The One and the Ninety-Nine
Luke Burgis announces his new St. Martin’s Press book, *The One and the Ninety‑Nine*, launching June 16 2026. The work blends personal caregiving trauma with a cultural critique of identity formation in an age of social contagion, AI, and fragmented institutions. Burgis argues that modern group dynamics erode authentic selfhood, urging a human‑centered path to belonging beyond cult‑like loyalty. The post invites readers to pre‑order, offering bulk discounts, signed copies, and a virtual appearance for large orders.
Top 15 Most-Read Romantasy Books: Week of March 8
The weekly Romantasy roundup shows witchcraft and elemental magic dominating readers’ attention, with covens, poison spells, and elemental systems topping the list. Mid‑series installments and sequels are outpacing brand‑new stand‑alones, indicating a preference for deeper, ongoing narratives. The data also...
Which Residencies Impress Agents?
Literary agents increasingly use the name of a writer’s residency, workshop or conference as a shortcut to assess manuscript quality. The author notes that the Tin House Summer Workshop, now the McCormack Writing Center, remains a strong signal, and he...
Book Review: Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter
Ripe, a 2023 novel by Sarah Rose Etter, is an intense satire set in 2020 Silicon Valley that follows Cassie, a young professional at a unicorn startup in San Francisco. The story details her battle with depression, cocaine use, precarious...
Back to Work!
George Saunders, Pulitzer‑winning author, launched a Story Club inviting readers to dissect his own work. He proposes an experiment that focuses on a lesser‑rated story to uncover the mechanics separating good from great writing. By analyzing a weaker piece, Saunders...
Feminist Essay Club #5
On International Women’s Day, White Ink’s Feminist Essay Club released a recording discussing Virginia Woolf’s “Shakespeare’s Sister” excerpt from *A Room of One’s Own*. The conversation, prompted by subscriber Joanna Milne, examined historical publishing gaps—women authored only 25% of books...
How I Write
The author reflects on personal writing experiments, noting an early admiration for John Stuart Mill’s structured sentences and a simultaneous desire for mathematical precision. By age twenty‑one, he aimed to convey ideas in the fewest clear words, even if it...
Just Friends by Haley Pham
Haley Pham’s debut novel *Just Friends*, released by Simon & Schuster, follows childhood best friends Blair and Declan as they reunite amid grief, career doubts, and a lingering love‑undercurrent. The story alternates between present‑day challenges—caring for a dying great‑aunt, family‑run stores, and a...
A Guardian and a Thief (2025), by Megha Majumdar
Megha Majumdar’s *A Guardian and a Thief* has earned a rare sweep of literary honors, including a longlist spot for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction, a shortlist for the 2025 National Book Award, and the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal...
Jimmy Fallon Book Club: Complete List
The piece compiles every Jimmy Fallon Book Club title from its 2018 launch through the 2025 summer list, noting format shifts such as fan voting, a single‑author pick, and a 16‑title spring slate in 2024. It records hiatus years (2020,...
Diana Gabaldon Books in Order
The article offers a comprehensive guide to reading Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander universe, listing more than 20 titles—including nine main novels, numerous novellas, short stories, and companion books—in both chronological and publication order. It highlights Gabaldon’s recommendation to follow the main series...
Nine Business Books That Understand Working Women
The post highlights a stark gender gap in business literature: while women now author the majority of new books overall, they remain vastly under‑represented in best‑selling business titles. In 2020, only 17 of the 200 top business books were written...
Women's Words To Live By
Elizabeth Day marks World Book Day and International Women’s Day by sharing a personal essay that doubles as a promotional platform for her new novel, ONE OF US. While traveling between Los Angeles and New York, she curates a list of favorite...
Meet Me Under the Lights Is Fast-Moving YA Romance
Meet Me Under the Lights, a new YA novel by Cassie Miller, launches March 3, 2026 from Viking Books for Young Readers. Set in a North Carolina farm town, the story pits baseball‑royalty Eliza Crowley against rival pitcher Reed Fulton...
Test Subjects by Don Fisher
Don Fisher’s "Test Subjects" follows Julia, a freelance designer, and Garrett, a middle‑school science teacher, as they join a focus group testing bizarre consumer gadgets to make rent. The absurd products—screaming pillows, insulting yoga mats, edible deodorant—serve as a comic...
Online Summer Arabic Translation Workshop Open for Applications
The British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT) has opened applications for its Arabic Summer Workshop, part of a twelve‑strand online program running July 20‑24. Led by translator Sawad Hussain and author Omaima Al‑Khamis, the Arabic strand will focus on Al‑Khamis’s...
Everyone’s Dying in Middle Grade Fiction Again
Middle‑grade fiction is experiencing a noticeable surge in titles that center on death and grief, moving beyond the classic dead‑parent trope. Recent award‑winning and educator‑highlighted books such as *The Ghosts of Bitterfly Bay* and *The Empty Place* place loss at...
