No thanks, we don’t want your hypnotic novel. A memoir sticks it to Putin. Queen Moriarty is back. Meta gets caught red-handed. And bats invade Austin.
Hypnovels: A new AI book platform was just announced that combines books with narration and moving AI generated images. Hypnovels is promising to capture the imagination of readers in a whole new interactive way. Authors can upload their own books and create a Hypnovel by choosing a visual style and narrator voice. All in all, I am…interested to see how this plays out? But I have some questions: Once it’s uploaded can they harvest that data for their own purposes or use it to make derivative works? Will there be the opportunity to use human narrators instead of AI generated ones? And most importantly will they be able to get me to dance like a chicken on a stage after I watch one of their hypnotic books? Is this an AI trend we can actually get behind?
With A Rebel Memoir: Russian opposition leader and pro-democracy advocate, Alexsei Navalny, was working on a memoir in the years leading up to his death in a Russian prison. Written by Navalny, sometimes by dictation to his wife, this memoir is about his life and activism as a Putin critic. Now Navalny’s wife and Knopf are bringing his words to the world. Patriot releases on October 22 and promises to be both a rebel yell and a way to honor the man who refused to compromise or back down in the face of persecution. Selfishly, I hope he really sticks it to Putin.
All Hail Her Majesty, Queen Moriarty: People magazine brings us an exclusive excerpt from Liane Moriary’s new novel Here One Moment due to come out in September. This time our Queen of Human Drama is ramping up the tension by bringing all her perfect strangers together on a delayed flight when an older woman predicts how each passenger will die. What could go wrong? And by “wrong” I of course mean “more please.” As a long time fan of Moriarty, I’m so excited to read this new book and see what kind of delicious drama unfolds.
Nothing To See Here: New evidence in the form of audio recordings provided to The New York Times seems to suggest that Meta knew they would get in trouble for violating copyright law when they used author’s books to train their generative AI language models. They discussed paying for the rights to use the books and even discussed buying Simon & Schuster so they could acquire the rights to their whole catalog. But in the end they decided that it would be cheaper to ask forgiveness than permission–by sending team of shark lawyers to court to defend their intellectual piracy. Nothing to see here, folks. Look away! Move along. Go be mad at Twitter for…whatever we’re mad at Twitter for today. And don’t forget to stick your book in the box marked “intellectual property theft and copyright infringement” on your way out.
My Lost Freedom: George Takei has written several books about his time as a child in a Japanese internment camp during WWII. His first was an autobiography for adults geared toward his Star Trek fans, the second a graphic novel for teens, and now he is back with another version this time for children, My Lost Freedom. He sat down with Publisher’s Weekly to talk about why revisiting this story in another format was so important.
The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: This book is the true story a female Jewish immigrant who went from peddler to wealthy philanthropist by way of becoming America’s first crime boss. Eat your heart out Tom Ripley.
SPD Shockwaves: The sudden closure of SPD last week continues to send shockwaves as Ingram, who fulfilled SPD’s stock, announced that publishers have 60 days to reclaim their books or they will be disposed of. Small publishers are scrambling to find a new home for their books under the tight deadline. With SPD now closed, Ingram will no longer fulfill any orders meaning publishers cannot sell the stock until it finds a new home. It’s a lose-lose situation for everyone.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles: What do pro-wrestling, OnlyFans, and being a single mother have in common? The answer is Rufi Thorpe’s newest novel, Margo’s Got Money Troubles. Releasing in June, it has already been optioned for a TV adaptation with prominent names like Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning signing on. For a novel about a young single mother who turns to OnlyFans to pay the bills and who enlists the help of her pro-wrestler father for tips on going viral. I’m very curious about this one because I can’t decide which part of the premise stresses me out most: wrestling, getting OnlyFans pointers from my dad, or being a single parent.
Bridge To Bat City: Ernest Cline, author of Ready Player One, is back with a new novel– this time for children. Bridge to Bat City is the story of a young girl who befriends a group of bats, but when a mining operation destroys their habitat they all move to Austin, Texas, and disrupt even the most bat-tolerant of cities. Based on the real story of the sudden influx of Mexican free-tailed bats to Austin in the 1980s, this promises to be the story about flying mammals that you didn’t know you needed. Which is why I love Ernest Cline. First video games, then alien invasions, and now bats. I’m here for it.
Deep Dive: See below for all the extra deep cuts of this week’s book news.
Ina Garten to release her memoir
The ALA released their list of the top 10 most challenged books of 2023.
Winners announced for James Patterson Bookseller bonus
Catch Up with Ariel Lawhon over at
This week she’s talking about subplots.See what
is up to. She’s still mad about ordering salmon at a sport’s bar.