| {"format": "qa", "instruction": "The \"Rules\" of Writing There are a lot of axioms that get tossed around in creative writing courses, books on writing, and of course, the Internet. Often, these little gems are explained to new writers as though they were fact, to be taken for granted. Just as often, experienced writers will respond by saying \"there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to writing\", or \"rules are made to be broken\". So, the purpose of this question is to provide a place where we can list these axioms or \"rules\" of writing, and also weigh in on whether they are really self-evident truths or utter garbage (or maybe even something in-between). Please limit each answer to a single \"rule\" and express your thoughts on it in the answer itself, or in a comment. The list so far (alphabetically): <a href=\" adjectives and adverbs <a href=\" go into great detail describing places or things <a href=\" yourself permission to suck <a href=\" the end before you begin <a href=\" <a href=\" don't tell <a href=\" off the internet while writing <a href=\" correct grammar, punctuation and spelling <a href=\" don't edit <a href=\" is rewriting <a href=\" have to read, and read all the time <a href=\" must learn to walk before you can run", "input": "", "output": "Show, Don't Tell This may very well be the most popular \"rule\" of writing. It refers to the idea that it's better to \"show\" an event as a scene, rather than simply \"telling\" the reader what happened. In my opinion, this is mostly sound advice: Don't tell us the 5000-year history of your fantasy setting in the prologue. Show it to us throughout the story. Don't tell us the protagonist's girlfriend is beautiful. Show us her flowing black hair, her lips perpetually on the verge of smiling, her brown eyes with those eerie golden flecks. Don't tell us the thief was nervous. Show us how he has to close his eyes and breathe, just to stop his hands from shaking. On the other hand, sometimes there is information that the reader needs to know to understand the story, but forcing that information into a scene would divert the plot or bore the reader to tears. Don't show us the Senators explaining to each other how the seat of the US government is Washington D.C. They have no reason to tell each other what they already know. Instead, just tell us. Don't show the young wizard taking a tour of the magical staff factory, when he has no business being there. Just tell us that all magical staves are carved from the wood of the whump-whump tree. More discussion can be found <a href=\"", "metadata": {"source": "stackexchange:writing", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "essays", "language": "en", "difficulty": "easy", "clarity_score": 0.35, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.35}} | |
| {"format": "qa", "instruction": "\"Dear Stack Exchange, I am very disappointed in you\" - How to construct a strong opening line in a letter? In light of recent events, I intended to write a simple letter of complaint to StackExchange. The obvious thing to do would be to write an opening with the fact such as It came to my knowledge that a long-standing member and moderator of the Writing.SE community, among others, has been dismissed in circumstances that are short of the adverb \"summarily\". I wanted such opening to be strong and to resonate with reader. I find that it contains far too many words, and thus not quite reaching the point. In general, I find that opening with a fact is not quite as strong as opening with an emotional argument. For instance: Never I would have believed to consider StackExchange but the mask before the monstrous face of intolerance. The latter may resonate deeper with the reader, but it does not hold its ground in an argument. Moreover, my entire letter may be dismissed as a rant for the simple lack of facts. How to construct a resonating opening line in a letter when stating a fact? What is the structure and language of a strong opening line that cannot be easily dismissed?", "input": "", "output": "\"Dear SE, I don't even know how to express how disappointed I am in you--literally. Because I don't know all the facts. But all the indications I've seen make me fear that the full facts would only make my current disappointment even greater.\" Thereby: Injecting some smartass humour, but also Expressing how huge your current disappointment is, while Acknowledging we don't know all the facts yet, even though What we have heard so far is pretty damning indeed, and furthermore Stressing things look very bad and it would take a very surprising save on their part to fix things Oh, and they should really show up and own up to this epic fail on their part. ASAP. At the very least. And it's absolutely not enough--just a start.", "metadata": {"source": "stackexchange:writing", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "essays", "language": "en", "difficulty": "easy", "clarity_score": 0.514, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.514}} | |
| {"format": "qa", "instruction": "How do you write a Stack Exchange answer? Over my years on StackExchange I've come to view answering SE questions as its own, highly specialized writing subgenre, with its own demands, and its own ideal format. By trial and error, and observation of highly upvoted answers, and of answers that I personally find useful, I've created my own standardized format for answering StackExchange questions --one that I have found productive across all the SE sites I participate upon. In addition to reliably garnering me votes, mastering this technique has also taught me useful things about writing in general, particularly persuasive writing. I will provide my own answer below, but I'm also interested in hearing from other StackExchange members about how they write StackExchange answers, as well as if and how they vary their format for different sites.", "input": "", "output": "Structure your answer properly This is something that is relevant across all sites. You should be used to markdown and know at least the basics: Using headings Paragraphs and soft linebreaks lists numbered and unnumbered Put your most relevant points in the start and make them bold so that people will know at a first glance whether they share your opinion or not. Don't post a wall of text without any highlights and breaks. If you prefer not to use bold text and headings that is okay on most sites as long as you use paragraphs. Know what you are talking about If you don't know what you are talking about people will see through your lies quite fast. There are many experts and using false data or drawing false conclusions will be detected quite fast. This is especially true on very specialised sites, such as for example StackOverflow, but you will also find experts about any topic that you are talking about on sites like WorldBuilding. Get to the point fast Most sites prefer to get to the point as fast as possible and not beat around the bush. There are differences though. For example on WorldBuilding many people love to read stories. If you phrase your answer in a in-universe or in-character style you can basically talk as long as you want. On technical sites like StackOverflow people don't have the time to read through long texts. Writing is probably somewhere in between as people spend a bit more time on reading in general and normally don't have a problem that needs to be fixed now . Adhere to traditional styles On RPG you can find that many people reference guides and rules in a specific style, by mentioning the book name and page number and then using the citation markdown with added emphasis on the names of an ability/ rule/ ... and the important words on which they focus later. Know the most important problems On RPG, especially when talking about D&D, there is always the option to say \"the DM decides\". It's a non-sensical answer if you have spent time on the site as it's always applicable - the gamemaster can always change anything. That is not the kind of answers people are looking for. They want rules. Rulings can be made by anyone. Answers only referencing the option to make a ruling as the DM will get downvoted. But answers who explain why they would rule a certain way can get highly upvoted, as that is important information. Adhere to standards about your tags On WorldBuilding you should keep in mind that the square-cube law is not your friend when designing big creatures. The bigger, the more muscles and more dense bones are required, making the weight a bigger problem, which is why animals are capped at certain points in size. You know this rough rule if you spend some time looking through creature-design questions. It's an easy way to answer, but most of the time people expect more, as it's basically the same as \"The DM can decide\" on RPG. You have to discuss the ramifications of this usual problem. But it's nearly always a part that needs to be discussed, so you should spend some time explaining it. Know the resources SFF has a lot of story-identification questions and they have a long list of questions that you should try to answer as best as you can if you want to ask such a question. That also means that these are important things to keep in mind when answering. Furthermore you have to discuss every matching and mis-matching point in your answer. So knowing the standard things that are discussed makes it easier to compile a standard answer for story-identification questions. Use pictures where appropriate On WorldBuilding people love pictures. Especially sketches. If you have useful pictures you can easily get a highly voted answer. It's not always applicable, but on a theoretical and creative site like WorldBuilding it's far easier to use sketches to your advantage to illustrate your ideas, than on a technical site like StackOverflow where you need actual code or a site like Writing where you need citations…", "metadata": {"source": "stackexchange:writing", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "essays", "language": "en", "difficulty": "medium", "clarity_score": 0.374, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.374}} | |
