Author V.C. Chickering visits River Road Books on Thursday for a signing appearance keyed to her debut novel, “Nookietown.”

It’s an erotically charged, sharply humorous, playfully provocative tale that’s already been optioned for a TV adaptation, despite the fact that it represents the author’s first foray into full-length fiction. And it’s been likened to no less a phenomenon than the “Fifty Shades” franchise — minus the BDS&M, plus humor.

When V.C. Chickering visits Fair Haven’s River Road Books Thursday evening, she’ll be reading from and signing copies of her acclaimed new novel “Nookietown” — and perhaps reinforcing the point that the fanciful place known as Nookietown could be as nearby as the bedroom communities we call home.

Published in February by St. Martin’s, the novel concerns a forty-something single-parent divorcee named Lucy, who discovers newfound purpose — and the physical/spiritual fulfillment she’d been lacking of late — when her married friend Nancy approaches her with an odd request for a favor: help Nancy salvage her flagging marriage by sleeping with her husband.

It’s not long before the two friends institute a barter-based, below-the-radar network whereby their community’s divorcees are put to work similarly “saving” the town’s tired unions. Before long, things head south in some unexpected (and expected) ways.

Although she remains a relative rookie working in her chosen form, Chickering has assembled a pretty impressive résumé, with contributions to periodicals including Cosmo, the Washington Post magazine and BUST (essays from which have been collected into two anthologies). She’s also a veteran TV writer-producer who’s created countless promos for major cable networks, as well as music videos, feature-film screenplays, and a documentary film (“The Soul of Wit”) about New York’s alternative comedy scene. In her “spare” time, the Bernardsville resident fronts a band project called Tori Erstwhile and the Montys — and her “Funny/Racy Book Tour” has brought her to printed-word purveyors all over the region.

There’s no charge to attend Thursday’s 7:30 p.m. event, but seating and signing copies of “Nookietown” can be reserved by calling River Road Books at (732) 747-9455 or emailing riverroadbooks@verizon.net.