Is 'Catcher in the Rye' Sequel Phony?

Alas, The Catcher in the Rye Vol. II did sound too good to be true. A new book rumored to be the sequel of The Catcher in the Rye may be what Holden Caulfield would call simply: "phony." This morning, The Guardian reported that Coming Through the Rye, an unauthorized sequel by a man named John David California, would be released by a small publishing house. The book, it said, would pick up almost where Salinger left off—but this time, Holden Caulfield is 70 years old, and he would leaving a retirement home, not a prep school. But after a little digging, Galley Cat has revealed that both “J.D. California” and Coming Through the Rye may be a well-planted hoax. California’s Amazon biography says he is a “former gravedigger,” and that he found a “well-traveled copy of The Catcher in the Rye in an abandoned cabin in rural Cambodia.” Seems doubtful, but if this is true, it sounds like California (if we can even call him that anymore) should be writing about his own life—not Holden Caulfield’s.