Author and TV screenwriter Caprice Crane launched her latest novel, With a Little Luck (Bantam), Wednesday night with a reading at the Barnes & Noble in Manhattan's Upper East Side for an audience of several dozen fans (including her mother, actress Tina Louise). The book's about a Los Angeles deejay with a persistent belief that bad things come in threes who's just come off her second consecutive bad relationship... which makes her extremely skeptical about the new guy who's interested in her. "Well, I do believe things happen in threes," Crane said in response to a question about how much the main character has in common with her, "and I do believe I've had terrible luck with men."
Another audience member asked if she'd ever been approached about creating a real-life version of Cinnamilk, a drink that tastes like the milk left in the bowl after eating cinnamon-flavored cereal that plays a prominent role in her first novel, Stupid and Contagious. "I've NEVER had a reading where people don't ask for Cinnamilk," Crane laughed--and, indeed, the concept seems to have gained traction outside the book; it even has its own Urban Dictionary entry. "One of these days, it's going to be a reality." --Ron Hogan