| {"format": "qa", "instruction": "How can I write about historical realities that readers mistakenly believe are unrealistic? Readers have certain expectations about locations and time periods, things they \"know\". For example, people \"know\" that everybody in the Persian Empire was brown-skinned, that houses in Ancient Rome were one or two floors high, and that up until the late renaissance people did not use forks for eating. All the above \"facts\" are untrue. Trouble is, people think they are true. If I write about white Iranians, five-floor Roman apartment buildings and Byzantines using forks, most readers would accuse me of jarring anachronisms. Then again, if I forget the truth, and write what people expect, the experts would accuse me of not doing my research, and what's more, I would be dishonest and perpetuating misinformation. Is there a way out of this conundrum? Can I somehow write what is real and true without being accused of it being unrealistic to the point of breaking the suspension of disbelief?", "input": "", "output": "One of the joys in fiction is learning new things. For many readers of historical fiction, learning new details -- even contrary to their own expectation -- is a lot of the fun. So you can definitely use these elements, and expect them to count in your favor. To make that work, you need to make it clear that your details are deliberate , not mistakes. Don't let them feel \"Ha, what a moron\"; instead, you need to couch it as \"Hey, let me explain this to you.\" A good way to do that is to supply not only the detail, but also some background: Don't just mention that some of the Persians are white-skinned -- use their own words for those people; say where they're from; note how skin color is or isn't a factor for them. When you bring in higher-reaching architecture, mention who built it, what it's for, who can allow themselves these impressive buildings. Don't just name-drop forks -- mention what table-manners and customs and utensils are in use in that place and time; offer an opinion on what is or isn't polite. If you're making a counter-claim against your reader's expectations, than adding the detail and context I'm describing makes your counter-claim stronger. It works on several levels. Firstly, it signals to the reader: I have given this thought. This is not an absent-minded mistake. You avoid even the quick impression of having made an error. Secondly, it helps tell the reader, \"Listen, here's how this makes sense here; here's where it actually comes from.\" They can read that and go, hey, that actually does make sense. That can help them reorient themselves -- now that they realize this setting looks different than they expected, your description helps them understand better what how does look and operate. And thirdly, it gives your counter-claim more substance that your readers can actually check -- they can look up the names and architecture and customs, even if it's just a quick Google to see if that's really a thing. There are certainly other ways to weave these details in as well -- but this one seems to me the most straightforward, and an excellent place to start from.", "metadata": {"source": "stackexchange:writing", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "essays", "language": "en", "difficulty": "easy", "clarity_score": 0.35, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.35}} | |
| {"format": "qa", "instruction": "What's the modern way to handle gender in tech writing? Back in my day, I was taught to use masculine pronouns. The user chooses a password, and then he types it in the text box. I'm fine with that. but a male coworker insists on using he/she, which I find needlessly distracting and complicated. I hate using they and their. I find that too convoluted, and not nearly clear enough when you want to talk about one person doing one thing. I like \"you\" but you can't always get away with that. Sometimes you're telling someone about what his users can do. Interspersing \"he\" for some things with \"she\" for others is also distracting, but maybe the closest thing to \"fair\" that I can come up with. What is the current thought on this? What's the most acceptable way to go? (Frankly, I wish I could get away with \"it.\" As in \"it puts the lotion on its skin.\" Creepy, right?)", "input": "", "output": "A few additional options: Introduce a named person (perhaps fictional), and use that person's name. \"Terry wants to create an account. She chooses a password and types it into the text box. No, wait, Terry is a man. I think. Damn, that's a lousy example. Pat wants to create an account. Um, I mean Chris. No, wait. Maybe Dale. Er...\" Use the imperative mood, with an implied you (as I'm doing in most of these examples). \"Choose a password and type it into the text box.\" Drop the pronoun whenever you can: \"The user chooses a password and types it into the text box.\" This can make the remaining pronouns less troublesome. In some cases you'll have to recast the sentence to make this work. Use passive voice, and don't refer to the actor at all. Yeah, I know you've been warned against this. But sometimes it can be used with good effect, in a natural-sounding way. (Heh.) [Edited to add:] Here are some additional tips from Val Drummond's <a href=\" of Nonsexist Usage . Chapter 4 is all about pronouns. Make the subject plural. Then use plural pronouns. Replace gender-specific possessive pronouns with \"the.\" Instead of \"When the user types his password...\" try \"When the user types the password.\" Use the word \"one.\" I personally hate this. It usually reads like a desperate attempt to claim objectivity, or add plausible deniability (\"Oh... I meant people in general should pick up their socks, not you specifically, sweetie\"), or some other such nonsense. Not that I have an attitude about this, mind one.", "metadata": {"source": "stackexchange:writing", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "essays", "language": "en", "difficulty": "easy", "clarity_score": 0.35, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.35}} | |
| {"format": "qa", "instruction": "Using real words from a foreign culture feels like 'Calling a rabbit a \"smeerp\"' I'm working on a novel, that's set in pre-Islamic Persia, in the same general way that The Lord of the Rings is set in Britain. (Meaning, it's set in a world all its own, but there's this source of inspiration.) Here's my conundrum: the land is ruled by the Shah - that's a given, that's expected if the setting is Persian rather than European. But what happens under the Shah? Knights, barons, counts and dukes are all titles associated with the European court. They appear to clash with a setting, as if I'm telling a basically European story, only recoloured Middle-eastern. So the knights are asvarans (it's actually amazing how much the position of the asvarans in 5th century Persia is reminiscent of 10th century European knights). And after much research, I've got vaspahrs, sardars and ostandars. At which point, I'm looking at the trope Calling a Rabbit a \"Smeerp\" - I'm just giving different names to something that has a perfectly good English word. Moreover, I have only recently pointed others to this xkcd: ( source ) I do not believe it is relevant that I found the words I'm using in an encyclopedia rather than made them up; to the reader, they are equally unfamiliar. How do I balance realism against readability in this particular case? I do not want to break the readers' suspension of disbelief by using words that are too European, but I don't want to weigh on the reader with heaps of foreign-language vocabulary either. (Note: Bioware's Dragon Age franchise uses 'Teyrn', 'Arl', 'Bahn' instead of 'Duke', 'Earl', 'Baron'. However, in their example the replacement words are not too far from the English words, and thus much easier to remember, avoiding confusion. Also, the names they use are for the most part English enough. Consequently, looking at something like 'Arl Eamon', one doesn't have to wonder which part is title and which part is name. As opposed to 'Vaspahr Narseh', for…", "input": "", "output": "I've found that the main key to unfamiliar words -- and this applies to jargon in technical writing as much as it does to foreign or made-up words in fiction -- is density . The example in the XKCD comic is irritating because it can't get through a single sentence without three new words. The situation is very different if three unfamiliar words are introduced over the span of a chapter. Another key is how naturally you supply the explanation. Instead of \"translating\" or explaining, provide context -- introduce the asvarans in a setting where their martial role is apparent, show your sardars in leadership roles, show your ostandars ruling, etc. This might be direct (you show those characters doing those things) or indirect (people refer to them in connection with illustrative events or attitudes). Imagine if the XKCD example were instead handled like this: The six fra'ars stood solemnly in front of the gate, their gray beards all reaching nearly to their waists. Despite their years they stood strong and alert. $Name, standing in front of the others, held a large sword aloft in one hand, seemingly effortlessly. $POV-character involuntarily took a step back; he knew that the krytosis was normally wielded two-handed because of its weight. He heard the din of the many farmlings running and playing beyond the gate. He envied them; they had no cares, were not affected by the ill tidings in the land, and had no idea of their eventual fate. He wished he could be young and oblivious again. [...] This is more jargon-dense than I would write for \"real\", but I hope it illustrates the point that you can introduce terms without falling into the \"pass the dictionary\" trap.", "metadata": {"source": "stackexchange:writing", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "essays", "language": "en", "difficulty": "easy", "clarity_score": 0.496, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.496}} | |
