Mike Scalise

This week the folks at Brevity posted regarding nonfiction pariah James Frey’s recent addition to his website to get ready for the release of his new novel, Bright Shiny Morning: a literal sounding board where anyone can call and leave him a voicemail. About anything. (In his words, “Be Cool. Be Nasty. Be Whatever You Want.”)

Though I didn’t listen to all of them, the messages seem overwhelmingly supportive of the guy, from people who extend a “thank you for your writing and your words,” to those who think Frey’s “voice is sexy,” and former addicts who who claim–even with the fabricating that’s kept MFA nonfiction panelists in business for two years now–that A Million Little Pieces was one of the “most life-changing books” they’ve ever read, and they don’t “give a shit what Oprah has to say.”

While the callers (79 last time I visited the site) dailed in from places all over the country, and some from Canada, but none from DC. The closest we got was a nice-sounding woman from Rockville, Maryland who wanted to tell Frey “I loved your book One Million Pieces,” (then corrected herself to “One Million Little Pieces,”) and let Frey know that she “didn’t agree with what Oprah did.”

For this weekend’s question, it would be too easy to ask what you would say to Frey on a voicemail, because if you really want to talk to him you can just go to his site and do so. So instead, we’ll go with this one:

What author would you want to leave a voicemail for, and what would you say?

As always, leave answers in the comments. Have a good weekend everyone.

Brevity: Give Big Jim a Piece of Your Mind (link)

Leave James Frey a Voicemail (link)