ANONYMOUS TRACT ALREADY IN THIRD-PRINTINGPITTSBURGH - An anonymous list naming one-hundred and twenty-six individuals accused of cooperating with law enforcement officials tops this weeks most-read list, according to sources in the local publishing industry.
“This is going to be bigger than Martin Luther King’s ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail,’ and, to a lesser extent, its’ sequel, ‘Grocery List from a Birmingham Jail,’ said John Wallace, spokesman for Stool Pigeon Press.
The Jailhouse Snitch List, as it’s entitled, is the work of an author who remains unnamed. The desire for anonymity makes one thing perfectly clear to Wallace: “We can state with absolute certainty the list wasn’t written by Jim O’Brien.” O’Brien is a popular local author who has written and published over nine hundred books in the past six months. He is currently in Mexico doing research on a biography of former Pirates relief pitcher Enrique Romo.
Speculation abounds over who will claim the writing credit. Wallace offered his opinion. “I know a lot of folks are saying its Joe Klein, because the style is so similar to his own.” Klein, a long-time political reporter for New York Magazine, among others, penned the best-selling novel “Primary Colors,” under the name “anonymous.”
On a related note, Pittsburgh Public School officials released a cautious, qualified, endorsement of the list. It said, in part, “While we lament the poor spelling and syntax used by the author, and cannot condone the sentiments contained therein, we are glad to see so many of our young people reading again.”
