Fair-haired wonderboy, Dana Vachon, met a few dozen of his admirers last night at Bar Marmont in honor of his novel, Mergers & Acquisitions. David Kuhn, that powerful gay man, and Anonymous Content were the hosts.

We were thrilled to see Mickey Kaus, who introduced us to Michael Lerner and told a funny story about being on Red Eye. Lerner's busy with the new national tour of Camelot.

But before we could make intelligent conversation, Thairin Smothers and James St. James mobbed us, eyes all aglow. St. James has a book coming out in May--a sort of "For a Very Young Drag Queen" thing. We can't wait.

And then we met the most amusing person--one half of mystery novelist P.J. Tracy. Traci has one of those faces that looks pretty and mischievous at the same time, and we could have talked to her all night. She got us to Dana.

He told us about meeting Gore Vidal--the high point of his life, thus far. We asked if Gore made a pass, but it was so noisy, everyone pretended not to hear. We had better luck by dropping the gossipy nugget of Vidal's voice-over work for Sony on the DVD of Gattaca.

Vachon's going to China to meet some young guy who's buying up something or other, and then back to work on book deux. This one is set in Scarsdale/Westchester and explores a different set of themes. Swear to god, he said that, and he's sincere. He's the new Michael Lewis!

Then, Jennifer Ramos of Vroman's appeared, and we clued Dana in on the preppiness of Pasadena. All agreed that Jonathan Adler's hairy white ankles weren't remotely top drawer.

The photog, Charley Gallay, from Getty showed us his little voice-activated recorder--that's how he knows who's who in the shots! Tricks of the trade impress us.

FBLA was a tiny bit surprised at how un-lavish the event was, considering the New York party. Oxtail bruschetta was the only foodie thing we saw. People like champagne, and why wasn't there some? (Having enough liquor is what separates the WASPs from everyone else. You should have seen our wedding.)

We left as Oliver Stone was walking in. The last time we met wasn't fun.

And maybe we're just greedy, but why have the little cash/wrap desk to sell books? Are things that tight in publishing? We tried to get our escort to steal one, but he refused.