The Return of Jacqueline Susann and Kurt Cobain



Award-winning African-born literary Novelist Kola Boof says that the first book she ever read, at age 14, was Jacqueline Susann's "Valley of the Dolls" and that despite being acclaimed for books like "Long Train to the Redeeming Sin" and "Diary of a Lost Girl," she's always wanted to write a totally original black version of the iconic 1966 Susann tome.

Well now she has with "Virgins In the Beehive".

Rap legend Kanye West has called the book "scandalous, sexy, hot" and a bevy of superstar bestselling authors are predicting the book will be a huge hit--including Queen of Urban Erotica Noire ("Candlicker") and reigning sex symbol of the Essence book charts Mary B. Morrison ("Sexcapades" as Honey B.).

The novel doesn't have an ordinary literary agent. It is represented by Film Producer and "literary manager" Ken Atchity, whose AEI company is currently producing the new Jim Carrey film "Ripley's Believe It Or Not", Noire's film "Hitting the Bricks" and has produced films starring Angelina Jolie and Tim Allen as well as created blockbuster authors out of Steve Alten, Royce Buckingham and Tracy Price Thompson ("Gather Together In My Name").

Kola Boof says, "I loved Jacqueline Susann's book as a child, because I had learned English by watching daytime soaps. I read 'Valley of the Dolls' ten times. The next book I read, Toni Morrison's 'Bluest Eye' changed my life and made me want to become a serious writer, but it was Jacqueline Susann's pop novel that got me addicted to reading. Without her, I never would have read Mark Twain, Bluest Eye or Alice Walker."

Boof continues, "My book 'Virgins' is totally originalbut it's a kind of salute to Jacqueline Susann, because it's 40 years later and she's still the Queen of the Hollywood Pop novel. If Jackie was still alive, she would love Black Hollywood even better."

Some are claiming that the gorgeous leading lady in Boof's sex-filled "Virgins In the Beehive" is a dead ringer for Queen of Pop, Whitney Houston. Kola Boof says the character is inspired by more than two hundred glamorous singers, both male and female.

When asked why the characters in the book are convinced that rock legend Kurt Cobain did not commit suicide but was murdered, Boof says, "Detective Tom Grant has evidence that Kurt Cobain was murdered, many of Cobain's fans believe he was murdered, and my characters have very deep feelings about the controversy, because Cobain was one of their idols. They believe he was murdered, so the book takes that attitude."

Literary manager Ken Atchity says, "Kola's first soray into mainstream fiction, Virgins in the Beehive, is a profane, erotic, violent, and compelling look behind the curtain of the African-American music scene that I believe will garner readers and introduce them to her straight between-the-eyes voice. AEI's client Noire agrees that she's an up and coming urban lit author."

Atchity begins shopping the manuscript this summer.

For more about "Virgins In the Beehive" and its effect on black college girls who've read early drafts of the book , visit Ken Atchity's blog:

http://kenatchity19.blogspot.com/





The Return of Jacqueline Susann and Kurt Cobain