| {"format": "qa", "instruction": "Do You Use Any Version Controlling Software/Methods As Writers? As writers, do you use any version controlling software to track and monitor what you write? For example, if you accidentally deleted or overwritten a paragraph that you'd like to have it back? Usually what I do is to save multiple copies with incremental numbers, but I find that this isn't a good method because I end up with a folder full of word documents of the same file + changes. It isn't really easy to organise because of it. (Storyname 1, Storyname 2, Storyname 3, ...) This isn't necessary a question about programs, but version controlling software used for writing/writers, methods, tricks, ...", "input": "", "output": "I am a programmer in real life, so using a version control software was a no-brainer for me. I write stuff in plain text, with each chapters in a separate text file. I use <a href=\" on them, with <a href=\" on Windows, and also use a <a href=\" for backing up my repository. This way I have my changes versioned, I can comment the changes I commit, and if my hard drive decides to die, I can be back really quick.", "metadata": {"source": "stackexchange:writing", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "essays", "language": "en", "difficulty": "easy", "clarity_score": 0.35, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.35}} | |
| {"format": "qa", "instruction": "The Good, the Bad, and the Semicolon I completed my novel and an editor friend graciously offered to assist me with formatting. As a former scientist, I am more familiar with technical or academic writing, so formatting fiction can be a challenge. My friend stripped out my semicolons and replaced most with a simple period. I asked why, was I using them inappropriately? I know they are used to separate independent but linking clauses, why make two short complete sentences when one will suffice? She laughed and said they are fine if you are a dead British writer, other than that they are used infrequently at best in modern fiction writing. Academics and technical writers are more prone to their usage by the nature of their writing. This prompted me to do independent research to confirm her advice and I found this gem: You are allowed one semicolon in your entire working life as a novelist. You can use more than that if you insist, but quite honestly you have a disease that should be treated and I refuse to be an enabler for you. Funny, but seriously? So I hunted a bit more then found Grammar Girl also has a great post on the usage of semicolons. She quotes no less of an authority than Kurt Vonnegut: First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college. Huh? Her article continues to explain that Vonnegut was engaged in hyperbole, but it remains vague if he actually shunned the usage of semicolons when he stated this: He ends any lingering doubt when he uses a semicolon later in the essay and then writes, *And there, I’ve just used a semicolon, which at the outset I told you never to use. It is to make a point that I did it. The point is: Rules only take us so far, even good rules. Are semicolons only allowed in technical or academic writing?", "input": "", "output": "Bollocks. (That's a technical term.) The semicolon is the correct punctuation for a particular kind of sentence structure. So on the face of it, if you want to outlaw something, it should be that sentence structure, not the punctuation that is necessary to it. But this is one of those rules like kill all the adverbs. Many writers today do not give sufficient attention to the quality of their prose. They are all about getting their plot down on paper and are negligent of their prose and its effects. One of the most obvious ways this shows up is as the sloppy use of adverbs. But merely cutting out all the adverbs won't make your prose better. And substituting exotic verbs for simple verbs, as some anti-adverb crusaders recommend, won't make it better either. In fact, it will make it more pretentious. If you train yourself to be a good prose stylist, if you pay attention to the quality of your prose as you write, you will use adverbs appropriately where they are needed. Similarly, people who don't pay attention to their prose often end up writing convoluted sentences that are hard to read and then try to fix them with punctuation. If you get down to semicolons in this attempt to punctuate a broken sentence it is a good sign your sentence needs to be rewritten. In fact, I would state it as an axiom that if you have any question about how to punctuate a sentence, you should probably rewrite the sentence, and, quite possibly, the entire paragraph. But really great sentences can sometimes require semicolons and taking out all the semicolons will make the great sentences worse but it won't make the bad sentences better. Any rule that makes an enemy of any part of speech or any punctuation mark is bollocks. Great prose stylists use them all. To determine if an adverb or a semicolon is appropriate in a particular sentence, you have to look at the overall quality of the prose. Adverbs and semicolons may be relatively rare in good prose, but they have their place and are something essential to felicity of expression.", "metadata": {"source": "stackexchange:writing", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "essays", "language": "en", "difficulty": "easy", "clarity_score": 0.35, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.35}} | |
| {"format": "sequential_text", "title": "Enough! An Open Letter from Jewish Creatives and…", "text": "Enough! An Open Letter from Jewish Creatives and Thinkers in Defense of Mark Ruffalo A group of Jewish artists, writers, creative professionals, faith leaders and thinkers—including Emma Seligman, Gabor Maté, Hannah Einbinder, Ilana Glazer, James Schamus, Larry Charles, Joel Coen, Miranda July, Molly Crabapple, Sarah Sherman, Tavi Gevinson, Todd Haynes, and Tony Kushner—have signed an open letter “in response to the outrageous smear campaign against our respected colleague Mark Ruffalo.” Ruffalo, a longtime advocate for Palestinian rights who has been vocal in his condemnation of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the West Bank, was accused by media giant Paramount Skydance of invoking “antisemitic tropes” in his criticism of its $111bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD). In a statement shared on his social media channels last month, the actor had highlighted the links between Paramount Skydance, run by CEO David Ellison, and Oracle, the technology company run by Ellison’s father, Larry. Oracle has supplied software to the Israel Defense Forces for decades and Ellison Sr. is the largest donor in history to the nonprofit Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. As well as condemning the “false and dangerous weaponization of charges of antisemitism against those who are brave enough to point out the obvious,” the open letter goes on to detail the depth of connection between the Ellisons and the Gaza genocide, and highlight a recent Washington Post poll which found that 61% of American Jews now agree that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza. Below is the letter, and list of signatories, in its entirety. * “Enough!” We are Jewish artists, writers, creative professionals, faith leaders and thinkers who have, in response to the outrageous smear campaign against our respected colleague Mark Ruffalo, a simple message to share with the world: Enough! Enough with the false and dangerous weaponization of charges of antisemitism against those who are brave enough to point out the obvious: that the assault on the Palestinian people and the assault on our liberties at home are deeply interconnected, and there is nothing antisemitic about recognizing that fact. The proposed merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery is no mere combination of two huge multinational companies. Yes, it will destroy thousands upon thousands of livelihoods. Yes, it will further consolidate the oligarchic control of our media (witness the gutting of CBS News). Yes, it will strangle competition and creativity in film and television production and distribution. But it will do all this and more as part of a larger project of tech-driven domination, a project Larry Ellison and his partners have never