Moviemaking Magic And Madness

Bill Johnson, director and screenwriter, makes a movie out of a memoir by Joe Shaw, a lecturer at an arts college. One thing leads to another and Shaw is invited to the set of Johnson's next film to witness the production and write a book about it: the book that will be known in this universe as The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, and instead of Shaw it is authored by Tom Hanks.

I could imagine the author, nonplussed, replying to comments about the title: "Well, what else could I have called it?"

To prevent this novel from descending into a monotonous blow-by-blow about the making of a film, Hanks introduces other stories into the mix. Among these is that of Robby Andersen, a cartoonist known for his talent since young; Robby's uncle, Bob Falls, a former US Marine who's the inspiration for a character in Robby's comic and the film; Bill's hypercompetent assistant Allicia "Al" Mac-Teer, who was plucked out of the obscurity of a customer service desk; Wren Lane and Ike Clipper, the lead actors in the film; and Ynez Gonzalez-Cruz, a ride-share driver Al roped into becoming the production house's dogsbody.

Years before, he'd suggested, rightly, that she forgo her christian name, Allicia—pronounced Al-i-SEE-a—and use the terse, masculine Al. Sight unseen, the citizenry assumed she was a man, and she soon proved herself so competent, so proactively assumptive, so badass, she forever-after-and-amen had her calls returned, pronto.

More than a story about moviemaking, this is a sprawling tale about how a movie comes about through a mix of chance and how the lives of those involved shape the product and influence the process. The characters come to life in vivid, almost cinematic vignettes of American life from around World War II to the present day, spanning a good slice of the American social fabric.

The hubbub of a movie set feels true to life. Here, one can soak in what Hanks may have experienced while on set. The atmospheric immersion is not limited to filming nor the use of words, as several short comics – in this edition, at least – give readers more to chew on: the wartime comic Robby once read, the satirical comic Robby drew about war, and the comic adaptation of Bill's finished production.

In this story about a film being made, one sees a nation in progress through the characters, up to the post-COVID era. Here, the US is the masterpiece and its denizens are the cast and crew. Calling it a love letter to America and its entertainment industry is a bit cliché, perhaps even trite, in light of the ongoing strikes by the Writers' Guild of America and Screen Actors' Guild over their future. Seeing it as anything else, however, is difficult

And it's far from monotonous. Hanks's storytelling is also playfully whimsical, the narrative format shifting from plain paragraphs to textspeak and screenplay, whatever the occasion requires. Quaint metaphors and the occasional comic-book sound effect enrich and enliven actions and thought processes. Bold and italicised text are used to good effect to emphasise and shock. Some might chafe at this because, when poorly done, it is irksome. Not here.

...his self-prescribed discipline commanded that he stay at the typewriter no ... matter ... what. Type anything. MAKING MOVIES IS MORE FUN THAN FUN. The phone book, the pledge of allegiance, Springsteen lyrics...

The Gonzalez-Cruzes' dining-table banter. Letters from and to loved ones. The text exchanges between the characters. The beginning of a movie being pounded out on Bill's typewriter (incidentally, Hanks is a screenwriter, producer and typewriter fiend). Character names in film scripts are CAPITALISED, so the same happens in the book, according to Hanks in a footnote (yes, there are footnotes, and there are FOOTNOTES); expect this when the narrative shifts to movie-script mode. And to remind us that "someone is writing this book", we get parts where several characters speak to the "author".

First-time Hanks readers will be charmed. The man can spin a yarn. The America in this novel is real enough that parodied companies and products are still recognisable. And did I mention the footnotes, which not merely add context or clarify things, but provide additional in-story information that at times teases a chuckle or two out of the unsuspecting reader?

A taste: when an extra and self-avowed Screen Actors Guild cardholder gives Al lip for lecturing him about call sheets, the related footnote tells us the name of the production he was in and advises us not to search for his face because he merely "yelled obscenities from a tree line."

Several bits I found over-the-top hysterical. One that stands out is how Bill and his inner circle pondered having to deal with a divo of an actor who broke up with his girlfriend just before shooting – is it really that mission critical? There's so much characterisation of the actor that one can't help but wonder if Hanks is drawing from memory. WHO is he talking about?

Movies last forever. So do characters in books. Blending the two in this volume may be a fool's errand, wasted effort in the mining of fool's gold. Don't hate the final product. Think of it as quite good.

All these characters, their workplaces and favourite haunts, described to a tee. The story seems to drag on at first with all that characterisation. You're not invested at first, but about halfway through, one is anticipating a reference to earlier chapters as if itching to tie two loose ends together. You're rooting for (most of) the characters. You want happy endings for them and your heart sinks when tragedy strikes.

