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Saturday Morning News

Sidney Shelson Discusses 'The Sky is Falling'

Aired September 23, 2000 - 8:37 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Sidney Sheldon has written 16 best sellers so far. "The Guinness Book of World Records" says he's the most translated author in the world and the only author to win an Oscar, a Tony and an Edgar. His latest book is entitled "The Sky Is Falling" and Sidney Sheldon joins us now live from New York to tell us all about it.

Good morning, Sidney.

SIDNEY SHELDON, AUTHOR, "THE SKY IS FALLING": Good morning, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, now I understand your career started back when you were 10 years old. You have to tell us about this poem.

SHELDON: When I was 10 I sold my first poem and my father, who his proudest boast was he had never read a book, decided when I asked him to send it to a children's magazine, to take my name off it. He didn't want to be embarrassed when they rejected it. So he put my uncle's name on it, sent it in and a couple of weeks later he had lunch with my uncle, who said why would "Wee Wisdom" magazine send me a check for $5? So I sold my first poem under my uncle's name.

PHILLIPS: That's great. Five bucks. Can you recite a little bit of that poem? Do you remember...

SHELDON: Oh, no.

PHILLIPS: No.

SHELDON: No.

PHILLIPS: OK. We won't even go there. OK. Well, let's talk about your new book, "The Sky Is Falling." Give us a little tease.

SHELDON: "The Sky Is Falling" is about an anchorwoman who is in a television station in Washington, D.C. She interviews a member of a very charismatic, popular, influential family and three hours later he's murdered by burglars. She learns that this is the fifth member of the family to die in unrelated accidents and she gets suspicious. And she starts to investigate and as she gets deeper into it she suddenly finds that there's some powerful force that's out to kill her. She has become the hunted instead of the hunter and she doesn't know who's trying to kill her or how to get away, but they're determined to do it. That's the plot of the book.

PHILLIPS: Now, Sidney, you talk about this notorious family that suffers a lot of sudden losses. I mean immediately I think of the Kennedy family. Is this a family that you thought about when you started writing this book?

SHELDON: It's, people do think of the Kennedy family, but it's really a composite.

PHILLIPS: All right, now a lot of your characters, most of your characters are very strong females. Why do you side to go this way?

SHELDON: Because I love and respect omen and I'm tired of the cliche of the dumb blond. My mother, during the Depression, kept the family together by working and seeing that we were taken care of. She was a strong, wonderful, feminine woman and my wife is the same way. They're very capable, as capable as any man at what they do and I like to write about women like that.

PHILLIPS: Wow, Sidney, I like you. So you're, did your wife inspire you? Does she inspire you when you write about your characters? Would you say...

SHELDON: She always inspires me. She's wonderful.

PHILLIPS: So you are also very involved with literacy programs. Let's talk about that for a minute and what, why you choose that route.

SHELDON: Well, I was the national spokesperson for the Coalition for Literacy and I did a lot of research. We have over 25 million illiterate adults in this country, that can't read or write. Kids are passed from grade to grade without learning to read or write. If a child learns to read in kindergarten, that's too late. They must be taught the love of reading at home and these people, as they grow up, are going to be running this country. And it's a terrible disgrace. It's one of the biggest problems that we have. And when someone like Rollins (ph) comes along with Harry Potter and gets millions of children excited about reading, it's a miracle. She should get a medal.

We have to do everything we can to encourage our children to read.

PHILLIPS: Well, Sidney, you do the same thing for adults, that is for sure.

SHELDON: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: And let's talk about your Web site, Sidneysheldon.com. what can we find when we plug into this Web site?

SHELDON: Oh, you'll find the pictures I've done, television I've done, Broadway plays I've done, books I've done and a few personal things. I think it's well constructed.

PHILLIPS: Will you write me back if I send you a message?

SHELDON: Oh, you know I will.

PHILLIPS: Right. Sidney Sheldon, the new book is "The Sky Is Falling" and what an honor and a privilege to talk with you this morning. Thanks so much for being with us.

SHELDON: Well, thank you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

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