Today's piece in the Observer is essentially about how agent Eric Simonoff tried to make it seem like publishers were clamoring to buy the James Frey novel—while really they were just vaguely curious to see whether it was any good. It closes with a quote from the man who got an exclusive on the project and bought it for a still-undisclosed but apparently large amount of money: Harper publisher Jonathan Burnham. "The point is he's written a great novel, and by summer of 2008 people will be able to approach James Frey with a clearer mind. Time will have passed." Well, of course he'd like to think so. Does anyone else?

"I don't like the tone of that," said one editor at a commercial house. "It suggests that it is the 'people' who have the problem, i.e. they need a 'clearer mind' in order to see the true value of James Frey's writing. The man is a liar and a fake. He may be a good writer—it's not like you have a be a good person to be a good writer. Actually, most writers are horrible people. At the same time, I would have felt icky about paying someone that shady 7 figures. Does morality have any place in a bottom-line business? I'm not sure anymore."

Another editor said, "Well, it sure helps that this is a novel and therefore he won't have the truthiness issue dogging him. So maaaaaybe people will read it, especially if it gets great reviews. But it'll never sell anything near what the memoirs did." She also said she thought that despite Nan Talese's protestations that she'd have loved to see the manuscript, neither Random House nor Penguin would have seriously considered the book, considering how badly they'd been burned.

One book publicist thinks that James has a shot at redemption. "I don't know if 'clarity' is the right word. I don't think people will look at him differently, I just think they'll forget how bad things were... And, as Oprah gets more and more general backlash, I think they'll remember how she laid into him like he was a child molester. I honestly do believe that all the king's horses and all the king's men will be able to [reconstruct James], provided he writes a great book." Hope not!

We'll give one seasoned fiction editor the final word. "I don't know—it depends if you're talking about editors (who are beside the point because the deal's done), the media (who either will have it out for him or will go with the redemption story but probably won't ignore it), or book buyers, who are still buying 'Million Little Pieces' in big numbers every week, you know?"