It's been months since word first surfaced about Nick Denton's plan to build a ladyblog. Now it seems the godfather of online snark is several steps closer to flooding the zone on editrix catfights and cosmetics.

Back in November, Denton was rumored to have hired Eurotrash's Geraldine "Delly" Hayward as editor, a fact that he refused to confirm—with good reason. The blog, under the codename "Girlie Gawker," has finally resurfaced with a different editor, whispers of a not-too-distant but still unspecified launch date, and a mission: capturing a female audience in the flyover states, sources say.

At the helm of the lady-centric site will be Anna Holmes, a former In Style editor and Entertainment Weekly scribe who is solidly entrenched in the chick-lit world. In 2003, she edited Hell Hath No Fury: Women's Letters From the End of the Affair, a historical survey of scorned and bitter femmes that O Magazine called "cathartic."

As for her underlings, Holmes has been interviewing several candidates, including every eligible female blogger in the tri-state area (sources say that Gawker pinups Julia Allison and Brooke Parkhurst were both up for positions at one point). According to one interviewee, Holmes is selling the site as "feminist with a small f, not strident or obnoxious, but definitely ladylovin'"—but not in that way. She also said that the goal was to draw an audience between the coasts who might not care about Graydon Carter or Brett Ratner, but would want to know about, say, lip gloss.

Reached by Radar via instant message, Denton declined comment.

Photo: Christian Grattan/PatrickMcMullan.com