been shy about trumpeting—and one they themselves have explicitly linked to their support for the ongoing depredations being visited on the people of Palestine and their silencing of critics of those horrors. We all saw this after their Trump-brokered takeover of TikTok—a takeover they openly proclaimed was in large part motivated by their desire to boost pro-Israel propaganda. Larry Ellison personally, with his astonishing $350 million in funding and pledges to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, has been Blair’s major backer as Blair assumes an influential role in the Trump-concocted “Board of Peace” takeover of Gaza, a territory which has become an open-air laboratory for AI-driven killing and control technologies like the ones celebrated by former Oracle CEO (and current Oracle and Paramount board member) Safra Catz. The AI road to WarnerMount runs through Gaza, and Ellison has often let us know the Orwellian world he has in store for us as he consolidates control over what we watch and how we watch it, knowing that as we watch he and his corrupt cohort will always be watching us: “Citizens will be on their best behavior because we’re constantly recording and reporting.” Pointing out the crucial connections between what is happening in Gaza and what is happening in Hollywood is the exact opposite of antisemitism. It is, for us, the very essence of Jewish ethical duty. According to a recent Washington Post poll, 61% of American Jews now agree that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza; and four in ten even agree that these crimes amount to genocide. Do those attacking Mark Ruffalo as an antisemite seriously believe that all these American Jews are antisemites too? Or that we don’t see the connection between, on the one hand, the criminal impunities that have led the US and Israel into unending disaster and, on the other, the oligarchic powerplays of the Musks, Ellisons, Thiels and others who are working to dismantle our democracy? But the virulence and falseness of the slanders they direct towards their critics is evidence of the increasing weakness of their position, based as it is on innuendos. Today, more and more people of conscience are joining together, to loudly and univocally proclaim: The time is over for spurious charges of antisemitism to be trotted out in the defense of war, oligarchy, and, now, AI domination. That tired playbook has run its course. We stand proudly with Mark Ruffalo, and with all decent people who are bravely rising and speaking truth to power. Notes: To see Safra Catz at an Israeli-American Council summit discuss Oracle’s “scary” secret weapons in Gaza: “I don’t want to brag, but…” Oracle executives are crystal clear in their Israel stance: “Supporting Israel is in our DNA — even if it costs us clients. That’s our agenda.” Catz has been very insistent that she will not tolerate employees at the companies she helps run who do not share her views: “For employees, it’s clear: if you’re not for America or Israel, don’t work here.” For details on Oracle’s partnerships with the Israeli military and police: Oracle. Here’s Ellison on his goal of “constantly recording and reporting.” On Ellison and Blair’s partnership see Blair and the Billionaire. Watch Blair and Ellison chat about AI global domination: “An amazing opportunity to reimagine the state…” On Blair and his role in Gaza, see Blair Takes on Larger Role. On TikTok and Israel, see Benjamin Netanyahu proclaiming the takeover as “the most important purchase happening” during the war: “Weapons change over time…” On the increasingly dangerous weaponization of antisemitism as a tool to destroy free speech and other rights, and how Jews are fighting back against this weaponization, visit the Diaspora Alliance. For recent polling on American Jews’ increasingly critical views of Israel, see The Washington Post’s “Most Jews say Israel is committing war crimes – and 39 percent say genocide…” Signatories Aaron Costa Ganis, Actor Abbi Jacobson, Actor/Comedian Alan Snitow, Filmmaker Alex Winter, Actor/Filmmaker Alison Klayman, Filmmaker Alison Leiby, Writer/Comedian Alissa Weiss, Rabbi Allie Gross, Writer Amos Goldberg, Holocaust Historian, Hebrew University Amy Ziering, Filmmaker Anat Matar, Snr. Lecturer (Ret.), Tel Aviv University Andrea Weiss, Filmmaker Andrue Kahn, Rabbi Anjuli Kronheim Katz, Advocate Anna Pollack, Director Anthony Arnove, Writer/Producer Ariel Friedlander, Artist Ariel Wengroff, Artist Atalia Omer, Professor, University of Notre Dame Avi Shlaim, Professor (Em.), St Antony’s College Ayelet Waldman, Author Barry Trachtenberg, Professor, Wake Forest University Bella Freud, Designer Ben Korman, Producer Ben Lorber, Researcher Ben Moser, Author Ben Natan, Actor/Producer Brian A. Kates, Editor Bruce Cohen, Producer Camille Lévy Sarfati, Author/Curator Cat Davis, Rabbi Chani Nicholas, Astrologer Charlie Goldensohn, Strategist/Commentator Charlotte Sheedy, Literary Agent Collier Meyerson, Writer Craig Aaron, Journalist Dana Kornberg, Assoc. Professor, UC Santa Barabra Daniel Levy, Political Analyst David Borenstein, Filmmaker David Mivasair, Rabbi David Vine, Author David Wilson, Filmmaker Deborah Eisenberg, Writer Deborah Kaufman. Filmmaker Deborah Shaffer, Filmmaker Debra Winger, Actor Deidre Fishel, Filmmaker Dr. Mark Perlmutter, Physician Einat Weizman, Filmmaker Emily Kunstler, Filmmaker Emma Seligman, Filmmaker Erin Axelman, Filmmaker Estee Chandler, Radio Host/Producer Estelle Tarica, Professor, UC Berkeley Ethan Sacks, Writer Frances Fisher, Actor Gabor Maté, Physician/Author Gili Getz, Photographer Gina Gershon, Actor Ginny Suss, Producer Hana Morgenstern, Assoc. Professor, Newnham College Hannah Einbinder, Actor Henry Bean, Screenwriter Howard Rodman, Screenwriter Hunter Abrams, Photographer Idith Korman, Musician/Composer Ilana Glazer, Actor/Writer/Director Ilise Cohen, Scholar Itamar Ziegler, Composer/Musician James Renton, Professor, Edge Hill University James Schamus, Filmmaker James Wilson, Producer Jamie Zelermeyer, Producer Jane Schoenbrun, Filmmaker Jason Kliot, Filmmaker Jason Rosenberg, Public Health Advocate Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte, Producer Jenna Weiss-Berman, Producer Jennifer L. Pozner, Author Jeremiah Zagar, Director Jeremy Yaches, Producer Jesse Mechanic, Writer Jill Goldman, Artist Jillian Neal, Manager Jo Firestone, Comedian/Actor Joel Beinin, Professor (Em.), Stanford University Joel Coen, Filmmaker Jon Reiss, Filmmaker Jonathan Feingold, Professor, Boston University School of Law Jonathan Lethem, Writer Josette Maskin, Musician Karin Loevy, Professor, NYU School of Law Kate Berlant, Actor Kathy Wazana, Filmmaker Lance Kramer, Producer Larry Charles, Screenwriter/Director Laura Kraftowitz, Writer Leora Barish, Screenwriter Libby Lenkinski, Producer Linda Holtzman, Rabbi Lindsay Beyerstein, Journalist Lior Sternfeld, Assoc. Professor, Penn State University Lisa Cholodenko, Filmmaker Lonnie Kleinman, Rabbi Liz Flahive, Screenwriter Mara Hoffman, Artist Marc Weiss, Filmmaker Marianne Hirsch, Professor, Columbia University Maris Kreizman, Writer Mark LeVine, Professor, UC Irvine Mati Shemoelof, Author/Poet Matt Bernstein, Content Creator Max Zev Reynolds, Rabbi Meryl Crean, Rabbi Michael Greif, Director Michael J. Drexler, Assoc. Professor, Bucknell University Michael Skolnik, Organizer Michael Rothberg, Professor, UCLA Miranda July, Filmmaker/Writer Mneesha Gellman, Professor, Emerson College Molly Crabapple, Author/Artist Mordechai Liebling, Rabbi Morgan Bassichis, Writer/Performer Morgan Spector, Actor Naomi Klein, Author/Professor Nathan Thrall, Author Nicole Morse, Educator Nina Menkes, Filmmaker Noa Avishag Schnall, Journalist Orian Zakai, Assoc. Professor, George Washington University Orli Matlow, Comedian Peter Beinart, Journalist Phyllis Bennis, Writer Rachel Leah Jones, Filmmaker Raphael Greenberg, Professor (Em.), Tel Aviv University Raz Segal, Assoc. Professor, Stockton University Rebecca Vilkomerson, Author/Analyst Rick Pearlstein, Author Rinat Abastado, Rabbinic Student Roee Rosen, Artist Romy Soleimani, Make-up Artist Rosanna Arquette, Actor/Director Sai Koros, Student Rabbi Sandi DuBowski, Filmmaker Sarah Kunstler, Filmmaker Sarah Schulman, Writer Sarah Sherman, Comedian/Actor Sarah Sophie Flicker, Artist Shira Klein, Assoc. Professor, Chapman University Sigal Primor, Artist Simone Zimmerman, Podcast Host Spencer Ackerman, Author Steve Quester, Anti-Racism Coach Steven Katz, Screenwriter Susan Margolin, Filmmaker Susan S. Lanser, Professor (Em.), Brandeis University Tamir Sorek, Professor, Penn State University Tavi Gevinson, Actor/Writer Ted Hope, Filmmaker Terri Ginsberg, Asst. Teaching Professor, Rutgers University Tia Lessen, Filmmaker Todd Haynes, Filmmaker Tony Gerber, Filmmaker Tony Kushner, Screenwriter/Playwright Udi Aloni, Filmmaker Udi Raz, Writer V (formerly Eve Ensler), Playwright/Author Vanessa Hope, Filmmaker Vanessa Nunes, Physician Wallace Shawn, Actor/Playwright Wendy Ettinger, Filmmaker Yael Bridge, Filmmaker Yael Ronen, Director Yoni Golijov, Filmmaker Zach Woods, Filmmaker Zachary Foster, Historian Zachary Lochman, Professor, NYU Dan Sheehan Dan Sheehan is the author of the novel Restless Souls (Ig Publishing) and Editor-in-Chief of Book Marks.", "metadata": {"source": "https://lithub.com/feed/", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "book_criticism", "language": "en", "difficulty": "medium", "clarity_score": 0.362, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.362}} | |
