The Bookseller's Benedicte Page caught up with the award-winning Australian writer as he prepares to launch his newest novel, THEFT: A LOVE STORY. And since she spoke to him on the heels of L'Affaire Frey, it's not surprising he had some choice words on the matter:

"It's trite to say it, but the US is a country run by liars going to war on a fantasy, so it's interesting to see people getting self-righteous about James Frey. And by the way, if you're going to publish a memoir by an addict in rehab, everyone knows that one of the corollaries of addiction is lying. So I don't see why everyone gets into such a fucking uproar because an addict is a liar! Oprah acted like a total bully: talk about about crushing a butterfly on a wheel--or a cockroach on a wheel-- because that's what she did on television to this little creep."

What about his own interest in hoaxes, as explored in his last novel MY LIFE AS A FAKE? "There is this whole issue for Australia of being on the periphery and having no cultural authority, of cultural authority being determined elsewhere--in New York or in London--and Australians have taken huge pleasure in undermining that authority and proving it wrong."

And though Carey has been living in New York for over 15 years, he does envision a time he'll return to his native soil, calling his time a "moral holiday."