Kathryn Stockett (pictured), author of the bestseller The Help, was sued last week by her brother's maid, who says that Stockett demeaned her by basing one of the novel's characters on her. Stockett's now issued a denial!

You may be familiar with Brooklyn cookbook author Lisa Skye's seminal maize-affection work I Love Corn. That wasn't the only "I [Heart] [Type of Food]" idea that Skye had up her sleeve. She also loves bacon! But when she told her book agent that, Skye says, the agent ran off and stole the idea.

(via Reddit)

A French academic living in Israel is suing two men for libel because they trashed her book, The Trial Proceedings of the International Criminal Court, in a review. Is saying something sucked libelous, or even criminal?

Frank Bailey is a former confidante to Sarah Palin. He started off painting her gubernatorial campaign offices as a volunteer in 2005 and left as a top aide in 2009. He was inspired by, loyal to, and probably in love with Palin, based on our reading. But now he hates her! All of this according to his 465-page, tell-all manuscript that's mysteriously leaked to reporters' inboxes everywhere.

Crappy bookstore chain Borders is toast. So The Washington Post has asked readers to submit a three sentence novel about the store:

For all you literary gamers out there, two tech-savvy literary nerds have created an 8-bit video game version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's great American novel The Great Gatsby get ready to waste your entire afternoon.

The debut novel by Kathryn Stockett (pictured), The Help, is the story of black domestic servants working in Mississippi during the 1960s. It was published last year to rave reviews, and has sold more than 2 million copies. But one person's not happy with it: Ablene Cooper, a 60 year-old maid for Stockett's brother, who Stockett apparently used as the basis for one of the main characters in her book, "Aibileen." According to the WSJ:

Borders filed its long-expected bankruptcy yesterday. Hundreds of its stores will be closing in the next few weeks. Besides Borders employees, two other groups are worried: book publishers, and mall owners.

As expected, second-tier book chain Borders filed for bankruptcy today, after a last-ditch effort at a lifesaving loan failed. The company now says it will be closing 30% of its stores—nearly 200 locations—over the next several weeks. But...but what about my gift card?

Ashton Kutcher and ageless simulacra of a human female Demi Moore lounge on a beach on the Caribbean. Ashton's book? The Youth Pill: Scientists at the Brink of an Anti-Aging Revolution. Or, as Demi likes to call it, "All the Scientists I'm Going to Bribe for Experimental Cosmetic Procedures Next Week." [Image via INF]

Faltering book chain Borders, which has been on a financial death watch for weeks, will file for bankruptcy next week, after failing to get a lifesaving loan. "Borders initially plans to close about 200 of its 674 stores." Initially. [WSJ]

Paranoid, vindictive, and possibly insane Fox News boss Roger Ailes has been sitting for interview with every elitist pinko rag in America lately. Now, the bizarre, crowning achievement: New York magazine's Gabriel Sherman is writing an entire book on Fox News, centering on Roger Ailes. The "insidery" media "story behind the story" here is, Gabriel Sherman is not the type one would naturally consider to be a friend of Fox News. Given Ailes' insatiable desire to shoot his mouth off with self-justificatory diatribes, this should be interesting.

Mitt Romney wants to be president so badly, but he just can't get anyone to elect him. Don't laugh, okay? He must struggle to get out of bed each and every morning knowing that he'll have to spend the entire day being Mitt Romney, the shiny plastic humanoid who'll never figure out what Republican voters want.

Jersey Shore brawler and undiscovered artistic talent Jenni "JWOWW" Farley released her dating guide, The Rules According to JWOWW, today. Shockingly, she's got some pretty good advice for everyone.

Brian Jacques, author of the 21-book Redwall series and hero to millions of nerds, pre-nerds and ex-nerds around the world, has died of a heart attack at age 71. Raise a glass of dandelion and burdock cordial in his honor.

Bristol Palin has had a long and at times difficult career in show business. It's about time she settled down and wrote her glorious memoirs. And that's exactly what she's doing, from that house she bought in Arizona.

Laser-eyed managementspeak cult guru Seth Godin has done it again: he's Unleashed the Idea Virus of Purple Cow Meatball Sundaes. No, wait; we mean he's now working without a traditional publisher. Will the unbearable book business ever be the same?

Having failed to sell his "disaster" of a TV show, Eric Schmidt is now shopping a book proposal. Because, honestly, what else is Google's CEO going to do? Oversee the biggest, most profitable and indispensable site on the internet? Please.

The quarterly Electric Literature has taken many of last year's thickest and most acclaimed novels (such as Jonathan Franzen's Freedom) and put bullets through them. Literally. Maybe Kindle lovers should be walking around in Kevlar vests.