| {"format": "sequential_text", "title": "Lit Hub Daily: September 1, 2026", "text": "Lit Hub Daily: September 1, 2026 THE BEST OF THE LITERARY INTERNET - “Cormac asks what we think of the home so far, already knowing our answers.” Photographer Beowulf Sheehan remembers capturing Cormac McCarthy through a lens. | Lit Hub Photography - What should your kids read in September? Caroline Carlson recommends 10 new children’s books out this month. | Lit Hub Reading Lists - August’s best book covers really brought the color. | Lit Hub Design - Works by Marlon James, Chloe Benjamin, Emily Wilson, and even more are among the 21 new books out today. | Lit Hub Reading Lists - September’s most notable poetry releases include collections by Kathy Fagan, Leslie McIntosh, Emily Skaja, and more. | Lit Hub Criticism - Antiuniverses, deepfakes, clone children, and other phenomena await in this month’s best new sci-fi and fantasy titles. | Lit Hub Reading Lists - “When she got home, Damaris was as happy to see the dog as the dog was to see her, and she petted her for a long time, only stopping when she looked down at her hands and saw they were covered in filth.” Read from Pilar Quintana’s novel The Bitch, translated by Lisa Dillman. | Lit Hub Fiction - In a time of crisis for American universities, Hannah Gais examines the rise and fall of Hampshire College. | The Baffler - “At the height of the surge, Minneapolis resembled a place hit by a hurricane: donated groceries piled in driveways and church parking lots, waiting to be distributed to people afraid to leave their houses; citizens wearing safety vests and whistles standing in groups outside local businesses and schools.” Emily Witt reports on Operation Metro Surge. | The New Yorker - Matthew Wills explores the legacy of the “secular, socialist, and ‘uncompromisingly anti-Zionist’” Jewish Labor Bund. | JSTOR Daily - Why collective action, not personal, is the best way to combat climate change. | The MIT Press Reader - How Nancy Fraser’s work demonstrates why feminist, environmental, and anti-racist movements are all tied to anti-capitalist politics. | Jacobin Article continues after advertisement", "metadata": {"source": "https://lithub.com/feed/", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "book_criticism", "language": "en", "difficulty": "easy", "clarity_score": 0.35, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.35}} | |
| {"format": "sequential_text", "title": "Capturing a Literary Icon: Beowulf Sheehan on Photographing…", "text": "Capturing a Literary Icon: Beowulf Sheehan on Photographing Cormac McCarthy “Cormac asks what we think of the home so far, already knowing our answers.” Tuesday, August 12. My photo assistant Chika and I arrive at the Santa Fe Institute, Cormac’s home away from home, and load equipment into the library. Cormac is early, chatting up the kitchen staff. We introduce ourselves. Cormac is perhaps 5’6” tall, and I’m 6’2”, but his beaming “pleased to meet you” makes the greater impression on everyone in the room as he shakes our hands. Before we proceed to the library, I note the daylight coming through a side window. Cormac understands and obliges. He is as kind and accommodating in person as I hoped he’d be when we first spoke three Tuesdays before. The sun is hard and coarse. In an adjoining courtyard, I mention the mystery and drama I see in the play of light and shadow there, and I ask Cormac if he’s open to being part of it. Yes. And how. My banter with Cormac focuses on the institute, what compels him to be here. “My friends are here. We love the same things. We argue.” What draws him to science? “It’s fun.” What drew him to Santa Fe? “It’s home.” We walk to and work in different corners of the library. Beyond the library is a balcony, and beyond it a nearly open sky. I invite Cormac to step to the balcony’s edge and take in “home.” At our last institute location, a long exterior wall of adobe apart from its entrance, Cormac finally offers more: “Do you know the story of my typewriter?” No, I reply, just in case the story he’s about to tell is different from the one I know. He tells Chika and me that he donated his Olivetti Lettera 32 typewriter to an auction to benefit the Santa Fe Institute. It fetched $250,000. A friend then went on eBay and bought a new one for him for a few dollars. A proud smile rests on Cormac’s face. It might not have come if I’d said yes. “Do you want to come to my house and make more pictures?” I can’t wait. We pack while Cormac retreats to his friends. * Cormac’s truck is weathered, rusted, dinged, easy to find in a crowd. We follow him through the traffic lights and intersections, out to where streetlights turn into street signs and abutted buildings turn into yarded homes. Farther still, as the road straightens and lengthens, the view is of open space. Then, on the right, a two-story, perhaps 4,000-square-foot adobe house rises into view. Numerous vehicles sit sprawled under tarps across his dusty driveway and land. Following Cormac’s lead outside, I ask him about the cars he’s collected. Pointing to one, he says, “That’s a Corvette Stingray. I drove it back after I partied with Johnny Carson in Fort Lauderdale,” laughing to himself. My hometown. Inside, in the middle of his grand living room, stands a pristine billiards table. Of course, I think. That he financed his way through his early life by playing pool is lore. I don’t ask about the table, and he doesn’t offer comment. Instead, he invites Chika and me upstairs. The wash of Cormac’s stairwell walls is as beautiful as an Irving Penn backdrop cloth. I photograph him along it, the sun pouring through his skylight, defining the space about him, redefining the shape of his face. Atop the stairs, Cormac asks what we think of the home so far, already knowing our answers. I ask him to stand strong and tall like the columns before him. After a few frames, he invites us to his bedroom, but first he wants to show us his son’s room. From The Father of the Man: The Last Author Portrait Sitting with Cormac McCarthy by Beowulf Sheehan. Beowulf Sheehan Beowulf Sheehan is a photographer of portraiture and performance in the arts and humanities. His work has been published in the likes of The New Yorker, Time, Vanity Fair, and Vogue and been shown at the Dostoevsky Museum, International Center of Photography, and elsewhere. He lives in New York City.", "metadata": {"source": "https://lithub.com/feed/", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "book_criticism", "language": "en", "difficulty": "medium", "clarity_score": 0.35, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.35}} | |
| {"format": "sequential_text", "title": "The 11 Best Book Covers of August", "text": "The 11 Best Book Covers of August Color color color Another month of books, another month of book covers. The books of August were as lush as you might expect, though not always in the usual ways. Here are a few of my favorites from the end of summer. What’d I miss? Deranged, in the best way. I love the uneven overlap in both text and image. A book cover you can feel. So simple—but it’s all in the color story. I love the sly distance between the racket and its shadow. Another great color story (and appropriately giving Big Book Energy). There’s something deeply appealing—and charmingly ’80s—about the textures here. A knockout. The illustration is arresting, but for me the genius is really in the sharp droop of “unprecedented.” Says it all, really. A gorgeous collage that’s more complex than it first looks. Tricky, tricky. Also, that bird wants to tell me something, I can feel it. Another bold, gorgeous illustration. Emily Temple Emily Temple is the managing editor at Lit Hub. Her first novel, The Lightness, was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in June 2020. You can buy it here.", "metadata": {"source": "https://lithub.com/feed/", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "book_criticism", "language": "en", "difficulty": "easy", "clarity_score": 0.35, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.35}} | |
| {"format": "sequential_text", "title": "10 Great New Children’s Books Out in September…", "text": "10 Great New Children’s Books Out in September 2026 Caroline Carlson Shares What Your Kids Should Read This Month The start of every school year feels full—too full—of haircuts and back-to-school nights, last-minute trips to the store for sneakers that aren’t a size too small, and last-gasp-of-summer ice cream cones. My kids are meeting new teachers, trying new activities, reuniting with friends, and, at this point, pretty desperate to get their hands on their school-issued electronic devices. As for me, I’m trying my best to keep us all reading even when life gets busy. Sometimes this looks like ignoring the clock when the kids are up too late with a book; sometimes it looks like summoning the energy to turn off screens after school and march everyone to the library. Once we’re there, I always feel like we’ve suddenly got enough time to stay for a while. And there are so many good books to read right now! It’s well worth making time for these ten new releases from long-time children’s book legends and newer favorite creators. * Christopher Myers, Night Ride Kokila, September 29 recommended for ages 4-8 The artistic scope of Christopher Myers’ new picture book is literally enormous. To create the stained-glass illustrations for each spread, Myers illuminated, and photographed stained-glass windows of his own design, each six feet