The Future of Storytelling – Interview with Charles Melcher
Charles Melcher, founder and CEO of Future of Storytelling, discusses his new book on immersive experiences in a Punk CX podcast interview. He argues that brands must shift from product‑centric messaging to placing the customer as the hero of a co‑created narrative. Melcher highlights tactics such as multisensory world‑building, AI‑driven personalization, and extending storytelling beyond physical locations. The conversation underscores that even small businesses can deliver high‑impact immersive experiences without massive budgets.
The Dynastic Woman: Power, Virtue, & Eternal Households
Johann Kurtz announced a forthcoming book, *The Dynastic Woman: Power, Virtue, & Eternal Households*, which will examine the theological, philosophical, and practical role of women in historic Western dynasties. The work critiques modern feminism and the “trad‑wife” narrative, arguing they...
The Art of Writing Erotica With AI: Personalization Is the Whole Game
The article argues that AI‑generated erotica often feels empty because users ask for generic, well‑crafted prose instead of personalized content. It explains that arousal is highly individual, so “good” erotica is a misdirected goal. By feeding AI detailed character traits,...
Discover Interconnectedness of Nature in The Animals Speak: The Lakota Way
The Animals Speak: The Lakota Way, a new hardcover from Abrams, launches on March 17, 2026, priced at $19.99 for ages 4‑8. Written by S.D. Nelson and Dakota Goodhouse, the picture book pairs simple bilingual text with vibrant acrylic illustrations...
Vale David Malouf (1934-2026)
Beloved Australian author, poet, playwright and librettist David Malouf died at 92, ending a five‑decade literary career. He amassed a remarkable list of honors, including the 2000 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the 2016 Australia Council Lifetime Achievement Award, and...
Five Short Books to Stop You Scrolling
The author curates five short, high‑impact books designed to pull readers away from endless scrolling. Drawing from recent personal reads and a recent Oxfam shop audit, the list emphasizes concise narratives that deliver big ideas quickly. Each recommendation is chosen...
Talking to Machines: What AI Can't Tell You About Itself Ch. 5-9
The author announced the release of chapters 5‑9 of the "Talking to Machines" series in a single batch, accelerating access to the second half of the book. The post recaps the nine practical breakthroughs discovered while working with large language...
Anton Chekhov: Part I
Anton Chekhov, celebrated by 1890 with seven books and a Pushkin Prize, outlined six concise principles for short stories, emphasizing objectivity, brevity, and originality. Despite literary success, he felt miserable and embarked on a grueling journey to Sakhalin Island to...
Submit Your Questions for Sunday's Q&A!
Commonplace Philosophy is offering its paid subscribers an exclusive Zoom Q&A with philosopher Lowry Pressly this Sunday. The host is collecting questions in advance to broaden the discussion and ensure participants can engage directly during the live session. Access to...
Disneyland and the Rise of Automation: How Technology Created the Happiest Place on Earth
Roland Betancourt’s new book chronicles how Disneyland transformed post‑war industrial automation into immersive attractions. By repurposing technologies such as missile‑grade magnetic tape and automotive PLCs, Disney engineers created iconic rides like the Enchanted Tiki Room, Matterhorn Bobsleds and Space Mountain. The...
Auditing AI
Auditing AI, a new MIT Press book by Christian Sandvig and co‑authors, outlines a practical framework for evaluating artificial‑intelligence systems. It defines what an AI audit entails, why it’s essential, and the components of a best‑practice audit. The authors illustrate...
What's in My NOW? — Jolyon Patten
Retired City of London lawyer Jolyon Patten now lives on Greece’s Mount Pelion, where he writes a Timurid‑era novel and curates a personal "What’s in my NOW?" newsletter. He showcases three physical items—a Spyderco Dragonfly 2 penknife, a Collings OM2H‑T...
Small Press Insights: Bestseller Tracking Site
Jim Hanas has launched Small Press Insights, a website that tracks Amazon sales for small‑press titles. The platform offers real‑time bestseller data that was previously unavailable to indie publishers and authors. Access is bundled with Jane Friedman’s premium newsletter, which...
A Good Contagion: René Girard's Influence
The foreword to the newly released edited volume "Be Not Conformed" recounts how a modest Stanford colloquium in the late 1990s sparked a worldwide Girardian movement. 16 scholars contribute essays that trace René Girard’s mimetic theory from its quiet academic...
Game Changers Book Club: Tough Guy
The third installment of Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series, Tough Guy, is the focus of the inaugural book‑club post, which examines its place in the six‑book lineup and its reception among fans. The author notes that Tough Guy, along with Game...
12 Data-Driven Steps To Finding A Job You Love
William Vanderbloemen’s new book *Work: How You Are Wired* offers a data‑driven roadmap to finding a job that matches one’s personality. Drawing on research of over 30,000 top leaders and a 250,000‑person survey, the book outlines twelve interpersonal habits and...
All Her Fault – Andrea Mara
Andrea Mara’s "All Her Fault" is a fast‑paced psychological thriller that follows Marissa Irvine’s nightmare when her son Milo vanishes from a Dublin playdate. The novel, released July 8 2021 by Transworld Digital, weaves a tight mystery around four women linked to...
