The source of my fraudulent information was the Los Angeles Times article. I quote:

At Simon & Schuster, for example, publicists and marketing directors have been reaching out to bloggers to boost Robert Harris’ political thriller “Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome.”

“This isn’t something I was doing a year ago, but I think it’s a huge opportunity for us now,” said marketing director Leah Wasielewski. “I got a fantastic response from some bloggers, and it makes sense because this approach allows us to target consumers directly and gauge their interest. You go right to the source.”

Among the sites that Wasielewski contacted were Bread and Circuses, which deals with the later Roman empire; Prettier than Napoleon, a blog on literary and legal issues; and Mental Multivitamin a literary site. All three generated reviews of “Imperium,” she said.

So either Simon & Shuster is taking credit for it, or the Times is misinterpreting it, or everyone is simply Making Stuff Up. It really does beg the question I proposed in the Chapter Summary at the head of the post, though it is not my overactive imagination that created this falsity. I sincerely apologise for propogating the falsehood; I am a blogger far humbler than yourself, and can only suggest you contact the Times or S&S themselves if you want to see who first created the rumour. At the very least, perhaps you could ask them to reimburse you for the price you paid for the book, as I understand from ‘Mental Multivitamin’ that the author there received a free copy!