wide by four feet tall. Like the windows in a cathedral, Myers’ pieces depict a sacred subject: children riding their bicycles on a nighttime pilgrimage through iconic spaces in New York City, from Harlem to the Brooklyn Bridge and home again by daybreak. Night Ride is wordless, allowing readers to imagine an accompanying narrative or to appreciate the artwork on its own. For a mixed-media visual feast, pair Night Ride with Jillian Tamaki’s new picture book, Young Cat, Old Cat, which is illustrated in embroidery and appliqué. Kate Beaton, Rebecca illustrated by Sydney Smith Roaring Brook Press, September 22 recommended for ages 4-8 This thoughtful picture book is the work of two acclaimed Canadian creators, cartoonist Kate Beaton and illustrator Sydney Smith. With a sensibility that reminds me of Barbara Cooney’s art and text, Rebecca tells a story inspired by the lives of Beaton’s ancestors. Rebecca lives with her husband and children on a small island where everyone in the family has to work hard to survive in the harsh, remote climate. When an accident on the ice claims Father’s life, Rebecca finds herself walking side by side with Sorrow—but there is still wood to chop, still a family to care for, still work to be done. Even in the presence of Sorrow, Rebecca finds contentment and joy in her loved ones and her work until the far-off day when Sorrow comes to sit by her side one last time. Jack Wong, Goodbye, Koi Orchard Books, September 15 recommended for ages 4-8 In author-illustrator Jack Wong’s new picture book, a young boy and his dad take their koi to a new home. The boy wonders how his beloved fish will adapt to living in a big pond with new kinds of food to eat, other fish to meet, and unpredictable weather. Meanwhile, the illustrations tell readers a parallel story: the boy and his dad are also preparing to move to a new home, and their hopes for their beloved koi echo their own hopes for the next chapter of their lives. The book ends with an afterword in which Wong remembers his own childhood move from Hong Kong to Canada. Goodbye, Koi is a wise, comforting read for kids who are anticipating a new beginning of any kind. Mo Willems, What Will We Find in This Box? (Snake & Bat #1) Union Square Kids, September 1 recommended for ages 4-8 You don’t need me to tell you about the genius of Mo Willems’ Elephant & Piggie books (although I could talk your ear off about how much fun they are to perform aloud with a new reader). What you might not know is that a spinoff series, Snake & Bat, launches this month, and it’s just as much fun as the original. Like Elephant Gerald and Piggie, Brian Bat and Snake are sweet and funny best friends with complementary personalities. In this first outing, Bat and Snake open a cardboard box! Bat is entranced by the instruction manual written in many languages, while Snake finds endless imaginative uses for the box itself. But what else does the box hold—and who is its actual owner? My kids are no longer new readers, but they both came running to read this book aloud with me, and all of us thoroughly enjoyed it. Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko, I Am a Good Dog (Dogtown #3) illustrated by Wallace West Feiwel & Friends, September 22 recommended for ages 8-12 Elementary-aged readers who love real dogs, robot dogs, or even kittens will want to visit Dogtown, the fictional shelter for stray and surrendered pups invented by award-winning authors Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko. Their Dogtown series of middle grade novels is perfect for kids who appreciate short chapters and fun illustrations. I Am a Good Dog, the third Dogtown book, is narrated by Metal Head, a robot dog whose greatest wish is to find a home and be loved. As he assists the other animals and humans at the shelter on their own quests for love and happiness, Metal Head begins to discover his own doggy purpose as a helper and friend. Adi Rule, Ghost Chickens: Omelet from the Other Side illustrated by Joelle Dreidemy Tundra Books, September 1 recommended for ages 8-12 If your young Dory Fantasmagory fan is ready to build their reading confidence with funny illustrated books that are a little more text-heavy, get them hooked on Ghost Chickens, the new early middle grade series from Adi Rule and Joelle Dreidemy. In Omelet from the Other Side, ten-year-old Florence Fortescue’s life is disastrously upended when her parents move the family from an exciting city apartment to a boring farmhouse in the country. Or maybe it’s not so boring? When Florence cooks and eats the weird glowing egg she finds in the house’s abandoned chicken coop, she develops the ability to see the ghostly chickens who haunt her new home. Short chapters, lots of artwork, and plenty of laughs will keep kids happily turning pages. Lois Lowry, Building 903 Clarion, September 29 recommended for ages 8-12 A new book from beloved children’s author Lois Lowry is always something to celebrate. Like her award-winning 1993 novel The Giver, Lowry’s Building 903 explores how children in a dystopian future uncover uncomfortable truths about their society and dare to imagine a different way of living. In 14-year-old Tessa’s world, neighborhood playgrounds are ancient curiosities, books are illegal, and most daily activities are carried out on screens and observed through government cameras. Worst of all, Tessa’s brother, Theo, has recently gone missing. When Tessa finds a stash of outlawed books in the home that an elderly neighbor has been forced to leave, she realizes that the books may hold clues about Theo’s whereabouts. James Ponti, Art Attack (The Sherlock Society #3) Aladdin, September 8 recommended for ages 8-12 My daughter spent her summer vacation flying through James Ponti’s thrilling City Spies books, and I’m excited to introduce her to Ponti’s other ongoing middle grade series, The Sherlock Society, about four kids who start a detective agency and tackle high-stakes mysteries around their South Florida home. The third installment, Art Attack, publishes this month, taking siblings Alex and Zoe Sherlock and their friends Lina and Yadi into the world of graffiti art during Miami Art Week. A developer hires the Sherlock Society to locate a famous, elusive street artist and activist named Funky Munky, but the young detectives soon discover how tough it can be to track down someone who doesn’t want to be found. Shaun Tan, Hometown Levine Querido, September 15 recommended for ages 10-14 Award-winning author-illustrator Shaun Tan balances art and text to create humor, surprise, and otherworldly wonder in Hometown, a picture book that readers of all ages will find satisfying. The narrator, a girl who appears to be human, introduces readers to her family and neighbors, all of whom are perfectly lovely—and distinctly extraterrestrial. When a human boy arrives on their planet and is unsettled by its creatures and customs, he urges the girl to join him back on Earth, where he feels sure she must belong. I can’t wait to discuss the thought-provoking resolution with my own kids. M.T. Anderson, Stealing Saint Nick: A Legendary Corpse, a Notorious Theft, and the Stories that Shape the World Dutton, September 22 recommended for ages 14 and up In this new nonfiction release, National Book Award winner M.T. Anderson encourages readers to get curious about history by inviting them along on an investigation of Nicholas of Myra, the historical figure who became known first as Saint Nicholas and later as the legendary Santa Claus. Yes, this is technically a book about Santa, but it isn’t really a Christmas book: Saint Nick himself is ultimately a jumping-off point for a broader examination of history, religion, empire-building, and myth-making. As Anderson shares tales from Nicholas’s life and recounts the 11th-century heist to steal the saint’s bones, he challenges readers to think critically about how humans piece together historical facts and fictions to construct the narratives that shape our understanding of the world. Caroline Carlson Caroline Carlson is the author of funny and fantastical books for young readers. Her novels have won accolades from the New York Times, the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, and Junior Library Guild. Caroline holds an MFA in Writing for Children and lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with her family. Find her online at carolinecarlsonbooks.com.", "metadata": {"source": "https://lithub.com/feed/", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "book_criticism", "language": "en", "difficulty": "medium", "clarity_score": 0.35, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.35}} | |
