Publishers Weekly recently announced that James Patterson has signed a 17 book deal that will keep him publishing with Hachette until 2012. For those of you who aren't quick with the math, that's 3.5 books a year.

Doesn't anybody see anything strange about that? Being a prolific writer is one thing, but if this guy has 17 more books in him, on top of the more than 60 he already wrote, I can't see how there's any room in his head for a cognitive thought.

I'm not being a hater or begrudging James of his incredible mainstream success. I respect his writing prowess; just don't make me read it. I did enjoy the first 3.5 books that Patterson wrote: Along Came a Spider, awesome. Kiss the Girls, edge of my seat. Jack and Jill, good read. Cat and Mouse, again? Right about here is where the eye rolling started. It's not the stories so much as the constant repetitiveness of the same stuff. His wife died. He misses her so much. He hasn't found love since she passed (repeat). It's almost like his series were put on a Mad-Lib template and he just fills in the blanks. I just can't imagine 17 more. I hadn't realized that he started writing for young readers. I guess once the adults started catching on that they were reading the same book, he had to find a new demographic a little easier to fool -- for now anyway.

Publishers Weekly also noted that in addition to adding to three of his established series, such as Alex Cross, San Francisco's Women's Murder Club and NYC's detective Michael Bennett, there will be new stand-alone novels, summer thrillers, nonfiction books and what Hachette calls "other surprises". I guess we'll just keep our fingers crossed that those "other surprises" turn out to be an original thought.