With more than 6 million copies of his novels in print, Meltzer puts his new "The Book of Fate" (Warner Books) onto store shelves this week. And the readers of DC Comics' "Justice League of America" are way ahead of you -- they've read the first chapter of "The Book of Fate" in the first issue of the new Justice League series. ...I feel like shouting out to them to just. shut. up! What do we need to hear about his presumably being invited by the feds to offer them some ideas? Tom Clancy would make a much better choice. This news reeks of little more than sensationalizing and exaggerations.
The connection? None. Except Meltzer himself, this natty, mild-mannered man of steely eyes, who can spot a sales angle in a crossword puzzle clue. (Read how Meltzer markets himself)
In fact, extrapolating from such clues to "beat the news" is such a hot-selling specialty of Meltzer's work that government security agencies have contacted him, asking him to think outside the box in terms of what terrorists might concoct.
That said, it doesn't surprise me that DC was able to get the kind of publicity they're getting here from CNN, since it's coming from a company that's owned by the same source than owns DC - Time Warner. But it does show just how low the press can stoop to looking for the latest media sensations, and that's sad.