The Write Stuff

Such is the title of Sara Nelson’s new column in the New York Post–I, foolishly, hadn’t realized she’d even left the New York Observer, but am happy to see she’s covering the book biz once again.

Anyway, her take on the Kate Lee fiction deal story (which broke here first yesterday) offers up some new and even juicier details:

Goodbye, Old Boys Network. Hello, Young Former Assistants Network.

Late last week, Kate Lee, a 27-year-old assistant at International Creative Management, sold her first fictional project to St. Martin’s Press.

It’s a novel called “Recess,” and it happens to be written by her friend and fellow U. Penn graduate, Dave Kalstein, a former editorial assistant at GQ.

The buyer: Sean Desmond, who is also a former assistant at ICM who in 2000 published his own first novel with St. Martin’s, which then hired him.

Following so far? Then try this: Kalstein’s “Recess” is described as Philip K. Dick meets Donna Tartt, and centers on a murder mystery at an elite boarding school.

Desmond’s novel, “Adam’s Fall,” is a ghost story set at an unnamed but elite college, much like Harvard, which Desmond attended.

Hmm, I do see some hint of connections, yes, but I always thought that the so-called Young Assistants Network has been in place years ago. I mean, what good are friends and contacts if they don’t come through for you later on?