One can glean that Hanks's sympathies lie mostly with the cast and crew. The suits and the execs? Not so much. Two of the people who comprise the beating heart of the production machine are minorities. Towards the end, one gains an appreciation of the filmmaking process and the people behind it. Filmming is WORK and films succeed because of PEOPLE. Because films ARE people.

So it's amazing how this book, this paean to America and everyone in moviemaking, comics and the entertainment industry in general, was released in the early days of the WGA strike, which has now hooked up with the SAG-AFTRA strike by actors, mainly over residuals from streaming media and the use of AI.

Almost as if to tell everyone the industry, everyone who has been suffering since COVID came a-knocking, everyone struggling to get back on their feet after the mess of the past few years, and everyone bracing for the next major shitstorm, "You are loved."


The WGA strike ended on 27 September with the guild successfully making a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) regarding a new contract. The actors' strike is still ongoing.

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The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece
Tom Hanks
Knopf
430 pages
Fiction
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1232-7

I Should Say Something

When it was first reported, the ban on When I Was A Kid 3 and the circumstances that led to it shook me a bit. What a mess.

A while back, an Indonesian NGO led a protest at the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta over a chapter in the book that was said to have denigrated an Indonesian maid. The NGO asked for a total stop to the printing and sale of the book in Malaysia, and even for the author's motives to be investigated.

The book has been out for almost a decade – why protest now? Who's backing this NGO and what is their angle? Why target the author, someone without a steady income or safety net? Is this really about justice and dignity?


Punishment, not penitence
Sadly, Malaysia has a long history of mistreating migrant workers, so the outrage is justified. But I can't help thinking the protesters may have leaned a bit too deep into "Malaysians always treat us badly" territory.

A friend wondered why the author, who's self-published, wasn't allowed to edit or remove the offending chapter. Also, why limit the ban on the sale and printing of the book to Malaysia, when the cartoon is said to be so bad it should be prohibited everywhere?

I don't think the protesters wanted to give him that choice. Gathering at the embassy was meant to put our backs to the wall. Nor do I believe that the NGO can do much about what happens to the book outside the Nusantara region.

Petitioning for the ban on the sale and printing of the book in Malaysia means cutting off his income, but when one thinks about it, isn't the NGO also profiling Malaysians in general as racist to Indonesians or abusive to Indonesian migrant workers?

The protesters may be concerned that reading the comic would lower our regard for Indonesian migrants further, but it's not like only Malaysians are capable of being racist towards Indonesians.

Based on this, one can only conclude that the aim was to punish. They probably assumed the worst of him, a Malaysian, so that they can make an example of him. Malaysians are the core audience of his works and employ a lot of Indonesian migrant labour, so by denying us this book we end up being punished too.


Barking up the wrong tree?
As if the lot of migrant workers will improve overnight once the book is banned. Abusive private employers may think twice about mistreating their migrant help when they hear about this ban, but after a while, they will forget and revert to type.

Richer employers, meanwhile, will continue to get away with mistreating migrant labourers because the system is broken – not something NGOs can fix by protesting at foreign embassies. Also gone is the chance to teach Malaysians how not to be racist – who knows what they will learn from the protesters.

Racism is impossible to justify. However, I feel that the author, as someone who has benefitted from the kindness of others, heard so many stories, and genuinely engages everyone who has supported him, would never purposely disparage another human being.

Jeopardising his income and putting him through a legal wringer for what's likely to be an editorial oversight is unnecessary. His work sometimes displays crude humour but he is no Charlie Hebdo.

Some commentators concur that the portrayal, taken without context, is racist but then go on a whatabout over why Mein Kampf is still sold in Malaysian bookstores. Trying to help, perhaps, but a comic book with one bad chapter can't be compared to a thematically racist tome bearing the words of a bigoted and genocidal dictator.

Also, Mein Kampf has been in the public domain since 2016. Even before that, anyone can download a copy online, provided their government didn't outlaw the book. Selling it for profit is unscrupulous.


Let it stop here
I'm certain the Malaysian authorities want this issue to go away as soon as possible, hence the decision to ban the book. Oddly enough, watches by Swatch were also banned using the Printing Presses and Publications Act, for the same reasons.

How lamentable has this whole thing been. Fidelity to a story is one thing, but with so many factors at play when putting it out in public these days, even the most dedicated and meticulous storytellers have to be extra mindful.

To his credit, he seems to have accepted the ban and expressed contrition over any hurt feelings. But I fear that some quarters will keep the outrage going for their own agendas. Bad news are a great vehicle for parties looking for attention – or with an axe to grind.

The offending volume has been (or is being) pulled off the shelves. The author is sorry and he's not contesting the authorities' decision. That things seem to have settled down is a relief. Don't let this drag on.

Let it stop with the ban.

