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THE HEADLINEAI continues to encroach on the literary worldA publisher threw a party for an AI employee. This isn’t a headline from The Onion, it’s our reality.
- WIRED spoke with Macmillan employees about NOA (“No Ordinary Assistant”), an AI assistant that got a welcome party.
- NOA was scrapped the following year. “It was terrible, and no one used it,” one employee told WIRED.
Stories about AI encroaching on literary and publishing spaces are now ubiquitous, from established authors fighting their publishers to keep AI’s sticky fingers off their books to aspiring authors taking to the internet to surmise whether the query from a big name in publishing is an impersonation.
Snigdha Poonam fell down the literary scam rabbit hole after receiving and engaging with a scam invitation. Poonam’s deep dive, “The Lucrative World of Literary Scams,” originally published earlier this month on The Dial, has been making the rounds, most recently appearing at The Guardian.
The author, who’s spent a decade reporting on transnational fraud, learned this and more from her investigation:
- “the modern scam industry is a highly organized system”
- Profitable scams target authors outside of traditional publishing (think self-publishing)
- The Big 5 publishers have yet to sue alleged impersonators
One Book Riot staffer got an email from a fake Book Riot rep with an invitation to feature their book in BR’s Read Harder Challenge. The book in question, Start Here, was written by the Book Riot team. We would laugh if we weren’t crying. – SZW
NOSTALGIACOREThe Baby-Sitters Club podcast you won’t want to missThe Baby-Sitters Club is turning 40 this year. Fans were treated to a new addition to the beloved tween series in July with The Baby-sitters Club Fan Edition: Baby-sitter Summer.
While The Baby-Sitters Club series remains popular, it might be surprising to learn that most new fans are not finding Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, and the rest of the Kid Kits toting gang through the original books. New fans are discovering the world of Stoneybrook through its adaptations, both in graphic novel and in visual form.
There’s a new podcast in town that dives deep into the world of the BSC—but through the lens of these adaptations.
Generation: Baby-Sitters Club, from Connecticut Public Radio (natch!) and hosted by Daniela Doncel, goes behind the scenes of the series’ beloved adaptations, diving into why these stories have resonated for generations. The five-episode series is a treat for fans, new and not-so-new.
- Episode One goes into the origins of the BSC, as well as covers some of the other iconic paperback series publishing during that era
- Episode Two revisits the Netflix adaptation of the series and features interviews with the showrunner, as well as two of the girls who took on iconic BSC character roles
- Episode Three brings listeners into the studio of Gale Galligan, creative force behind the explosively popular BSC graphic novel series
- Episode Four takes a look at the economics of babysitting and how books like the BSC provide an opportunity to talk about the gender wage gap and sexism in the workplace
- Episode Five includes an interview with the woman behind it all: Ann M. Martin.
Add this podcast to your literary listening rotation and prepare to fall in love with the BSC all over again. You can listen on the Connecticut Public website or grab it wherever you listen to your pods.
Then, spend some time leaning into the BSC world with this look at the legacy of The Baby-Sitters Club, 10 of the most ridiculous moments from the series, and the queer legacy of the BSC. – KJ
COMICS/GRAPHIC NOVELSSupernatural comics to round out spooky seasonWe’re in the final days of spooky season, but there’s still plenty of time to squeeze in some seasonal reads. Here are three supernatural and pararnomal comics to read now and year round, from a romantasy take on a Gothic classic to a ghost story + murder mystery.
- Love Me to Death Volume One by Toonimated – A necromancer is offered a boatload o’ money to reanimate a dead bride in this polyamorous Frankenstein remix with an all-Latine cast. What could go wrong?
- Vampire: The Masquerade by Tim Seeley, Blake Howard, Tini Howard, Jim Zub, Danny Lore, Addison Duke, Nathan C. Gooden, Dev Pramanik, Julius Ohta, and Jim Campbell* – An enforcer for the Twin Cities’ vampire elite takes a new, mysterious vampire under her wing, and gets dragged into a dangerous conspiracy for her troubles.
- A Guest in the House by E. M. Carroll – A chilling, Lammy Award-winning story about a woman haunted by the ghost of her husband’s first wife, who claims that the husband murdered her.
*A message from our sponsor
UNUSUAL SUSPECTSNew LGBTQ thrillers to get your heart racingThere’s nothing like a thriller to have you flipping pages well into the night. Here are eight new LGBTQ thrillers that deserve a spot on your TBR.
Nearly Roadkill: Queer Love on the Run by Kate Bornstein and Caitlin Sullivan: a cyber-erotic romantic thriller about gender outlaws in love.
