A STEAMY novel by I Lewis "Scooter" Libby has become a hot item now that Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff is under indictment. An inscribed copy of The Apprentice: A Novel, which Libby wrote in 1996 when he was a relative unknown outside Washington, was on sale on online bookseller Amazon.com today for $US2400 ($A3280). Unsigned hardcover copies were going for $US700 ($A956). Now out of print, the novel tells the story of an innkeeper apprentice in a bizarre coming-of-age story set in Japan in 1903. It is littered with edgy sexual material and strong language. "Wow, who...