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Will Fiction Writer Joe Hilley Tell the Whole Truth About Sarah Palin?

September 16, 2008

Alabama Writer Penning Much-Awaited Bio of Republican's 'Burning Bush Moment' Gal -- But Will He Tell All?

by Dan Bloom

BOSTON, MASS (RUSHPRNEWS)09/16/2008--A trade book announcement earlier this month about Alabama fiction writer Joe Hilley's planned "biography" of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (and current GOP Vice Presidential candidate) put the story in a soothing, religious light:

"Novelist Joe Hilley's "Sarah Palin: New Kind of Leader", exploring themes from her career in politics, her life as a hockey mom, and her strongly-held Christian faith, explaining how they influence her new style of leadership and align with our changing economy in the information age, to Zondervan, for publication on October 10."



How did the deal go through? Who agented the book? What was the advance? How did Hilley get the nod? Did God have a hand in this?
Inquiring minds want to know.

And Hilley is not the only writer doing a new Palin book. While Zondervan's book will be bathed in religion and aimed at conservative Christian readers, a humorous paperback is also being planned by a Manhattan writer.

According to publisher David Nussbaum, "101 Things You -- and John McCain -- Didn't Know About Sarah Palin," is being written as we speak by Gregory Bergman and will have a print run of some 25,000 copies.
Nussbaum said the humorous paperback will be in bookstores nationwide by the first week of October, perhaps even by the end of September. A website, 101thingsaboutsarahpalin.com, will go live by September 22, he noted.

Now back to serious Palin biographer Joe Hilley. He and his wife live in southern Alabama -- in a place called not Hope but Fairhope. And now he's got a ringside seat at the travelling media circus known as the Sarah Palin Show. His literary agent inked the deal.

Hilley, as the Republican Vice Presidential candidate's self-chosen rush-job biographer, is at the top of his game now. His literary agent brought the book idea to Zondervan, a subsidiary of billionaire Rupert Murdoch's HarperCollins publishing conglomerate.

So who is Joe Hilley and how did he get this gig? According to a source in the publishing industry, the Palin bio was sold by Hilley's agent to Zondervan sight unseen, with just a simple outline and proposal.

On his own website, http://www.joehilley.com, Hilley explains himself in detail, and it's an interesting backstory. He's a lawyer turned legal thriller writer turned ghostwriter turned biographer. In middle age, his star is rising.

Meanwhile, here are a few items from his resume. He holds a college degree from Asbury College, a theology degree from Asbury Theological Seminary and a doctorate in law degree from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University.

Asbury Theological Seminary? Located in Kentucky, it was founded in
1923 "to prepare and send forth a well-trained, sanctified, Spirit-filled, evangelistic ministry" to spread scriptural holiness around the world" and is "committed to a vital evangelical Christian faith, rooted in the "Wesleyan-Arminian" theological tradition.

The what? The Wesleyan-Arminian theological tradition, unlike the Jewish tradition or the Hindu tradition or the tradition of the Dalai Lama, "stresses the free grace of God in two ways: First, the grace of God is free in all -- not dependent on merit nor on works.
[And] second, the grace of God is free for all -- all may be saved.
[Jesus] died for the whole world. People are lost, [therefore], not because they cannot be saved, but because they will not be saved."

So get ready for Joe Hilley's take on Sarah Palin. While it will be very different from his fast-paced novels, it will be sure to capture the attention of readers in both blue and red states -- on both sides of the church aisles -- some looking for affirmation and others looking for a few cracks in the the governor's rosy resume.

Expect the former. This
is will God's book, with God's hand surely upon it. It might not be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but it will be sure to light another fuse in the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pantsuits tent.
Youtube link to Joe Hilley Interivew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hf1HlRGSZE

Previous RushPRnews article about book announcement from publisher:
http://www.rushprnews.com/2008/09/08/zondervan-to-publish-sarah-palins-biogr
aphy/

Other Palin's stories here: http://www.rushprnews.com/?s=Sarah+Palin
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About the Author: Dan Bloom is a Rush PR News political and environmental news columnist/reporter and a freelance writer from Boston, who has been based in Asia since 1991. He graduated from Tufts University in 1971 and has worked in media, public relations and education in several countries. He is currently doing research on climate change and global warming as the founder of the Polar Cities Research Institute.   Write him at danbloom@RushPRnews.com

 

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