For Your Stray Attention
The publisher is launching a March‑only promotion: anyone who begins or renews an annual subscription enters a prize draw for a curated box of writing tools, a signed copy of *Enchantment*, and branded stickers. Simultaneously, the author will appear live...
A Far-Flung Life by M.L. Stedman
M.L. Stedman's long‑awaited second novel, A Far‑Flung Life, arrives as a sweeping multigenerational saga set on a remote Western Australian sheep station. The story launches with a 1958 truck crash that kills two brothers and leaves the youngest, Matt, with...
Timothy J. Hillegonds’s Book Notes Music Playlist for His Memoir And You Will Call It Fate
Timothy J. Hillegonds joins the Largehearted Boy "Book Notes" series, pairing his memoir And You Will Call It Fate with a personal soundtrack. The playlist spans Chicago house, Eminem, Creedence, Robin Thicke, Drake, and Anthony Hamilton, each linked to pivotal...
‘A New Birth of Freedom’
Andrew Roth’s essay argues that Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address re‑oriented America’s self‑definition from the Constitution’s compromises to the Declaration’s universal creed of equality. By framing the Civil War as a moral test, Lincoln turned the nation’s founding ideals into a living...
Something Playful: The Board Game Edit
The author observes teens opting for fast‑paced card games like Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza over phones during social gatherings, highlighting a shift toward analog play. This trend underscores how simple board games foster laughter, connection, and a break from...
The Untrustworthy Speaker
Louise Glück’s poem “The Untrustworthy Speaker,” originally published in her 1990 collection Ararat, resurfaced on a Substack literary blog. The work delves into the speaker’s self‑doubt, portraying passion as a barrier to trust and linking emotional wounds to mental distortion....
Joanna Barker’s A Love Most Daring Is Strong Regency Mystery
Joanna Barker’s third Bow Street novel, A Love Most Daring, launches March 3, 2026 as a paperback in Shadow Mountain’s Proper Romance line. The Regency‑set story follows Beatrice Lacey, a scandal‑tainted society miss, who teams with Bow Street officer Alexander...
They Said They Would Give You Education -- and Delivered You Debt, Brainwashing, and a Lifetime of Regret
Charlie Kirk’s new book, The College Scam, argues that U.S. colleges have become profit‑driven debt factories that also indoctrinate students with left‑wing ideologies. He cites soaring tuition—up 1,200% since 1980—while average student debt hovers around $40,000, with many borrowers owing...
Base Your Story Structure on Principles, Not Systems
The article argues that writers should base story structure on underlying principles rather than rigid systems. It outlines three core functions of structure: advancing the plot, reflecting the character’s journey, and shaping the reader’s experience. Real‑world examples—from *White Mulberry* to...
Bassma Sheikho’s ‘Scream’
Bassma Sheikho’s poem “Scream,” translated by Maisaa Tanjour and Alice Holttum, appears in the spring 2026 issue *SYRIA: Fall of Eternity*. The piece, written in 2016, portrays a war‑torn Syrian household through stark, fragmented imagery, culminating in a cry for...
Writer and Entrepreneur Glory Edim on Cultivating Talent in Yourself and Others
Glory Edim founded the Well‑Read Black Girl platform while working at Kickstarter, using a modest Kickstarter campaign to launch a book club that evolved into a literary conference, publishing imprint, and three authored books. After leaving Kickstarter in 2018, she...
Empathy (2025), by Bryan Walpert
Bryan Walpert’s novel *Empathy*, longlisted for the Ockham NZ Book Awards, follows marketing executive Alison Morris and game‑developer husband Jim as they attempt to commercialise empathy through a perfume and a video‑game called *EmPath*. The story intertwines their idealistic ambitions...
Across the Vanishing Sky by Catherine Cowles
Catherine Cowles’s debut novel *Across the Vanishing Sky* follows single mother Braedyn Winslow as she returns to the Oregon town of Starlight Grove to investigate her best friend’s disappearance. The story intertwines a slow‑burn romance with Dex Archer, a tech‑savvy...
Albert Camus on the Source of Strength and How to Save Our Sanity in Trying Times
Albert Camus, Nobel laureate in literature, penned the 1940 essay “The Almond Trees,” famously declaring that an “invincible summer” lies within us even in the deepest winter. The piece urges readers to reject despair, cultivate virtues such as strength of...
The Frenchman Who Understood Us Before We Did
The post revisits Alexis de Tocqueville’s 1831 trip to America, highlighting how his study of local self‑government, associations, and democratic habits revealed a social foundation for U.S. democracy. It argues that Tocqueville’s outsider perspective uncovers the “democratic DNA” that modern...
Kim Fu’s Book Notes Music Playlist for Their Novel The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts
Kim Fu has joined Largehearted Boy’s Book Notes series by publishing a curated music playlist that mirrors the mood of their 2025 novel The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts. The novel, described by Publishers Weekly as an "alluring" portrait of mental...
