from www.examiner.com – Today could be a very big day for Playboy: It’s gala Christmas issue hits the stands, with alternate covers featuring Dancing With the Stars sensation Joanna Krupa (nude in an 8-page pictorial inside) and comedian Chelsea Handler.

Inside there’s also first publication of the original author’s cut of Vladimir Nabokov’s story “Laura,” and porn-mainstream crossover success story Sasha Grey posing as Nabokov’s infamous Lolita character.

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Interviews with Gore Vidal, Avatar director James Cameron, and cartoon legend R. Crumb (this time around he’s busy sexing up the Bible) represent a return to form for Playboy so sweet you’d almost think they’re up to something.

And, it turns out, they may very well be: Playboy Enterprises stock jumped 42 percent yesterday on the news that it is in talks to sell itself to Iconix Brand Group Inc. Other high-profile companies have already looked at Playboy, including Virgin, wink wink, since rumors of a possible sale began in June.