No doubt many of you, when pointed to Publishers Marketplace's link to the USA TODAY story on Kathleen McGowan, engaged in a nice long eye roll. Descendant of Jesus and Mary Magdalene? Wha? Getting her editor, Trish Todd, and her agent, Larry Kirshbaum, to say on the record that they believe her 100%?* No matter how kooky it sounds, the fact is that McGowan - and the first in her trilogy about Mary Magdalene, THE EXPECTED ONE, which Touchstone publishes next month - got a nice long writeup in the paper, with a whole host of comments to boot.

More to the point, the publisher's behind this book in a big way, paying mucho money up front and then adding extra cash in the form of a nearly $300,000 marketing budget. And in the end, the publisher is treading lightly, with no plans to promote the author's personal story. "It's an interesting back story, but we're marketing this fabulous novel," says Todd.

*What the heck, why not, Ron says—statistically speaking, if this Jesus/Magdalene thing were true, just about everybody reading this column, along with everybody they know, would be a direct descendant of their offspring. It's really not that impressive.