Book Marks: BookTok, Booker, Copyrights, And Cosies

Are we done talking about BookTok and its influence on reading habits and publishing trends? No? Well, here's another article on how BookTok's hold on readers may be going beyond the platform. Are some bookstore displays looking more and more familiar to you? "The books most popular with BookTok – such as romance, fantasy and the hybrid genre 'romantasy' – are being picked up more and more by publishers and displayed more prominently in bookshops," goes the MiNDFOOD piece.

While this may mean more readers among the target TikTok demographic – mostly young women – and books are getting talked about, there are some drawbacks...

...there's a risk it may homogenise the industry. Literary critic Barry Pierce has said that BookTok reads "all sort of have the same cover". Meanwhile author Stephanie Danler said of her foray into BookTok: "It seemed impossible to discover different fiction. It was the same 20 books over and over."

BookTok also has a problem with diversity – in more ways than one. Its recommendations are overwhelmingly by white authors, and it is unclear what the long-term effects of this will be on both publishing and the young readers who flock to the app for recommendations. Furthermore, by catering to this huge audience of young women, publishers are forgoing books by men, especially emerging writers.

Also of concern is whether influencers on BookTok are paid to push certain titles, which has probably happened already. With BookTokers growing in clout, publishers have started banking on the popular ones by kickstarting their own publishing careers. According to The Hustle, "DK, a division of Penguin Random House, is turning influencers into authors themselves. Since 2021, DK's influencer division has published six New York Times bestselling cookbooks authored by TikTok food creators."

The effect BookTok has on reading and publishing cannot be denied and will be discussed and analysed for a while longer as it continues to shape what we read and introduce more people to books, even if they "all sort of have the same cover."

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The 2023 Booker Prize shortlist is out and The House of Doors is not in it. But none of this year's selected authors have been shortlisted before, so that's something.

The Prize's website states that "There are two debuts on the shortlist; there is one British, one Canadian, two Irish and two American authors. Although full of hope, humour and humanity, the books address many of 2023's most pressing concerns: climate change, immigration, financial hardship, the persecution of minorities, political extremism and the erosion of personal freedoms. They feature characters in search of peace and belonging or lamenting lost loves. There are books that are grounded in modern reality, that shed light on shameful episodes in history and which imagine a terrifying future."

The winner of the £50,000 prize will be announced on 26 November.

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"On screen as well on the page, cosy crime has been a staple of our cultural consumption long before we used the term," writes David Barnett in the BBC. "Go back to the 1980s and think of Angela Lansbury's author-turned-sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the phenomenally successful Murder She Wrote; the US TV series was perhaps the epitome of cosy crime, and indeed shows that the US stole something of a march in presenting contemporary shows that deliberately harked back to the Agatha Christie mould of storytelling."

I first heard the term "cosy mystery" on Book Riot but had no idea what the genre was supposed to be until now. Barnett helpfully notes that...

...the terminology distinguishes these novels from other kinds of crime fiction, such as police procedurals or psychological thrillers, which are often dark, gritty and upsetting.

Cosy crime, on the other hand, tends not to linger on the death that is often at the centre of the story. Of course, someone is usually dispatched in violent fashion, by way of poison, stabbing, shooting or a good cudgeling from whatever is to hand.

Barnett adds that "cosies" are "more about the thrill of the investigation, generally carried out by an amateur sleuth or sleuths" and often take place is suburban or rural settings. "Police are generally baffled, suspects are bountiful, and murders are imaginative. Denouements are satisfying and leave the reader with the sense that crime does not pay and ultimately, all is well with the world."

If that's true, then the crime novels by Singaporean author Ovidia Yu fall into this category. Maybe Tarquin Hall's mysteries too? Crime novels that don't leave you with nightmares afterwards sound cosy to me.

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Is using sensitivity readers censorship? Not according to Quebec author Kevin Lambert, who wanted to avoid stereotypes and not write anything "stupid" when penning his novel, Que notre joie demeure ("May our joy remain"). Lambert's novel was nominated for the Prix Concourt this September, a major French literary award.

According to Global News, the debate over sensitivity readers was recently sparked in France when 2018 Prix Goncourt winner Nicolas Mathieu, seemingly disparaged the practice, adding that what writers write should not be policed.

The French reaction to Lambert's use of a sensitivity reader sounds like a case of "you need someone to tell you what works and what's right? What kind of writer are you?" Especially one whose novel is being nominated for a top French award.

Speaking to Global News, Toronto-based editor Ronan Sadler, who freelances as a sensitivity reader, says the role is not to police a writer's creativity. "What it actually is about is helping an author understand what they’re trying to say and help them say it better, like any editorial process."