| {"format": "sequential_text", "title": "Antiuniverses, Deepfakes, and Clone Children: September’s Best Sci-Fi…", "text": "Antiuniverses, Deepfakes, and Clone Children: September’s Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books New Reads from Scott Hawkins, Micaiah Johnson, Premee Mohamed, and More September is my birthday month, so this latest crop of sci-fi, fantasy, and speculative books feel especially like presents for me, but also for you! Fantasy heists, magical spy thrillers, dystopian abortionists, parallel-universe marriage stories, deepfake Dorian Grays, houses dying to be haunted—what more could you want? Let’s not forget the extra goodies from our 2026 SFF preview, Freya Marske’s Bodies of Magic and Emily St. John Mandel’s Exit Party! * Scott Hawkins, Blacktail (Crown, September 1) The first book in over a decade from the author of beloved modern horror cult classic The Library at Mount Char is a cause for celebration, and it also sounds weird as all get-out. The animals of the forest follow an ancient, intensely territorial hierarchy of hunters and prey: wolves versus hunting cats, half-breeds alternately accepted or spurned by their respective herds or packs. But then the humans hunt them while destroying the forest, and all those generations-long grudges go out the window as the half-wolf Blacktail rises up as the Forest God’s dark champion. On a killing spree that starts with revenge on humans but eventually approaches the apocalyptic, Blacktail encounters all manner of animal allies who want to see him bring about the end of the two-leggers’ world. Chloe Benjamin, Under Story (Putnam, September 1) Laurel Salter, a thirtysomething scientist studying mycelium, flees her work and her broken marriage for the remote anonymity of Antarctica’s McMurdo Station. But outside the station is the Arc, an otherworldly light that draws droves of physicists—like her ex-husband, Eli—to study its effects. What he discovers confirms his theory of the antiuniverse, a parallel world where time moves backwards. But it’s Laurel who is most drawn to the antiuniverse, and the potential of healing the tragic loss that ruptured their partnership. This sounds like a speculative riff on The Last Five Years; I’m already anticipating the ugly-crying catharsis. Mary G. Thompson, Precious Children (Tachyon Publications, September 1) This dark speculative novel could be a Black Mirror episode with its unflinching look at parents who would “do anything” to get their child back, but equally dire depiction of the privilege and entitlement that festers in such a scenario. In a future where children’s lifespans are grimly shortened, fertility clinic Generations, Inc. has a solution: wealthy families can clone their kids and circumvent death by uploading their child’s consciousness into a new host. No matter that those doubles have their own consciousnesses, not to mention foster families who have lovingly raised them. When the Blakes want the third iteration of their teenage son Geoff, young Nathan Donovan must surrender his mind for another’s—but the transfer fails, leaving both consciousnesses fighting for their survival. Meanwhile, Geoff’s sister Di comes to suspect that Geoff 2.0 was a con artist. It’s shades of old stories about missing children found who are impostors, crossed with the modern ethics of embryo donation and other fertility gray areas. Premee Mohamed, Wickhills (Tor Books, September 8) A fantastical spy thriller set on the streets and underground passages of a magical city? Hell yes. The city of Wickhills is protected by Seaborne, an intelligence agency that hires street-smart types like Vycol Ferec on top-secret missions. But when his latest asset pickup is a scientist defecting from another city—a scientist who might be hiding an apocalyptic weapon—it burns him from Seaborne. On the run within the city that he ostensibly knows better than anyone, but that he also realizes he knows nothing about, Ferec must rearrange his entire worldview about what is right and who the “good guys” are. This also sounds like one of those novels where the setting will stick with you for a long time, from the organic quirks of Wickhill’s literal foundations to some of its centuries-old inhabitants who may hold the secrets to the city-state’s true nature. Helene Wecker, The Gates of Midnight (Harper, September 15) Helene Wecker’s historical fantasy trilogy (that began with The Golem and the Jinni) concludes in 1930 New York City: three decades since Ahmad the jinni buried the flask containing the captured wizard Yehudah Schaalman in the Syrian desert. But when Schaalman tricks a stranger into digging up the flask, he returns to the Big Apple, intent on revenge against the golem Chava, who just wants to tend to her Brooklyn garden sanctuary in peace. Also converging upon the city are Ahmed, who has lost his job in the 1929 stock market crash, and a riveter on the under-construction Empire State Building with secret connections to all of them. S.V. Lockwood, A Complement of Scoundrels (Bindery Books, September 22) I adore a heist, and I’m so excited to see more female-centric fantasy heists this year, between C.L. Polk’s The Feywild Job and now S.V. Lockwood’s debut. Double-crossed thief Myria sounds like a real Debbie Ocean (complimentary), in that she’s had enough time stewing in Carintheum’s jail to plot revenge on her master who put her there after cracking the Elysius Vault. Reuniting the old crew? On it. Trick the king of tricksters to get his help? She’s working that problem. Decide whether to trust a new ally when feelings are involved? This sounds like it’s going to get messy, in the best way. Alma Katsu, Incarnate (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, September 22) A modern take on The Picture of Dorian Gray by way of social media algorithms, Alma Katsu’s latest feels very in conversation with Yesteryear: Failed influencer Dorothy Wagner decides to reinvent herself as the Dr. Frankenstein for Isabella, a stunningly realistic deepfake who quickly amasses millions of followers. But what will it mean if so many people are willing to believe that Isabella is real—will it imbue the creation with enough conviction to become dangerous to her creator? Like Frankenstein, will Isabella make the case for her own existence separate from her origins? Inez Ray, Buzzard (Bindery Books, September 22) In 2086, corporations monitor fertility and have outlawed abortion. Midwife Mae Bastet, serving a sentence for infanticide, has spent seven years away from her children in Buzzard, the private prison run by paramilitary corporation Obsityan. Her job is ostensibly to monitor the health of teenage drone pilots, but when one of those teens becomes pregnant, it presents Mae with an awfully personal dilemma: do her duty as a midwife and risk never seeing her children again, or remain complicit with Obsityan’s crimes? Micaiah Johnson, The Unhaunting (Putnam, September 29) From the author of The Space Between Worlds comes a horror debut that opens with a compelling premise for our times: Three lifelong best friends attempt to build a home together when one of them inherits a Civil War-era manor. Shantell is understandably skeptical of the supposedly dreamy Abernathy House that has been bequeathed to her friend Avery and his contractor brother Tobias, but those anxieties melt away when they step inside. Like, something otherworldly literally melts away the anxiety. Now, is the fact that the house itself is eerily turning them into better versions of themselves worth worrying about? Probably. Ditto the presence of ghosts from Abernathy’s construction 170 years ago, when a daughter of the Confederacy wished for a home where nothing bad would happen. Something tells me the house is tired of all that calm and wants to become something else… Natalie Zutter Natalie Zutter is a New York-based writer and pop culture critic whose work has appeared on Reactor, Lit Hub, NPR Books, and elsewhere. Her SFF short fiction has been published at PodCastle, Adventitious, and The Icarus Writing Collective. Find her on Bluesky @zutsuit.", "metadata": {"source": "https://lithub.com/feed/", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "book_criticism", "language": "en", "difficulty": "medium", "clarity_score": 0.35, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.35}} | |
| {"format": "sequential_text", "title": "Isaac Chotiner on Deep Knowledge and Gotcha Interviews", "text": "Isaac Chotiner on Deep Knowledge and Gotcha Interviews In Conversation with Merve Emre on The Critic and Her Publics Welcome to season four of The Critic and Her Publics: The Art of the Interview. This season, host Merve Emre talks with professional interviewers of all kinds about how they get the answer they’re looking for, what makes a good question, how do you listen for what’s unsaid, and how hard do you have to push someone before they say something new? Subscribe to The Critic and Her Publics, available wherever you get your podcasts! From the episode: “I don’t understand why people talk to Isaac Chotiner when his reputation precedes him. He’s the best interview-assassin at work today, maybe the best ever. I suspect that each guest thinks they’ll be the one to finally best Isaac—and Isaac makes good work of that hubris. He calmly and respectfully dismantles arguments that people make about everything from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle east to gerrymandering, genocide denial, and deportation. But he also has an obvious appreciation for deep knowledge, and for each ‘gotcha’ interview he conducts, there’s an expert interview, one where he lets someone who knows their trade inside and out explain it to his large and growing leadership.” For a full transcript, head over to the New York Review of Books. The Critic and Her Publics Hosted by Merve Emre • Edited by Michele Moses • Music by Dani Lencioni • Art by Leanne Shapton • Sponsored by Alfred A. Knopf The Critic and Her Publics is a co-production between the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University, New York Review of Books, and Lit Hub. The Critic and Her Publics The best and most prominent critics working today perform criticism on the spot, on an object they’ve never seen before. It’s a glimpse into brilliant minds at work as they perform how to think about art and culture. From the New York Review of Books and Literary Hub, The Critic and Her Publics is a limited series hosted by Merve Emre.", "metadata": {"source": "https://lithub.com/feed/", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "book_criticism", "language": "en", "difficulty": "easy", "clarity_score": 0.35, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.35}} | |
