Ethics and factuality are the time-honored pillars of the autobiography and memoir genre. Yet in the past two years three identity scandals have rocked the book publishing world. These three authors have lost their credibility and made their publishers look lazy and unethical as well. James Frey, J.T. Leroy, and most recently Margaret Seltzer are the authors of books describing lives they never lead. Each of them published celebrated, successful books, all of which were marketed as autobiographical, or containing autobiographical content. The reading public was fascinated by the drama and resilience of individuals who lived extraordinarily difficult lives.

In 2003, James Frey became famous for publishing a memoir entitled A Million Little Pieces. The memoir detailed his tumultuous battle with addiction. In his memoir he recounts his drug and alcohol problems and his difficult journey toward rehabilitation. It was wildly successful. But in 2006, a public documents website called The Smoking Gun discovered that several of the events described in the book were largely embellished or made up entirely. One particular chapter describes a nasty run in with the law, which resulted in his spending 87 days in jail. In fact, The Smoking Gun found that he had only been in jail for a few hours, and that most of the incident was made up. His publishers, Doubleday and Anchor books, initially backed up the author, but eventually they were confronted with too much evidence that he was lying. Frey defended himself by saying that all memoirists embellish events for literary effects, but his readership felt unquestionably duped. 

Another notorious literary hoax is that of JT Leroy. Leroy was a young male novelist whose persona and personal history deeply influenced his writing. His career began in 1996, when he was 16, and he became most famous for the 1999 novel The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things. Leroy was known as an extremely talented youth who had lived a horrifying childhood, much of which was detailed in the novel. Leroy had made only a few public appearances, and when he did so disguised himself in a wig, hat, and sunglasses. He hid under tables at his own book signings due to shyness. After a series of questionable responses from Leroy during interviews, it was discovered in 2006 that JT Leroy was actually a pen name for a writer named Laura Albert. The character who had been interviewed for so many years was actually played by her friend, Savannah Knoop. Although Leroy never officially published a memoir, most readers believed his stories contained largely autobiographical content. 

Most recently, Love and Consequences, a memoir of one woman's experiences growing up in gang-infested south central Los Angeles, has proven to be fiction. The author, Margaret Seltzer, who posed as an impoverished gang member, who had been moved from foster home to foster home, is actually from an intact family from an affluent part of LA. It is apparent that her publisher, Penguin Books, did insufficient fact checking on her sources. At the same time, she created several alibis suggesting that she was who she claimed to be. Seltzer’s true story is still unraveling, but what is clear is that her real identity is wholly unrelated to the person represented in her memoir. 

"Reader beware" appears to be the growing trend in the memoir world. Writers strive to publish readable, thrilling books, and publishers seek to print the stories they know will sell. But is it at the cost of the reader's trust? In a world of Wikipedia and reality TV, the lines between fact and fiction blur together. We seek entertainment and we seek the truth. Now both are being marketed to us as a single product in an unprecented way, making our cultural intake into a chillingly realistic dream.

Thank you to Bryana Ellery, who responded to the 1,000 Words feature in the January issue of Writing. Hope you enjoy reading her creative response to this very funny picture.

There was no evidence of me being there. Nothing but an empty clean chair, and a neat computer desk. I don't even know if anybody came looking for me. But I do know that I was lost in a game of a computer network and couldn't find my way out.

So this is the story about my journey through my own game. I could never imagine it more realistic than it was that day.

It was June 3, 2007 and I had been playing that game until almost 1:30 in the morning. I had about four cups of coffee to keep me awake. I was so desperate to beat that game. But by whatever time it was, something went completely wrong.

As hard as I tried to stop playing that game, and as hard as I tried to close my eyes to get detached from that game, it wouldn't let me go ahead. With my head was still turned toward the screen and eyes still wide open, I was sucked into the game, and literally shifted into another world.

When I landed flat, splat on my back on virtual grass, I heard a loud voice say "LEVEL 1."

At that moment, I knew I had to beat the game to get out. So I stood up, and looked around. But suddenly a bunch of monkeys started running toward me and I didn't know what to do. I ran as fast as I could until I saw something shiny in the distance. Once I picked it up, I realized it was a sword that I had to use to get the monkeys off my back.

After I fought the monkeys, my points started racking up. Then next to me a cool black convertible showed up. I thought back to when I was playing it in the real world, about how I beat the level. I finally knew what I had to do. So I drove to the top of the mountain to reach the exit door. It wasn't that easy though, even more monkeys latched onto the car and made it really hard to drive. I even almost fell off a cliff. I made it out okay, "It's only the first level, piece of cake," I told myself.

"Level 2," the deep voice said as I entered the next level. Standing up right in front of me was a huge, ugly, one-eyed Cyclops. Horrified, I ran and tried to hide. It almost got me, but I hit it with my sword. I hit it again knowing that every time I did, it lost a life. I finally killed the Cyclops, but then three more showed up and I almost passed out. Next thing I knew, I was flying through the air heading for a brick wall. It hurt like crazy, but luckily I had two lives left.

I found an energy coin that gave me strength to grow bigger. I grew as tall as the Cyclops. Then I beat them all. I jumped up and dpwn at the feeling of victory.

As I was heading to Level 3, I heard a horrible shrill noise. All of a sudden the game was over! Drifting back into reality, I woke up slowly. Slammed my alarm clock on the floor. Looked up at the computer with the bright green flashing words that said, "GAME OVER." I must have fallen asleep while playing the game. I can't believe I lost, and that it was only a dream that took me to such an adventurous place in my mind.  

Happy Leap Year Everybody!

Well actually, it's leap year all year. I guess today is Leap Year Day? Can I get a ruling on this?

Anywho, by now you should have READ's special Time Travel issue in your classroom. It's weird because we worked on that in the past.... and now, here you are, in the present, reading it. Whoa. Cosmic man.

Well, how do you like it? Feel free to give your two cents by clicking COMMENTS below or emailing us at word@weeklyreader.com.

We have already received one observation from a very intelligent class at Holy Cross Lutheran School in Wichita, Kansas. Their teacher, Ms. Vanwey, writes

"My 7^th  graders were in a tiz concerning Time Will Tell! How did the author add together 24 and 25 to come up with 60 as the age Jon was when he came back to 2008."

Well, that's a very good question. Our math is all screwed up! When Jon Pacone returns to 2008, he should be 49, not 60! Our only sorry excuse is that we stink at math. But someone on our end definitely should have caught this oversight. All apologies to time travelers everywhere.

Also, the question was stated of whether or not Jon would have been living two different lives at once. The first being the first time he lived through those years, and the second being his return to the past self living those years. Hmm... well... you see... um... time travel is a very tricky thing involving lots of compound theories and... um... holy cow! Look! Quick! Behind you! There's a flying cow!

Moo.

Well, at least Billy Pilgrim can time travel with class.
So it goes.