February 9, 2009

The next Slither Girls novel drops this week.  The Fallout by Dolly St. James will be stocked starting bright and early the morning of February 13th - just in time for Valentine's Day.  Flourish & Blotts is hosting a release event open to the public and we all know we can expect something garish and flashy from Dolly herself.

"Half the critics are calling it my magnum opus while others are insisting I’ve gone soft. Frankly I find both opinions to be just off the mark," Dolly told The Daily Prophet last week in response to reviews from Witch Weekly. 

"Her most honest yet. Honest with real emotion there.  The relationship between Rhys and Odette without a doubt refers to Dolly's real relationship with a true life romance." -- Jules Scruten, Witch Weekly.

But Dolly isn't budging. "Rhys's identity isn't early as closely guarded as Devlin's - but for the sake of the guilty, I like to keep things vague.  I will admit he's an amalgamations of very important men in my life, some of whom I'm still close to."

Dolly's been very publically linked to quite a few individuals - from pro Quidditch players to musicians to fellow rich-and-fancies.  Whether these men make an appearance in the Hogwarts-age novels is anyone's guess.

Dolly again: "Secrets are my forte, darling.  My childhood was all very cloak and dagger it seems most natural to me to lie about them as keep them.

"In all seriousness? Odette finally sees how destructive her relationship with Devlin is - and struggles with the idea that the fairytale isn’t real. I think it’s something we all have to accept at some point, that Prince Charming is actually a Tin Man and there is no white horse that’s going to gallop up and save us from mediocrity - yes, the so called Great Dolly St. James has even had to deal with this reality. Sometimes, no matter how much you love someone the timing is just always wrong. I guess that’s the thing most people don’t realize. They read the articles, and my social life is a bit of a joke - even I have to question my choices sometimes.  I work to keep the mask in place, but I think the feeling most people have taken away from the book is that somewhere underneath it all I might just be a woman like everyone else.  Now I’ll have to work like hell to deny it and keep my strangle hold on my calculating bitch of the century crown.

Slither Girls has been the target of angry parents and pundits since the first one came out a little over four years ago, and its opponents cite the racy scenes, the mature content and that harsh language, all of which seem over-the-top at a Hogwarts setting.  But Dolly has always insisted the books are more true than parents want to believe.

She speaks candidly whenever confronted about the appropriateness of the books for young witches. 

"People denounce the books as trash, smut, garbage on a page - but there is a statement there. I am tired of women viewing sex as something demeaning or that women who enjoy it are some how damaged. I am tired of meeting dreary looking housewives who repress every basic instinct in their body because it’s viewed as sinful. "

Controversial or not, Dolly is unapologetic and means to continue writing, continue to keep us guessing, and continue to do all of it in style.