Make Sure You Die Screaming by Zee Carlstrom: a nonbinary road trip thriller that’s “Fear and Loathing for the generation devastated by the generation that brought us Fear and Loathing.”
Monster in the Mirror by Janasha Prabhu: a serial killer thriller about a queer Brown woman in a small white town who is being framed for the murders.
You’ll Never Forget Me by Isha Raya: a sapphic cat-and-mouse thriller for Killing Eve fans.
The Tuxedo Society by Paul Rudnick: a zany spy thriller about a group of gay secret agents.
Passing Through a Prairie Country by Dennis E. Staples: a queer thriller set at a casino on a reservation.
The Long Con by Jenna Voris: an “eat-the-rich” thriller with a slowburn romance between rival conwomen.
Happily Ever After the Murders by Rae Wilde: an elderly lesbian couple goes on the run with their cat when their husbands’ bodies are discovered.
Read more about these at Book Riot.
HISTORICAL FICTIONWho is Emma Lion?If you spend any time at all on the bookish web, you’ve probably heard the name “Emma Lion” at some point in the last few years. But who is this Emma Lion, and why is she having a moment? Pull up a chair.
Emma Lion is the titular heroine of The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, the self-published series sensation that’s sold more than a million print and ebook copies in the U.S. Author Beth Brower began publishing the books in 2019 through her own imprint, Rhysdon Press, but Viking Press recently acquired the rights to the series.
These cozy historicals, written as a series of journal entries, follow four years in the life of Emma Lion, with each volume covering a span of two months beginning in 1883.
- For those of you doing math right now, the author has said she plans to write 25(!) novels in the series.
Emma chronicles her life as a resident of the charming St. Crispian’s, where she deals with, among other things, the loss of her inheritance, the Victorian London social scene, suitors, and the loss of her parents and a boy she once loved.
Beautiful new editions of Volumes One through Eight will go on sale on November 24, 2026, while the highly anticipated ninth installment is expected to release on February 23, 2027.
► Learn more about the series here. —VD
SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASYSci-fi and fantasy to watch this weekendIf you’re looking for something bookish to watch this weekend, sci-fi and fantasy adaptations—especially of the comic book variety—are kind of leading the pack.
There’s Slavic witchcraft for fans of Hudson Williams (Heated Rivalry) and Carrie-Ann Moss (The Matrix), supernatural horror adapted from a modern classic, body horror, and more.
Science fiction and fantasy adaptations to watch this weekend:
Streaming
- Yaga: Adapted from Yaga by Kat Sandler, a stage play about the Slavic legend of Baba Yaga, the elderly witch who isn’t so elderly in Sandler’s vision. In the show, two investigators find the journey to uncover what happened to a missing student (Hudson Williams) getting witchier and witchier. I haven’t watched this yet, but I’m pretty sure Carrie-Anne Moss is playing a professor who may also be the Yaga here, and it’s kind of giving alluring and sexy. Color me very intrigued.
- Lanterns: It has been a time watching everyone’s reactions to each Lanterns episode on Threads. If you haven’t watched the show yet, here’s your reminder. It’s an adaptation of DC’s Green Lantern comics, but not of a specific storyline. Instead, it takes elements from the comics—like the Green Lanterns being this sort of interplanetary police force—and creates a small-town mystery around it. The overall feel of it is very real, even with its sci-fi and supernatural elements. It’s a refreshing addition to comic book adaptations.
In Theaters
- Clayface: I expect wondrous things from this movie because of its writers alone: Hossein Amini (Drive) and Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House). It is actually related to the aforementioned Lanterns show, as both are part of a rebranding sequence by DC. It follows a rising actor (Tom Rhys Harries) whose face is left disfigured after an attack. He’s convinced to try an experimental procedure involving nanotechnology to regain his looks by a scientist (Naomi Ackie). But instead of going back to being a leading man, he becomes shape-shifting clay hellbent on revenge. If you couldn’t tell, this has body horror galore. —EE
Did you know? Orlean is a staff writer on the HBO series “How To with John Wilson.”
CRITICAL LINKINGYou are now free to roam about the internetCheck out early reactions to the latest Hunger Games movie.
LeVar Burton discusses the books that shaped him.
Here are 28 terrific adaptations to watch or revisit right now.
The ACOTAR tie-in merch is getting out of control.
Is this the most influential American writer ever?
END NOTESWritten by Rebecca Schinsky, S. Zainab Williams, Kelly Jensen, Vanessa Diaz, Danika Ellis, Erica Ezeifedi, and Jeff O’Neal. Thanks to Vanessa Diaz for copy editing.
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