The creative team behind J.T. Leroy should send James Frey flowers, since his little revelations have given the J. T. Leroy hoax story a sort of also-ran quality. However, we were pleased to see the San Francisco Chronicle finally pick up the story and give it a well-sourced local angle. First up: the local literary Who's Who with regard to who was sucked in: Dave Eggers, Susie Bright, David Wigand, Michael Ray, Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman.

Second up: the take from local author Armstead Maupin, who turned his previous hoax experience into The Night Listener:

"A lot of people argue that such frauds cause no harm and are a great joke played on the literary establishment," he said by telephone Monday. "But in fact there's something very callous about using AIDS and an abusive childhood as a way of getting sympathy and support," Maupin said, adding, "I'm surprised that people were bamboozled as long as they were."

Photo by Brant Ward of the San Francisco Chronicle.

By SFist Lisa, Contributing