These days, writers are getting called out more often for getting communities and cultures wrong. Sensitivity reading can be helpful in this, but what I'm against is retroactively applying it to works that have already been published. I don't think there's a point to it, especially when it involves works that were first released decades ago. Books also capture blocks of time when some attitudes that were fine then are not so now. They should stand as part of the historical record of the author's life and times.

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Seventeen authors, including John Grisham, Jodi Picoult and George R.R. Martin, are suing OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, for using their intellectual property to train the large language model. "The suit was organized by the Authors Guild and also includes David Baldacci, Sylvia Day, Jonathan Franzen and Elin Hilderbrand among others," reports The Associated Press. It's the latest suit filed by authors against tech companies for similar types of copyright infringement.

On the same subject, Meta reportedly downloaded 183,000 books to train its AI, LLaMA, and The Atlantic has a search tool set up to see which books were included in the dataset, codenamed Books3. After Fred Kaplan at Slate used the tool and got over his indignation of having only some of his books in the training data, he spots something in the book selection criteria that troubles him. Richard Flanagan, whose award-winning The Narrow Road to the Deep North was also in the dataset, calls it "the biggest act of copyright theft in history."

In other related news, The Guardian highlighted another publisher vs digital library lawsuit: "Cengage, Macmillan Learning, McGraw Hill and Pearson Education filed the suit against Library Genesis, also known as LibGen, in Manhattan federal court, citing 'extensive violations' of copyright law." By that it means letting people download copyrighted materials for free.

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Amazon has imposed a daily three-book limit on self-published ebooks, in response to the tide of AI-generated books popping up on its platform. Yes, a "totally human amount", according to Gizmodo. But I'm not with the bearer of this news who says he's "been firmly against self-publishing authors for a long time."

I hope he was only referring to the types who'd do things like "enrol their books in Kindle Unlimited and trick users into scrolling to the end of the book to 'win a prize' or win 'free Amazon gift cards'" or push error-riddled AI books that may kill people – NOT self-published authors in general.

Why won't Amazon use AI-flagging tools for the job? Because the results are not guaranteed, probably. Or perhaps all it cares about are profits and eyeballs. Which is one reason why an author and several publishers are finding ways to avoid doing any business with the retail giant.

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"We may expect more from fiction. But celebrity novels remind us books always occupy an uneasy position as both artistic creation and commodity. This is why many of us who care about reading and writing will find we can't agree with the ghostwriting firms that insist books are 'just products'." In The Conversation, Amber Gwynne, sessional lecturer in writing at the University of Queensland, meditates on the celebrity novel, with a focus on Millie Bobby Brown's Nineteen Steps.

Ghostwritten celebrity novels are being discussed again in the wake of the release of Millie Bobby Brown's Nineteen Steps. Opinion is divided over celebs' use of ghostwriters; is it acceptable or unfair because of their clout? The Mary Sue seems to be of the latter persuasion, despite noting Brown's transparency in her use of a ghostwriter. "Some authors will work their entire lives and never get published or never make a decent wage. Yet, Brown could slap her name on a poorly ghostwritten book and become a bestselling author."

While acknowledging that Brown "didn't do anything unusual or illegal", TMS still ended their op-ed with this stinger: "...Nineteen Steps is still a big slap in the face for real authors, and a reminder that the publishing industry doesn't judge on writing talent or skill but on which face, name, and story it thinks is best suited for sales and profit."

Yowch.


Moving on...

