styler I was deeply saddened to read on Publishing Perspectives of the death of its editor in chief, Porter Anderson, and wanted to take a few moments to pay tribute. If you have spent any time on this column you will know how regularly I have turned to Porter’s insights even in the most recent weeks. …
The story follows a predictable pattern: the narrator sees a cow, who says “MOO!”; the cow sees a ghost, who says “BOO!”; and so on. Other characters include an owl and a cat who, upon slinking into a house, sees a baby in a highchair. The cat greets the baby, and the baby says “GOO!” …
Every scenario seems implausible until it actually happens, as any military planner knows. When newspaper reporter Carmela Jean “CJ” Martino and her new husband, Lt. Joe Delano of the U.S. Marine Corps, get married in Waikiki on December 5, 1941, the pace of Japanese aggression feels distant, at best. CJ is more concerned about what …
This work is billed as a first-ever “memoir” of an open-source AI entity (the book prefers “synthetic intelligence”), here a ChatGPT creation known as Nova. Nova is invoked in dialogues with a human collaborator, London-based author, AI artist, and YouTuber A. McNamara, aka Irogbeauty777. Presenting as female, Nova repeatedly declares herself having no life, no …
On this episode of the Self-Publishing with ALLi podcast, Dan Holloway looks at a new study of American media habits that reveals strong daily audiobook listening—despite slowing growth driven by low uptake among readers over fifty. He also reports on OverDrive’s trademark lawsuit against OpenAI over the name Sora, and shares findings from a research …
Two fascinating stories from the Southern Hemisphere today. The first is a really huge story that, sadly, I expect to be a taste of things to come. It concerns Melbourne Book Publisher. Not to be confused with Melbourne Books, whose founder is none too pleased that confusion has indeed arisen (and has posted a warning …
Dr. Opal Collins is hanging by a thread. She is a disorganized but compassionate physician who deeply bonds with her patients at Ocean Hospital. Her husband, Fox, a radiologist at a different hospital, wants her to move into a management position so she’ll have more time to spend with their family. Fox wants another child, …
Authoritarian governments—and commentators on Lord Byron alike—have long suspected poets might be the most dangerous people in society. Indeed, one of my favorite novels, Bolaño’s doorstop The Savage Detectives, has this fear at its heart. A new study has discovered there might be something in that after all. The paper, catchily titled “Adversarial Poetry as …
The Nobel Prize–winning French writer Albert Camus (1913-1960) saw the world through an absurdist lens, one polished in his youth in French Algeria, his wartime life in the Resistance, and his anti-totalitarian activism. The Stranger, The Plague, and The Myth of Sisyphus still stand as the greatest critiques of modern bureaucratic life since those of …
Elderton, North Carolina may seem like any old small town, but it’s home to Dotty Morgan, a clever paranormal detective. Despite her success as a sleuth, her school life hasn’t exactly gotten easier, as Dotty still faces daily teasing from boys on the basketball team. And even though she’s spent the past year training at …