Libby Novel Stays Shelved

by Dermot Mulroney, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 10/31/2005

It's been a tough strech for I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby. First, v-p Cheney's chief-of-staff—indicted by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald Friday on charges of obstruction of justice, making a false statement and perjury in the Plamegate intrigue, about the outing of CIA operative Valeria Plame Wilson—was forced to resign.

Of course, some Washington insiders have turned felony indictments and jail time into profitable publishing ventures—remember the Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance of Watergate fame: Dean to Colson to Liddy?—but in a separate publishing setback for Libby, St. Martin's/Griffin has decided not to reprint The Apprentice, Libby's James Clavell-lite novel set in turn-of-the-20th century Japan. The Apprentice was originally published by Graywolf Press in 1996 and reprinted in trade paperback by Griffin in 2002.