• Love and dread at a book party? When it's for Walter Isaacson and his latest book, well, yes. "The crux of the unease: Can you trust that a mercurial multibillionaire with daddy issues, a superhero complex and unfettered power will do the right thing?" writes Roxanne Roberts at The Washington Post. "The book has already divided reviewers, who call it a brilliant and essential dive into the mind of one of the 21st century's most influential men — or an apologia for Musk's arrogance and excesses."
• Pan Macmillan imprint Bluebird has paused all future publishing of books by Russell Brand in light of the accusations of sexual assault levelled at him. "Brand's unpublished book – Recovery: The Workbook: A Practical Guide to Finding Freedom from Our Addictions – is a follow-up to the comedian's 2017 self-help book Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions, which is based on the 12-step programme," The Guardian reported.
• The graphic novel by a local-born author, When I Was A Kid 3, has been banned. Malay Mail Online reports that after a protest by Indonesians at the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta over the portrayal of an Indonesian maid in the book, the Home Ministry announced the move under subsection 7(1) of the Printing Press and Publications Act 1984. The author and illustrator has since apologised, stating that he did not mean to cause offence.
• "On view from September 27 through December 30" in the ground floor gallery of the Grolier Club in New York City is an exhibition titled The Best-Read Army in the World: The Power of the Written Word in World War II. It "tells the story of how the U.S. military disseminated more than one billion books, magazines, and newspapers to 16 million American troops worldwide, partnering with the U.S. publishing industry to create pocket-sized paperback books called Armed Services Editions as well as petite issues of newspapers and popular magazines." An interesting bit of history about books in the war, so anyone in New York, check it out.
• "Though it was first published in the fall of 2021, [The Shadow Work Journal] reached hit status this year, after being listed in TikTok Shop. It has sold 290,000 copies on TikTok alone since April ... As a point of reference, Isaacson's Elon Musk sold 92,560 copies the old-fashioned way in its first week." What is this journal and why has it become the latest self-help phenomenon?
• "Fifteen years ago, in What Would Google Do?, I called for the book to be rethought and renovated, digital and connected, so that it could be updated and made searchable, conversational, collaborative, linkable, less expensive to produce, and cheaper to buy. The problem, I said, was that we so revered the book, it had become sacrosanct. 'We need to get over books,' I wrote. 'Only then can we reinvent them.' I recant." In his book, The Gutenberg Parenthesis: The Age of Print and Its Lessons for the Age of the Internet, Jeff Jarvis revisits his notions about the book and decides that, well, the book doesn't need reinventing.
• "The Radioactive team under Stonewitch worked with creators to make stories, while Stonewitch schmoosed with the studios. When the talks became interesting, Stonewitch would tell the creators about it. Name names. To get them excited. Jazzed. Supercharged. Until a check was late, and a creator reached out to Stonewitch. Their buddy. Their friend. All-around nice guy who would never, ever screw around with them." From PopVerse, a cautionary tale of a comics publisher gone bad.
• Variety reports that "The WGA and major studios and streamers have reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract that promises to end the 146-day strike that has taken a heavy toll across the content industry." The sigh of relief is palpable, with the writers going back to work this Wednesday.Now the attention is on whether the Screen Actors Guild can come up with a deal with the studios.
• "My office is 15 minutes away from home. It's an old Victorian house that has a coach house in the back. The [main] house is for the foundation and my office, but the coach house is for my writing. It's very lovely, all painted white stark, very simple, no clutter. I don't do any other work there. I can spend many hours there." Isabel Allende tells The Cut how she gets her writing done.
• "Archie Comics gave me my first taste of Americana. In fact, my idea of what American fast foods like hotdogs or burgers should look like came from there." A new Netflix feature kicks off look into the links between Indian youth and the Riverdale universe.

When "Why" Is More Than A Three-Letter Word

Every now and then, one hears of a business that once boomed before stagnating and ultimately failing. If author and inspirational speaker Simon Sinek, is right, they lost their reason for doing things: what he calls the "why". More than a mission statement or a raison d'être, the "why", from what one understands, is the core – or the marrow, if you will – of a person or organisation.

In his book, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, Sinek provides examples of individuals who and businesses that embarked on ambitious projects without a clear "why", plus those who did but lost it. One example that stands out in the book is Wal-mart, the American retail giant founded by Sam Walton, whose reputation declined in recent times. Sinek posits that Wal-mart's "why" – its focus on people, not profit – died with Walton and is responsible for its current state.

On the flip side, he uses examples such as Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers to lay out the reasons people were drawn to their message, to what they were selling. The Wright brothers believed in the life-changing powers of flight. Apple has been pushing its status quo - bucking "Think Different" ethos for decades. And the strength of King's belief in justice and equality struck a chord among many who shared that belief.


Continue reading here.

Book Marks: Paperbacked, Etc.

Sales of young adult paperbacks, in decline? Jessica Kara at Publishers Weekly seems to think so, and points to one possible reason: YA books are being priced out of the spending range of their target group because publishers are making titles more visually appealing. "I wonder if we are discarding the fun and cheap paperback as a unique and enjoyable way to experience books as a teen reader," she muses.

Historically, the paperback came about to offer more affordable and portable versions of works originally published in clunkier and pricier hardbacks. The format got people reading more because they were cheaper and travelled well. And publishers could release a wider variety of genres on paperbacks because they were cheap to produce and they could make sales by volume. But paperbacks were being read more.

The shift from books as a medium to works of art may apply to certain productions such as coffee-table books on nature and cultural heritage, but not for stories that may have had their origins in fan fiction. I loathe to use the term "throwaway" because pulp novels can be good enough to last and find new homes, but as Kara noted, paperbacks are more suited for the rough-and-tumble lifestyle of not just teenagers but travelling adults, from businesspeople to backpackers. Perhaps the industry as a whole should reconsider the "books as luxury" mindset and ask themselves why they're publishing books. Just don't use AI to design book covers.


Okay, what else is brewing in books?

