The Frog King

Former University creative writing professor Adam Davies will give a reading and book signing for his first novel, "The Frog King," Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Atlanta Highway Barnes & Noble.

The reading, Davies said, will be easy to find -- at the center of an "angry mob of former students."

Davies said students may attend the reading with the intention of settling the score with their professor.

"It's been recommended that I read from a plexiglass cage like the Pope," Davies said. "They may be armed with vegetable ordinance."

The reading will be Davies' first since returning to Athens after completing the bulk of his second novel in San Francisco.

Bret Easton Ellis described "The Frog King" as "the funniest young-guy-in-New York novel since 'Bright Lights, Big City.'" Ellis has since completed the screenplay for a film adaptation of the novel, in which Joshua Jackson ("Cruel Intentions," "Dawson's Creek") is slated to play the male lead.

Davies, a former assistant editor at Random House, said his romantic comedy offers an ant's-eye-view of the book publishing industry.

Though often compared to Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity," Davies said the reviews aren't always so favorable.

One review ran a reprint of Davies' jacket photo with the caption, "Even this guy's author photo is irritating."

The novel's potentially disagreeable ending has caused some angry mail -- one woman sent a photo of the book impaled by an icepick.

Tuesday's reading will be Davies' first in over a year.

Davies said he is prone to stage fright, though he has gradually recovered from the trauma of his first reading, which his mother attended -- as a heckler.

While still a student in Syracuse's M.F.A. program, Davies was reading from a short story that eventually became "The Frog King."

"I was reading to an auditorium of about 50 people," Davies said. "The room was totally silent, and I was in the middle of a pretty racy section. Then, from the back of the audience, comes my mother's voice: 'Oh, Adam, please!'"

At a more recent reading at a San Francisco charity function, Davies was spontaneously auctioned without his consent. The high bidders -- an eight-woman reading club -- thought their $600 bid had purchased a date for the evening.

"I think they expected me to take them to dinner," Davies said. "It was a little irksome."

Although Davies will not be for sale Tuesday night, readers will have a chance to confront the author in person.