Although it seems to be taking forever, so much so that Gene and I begin to doubt anything will ever happen, we just today received another note from the publisher indicating that it is indeed "in the mill" and that this is a "good project," but explaining that it just takes a lot of time with academic publishers -- as we've more than learned. But in any event, this is good news, and it looks like the Showalter bio may yet be a reality.
Will post again as soon as there's anything more of note.