• An exhibition titled "Malaysia Children's Picture Books 1930s to 2000s" is happening at the Museum of Picture Book Art in Gamuda Mall Bukit Bintang (GMBB), Kuala Lumpur, and will run until 30 September. The museum is open from 10.30am to 8pm daily. Free Malaysia Today reports that visitors can expect works from Jaafar Taib's 'Sang Kancil' series to books illustrated by Emila Yusof and Nor Azhar Ishak.
• "Once considered a frivolous endeavor undertaken by sex-obsessed amateurs, fan fiction is now fully in fashion, enabling romance writers — and their publishers — to celebrate (and capitalize on) their Archive of Our Own roots." So EL James isn't the only one who repurposed their fanfic into bestelling romances? This is good to know. I've seen some good fanfic that belongs on bookshelves and this avenue towards getting published is viable. But ... "sex-obsessed amateurs"? C'mon now. Be nice.
• Michael Chabon has joined a growing list of authors taking OpenAI and Meta to court over alleged use of their works to train AI models, including copies hosted on pirate sites. While the rest of us watch whether the lawsuits will deliver their intended outcomes, proving copyright infringement in this sphere may be a long shot. "Even if the author suits get past the threshold issues associated with the alleged copying at issue and how AI training actually works—which is no sure thing—lawyers say there is ample case law to suggest fair use," Publishers Weekly reports.
• The banning of books over "obscene" content in the United States isn't new, of course. America has the Comstock Laws and James Joyce's Ulysses had to be defended from them by lawyers Morris Leopold Ernst and Alexander Lindey. Who knew that these laws would make a comeback in 2023, a development that Brett Gary, associate professor of media, culture and communication at New York University, calls "chilling".
• Speaking of book bans, China has begun banning books on Mongolian history and culture from being taught in schools in Inner Mongolia. Enghebatu Togochog, director of the New York-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC), told Voice of America, "We have learned that recently Mongolian books and publications are being removed from shelves in libraries in colleges and universities, and in some cases, Mongolian textbooks are burned in schools in the regional capital Hohhot."
• "The online space should be a starting point for any discussion of contemporary African writing. For example, some of Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's earlier works were first published online. Kenyan writer Billy Kahora's non-fiction ibook The True Story of David Munyakei grew out of a piece published online on Mwangi's now defunct blog, the Diary of a Mad Kenyan Woman." An interview with Shola Adenekan, associate professor of African studies, former journalist, and author of African Literature in the Digital Age: Class and Sexual Politics in New Writing from Kenya and Nigeria.
• "The self-taught artist and writer James Norbury was living below the poverty line and volunteering with a cat charity when his self-published book was snapped up by a leading publisher in 2021." After an illustrated book with messages inspired by Zen Buddhism landed Norbury a six-figure deal, he has promised to create a sanctuary for animals – and people. An incredible story that pretty Zen as Norbury had volunteered at charities, so one can say that his helping others has helped himself. And he seems to be paying it forward again with his next book, The Cat Who Taught Zen.
• In the Internet Archive lawsuit, a question arises: Should publishers be allowed to charge each time an e-book is read, loaned out, or distributed? This article argues "no", especially for e-books loaned out by libraries. This was what the Internet Archive was doing in the early days of the pandemic, and the writer fears that if things go the publishers' way, they can make it so that their cash registers go KA-CHING every time library e-books are borrowed. Thing is, the Archive didn't buy the books it scanned and distributed, so on the surface, it is pirating books. So the concern is that the publishers can use a favourable outcome to their advantage – and more profit.
• "Have you ever galley bragged? Or been a bit jealous of someone reading a book you’re super excited about well in advance of its publication date? There are definitely fun perks to being a book reviewer ... But there are a few not great elements of reading an early review copy." Here are some of those "not great elements".
• Self-publishers must now declare whether their stuff sold on Amazon is AI-generated. "Amazon also added a new section to its content guidelines focused on AI, which now includes definitions of 'AI-generated' and 'AI-assisted' content and states that sellers are not required to disclose when content is AI-assisted," reports the Guardian.
• My, the sort of things the ancients did to secure their books. Curses, really? Literally, curses. Like those said to have protected tombs from pillagers. Nice to know that people in those days took their books seriously. Some a bit too seriously, perhaps, like scribes who also cursed anyone who criticised their work. Good thing curses don't work ... right?
• The Venezuelan economy has been in dire straits for some time now, and the book sector has been hard hit. Still, this dispatch is depressing to read. "What little money people have goes to food," Julio Mazparrote, president of Venezuela's bookseller and publisher guild, told Reuters. "The crux is there is no money."
• Some points on the International Standard Book Number (ISBN). I'm bookmarking this anyway. Even though it doesn't have specific information on the history and components of an ISBN, it's a good enough primer for explaining the otherwise cryptic numbers that comprise the book's identification number.

