That's one blogger's assessment of the deal that a Virginia Tech journalism professor just made with Plume, which Publishers Weekly describes thusly:

[Roland] Lazenby, a journalism professor at Virginia Tech, will use the perspective of students on campus, in particular his own journalism students who helped supply the mainstream media with information via their student-run Web site planetblacksburg.com, to provide context for the events and describe the recovery and resilience of the campus community.

Also, "a portion of the proceeds will be given to the victims' fund at Virginia Tech and to support journalism education at the university." It's hard to put our finger on what exactly about this deal is making us agree with the smells-bad assessment. After all, it's not like this story doesn't deserve to be told! Maybe it's the part about "describ[ing] the recovery and resilience of the campus community." Rule: If the recovery the book will describe hasn't even begun to happen yet, maybe the book deal shouldn't either. You think?

Plume Gets Virginia Tech Account [PW]