Just This Once [Hardcover]

Scott French (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1993

Two men and two men are forced to explore the depths of their souls when fame, fortune, and temptation enter their lives. National ad/promo. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If the books of Jacqueline Susann and Harold Robbins seem formulaic, this debut novel of sin and success in Las Vegas outdoes them all. And that, in a way, is the point. Subtitled "A novel written by a computer programmed to think like the world's bestselling author," this potboiler is as superficial as its models. In Vegas for a quickie divorce, Harvard M.B.A. Carol Davis effortlessly lands a weighty job as assistant to Nick Salerio, owner of the DollHouse casino. Carol's romantic interest is Taylor Stevens, a slick character who once cheated the DollHouse but has since come to work for Salerio in return for unbroken kneecaps. Meanwhile, Carol's roommate, cabaret performer Lisa Steel, has achieved stardom, yet her career seems imperiled by her amazing appetite for cocaine and other drugs. French never explains how much of this tale required a human touch and how much issued forth from his hard drive. In fact, there's no indication that anything out of the ordinary was involved in constructing the predictably debauched, mediocre plot. All novelty rests in the conceit of computer authorship, not in the story itself.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

French invested eight years and $50,000 in a scheme to use artificial intelligence to fulfill his authentic, if dubious, desire to generate a trashy novel a la Jacqueline Susann. Shallow, beautiful-people characters are flatly conceived and randomly accessed in a formulaic plot involving the temptations of pill-popping, star-studded Las Vegas and Hollywood. Innocent Carol of Connecticut and Vassar flies to Las Vegas for a quickie divorce and seeks work at a gambling casino named, naturally, The Doll House, where her talents are miraculously recognized and she is befriended by myriad modern types. It's downhill from there in a sexy, boring morality tale. Of possible interest to computer buffs for its use of Expert Systems and the virtual promise of more worthy possibilities; others should read Susann.
- Sheila Riley, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 295 pages
• Publisher: Birch Lane Pr; First edition (June 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559721731
• ISBN-13: 978-1559721738
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,313,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Dubious Premise, May 8, 2004

By 

Eric S. Christianson "starshinequeer" (West Hollywood, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Just This Once (Hardcover)

Having read every word Jacqueline Susann has ever written, when I stumbled across "Just This Once" by Scott French, I had to pick it up and read it to see what he/his computer had accomplished. The book starts out well enough, and is very reminicent of Susann's style, but the closer you get to the end the more it begins to fall apart and the more you begin to wonder if a computer really wrote any of it.
When I finished the book, which I did quickly because he does capture Jacqui's page turnability, my first inclination was to find out more about the process involved in the writing of it. After doing a bit of research and thinking back on the book more, I came to the conclusion that it was just a thinly veiled retelling of "Valley of the Dolls" with much less thought out characters. Any credibility the book earned itself in the first 230 pages is destroyed with the final scene and final line from which the book gets it's title. It immediately reminds you that no, this is not on par with Susann by a long shot.
Whether French or the computer wrote the book, I have to say at this point I am kind of glad it didn't go anywhere as it seems to cheapen the memory of the queen of page turning summer reading. If you are looking for a bit of diversion that will make you sigh and remember the excitement of reading Susann I would recommend this book though. Just keep it in line with the likes of "Delores" or "Yargo" or even "Shadow of the Dolls".