In a truly magnificent display, in which this reader is once again disappointed in her American culture, a brand new novel- which happens to be a re-make of a classic over done idea: Romeo and Juliet, anyone?- novelist Rebecca Serle will see her book as a film months before it will hit bookstore shelves.

Why bother, you may as?

Exactly.

If a notoriously slow, political and inbred Hollywood can create the script, sell the idea to backers pool the money, cast the film, announce that Kiera Knightly is the lead in said film, enlist directors, crew and even create, costume and release a full length feature film, in less time that Simon & Schuster’s can edit, proofread, typeset, design and print a book,  all computerized, mind you- a book that came out of an MFA program and is probably been worked over and over and over so much that it’s nearly perfect- a book that was purchased in October of 2010… and STILL isn’t released?

And at a time when the traditional industry appears to be slow ( a 3% decline in fiction books in 2010, and similar numbers in 2011 from the top publishing houses)… you’ve got to wonder just what the hell is wrong with US publishing. And why the hell Rebecca Serle isn’t just sending her digital words straight to Amazon and keeping one hundred percent of the money.

Hello, Rebecca?