Some devils apparently prefer sweatpants, and not all embittered underlings are 20-something ex-assistants. The figure of Rosie O'Donnell looms large in Little Pink Slips, a novel by Sally Koslow. Out in April, the book draws heavily from Koslow's experience of being pushed aside as editor in chief of McCall's to make room for the magazine's reinvention under O'Donnell, as Rosie.

Bebe Blake, O'Donnell's fictional stand-in, likes dudes and has red hair, but she shares her inspiration's foul mouth, fondness for bicycle shorts, and sturdy physique. In two preview chapters now making the rounds, Koslow seems to particularly relish elaborating on that last detail, noting Blake's "well-fed face," "lady wrestler legs," and "boots that looked compromised trying to support her."

If all this vindictiveness nudges Little Pink Slips into the realm of revenge lit, so be it, says Koslow. "People can categorize it any way they want, as long as they predict it will be a best-seller," she says.

Media observers will note with irony that among the industry pals Koslow corralled to blurb the book is Bonnie Fuller, editorial director of Star, who exclaims, "I couldn't put it down—and I have magazines of my own to run!" Fuller's tyrannical ways have inspired various forms of creative resistance, including peeing in her coffee and putting snot in her pastries, according to a 2004 Vanity Fair profile. But when a former Star magazine underling, Stephanie Green, threatened to send up Fuller in a roman à clef called Dishalicious, American Media went to court to try to block the book's publication. The attempt failed, but so did Green's efforts to find a publisher, and she has lately been reduced to selling copies on eBay.

A Star spokeswoman says Fuller chose to endorse Little Pink Slips because "it's not an attack book. It's a fictional account of the magazine industry. Her thought process was, since the goal of the book isn't to attack anyone, she could be supportive of another writer who is also a friend."

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