Mass. Principal Under Fire for Touting Her Racy Novel

Mother says son was just defending himself from bully

(NEWSER) - A 7-year-old boy in Boston has been accused of sexual harassment, but his mother says he was just defending himself from a bully, reports the Boston Globe . The boy's mother says the incident happened on the school bus last month, when a bully choked her son, Mark, and stole his gloves. Mark, while trying to defend himself, kicked the bully in the testicles. “I think my kid was right to fight back,’’ says Tasha Lynch. “He wasn’t doing anything except protecting himself." More»

Author claims assistant stole $2.7M

(NEWSER) - A long-time assistant has pleaded guilty to embezzling $400,000 from best-selling romance queen Danielle Steel. Kristy Watts admitted depositing checks for Steel into her own bank account and using the author's credit card points to obtain gifts and airline tickets. Steel, who has written 76 best-selling novels, claims Watts defrauded her of $2.7 million and has filed a civil suit against her. More»

(NEWSER) - Nora Roberts is the most popular romance writer in America, but it’s not easy being on the top. “People go, ‘Oh, you work six or eight hours a day, oh my God,’” she tells the New Yorker. “‘Well, yeah, how many hours do you work?’ ‘Well, yeah, but …’ But nothing.” Roberts churns out five books a year, sold more than 18 million copies in 2008 alone, and brings in about $60 million a year. More»

It's on the romantic life of an ambitious soldier

(NEWSER) - Before Napoleon the ruthless emperor came Napoleon the romance-writing softy—and his masterpiece is due out in English this fall. Clisson and Eugenie is a novella about a triumphant soldier who returns home to marry his lady—of the same name as Napoleon’s first love. The manuscript, penned when Napoleon was 26, was divided up after his death, and only recently reassembled, the Christian Science Monitor reports. More»