European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 24, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Computer gives would be author a novel approach Laura Myers associated press a a a a a All it Silicon Valley of the dolls a new a m a a a a Quot a steamy novel work Jan mostly by a comm Putur that mimics the style of the late y Jacqueline Susann. Writer and computer Whiz Scott f Rench says a just this once a is the Book Susann would have written if she were alive today. Instead a computer wrote it with an assist from French a i did no to copy her words or even sentences but her Way of thinking. And i Don t think you can copyright the Way a person thinks a a said French who lives 20 Miles South of san Francisco in Foster City. A a a a a a a /., French a 350-Pagc Book is about several Young women who succeed in the Rock music and film industries in the 1980s but destroy themselves with drugs and fast living. Sound familiar Susanna a 1966 a Valley of the dolls covers the 1940s to 1960s with a Story of drug abuse among Hollywood a Rich and powerful. Its the Best Selling novel of All Lime with 26 million copies in print. Here s How the texts compare. First a scene from Susanna so Valley Quot in which Singer and a movie Star Neely of Hara is distraught at losing a role to it a younger actress a she went into the House and grabbed a bottle of scotch off the bar. Then she went to her bedroom pulled the blinds to shut out the Daylight shut off her phone and swallowed five red pills. Five red ones hardly did anything  now French and his computer with a passage in which Rock Singer Lisa smokes free base cocaine with her Boyfriend Quot Lisa picked up the Large propane Torch and cracked the valve open a hair. The compressed Gas hissed out like an angry Rattlesnake. She snapped the Flint wheel on her lighter and the Stream of invisible Gas flashed into an iridescent Bluc streak., she brought the tip of the pipe to her lips and watched the compound vaporize under the Blue hot tip of the  not yet in print French a Book already has at least one critic. A i m neither a lawyer nor a computer expert but something  whole thing strikes me As wrong a said Stuart Applebaum a spokesman for Susanna a publisher Bantam books. He called French a method a computerized lit Eray ghost writing and said he did not think it would sell. A a a a a. But other publishing houses were not so Quick to judge. A the consensus Here is if its a Good novel it would probably get published by someone Quot said an editorial assistant at Houghton Mifflin in new York the assistant spoke on condition of anonymity. A people mimic other people s writing All the time. So what if its a computer doing it a French has already signed with new York literary agent Lois de la Haba who said she would seek Legal advice about linking sus inn s name to the novel before trying to sell it. A i think  Genius in a sort of Way by Ere. Rating this. Its a lot of fun and a very Good read a do la Haba said. York which oversees Susanna a estate said the. Company Likely would oppose promotion of a just this once As a Book Susann might have written. She died of cancer in 1974 at age 56i. Chiefly a non fiction writer French 40, said he conceived of creating a computer assisted Book in 1982 while Reading a a trashy escapist novel and thinking a computer could do better. He chose Susann because a she was the Best at what she . After studying computer science artificial in Tylli Gynce and natural language processing French used a computer program to Analyse Susanna a work and create hundreds of formulas imitating her writing style and character Duvel. A Ozment. French said he gave the computer material and plot lines and had to eliminate irrational sounding dialogue and action. He estimates he wrote about 10 percent of a just this once Quot the computer1 wrote 25 percent and the rest was a joint revision. If published it would be the first compute generated novel although several years ago a computer written Book of poetry a the policeman Sbeard is half constructed a was released. Lisa Maurer of Beverly productions in new a California Man and a computer Hope to Mirror the style and Success or a Valley of the dolls author Jacqueline Susann pictured Here in 1969. Reviews Sliver by Ira Levin Bantam books 190 pages $19.95. Kay is a 39-year-old editor at a publishing House who has the kind of sophisticated Good looks that attract men years younger and older. Recently divorced  moved to this new apartment to shake off old memories and begin . Her building is filled with typical new yorkers there a the handsome Young computer. Programmer with the dynamite smile. There a the psychiatrist and the woman who wears Giorgio perfume by the gallon. Then there arc the dead. Levin author of Quot Ros Fuary s baby a Quot the boys from Brazil Quot and a the step Ford wives a has written another Quick paced thriller. Levine a prose is sparse but effective for the kind of Story he is telling. This is a Book Best read late at night. Just remember to turn the Light out when you re done. Charles cd Pamplin. A Cox news service Frederick Douglass by William s. Mcfeely . Norton. 465 pages.$24,95. Williams Mcfeely a biography of Frederick Douglass succeeds in humanizing one of the most influential Blacks of the 19th Century by revealing his shortcomings As Well As his achievements. After All that has been written about Douglass including some myth making by Douglass himself in three autobiographies Mcfeely a Quot Frederick Douglass Quot has a freshness of fact and boldness of interpretation that is admirable. Slavery color racism and the struggle for equal rights All come together in the. Douglass Story which he told and changed himself in three. Differing autobiographies. New York times heartbeat by Danielle steel do Lacorte press a 358 pp., $21.95.danielle steels readers have come to expect her finely crafted portraits and Rich writing style. A heartbeat a a certain Best seller and her 27th novel easily continues this tradition Bill Thigpen is the writer and producer of a very successful soap opera. His affair with the daytime drama s sexy Star ends abruptly with her sudden marriage. Adrian Thompson is a production assistant for a network news show. Her marriage ends abruptly with her pregnancy. The two unhappy souls meet at the supermarket become friends and ultimately lovers. Will Adriana a husband attempt a reconciliation will Bill Freak out when he finds out Adrian is expecting yes she manages to conceal that fact and fairly plausibly. Heartbeat is rather predictable a fact steels readers Are Likely to Overlook while their Heartstrings Are being tugged. A a Roberto Dias a United press International Page 8 a sunday March 24 1991