Book Marks: Blurbs, Books, and BookTok

Yes, I missed two weeks of this. Quite a few developments in books and publishing since then, but I'm adjusting to some changes in life as well, so I'm not apologising.

But first, let me tell you how you can get a copy of what may be the most outrageous Portuguese-to-English phrasebook, English As She Is Spoke. I wrote about this book in a now-defunct magazine in 2011, adding in a postscript on the blog about how I wanted a physical copy. Lit Books at Tropicana Avenue is selling one edition, so if you're interested, order it online. Twelve years sounds long but my, how they just flew by.

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"The paperback version [of Jordan Peterson's Beyond Order] includes several blurbs on the back cover taken from book reviews that appear to be glowing. However, several of those reviewers have slammed the book’s publishers at Penguin for decontextualizing their words and leaving out their decidedly-negative comments about the book." Maybe if the blurbs for a book aren't that hot, don't use creative editing to make them better.

One believes this is just the tip of the iceberg in an industry – yes, blurbing can be one – that's increasingly sus. At The Atlantic, Helen Lewis looks into the practice and finds that blurbing can be "both a selfless act and a shamelessly corrupt one". She also discovers some trends behind the growing use of blurbs instead of reviews, most of which are about popularity. The controversy over Peterson's book prompted the Society of Authors in the UK to call for more transparency over the use of blurbs.

Readers these days are aware that blurbs hype up a book and may have a niggling feeling blurbs aren't for helping them choose books. Writing to Lewis, Mark Richards, the publisher of the independent Swift Press, confirmed this, stating, "[Blurbs] are instead aimed at literary editors and buyers for the bookstores—in a sea of new books, having blurbs from, ideally, lots of famous writers will make it more likely that they will review/stock your book."

On a related note, somebody at The Critic deciphers some terms used in these blurbs and what they might really mean. "Publishers’ outward-facing jargon can be conveniently observed in the blurbs printed on book jackets. These are full of code words which, you may be surprised to learn, usually have very little to do with the contents." Maybe that's something to keep in mind when writing them.

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"Book lovers are loathe to throw away books, anathema to toss them aside as if they were mere trash. In San Francisco, as I’m sure elsewhere, we’d rather leave them in a tidy pile on a street corner for others to pick up, trusting that there must be readers out there who will want them." As Lewis Buzbee notes, books are hard to get rid of, but when the time comes, it has to be done.

I also love what he says about books and how each of them finds its way into some sort of literary lifestream, through book exchanges and hubs like the Little Free Libraries. "Books are written, published, sold, then, quite happily, re-sold, perhaps more than once; a single book might be read by countless eyes. This is one of the unique qualities of the book: no matter how many times it’s been sold, or read, a book is still a working machine."

Over at Slate, Dorie Chevlen is on the same wavelength, but when one needs space, giving books away as a step in decluttering is warranted. However: "I’m not advocating you have no books. Everyone should have a permanent collection ... But be realistic about your space and realistic about which titles have earned a place there, because your shelves won’t expand just because you willed them to."

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The winners of the inaugural TikTok Book Awards are in and among those include Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola (Book of the Year), Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Best BookTok Revival), and Heartstopper: Volume One by Alice Oseman (Best Book I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time). Whew, that last one was a mouthful. Is there room on the plaque for that?

While BookTok celebrates these awards, a BookScan analysis suggests the BookTok effect on sales is fading. A BookScan analyst "noted that books by BookTok authors are facing some of the same headwinds that the industry in general is, including consumers reading less in the period since Covid restrictions were lifted," reports Publishers Weekly. Still, the analyst insisted that TikTok is still key for discovering new writers and helping younger readers find books, even if users don't seem efficient or engaged in unearthing new literary gems like when the phenomenon first emerged.

Has BookTok reached its zenith, as Good E-Reader suggests? When your platform relies on the virality of authenticity, paid shills will eventually sneak in and ride the wave, eroding the lustre of the brand with inauthentic theatrics. Like blurbs, in video.

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The Malaysian Home Ministry seized two books from independent bookstore Toko Buku Rakyat, owned by owned by local author Benz Ali. Despite not being banned under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (PPPA), a copy of a Malay translation of Karl Marx: The Revolutionary as Educator by Robin Smalls and a copy of Benz Ali's poetry collection were seized by Home Ministry officials.

The Home Minister defended the raid, saying it was done in response to public complaints, and added that the books were taken "for research purposes" and may be returned if they do not violate any laws. So who complained, and if the complaints are found to be baseless, then what?


Okay, what else?