| {"format": "sequential_text", "title": "The Bitch", "text": "When she got home, Damaris was as happy to see the dog as the dog was to see her, and she petted her for a long time, only stopping when she looked down at her hands and saw they were covered in filth. She decided to give her a bath. The sun was still beating down and Damaris needed to rinse off the heat and sweat of her walk. She bathed the pup in the washtub using the blue laundry soap and brush, much to the displeasure of the little dog, who hated water and lowered her head and hid her tail. Afterward, as the dog was drying in the last rays of sun, Damaris washed some underwear she’d left to soak and then bathed herself as well. Since the shack had no shower, they always bathed in the washtub without taking off their clothes, using a totuma gourd to pour water over their bodies. The late afternoon was spectacular. The sky looked like it was on fire and the sea turned purple. Night was falling by the time she hung the underwear on a small drying rack she kept in the gazebo and placed the dog, still affronted by the bath, in her bed—a small mat folded in two that Damaris had covered with old towels. It still hadn’t rained that night, but they had to close the door and every window in the shack because the clavitos—tiny mosquitos that bit like pinpricks—were in a frenzy. Rogelio went out for the banged‑up old pot they kept under the house, filled it with coconut jute, and set it alight. When the jute started to burn, the clavitos disappeared for a little while, but no sooner had the smoke cleared than the bugs came back in strength, and they had to flick rags to fend them off. They couldn’t watch the novela in peace. It was so hot that Rogelio had sweat stains under his arms, and a stream of water ran down Damaris’s sideburns. “Isn’t it ever going to rain?” she complained, waving her rag. Rogelio said nothing in reply and went off to his bed. She stayed up watching TV, knowing that between the heat and the clavitos torturing her she’d never be able to fall asleep. After midnight, when the infomercials came on, a single flash of lightning suddenly exploded, so close that for a second everything lit up. Damaris jumped in fright, the lights went out, and a torrential downpour began, with lightning, thunder, and so much rain it was as if buckets of water were being dumped onto the roof. But the air cooled, the clavitos disappeared, and Damaris, knowing the dog was safe in the gazebo, went to bed. The following morning it was still raining hard, and since she’d been awake all night, Damaris got up late. The ground was cold and wet, and the pot where they’d burned the coconut jute the night before was now in the middle of the living room catching water from a leak. The power hadn’t come back on and Rogelio was sitting in one of the plastic chairs in front of the darkened TV, drinking coffee he must have made in the gazebo. “Dog of yours made a mess last night,” he said. Damaris grew alarmed, not at whatever it was the dog might have done but at the punishment Rogelio must have given her in Damaris’s absence. “What did you do to her?” “Me? I didn’t do shit. But she ripped your bras to shreds.” Damaris rushed out to the gazebo. She couldn’t see the sea, the islands, or even the town—nothing but the rain, white as a gauze curtain in the distance, coursing like a river down the roofs, walkways, and steps throughout the property. Damaris was drenched when she got to the gazebo. Her panties and Rogelio’s undershorts, which she’d hung on the clothes rack the night before, were still in place. Only her bras, three of them, lay on the floor, shredded. The dog wagged her tail timidly, guiltily, but looked fine. Damaris examined her head to tail, and such was her relief at finding the dog safe and sound that rather than a scolding she gave her a hug and told her it was okay, that she got the message and would never give her another bath, not ever again. * Damaris continued to pamper the dog until she ran off and got lost in the jungle. It happened one night when Damaris was on her own. Rogelio had gone out fishing on a wind‑and‑tide. Danger, Olivo, and Mosco had just eaten by the gazebo and Damaris was rubbing her pup’s head goodnight, about to go into the shack. Suddenly Danger started barking in the direction of the jungle. The other two dogs went on alert and then hers emerged from the gazebo and trotted the few meters to Danger’s side. There were no houses or people in the direction they were barking, so Damaris assumed it was an animal—an opossum, a hedgehog, or a peccary that was lost or sick. Since there was no moon it was extremely dark, the only light coming from the bare bulb in the gazebo. She couldn’t see or hear anything in the distance, but the dogs were getting more and more worked up, hackles raised and barking furiously. Damaris started calling the pup, trying to calm her down and get her to come back. “Chirli!” she yelled, for once not ashamed to say out loud the name her cousin had mocked. “Chiiiiirliiiii!” But suddenly Danger bolted and they all followed, even her dog, who took off into the jungle with them. Damaris could hear them barking and moving around in the underbrush. Given that she was barefoot and it could be a snake—most likely a lancehead; nocturnal, vicious, and poisonous—all she could do was keep calling from the gazebo. She tried different voices—furious, neutral, sweet, imploring—with no luck, and then everything went quiet and she could no longer hear any barking, or anything at all. Before her lay nothing but jungle, still as a beast that’s just swallowed its prey. Damaris went into the shack, put on her swamp boots, grabbed the machete and flashlight, and headed for the jungle the same way the dogs had gone. At no point did she fear the things in the jungle that she was afraid of: the dark, the lanceheads, the wild animals, the dead—Nicolasito and Josué and Señor Gene—the ghosts people talked about when she was a girl. Damaris was not surprised by her bravery. She had only one thought: the pup was in danger and she had to save her. She was walking through the undergrowth without going too far in, so as not to get lost in the dark, shining the light in every direction, making noise and calling to her pup, and to Danger, Olivo, and Mosco. When none of them came back and nothing happened, she decided to venture further in. She went to the gully separating the Reyeses’ property from the neighbors’, to the fence by the main road, out onto the bluff, and as far as the milpesos palms, where the only trail out that way came to an end. Damaris could only see whatever she aimed the flashlight at—parts of things: a huge leaf, a tree trunk carpeted in moss, the wing of an enormous moth covered in eyes which, surprised by the light, took flight and fluttered in panic around her head. Her boots got caught in the roots and sank into the mud, she stumbled and slipped, and, to keep her footing, put her hands against surfaces that were hard, or wet, or coarse. Things brushed against her, things that were rough, hairy, prickly, and she startled, thinking that they were a spider, a tree snake, a bloodsucking bat; but nothing bit her except for the mosquitos, and she didn’t care and kept searching in the dark. The air was so muggy that it stuck to her skin like slime, and it was as if the cacophony of frogs and crickets—as unbearable as the music at the disco in the next town—came not from the jungle but from inside her head. Then the flashlight started to dim, and she had no choice but to return to the shack, weeping and defeated, before it went all the way out. Damaris fell asleep instantly, but her dreams left her feeling she’d had no rest. She dreamed of noises and shadows, that she was awake in her bed, that she couldn’t move, that something was attacking her—it was the jungle that had stolen into the shack and was coiling around her, covering her in slime and filling her ears with the unbearable sound of all its creatures until she herself turned into jungle, into tree trunk, into moss, into mud, all at the same time, and then she found her pup, who licked her face in greeting. When Damaris awoke she was still alone. Outside a fierce storm lashed down, wind whipped against the wood planks, thunder shook the ground, water streamed through cracks and floated into the shack. She thought of Rogelio, out on his miserable boat in the fury of this awful storm with nothing but a life vest, a rain slicker, and some plastic sheeting for protection, but she worried more about her pup, out in the jungle, soaking wet, frozen stiff, scared to death without Damaris there to save her, and she wept again. From The Bitch by Pilar Quintana, translated by Lisa Dillman.", "metadata": {"source": "https://lithub.com/feed/", "category": "creative_writing", "subcategory": "book_criticism", "language": "en", "difficulty": "medium", "clarity_score": 0.363, "logical_leap_found": null, "steps_support_conclusion": null, "counterargument_found": null, "judge_source": "heuristic_fallback", "code_checked": false, "code_ok": null, "math_checked": false, "math_ok": null, "verified": true, "confidence_weight": 0.363}} | |