www.billfolman.com
"A funny, fast-paced story"
-- Publishers Weekly
"[Folman] writes with a deliciously jaundiced eye ... a twisted plot and characters worthy of Carl Hiaasen"
-- Associated Press, Malcolm Ritter
"Anyone who treats politics as a comedy must be either brilliant or insane. The Scandal Plan is thankfully and fantastically both. Read the Prologue right now. Go. It's only two pages. I'll wait. See? This is the good stuff."
--Brad Meltzer, New York Times bestselling
author of The Book of Fate
THE BOOK:
Senator Ben Phillips is the perfect man for the presidency. If only he weren't such a straight-arrow. He's getting battered in the polls, and with only a few months until election day, his staff is growing desperate. Enter Thomas Campman, political guru. On a sudden inspiration, the eccentric Campman is convinced he can revitalize the candidate's image by creating a fake sex scandal for him. Nothing too over-the-top--just a little scandal to make Phillips seem more human. Maybe even cool.
Though it takes some convincing, Phillips gives Campman the green light. The plan is set in motion, and, right on schedule, a phony former mistress steps forward to accuse the senator of infidelity. But scandals--even the premeditated kind--rarely go as planned. Before long, Campman's scheme snowballs into a three-ring circus complete with a linguistically challenged Mexican chauffeur who thinks he's James Bond, a highly sexed middle-aged woman who's convinced she'll never land one of the really good guys, and a political cub reporter for TeenVibe magazine who's sure he's on the trail of the biggest story since Watergate.
For those too-well-acquainted with politics as usual, The Scandal Plan is the perfect antidote. It's a witty political farce in the tradition of Jon Stewart and Dave Barry that will have readers--and even candidates--laughing all the way to the polls.
For more information, please visit:
www.billfolman.com
ABOUT ME:
I'm a writer whose debut novel was just released by William Morrow publishers. It is called THE SCANDAL PLAN (or: How To Win The Presidency By Cheating On Your Wife). I've been told it is important for a writer to have a terribly clever MySpace page, so here I go, telling you all "About Me."
Watch how I define myself with each word I type, suddenly getting smaller and smaller in your mind until I am completely knowable to you, the MySpace reader. My personality has become digitally quantifiable like a jpeg or a true type font. Wait, this all sounds deep and angst-ridden, like a Radiohead song about alienation and depersonalization, and that's not me at all. I'm a glass-is-half-full kind of guy who likes to have fun and joke around, the sort of guy who can never take himself too seriously. But now I'm apologizing for the tone of my opening. That's no good either. And now I'm drawing attention to the fact that I've just apologized for my opening. Even worse. This means you now think of me as "ironic self-aware guy," the one who has nothing original to say so he just comments on the irony of doing whatever it is he's doing at the time, like, "teacher, here's my essay about how hard it is to write an essay," and, "here's my MySpace profile about how TOTALLY weird it is to have a MySpace profile," and isn't that SO cute that I came up with that? Cute, like that picture of me as a kid. Adorable, right? Another oh-so-original touch! Aren't I just super smart now for being so self-aware of my own unoriginality? But, wait! Why do I sound angry? Have I become the snarky too-cool-for-school, makes-fun-of-everything guy? Good God, let's hope not. I'd hate to be defined as a bitchy critic. No, perhaps this last minute guilt will spare me that fate and resign me instead to the province of artsy rambler: a Bogosian-esque monologist who offers snippets of everyday truth in a follow-the-bouncing-ball-of-my-psyche kind of way, speaking with just a bit more wit and self-love than most real people allow. Except, everyone will know that I'm a novelist because I mentioned that upfront, so they'll all probably assume I'm some young Safran-Foer-esque literary rambler (not that there's anything wrong with that, but--) This means they'll think my book is written in this rambling style and that's a problem because it's totally not, and I'll worry, because my book is real light and fun and easy to read and with a minimum of multi-syllable words, and----Crap! Now, I'm telling people how great my book is! Now, I'm just another schill who is hocking his wares on the internet and who is willing to sell his soul just to put asses in the seats and "Oh, by the way, have you heard about my novel?" And "Oh, don't I think I'm so damn great for having a NOVEL published!" and "Oh, when you're done with my NOVEL can I interest you in paying $40 to see me perform in my one man show, where I read from my journal on a dimly lit stage for two hours?" Horrible. Horrible. Horrible. Except . . . That I feel guilty about it all. And remorse is redemptive, isn't it? Or is it just neurotic? Now I have to worry -- ooh, more worry and more guilt! -- about being pigeonholed as a sputtery-lipped guilt-ridden neurotic! That's not the right impression to leave in a MySpace profile! One must project confidence! Now, the only thing worse would be if I over-corrected at the last minute, turning fearfully into one of those arty, abrupt-ending-out-of-nowhere savants who is rambling along at a steady pace and then sud