Query Critiques February 2026
The February 2026 edition of Query Critiques on The Shit No One Tells You About Writing offers two downloadable PDF critiques—one by Cw Notesmilleradams and another by Cece Notes Milleradams. Access is restricted to paid subscribers, though a seven‑day free trial grants temporary...
Harold Bloom, Mary Gaitskill, and More
The post juxtaposes Harold Bloom’s towering, canonical criticism with Mary Gaitskill’s provocative classroom provocation, illustrating a clash between traditional literary authority and contemporary, identity‑focused pedagogy. It highlights how students increasingly view meaning through a transactional, internet‑mediated lens, turning campuses into...
A Failure of Sense Making
"Crisis Engineering" by Marina Nitze and co‑authors frames a crisis as a failure of sense‑making, echoing Stafford Beer’s cybernetic theory. The book blends philosophy with a hands‑on handbook, offering concrete methods to rebuild a shared reality when normal processes break...
New Literary Agency: Lingua Nova
Jaidree Braddix, former head of publishing at ARC Collective, has founded Lingua Nova, a new literary agency dedicated to nonfiction. The agency aims to represent a mix of emerging and established nonfiction writers, leveraging Braddix’s industry contacts. Lingua Nova enters...
Agencies Partner up to Represent Authors of Romance and More
The Gernert Company and Bookcase Literary Agency announced a partnership to jointly represent self‑published and debut authors of commercial fiction aimed at women, including romance. The collaboration pools the agencies’ editorial, sales, and rights expertise to broaden market reach. By...
For the First Time, We Now Know How Many Black-Owned Bookstores Exist in the U.S.
The National Association of Black Bookstores (NAB2) released its inaugural State of the Black Bookstore report, revealing 306 Black‑owned bookstores operating across the United States, nearly matching the 1990s peak of 325. The report also launched a national directory covering...
Jasmine Warga’s Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan Is Moving Tale of Friendship
Jasmine Warga’s new hardcover, The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan, released March 3, 2026 by Balzer + Bray, follows a rescue dog and an orphaned cheetah cub as they help each other overcome trauma and perform in a zoo...
Kristin Dwyer’s In Time with You Is Time Slip YA Romance
Kristin Dwyer’s new YA novel In Time with You follows Nieve Monroe, who after her boyfriend Carter dies, is thrust back a year to prevent the tragedy, only to find herself drawn to his best friend Max. The story blends...
A Key to the Lock of the Book
The author announces only four tickets remain for a backyard reading with Lauren Groff and will appear on a New Orleans Book Festival panel discussing the pros and cons of writing on Substack on March 14. A one‑hour, $75 Zoom workshop titled...
Ramin Abbas Has MAJOR Questions by Ahmad Saber
Ahmad Saber's debut novel, Ramin Abbas Has MAJOR Questions, follows Ramin Noor Abbas, a gay Pakistani‑Canadian teen in a conservative Toronto Muslim high school as he wrestles with faith, family expectations, and his emerging sexuality. Drawing on Saber's own immigrant...
2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Shortlist
The 2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards have released the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction shortlist, featuring four titles: *The Book of Guilt* (Catherine Chidgey), *All Her Lives* (Ingrid Horrocks), *How to Paint a Nude* (Sam Mahon) and *Hoods Landing* (Laura Vincent). The article notes the...
Summary of Wait for Me by Amy Jo Burns
“Wait for Me” by Amy Jo Burns is a dual‑timeline historical fiction that follows vanished 1970s folk singer Elle Harlow and her possible daughter Marijohn Shaw, whose lives intersect after a 1991 meteor strike reveals hidden artifacts. The novel weaves...
Wait for Me Book Club Questions
The post offers a ready‑made discussion guide for Amy Jo Burns’s novel *Wait for Me*, featuring 19 spoiler‑light questions and links to a PDF and a detailed plot recap. It frames the book’s dual‑timeline narrative, music‑driven storytelling, and Southern‑flavored setting...
Hard and Soft at Once
Eva Illouz’s sociological lens explains why *Fifty Shades of Grey* became a cultural megahit, arguing the novel dramatizes unresolved existential tensions of modern love. The book’s blend of BDSM erotica and self‑help promises temporary resolution of conflicts between autonomy and...
The Rise of the Poison Girl
The blog post examines a growing sub‑trend in romantasy where the classic powerless heroine is replaced by the "Poison Girl"—a morally ambiguous, danger‑laden protagonist. It argues that this shift reflects readers’ appetite for richer emotional architecture, blending romance with peril....
Pablo Neruda on How to Hold Time
The Marginalian essay reflects on Pablo Neruda’s poetic meditation about holding time, quoting his "Elemental Odes" that split time into backward‑flowing memory and forward‑moving presence. Neruda urges readers to seize the present moment, shaping it with love, justice, and creativity. The...
C19th English Novels Overrated?
The author argues that 19th‑century British novelists are overrated, preferring the English Renaissance (1580‑1680) for its worldview and language. While acknowledging personal enjoyment of Austen and Dickens, the piece suggests their works lack the universal impact of earlier poets or...