorant dipshits saying she oughtn’t have used Von Teese’s image. Patti O’Shea likely didn’t have a thing to do with the decision. Will her name and book title in the press under these circumstances be a good thing or a not so good thing? Let’s hope the “any press is good press” adage holds up for her. Good luck, Ms. O’Shea.

Kate Rothwell invited me a to join a Facebook group that cracked me up but seems very apt and savvy: How to Promote Your Book if You’re Introverted, Socially Inept.

It’s not a group for promotion itself, but to share ideas for book promotion: what works, what was a waste, and what does a new author need to do to navigate the world of sales with exactly 0 experience? Good idea, Kate!

Here’s a twist on the free/cheap ebook trend.

LBF Books is giving away the first 25 copies of the ebook of LeeAnn Burke’s Deadly Secrets today. Proceeds of the print book order will be donated to the American Breast Cancer Foundation.

What totally tickles me about this book is the name of the heroine: Roxanne St-Clair. Whoa! Seems that Burke wrote the first draft of this book over 10 years ago, long before she knew of the Other Roxanne St. Clair. Seems the Other Roxanne is down with the name thing.

Mad props to Burke and to LBF for donating proceeds to the ABCF. 

Entertainment Weekly has a round up of reviews from all over. But I was taken with finding the most snarky element of each one. Two of my faves:

The Star-Ledger’s Stephen Whitty: In turning Meyer’s words into images, however, the movie sometimes makes them a bit absurd.... The special effects—with the undead leaping about like something from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Vampire”—are more silly than surreal. The spiky dyed hairdos suggest metrosexual monsters who live not on blood, but styling gel. 

I have a little crush on Roger Ebert thanks to his review of Twilight: “She has questions. “How did you appear out of nowhere and stop that truck?” Well might she ask. When he finally explains that he is a vampire, he goes up from 8 to 10 on her Erotometer. Why do girls always prefer the distant, aloof, handsome, dangerous dudes instead of cheerful chaps like me?”

[Thanks to Darlynne and KatieBabs for the linkage.]

Time’s Richard Corliss: ”There’s an audible shiver as they first spy the teen vampire Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), his impossibly gorgeous face caked in a mime’s pallor, sitting in biology class next to young Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart). When he holds an apple in his hands to present to her — the novel’s cover image — the girls emit an awestruck sigh, as if they’d just seen Zac Efron in the flesh or a puppy on YouTube.”

I wish Corliss hadn’t been so quick to dismiss the cinema version as a pre-dose of “chick flick,” pairing the retro film elements of focusing on the about-to-kiss faces with the youth of the audience as some sort of rebirth of innocent cool - then tossing that rebirth into a pejorative slam against “movie estrogen.” If he hadn’t slid into sexist derision, I’d be hollering with glee about Corliss’ point, made at the end of the film: “It rekindles the warmth of great Hollywood romances, where foreplay was the climax and a kiss was never just a kiss.”

So, did you see it? What did you think?

I watched this and proclaimed that verily I hath a boner for Steven Colbert. Of course, he lives in my town so I probably shouldn’t say that out loud. I’ll see him at Starbucks and die of embarrassment.

[Thank you to Kelly W. for the link.]
[Thanks also to El for the updated link.]