Here’s the sixth installment of LiteratEye, a series found only on The Art of the Prank Blog, by W.J. Elvin III, editor and publisher of FIONA: Mysteries & Curiosities of Literary Fraud & Folly
and the LitFraud blog.
LiteratEye #6: Tracking an Elusive Author
By W.J. Elvin III
March 19, 2009
In the last column there was a sort of drive-by mention of author Stephen R. Pastore and the possibility that some of his prominence and recognition as an author is self-imposed. That observation was inspired by a reporter”™s challenge to him and some questions raised by Wikipedia editors regarding his credibility. So far, rather than coming to the fore in his own defense, Pastore seems to be fading deeper into the literary mists.
This is beginning to look like a story that The New York Times and Washington Post will be digging into soon. So of course I wanted The Art of the Prank Blog readers to be able to say they saw it here, some of it at any rate, first. Why haven”™t the heavyweights weighed in already? Well, venturing a guess, Pastore hasn”™t yet appeared on Oprah, and that, the way I”™ve got it figured, is the trigger for national media attention these days. First you spoof Oprah, then you show up on big media radar.
Pastore is a winner of the Aldous Huxley Prize for literature. The prize may not ring bells of recognition with you, but it was listed on a site devoted to literary awards. However, that site has since disappeared. When you dig it out of the Internet archives, there is indeed mention such an award, but details have been scrubbed. Continue reading “LiteratEye #6: Tracking an Elusive Author”