To say it was something of a surprise when Rupert Murdoch joined Twitter would be an understatement. So it followed that the world of 140 characters barely batted an eyelid when the reclusive American novelist Cormac McCarthy appeared to join the microblogging revolution. Alas, it was not to be, reports i. After three days and 33 tweets, the @CormacCMcCarthy account was exposed as a hoax – but not before it fooled fellow novelist Margaret Atwood and Twitter chairman Jack Dorsey. Those who were duped will not be comforted to learn that McCarthy famously ruled out writing short stories because "anything that doesn't take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth doing".
