Vincent Bugliosi and Richard Bachman

As soon as I get the current issue of The New Yorker, the first thing I do is check out the book reviews. Which is how I came to find out that Vincent Bugliosi has a new book out: Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F Kennedy. The selling price was listed as $49.95. The page count is 1,632.

The reviewer for The New Yorker said that Bugliosi, after all 1,632 pages, concludes that Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy. So, in effect, 6 words could have summed up what Bugliosi killed all those trees to write, and those 6 words would never in a million years cost anyone $49.95 to read.

Vincent Bugliosi made his reputation by prosecuting Charles Manson and his gang and then writing the book Helter Skelter. Although, in the case of Helter Skelter, Curt Gentry is also credited with writing the book. Apparently Bugliosi was on his own for his retelling of the Kennedy assassination. The book has already sparked some discussion and controversy among customers at Amazon. I will not be among those who read the book and comment on it. Maybe I'm just unimaginative, but "Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy" is good enough for me.

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The really BIG news is that Stephen King publishing as Richard Bachman has a new novel coming out on June 8, 2007. The name of the new book is Blaze. In addition, at the end of Blaze a short story is included called Memory. This story forms the basis for Duma Key, another King novel slated to be published in January of 2008.

So much for retirement! And I, for one, am thrilled that King is still writing. Whether it's as Richard Bachman or Stephen King makes absolutely no difference to me. He's still worth reading.