When Changing Tense Makes You Tense
Jami Attenberg announced a May 9 workshop titled “WHY WE WRITE,” with registration now open. She also promoted the upcoming 1000 Words of Summer writing challenge, running May 30 through June 12, and a live taping of the Origin Stories podcast in Atlanta....
Creating a Short Story Collection (When You Don’t Know Where to Start)
The Forever Workshop launches a targeted short‑fiction course led by author and former Wigleaf Top 50 series editor Shome Dasgupta. The session walks writers through four distinct methods for assembling a short‑story collection, covering logistics such as word count, story order,...
Book Review | Flawed Strategy: Why Smart Leaders Make Bad Decisions
Beatrice Heuser’s 2025 book *Flawed Strategy* dismantles the rational‑actor model, arguing that state decisions are driven by beliefs, ideology, and entrenched biases rather than simple cost‑benefit calculations. Drawing on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and other historical cases, she...
How EntertainLens Is Covering the New Wave of Chinese IP Going Global
Over the past eighteen months Chinese intellectual property—web‑novel adaptations, micro‑drama formats, and animated franchises—has moved from a niche trade topic to headline‑making acquisitions by Amazon, Netflix and others. EntertainLens, a Los‑Angeles‑based media platform, was created to fill the reporting gap,...
Book Recommend – Samuelson Friedman: The Battle Over the Free Market
Nicholas Wapshott’s new book, *Samuelson & Friedman: The Battle Over the Free Market*, revisits the decades‑long intellectual duel between Paul Samuelson’s Keynesian fiscalism and Milton Friedman’s monetarist libertarianism. The narrative centers on their Newsweek columns from 1966 onward, using the rivalry to...
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
Sally Hepworth’s latest novel *Mad Mabel* follows eighty‑one‑year‑old Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, a sharp‑tongued former murder convict, as she navigates a present‑day mystery that mirrors her violent past. The story flips between 2025 Melbourne and the late 1950s, revealing how a teenage...
A Letter From Sofia Kinzinger — A Long Time Coming, and Why It Means So Much to Us Now
Sofia Kinzinger announced that her husband, former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, will publish a children’s book titled “That’s What Heroes Do” in May, just before Memorial Day. The story, inspired by Adam’s Air Force experience, teaches kindness, civic duty, and gratitude...
The Quiet Part Was the Most Dangerous of All
AR Shaw, an independent author, is promoting a new ebook‑audiobook bundle through Substack. The post, dated April 21, 2026, offers a free preview of the content before prompting readers to subscribe or purchase the full bundle. Visuals and direct links...
A Place for Intimacy: Bell Hooks on Language and Desire
bell hooks’ essay in *Teaching to Transgress* reframes language as a vehicle for desire, arguing that words both shape and are shaped by thought. She draws on Ursula K. Le Guin, Adrienne Rich and Pablo Neruda to illustrate how language can bridge...
I Fear LA
Luke Goebel’s 2026 novel *Kill Dick* follows Susie Vogelman, a privileged LA addict whose family’s ties to a Sackler‑like empire intersect with a string of grotesque murders targeting opioid users. The book mixes graphic violence, first‑person confession and third‑person narration...
$10,000 Grant For Black Poets (Deadline: April 30, 2026)
A $10,000 grant targeting Black poets without a full-length book from a professional press has opened for applications, with a deadline of April 30, 2026. The award aims to fund manuscript development, mentorship, and promotional activities. Organizers emphasize that the...
If You Want to Start Reading Classics, Start Here.
The April 21 2026 blog post urges readers to demystify classic literature by starting with accessible titles. It argues that intimidation stems from poor entry points and recommends Jane Austen’s *Pride and Prejudice* and George Orwell’s *Animal Farm* as ideal first steps....
The Most Charming Series I've Read in a While
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion series, set in a late‑1800s London townhouse, follows Emma as she inherits a cash‑starved estate and turns it around through witty journal entries. The books have sparked a buzz on social platforms, with...
Good Pressure Points to Have in the Run-Up to Your Book Launch
The newsletter expands the concept of "pressure points" in a book launch, highlighting stressors that are actually positive signals of demand. It explains that spikes in pre‑orders, media inquiries, and social buzz indicate a campaign is gaining traction. By reframing...
Book Club: The Sun Also Rises (Session 2)
The Culturist’s book club will host its second discussion of Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Sun Also Rises” on April 22 at noon Eastern Time. Participants can join the conversation live via a Zoom link provided in the post. The reminder...
Amazon Removes Classic Anti-Mass Immigration Novel for 'Offensive Content'
Amazon removed the paperback edition of French author Jean Raspail’s 1973 novel “The Camp of the Saints” from its U.S. marketplace, citing a violation of its offensive content policy. The book, a dystopian critique of mass immigration, has become a...
