How to Be a Good Literary Citizen (in Seven Easy Steps)
Maris Kreizman writes about “literary citizenship . . . an amorphous kind of concept, often changing with the moment, but needed more than ever today when corporate interests have a stranglehold on the arts, literary institutions are being devastated by the cancellation of NEA grants, and the freedom to read is under attack.” She offers seven tips on how to be a good literary citizen.
4 films that show how humans can fortify – or botch – their relationship with AI
“Artificial intelligence isn’t just a technical challenge. It’s a relationship challenge,” declare Murugan Anandarajan, Professor of Decision Sciences and Management Information Systems at Drexel University; and Claire A. Simmers, Professor Emeritus of Management at St. Joseph’s University. And science fiction has long been a way to imagine how relationships between humans and AI might evolve. Here Anandarajan and Simmers highlight four science films that offer lessons for building safer, healthier human-AI relationships in the workplace.
The audiobook business is booming. But the bounty isn’t being shared by all
Back in February I discussed the question What Should We Call the Person Recorded Reading an Audiobook?
The current article points out that as audiobooks increase in popularity, the need for skillful actors to voice these works grows. But many of the lesser known people seeking such work (the article calls them “audiobook actors”) “face a multitude of challenges.”
The worst of these challenges “for the journeyman performer, is the looming specter of AI-generated narration.”
Readers Say These 13 Books Are So Good, They Wish They Could Forget Them Just to Read Them Again for the First Time
The question of what books you wish you could read over again for the first time comes up periodically. This article answers the question by looking at categories such as “narratives that break the mold” and “twists that change everything.”
Books I Wish I Could Read for the First Time Again
And here’s how I answered the same question five years ago.
How about you? What books do you wish you could read again for the first time?
What Teen Novels Are Capable Of
“These books can help young people come to terms with the thoughts that feel too scary to say out loud.”
I was a teen long before the arrival of what is now designated as YA (young adult) literature, so I missed out on the experience of the publication of Judy Blume’s Forever 50 years ago. (Full disclosure: I was a full-fledged adult when that novel, which I’ve still not read, came out.)
The link here is to a landing page for The Atlantic’s consideration of the significance of such novels. This page offers further links to several related articles.
Chevy Stevens’s Worst-Case Scenario
“So many books, so little time . . .”
Every so often I come across a reference to a writer or a book that reminds me of this reader’s lament. Such was the case with this Publishers Weekly profile of thriller writer Chevy Stevens. I was stunned by the psychological depth of Stevens’s 2010 debut novel Still Missing, which I read in 2012 and still think about occasionally. (My review is here; scroll down the page.)
Why, oh why, have I not read any of her subsequent novels? My only excuse is “So many books, so little time . . .”
The fanfiction written on a notes app that’s become a bestseller – with a seven-figure film deal
“SenLinYu’s debut started life as Harry Potter fanfiction. The Alchemised author shares why they were drawn to a war-torn love story, how a conservative upbringing shaped their writing, and the snobbery around fanfiction”
Here’s a fascinating, unlikely story of one novelist’s writing process and route to publication.
The Publishing Industry’s Most Swoon-Worthy Genre
“Tight-knit but open-armed fans have made romance an especially hot commodity.”
Whenever I take notice of publishing industry statistics, romance novels top the list by a significant number. Rebecca Ackermann offers some reasons why in this article from The Atlantic.
© 2025 by Mary Daniels Brown
