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Every day I watch Film School Rejects hustle to write stories, editorials, news items.  It’s a fast paced world where stories have to be written and published with lightening speed to keep pace with the stream of events that happen every day in the film industry.

In the world of book publishing it can take two years from the time a book is bought to the time it appears in print. The pace is glacial. You would assume that a busy team of fact checkers and editors would have the time to make certain the book they’re about to release as non fiction is accurate.

Of course we know from past experience that this isn’t true. James Frey, anyone?

A new scandal in the publishing world has spilled over into the film industry with long time James Cameron collaborator Charles Pellegrino at the center. Pellegrino was an adviser on Cameron’s film Avatar. Cameron also co-authored the book “Ghosts of the Titanic” with Pellegrino.

Pellegrino’s  “The Last Train from Hiroshima” has been pulled by publisher Henry Holt and Company. The bomb that almost ended the war in the Pacific in 1945, has now blown up in Mr. Pellegrino’s face.

It’s blown up because Pellegrino has been caught fabricating his sources. When the book was released in January, Pellegrino claimed he was duped by a source. His publisher initially stood by him. Anyone can make one mistake, right? Except it wasn’t one mistake.

One of the author’s sources claimed to be on one of the planes that flew the mission with the Enola Gay, the bomber that unleashed the power and destruction of the first atomic weapon. The problem is the source wasn’t on the plane. I have to wonder how a writer messes that up? This isn’t an obscure moment in history. It’s not a re-telling of an 11th century battle based on anecdotal evidence. This is a pivotal moment in modern history, one that’s been well documented. Will Pellegrino really have us believe he couldn’t verify the story he was told? And can the publisher Holt claim they couldn’t fact check this?

There’s more. People who are described in Pellegrino’s book apparently didn’t exist. Two pivotal players in Pellegrino’s narration can’t be verified.

Pellegrino’s troubles don’t end there. He’s identified himself as a PhD claiming to have gotten his degree from Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand in 1982.  The university told the AP they have no record of Pellegrino earning a degree from the school.

James Cameron wrote a blurb for “The Last Train from Hiroshima” and bought the film rights. It doesn’t seem likely he’ll be working with Pellegrino any time soon.

Holt released a statement “It is with deep regret that Henry Holt and Company announces that we will not print, correct or ship copies of Charles Pellegrino’s `The Last Train from Hiroshima,’”

They’ve also said they will return the money of anyone who wants to return the book to Holt.