Would it really be so easy for Scott and company to backdate a civil restraining order request against Hunta?
If you know the right people to bribe, and they know the right signatures to forge, and you have the complicity of the lawyers from both sides, I can't see why not. Mind you, I've never tested this assertion. (My lawyer told me to say that.)

On page 206, Scott tells Madison that the news today is mostly edited by young film school graduates who know all the subtle tricks to visually enhance the drama. Is this true?
Yes, but what Scott and I both fail to qualify is that most of these kids are working under obscenely tight deadlines, and usually don't have the time to get too fancy. You'll see much more of that cinematic mojo in the "package" stories, the less timely and more in-depth pieces you'll find on CNN Presents, MSNBC Investigates, 20/20, and all the other weekly "magazine" shows.

Wouldn't Gail Steiner nail Big Bank to the wall once she found out he leaked her a false story?
You'd think so, but journalists are fierce about protecting the anonymity of their sources, even their bad sources. Matthew Cooper, a Time magazine reporter, nearly got jail time for his refusal to give up the government official(s) who exposed Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA operative (never mind Judith Miller's murky role in the drama). And just a week before SLICK's publication, four journalists were held in contempt by a federal judge for refusing to name their source in the Wen Ho Lee affair. In both cases, the reporters were clearly being played by their informants, but are fighting to protect them anyway.

Why does Scott feed Harmony such a rich account of her own "rape" if he never expects her to talk about it to the press?
As usual, Scott is just being excessively thorough. He feeds her the details so she won't get tripped up by a reporter playing "gotcha." But he clearly doesn't feel good about what he's doing.

Is Alonso Lever based on any real shyster you know?
No. Alonso is a full-fledged character, in all respects.

Why are Alonso and Doug preparing all this legal paperwork on page 218? Wasn't it already submitted at the beginning of the chapter?
Chapter 12 actually jumps around in time a little bit. So the scene with "Mick" and "Jimmie" on page 203 actually happens the morning after Scott, Doug and Alonso confab in Alonso's office.

By the way, Mick and Jimmie (short for Jimena) are the names of two good friends of mine who got married in June. I wrote their names into the book as a wedding gift, mostly because I was too cheap to buy them a breadmaker.

What's the deal with Alonso's novel (p. 219)?
I don't know but considering that it deals with cybersex and Jesus, the more appropriate question to ask is "What's the deal with Alonso?"

In examing Alonso's manuscript (p. 220), Scott notices that the story ends on page 464. That's the exact same place that SLICK ends. Weird coincidence?
No. Just my weird sense of humor. Since the very first draft, I always changed the length of Alonso's novel to match the page count of SLICK itself. Once the book fell into the hands of the Random House production people, I asked them to keep the joke running, and sure enough they did. I love it when other people indulge my weirdness.

Did Charles Lindbergh really spark the creation of the LAX airport (p. 220)?
He sure did. I guess everyone wanted to land where he landed.

After dining with Harmony, Scott abruptly wonders if Lisa Glassman is abstinent. What's that all about?
By the third day of their acquaintance, Scott is so taken with Harmony that he begins to look for excuses to bail her out of her impending confession. For a brief and dark moment, he toys with the idea that Hunta really is a rapist, and that maybe he doesn't deserve absolution from a person like Harmony.

A lot of people missed that inference. I blame myself, even though it's more fun to blame you.

What does Scott mean at the end of the chapter when he wonders if Harmony is his "death ray?"
If you recall, Scott tells Harmony at the airport (p. 222) that if he had gone through half the things she went through, he'd be a bastard of supervillain proportions. He'd be building a death ray. By the time he and Harmony part company, he briefly wonders if he really is a maladjusted bastard, and that he's using Harmony to wreak some sort of vengeance on the world.

As you can see, Scott thinks way too much for his own good.