Former Stranger staffer (and current Mercury news editor) Amy Jenniges sent me this great NYT article about the real identity of author JT Leroy. The oddball writer is either a brilliant con artist or a brilliant creation of other con artists, and either way “his” facade is being chipped away by journalists craving the Truth. My dealings with Leroy were brief—a writer by that name wrote a piece or two for me when I worked for Dr. Drew of Loveline’s web site, and Leroy emailed as a fan of Drew’s work. I think he wrote about being a runaway and maybe interviewed the band Hanson…it was a couple years ago. There was no reason not to buy it, so we worked with him briefly, all via email. I love the idea that this may be a giant publicity stunt, though, as one of this magnitude—and concerning a writer with such celebrity cult status—would deserve major props for being pulled off so well and for so long.