FINGER IN THE DYKE, FIRST BOOK BY MELISSA HOFFMAN, PUBLISHED AT LULU.COM

(NEW YORK, NY) – April 2, 2009 – Melissa Hoffman's first book, Finger in the Dyke, a collection of short stories, essays and screenplay excerpts has been published on Lulu.com, the online marketplace for digital content and one of the fastest-growing providers of print-on-demand books. The volume is now available at www.lulu.com/content/5888518.

Ms. Hoffman, a New York-based strategic branding and design executive and "reformed TV producer" has taken her experiences from her dysfunctional family, challenges in lesbian dating, extensive travel, the political scene and her Catholic upbringing and channeled them into seventeen witty, acerbic and touching stories.

"Life is complicated and messy and we look for gurus, spiritual teachers and higher powers to make sense of things," Ms. Hoffman said. "My book may not hold the answers to the meaning of life but it does offer laughs, some tears and more than a few elements of truth. Oh, and a cat who commits suicide."

Ms. Hoffman's approach of incorporating short stories with television scripts, essays and her parents' eulogies reads like a personal journal and brings fresh energy to a traditional format.

According to lesbian writer and friend Linda Pattie, "Melissa Hoffman's book reminds me of an overgrown garden, all bloom and thorns, discordant but delicious. It's the lesbian yang to David Sedaris' yin."

Finger in the Dyke
Paperback: TK pages
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 978-0-578-01036-6

ABOUT LULU.COM
Lulu.com is the premier marketplace for digital content on the Internet, with over 300,000 recently published titles, and more than 4,000 new titles added each week, created by people in 80 different countries. Lulu is changing the world of publishing by enabling the creators of books, video, periodicals, multimedia and other content to publish their work themselves with complete editorial and copyright control. With Lulu offices in the US, Canada, the UK and Europe, Lulu customers can reach the globe.

ABOUT MELISSA HOFFMAN
Melissa Hoffman has had a varied career in television and design. She wrote and performed her one-woman show, The Bossy Girl Monologues, for Lincoln Center Theater's American Living Room series in the summer of 2000. Finger in the Dyke is her first short story collection. Two of her short stories, Free Fall and Jesus, Mary and Josephina, both appearing in this volume, were originally published by the online literary magazines, Foliate Oak (www.foliateoak.uamont.edu/) and Wild Violet (www.wildviolet.net), respectively. She has written several film and television scripts, none yet produced.