cover image WACKY CHICKS: Life Lessons from Fearlessly Inappropriate and Fabulously Eccentric Women

WACKY CHICKS: Life Lessons from Fearlessly Inappropriate and Fabulously Eccentric Women

Simon Doonan, .. Simon & Schuster, $24 (272pp) ISBN 978-0-7432-4341-4

Doonan, New York Observer columnist and author of Confessions of a Window Dresser, loves wacky women, and if he ever opted for a sex change, "you bet your sweet bippy" he'd be one himself. A wacky chick (w.c.) is B.R.U.N.C.H.: "belligerent, resilient, uninhibited, naughty, creative and hilarious." She's got attitude and shows it, whether that means filling her apartment with exotic reptiles, setting up her own slashed latex garment business, collecting Chihuahua skeletons or dressing up as Satan in horns at anti-abortion rallies. True, w.c.'s have a hard time keeping jobs (which is why many turn their eccentricities into self-employment) and some "transition from wacky to wack-job" and start shooting, but there's no denying the tremendous life force these gals have. To Doonan, they epitomize feminism: "If the goal of women's liberation was to create a world where the sisters could do whatever the hell they wanted, then the wacky chick must surely be the screeching apotheosis of feminist achievement." Doonan has a gay time neologizing (e.g., "obnoxiosities," "chickorators," "fashiphanous fromage" ) his way through the life stories of some 16 wacky women in this silly but fun self-help book. His point? Support your local w.c. all you can: take her to lunch, treat her like a queen and "validate" her wackiness. "Becoming a wacky-chick hag" may even speed up "your own transformation from Nora Normal to B.R.U.N.C.H.-y broad." Agent, Tanya McKinnon. (May)

Forecast:While Doonan may be seeing pink—Stila Cosmetics now offers "Wacky Chick," a new pink shade, in support of his book—his publisher seems to be seeing green. S&S plans an author tour and national author publicity, and a mod jacket will attract browsers.