ROCKFORD, Illinois - John Lennon's killer, a 20th century sports legend, a singing "Idol"'s overdose and more are highlights of the brand new Twitter site that shows the relevance of "Pookoo", a 2008 novel by Doug Shiloh to current news items.

"Pookoo" is a work on comic-tragedy novel set in 1991. Brewza.com called it "a brilliantly written satirical look at our society's celebrity obsession." So far, 3,100 readers worldwide have downloaded the e-book.

The web site is located at twitter.com/pookoobook.

"My goal was to mention one a week," Shiloh said. "But so far we have six items detected."

The site reveals stories on sports legend Jim Thorpe (Jim Thorpe, main character named after Thorpe), American Idol Fantasia Barrino (suicide attempt), that Mark David Chapman, the convicted murderer of music legend John Lennon, is up for parole, and even mascots riding on a train headed to a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game.

Shiloh is currently editing a new novel titled "Waiting for the End", which is a 9-11 novel.

In the case of Chapman, a Chapman-esque character tries to assassinate the main character in the way Chapman is recorded in killing the ex-Beatle. On page 135 of "Pookoo", the assailant is a celebrity stalker named Frank Lennon and he reads a Kurt Vonnegut book, calling the incident "my Catcher'."

Chapman is said to have read a copy of J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye."

In another related 'relevance', Salinger died this year on January, 27.

The site has challenged readers to follow along as news item from each week's news has relevance to "Pookoo."

"It certainly benefited from the time put into the book, and I suppose working in the news business gave me an edge, but every time something comes up it makes the work all worth it," Shiloh said.

Shiloh is a Bread Loaf Writers' Conference alumnus and worked as a copy assistant for a Gannett-owned newspaper and served as a sports editor for a small town newspaper before publishing "Pookoo." He also worked Public Relations for Lt. Col. Fred J. Olivi, co-pilot on the Nagasaki atomic bomb mission.

Shiloh's web site is www.dlshiloh.com. The free PDF e-book can be downloaded from Shiloh's web sit or be bought at Amazon.com as a paperback or Kindle e-book.

An updated version of "Pookoo" is in the works, as well as a sequel.

Fans are encouraged to scour the news and e-mail their discovered news item they see as fitting the relevance of the book. Send to bessamail-AT-yahoo.com with POOKOO RELEVANCE in the subject line.