BOOK CLUB April 2026 Info + Zoom Link
The Substack post announces the April 2026 Book Club session, featuring Rachel Hochhauser’s novel “Lady Tremaine.” Hosts Colleen Kehoe Powell and Laura Tremaine will lead the discussion via a Zoom link provided to paid subscribers. The event is positioned as a premium literary...
Dear America Series Transports Readers to Valley Forge, Mayflower
Scholastic Press has issued deluxe paperback editions of two Dear America titles—*The Winter of Red Snow* and *A Journey to the New World*—on April 7, 2026. Both books, written by Kristiana Gregory and Kathryn Lasky, are presented in diary form...
Week 8: The House of Mirth | Alone in Society: Isolation and the Loss of Belonging
The post delves into Week 8 of Edith Wharton’s *The House of Mirth*, where Lily Bart moves from celebrated socialite to a figure of quiet desperation. It argues that elite New York networks acted as informal survival systems, and their withdrawal leaves...
London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe
Patrick Radden Keefe’s new nonfiction work, London Falling, chronicles the 2019 suicide of 19‑year‑old Zac Brettler, who had been living under a fabricated Russian oligarch identity. The book weaves two timelines: the Brettler family’s frantic search for truth after the...
Upcoming Stories
Historical Snapshots announced its upcoming week of April 20‑26, 2026, featuring deep‑dive stories on Anton Chekhov, the invention of the alphabet, abolitionist educator Prudence Crandall, and pioneering surgeon Joseph Lister, framed by a Lincoln 1864 letter quote. The Substack post highlights that the newsletter already...
The Man Who Cannot Stop Talking About Killing
Palantir’s CEO Alex Karp used the company’s X account to share 22 excerpts from his book, sparking a viral post with nearly 30 million views. The author of the blog argues Karp’s repeated references to “scaring,” “killing,” and “heads cut off”...
The Big Lie, and What to Do About It
Daniel J. Mahoney’s new book, *The Persistence of the Ideological Lie*, argues that a centuries‑old revolutionary mindset now fuels modern “woke” movements, replacing the classic good‑vs‑evil framework with a false progress‑vs‑reaction dichotomy. Drawing on Solzhenitsyn, Marx, the 1619 Project, and...
The Big Fix
Denise Hearn and Vass Bednar’s 2024 book *The Big Fix* argues that a small group of large firms now dominate key Canadian sectors, inflating prices and suppressing innovation. They attribute this to roll‑up acquisitions, cross‑subsidies, and “kayfabe” competition, and call for...
Robert Greene
Robert Greene, author of the controversial bestseller *The 48 Laws of Power*, argues that the hunger for influence is a universal human need, not a trait reserved for elites. He explains how social media amplifies age‑old power dynamics, turning attention‑seeking...
Literary Slop, Knausgaardian Tropes, and More
The post critiques the rise of what some call "literary slop," highlighting recurring Knausgaardian tropes such as obsessive detail and self‑reflexive narration across sprawling novels. It juxtaposes this trend with the work of Turkish novelist Leyla Erbil, an autodidact whose...
Help Shape My Next 20 Years: Berkun 2.0
Scott Berkun, author of nine books, announces he is drafting his tenth and asks his audience to help shape the next 20 years of his work. He launched a short survey to gather feedback on what readers value and what...
What I'm Reading About Orbán and Hungary, a Postwar Noir Spy Thriller Set in Ruined Frankfurt, and More
The weekly Read Max roundup spotlights a range of cultural and political items for subscribers. It highlights recent analysis of Viktor Orbán’s defeat in Hungary, a right‑wing resurgence of the Hardy Boys, emerging AI‑driven plagiarism, and the rise of a...
Shopping for a CEO Is .99 for a Limited Time
Julia Kent’s latest romance, *Shopping for a CEO*, joins her NYT‑ and USA Today‑bestselling Shopping series. The novel follows CEO Andrew McCormick and mystery shopper Amanda Warrick as they clash and spark at Boston’s “Wedding of the Year.” Kent is...
How Was the American Mind Poisoned?
The new anthology *The Poisoning of the American Mind* argues that America’s information ecosystem is collapsing under a flood of unreliable content and politically‑driven academic research. Its three authors—sociology, classics and psychology professors— document how universities now sanction scholars...
Is Flash Fiction "Gimmicky?"
The post questions whether flash fiction is merely a gimmick, using the author’s Italian backdrop to frame a broader debate about the form’s artistic merit. It references the ongoing "Extravaganza" writing challenge, urging readers to submit their micro‑stories. The author’s...
Hermann Hesse on How WW1 Destroyed Civic Life
Hermann Hesse, the German‑Swiss Nobel laureate, argued that World War I shattered the civic fabric of Europe, accelerating the decline of traditional culture. In his 1926 essay “The Longing of our Time for a Worldview,” he linked the war’s trauma to...
The Algorithm Doesn't Have to Destroy Us
In an interview with Hamish McKenzie, co‑founder of Substack, the platform’s subscription‑driven model is presented as a remedy to the incentive problems of legacy social media. McKenzie argues that direct audience relationships enable nuanced, trust‑based discourse and reduce the need...