• A permanent injunction has been imposed on the Internet Archive, preventing it from scanning and distributing already-published copyrighted books, while the Archive's appeal is ongoing. If a digital copy of a work exists, if I read correctly, the Archive can't scan and make it available on its site. This was agreed upon by the Archive and the publishers involved in a lawsuit against it, including Hachette, HarperCollins, and Penguin Random House.
• "I wrote what I went through. I could not pretend to be a historian or a sociologist or a politician or whatever, but I knew what I had lived.” Twenty years after Persepolis was released, Marjane Satrapi's struggle against censorship – from the right and the left – continues.
• "For whatever reason you decide to put a book in someone's hand or place it on display, you’re an advocate for that book. That’s a responsibility, but also a power." Josh Cook, author of The Art of Libromancy, sits down with Esquire to talk about bookselling, the challenges US booksellers currently face, and how independent booksellers can make the world better. And if you're looking to open a bookstore in the United States, Book Riot covers some basics.
• A Quran written more than two centuries ago was discovered in a paper bag in the attic of a mosque in Cape Town, South Africa. "Researchers believe that Imam Abdullah ibn Qadi Abdus Salaam, affectionately known as Tuan Guru, or Master Teacher, wrote the Quran from memory at some point after he was shipped to Cape Town as a political prisoner, from Tidore island in Indonesia in 1780, as punishment for joining the resistance movement against Dutch colonisers," states the BBC in a story about the Quran, its author, and the community that has become its custodian.
• "Singaporean poet Cyril Wong might have been one of the first home-grown writers to depict sexuality so frankly on the page," goes The Straits Times, "but on the occasion of his 16th poetry collection, he laments: 'I’m not just a confessional writer leh.'” Like how they kept the "-leh" at the end.
• This story of Tao Wong, a Malaysian-born Canadian author of LitRPG and xianxia books, is as fantastic as the genres he writes in. The irreverent tone is trademark Cilisos but the tale of a guy who went into writing because he didn't like what he had read and then being a success at it is amazeballs.
• The self-publishing path is thorny, but it can be viable. Two Malaysian authors who self-published speak about their experiences and share some advice. One tip from author Siti Syameen Md Khalili: "...step one would be to have your manuscript ready. Make sure you love the story and polish it until it becomes a clean copy with the help of trusted beta readers and an editor.”
• Book bans driven by rightwing activism is hogging the limelight these days, but there seems to be little acknowledgement about how illiberal leftists threaten books too. This article looks at a report by writers' association PEN America "that strongly comes down on the side of taking illiberal progressivism seriously" and argues that "'canceling' books and authors for transgressing progressive moral codes does nothing to counteract injustice and prejudice. Instead, it inhibits and silences important conversations and trivializes the very evils it supposedly protests."
• Book blogger Julianne Buonocore tells Mashable India, "Tech-based stories are so ripe for compelling and intriguing storylines, from diving into business and personal success and scandals, to offering inside scoop to outsiders."
• Are we tired of going on about how Goodreads is terrible? No? Here's another article in that same vein, which chronicles Goodreads' slide into what it has become today descent and argues why quitting it is hard. I found this relevant because it kind of explains why Amazon is leaving Goodreads alone: "In a rare piece that centred the experience of the reader rather than the agonies of the writer, Greta Rainbow explored how the site gamifies reading and influences other people’s purchasing behaviours. Controversy, Rainbow argues, only reinforces this goal: 'by exerting influence and extracting attention, Goodreads is working exactly as it should.'"
• Has the gendering of publishing gone too far, as this writer claims? Is the industry so dominated by women that it's been skewed into providing reads only for women and girls? While the points seem valid, I'm uncomfortable with the implication that one set of stereotypes have been swapped for another. And what does it mean to publish books "for everyone"? Women read books by male authors too, so why can't it be vice versa? Let me bookmark this, because I want to see if anyone comes up with a rebuttal.
• "When it was released in 1982, the book immediately caught the attention of both the critics and the reading public, who praised the book for its portrayals of both the brutality and sorrow of racism and sexual violence and its celebration of Black women." Despite critical acclaim and its potential to teach, Alice Walker's The Color Purple, published in 1982, still faces opposition to its presence in schools because of its subject matter.
• "Reading a book for pleasure is not the same as reading for an English class, though, and students too often associate reading with school work. This can add tension to the selection process knowing that for some students, it will be the only book they read this year. Do you go with something with a pop culture connection, or something that they “should” read?" Choosing a text for reading for English class in New Zealand can be tricky, but there are ways. Here are some most commonly taught novels at senior levels in NZ classes.
• Oprah Winfey is famous for many things, including her book club, but now there are other female celebs doing the same thing: Dua Lipa, Reese Witherspoon, and Emma Watson. Here are profiles of some of these book clubs and how they became a modern status symbol for these celebrities.
• "The Dead Sea Scrolls do not describe any events that focus on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Most were written and copied before Jesus began his ministry for devout Jews and do not mention Jesus directly. And yet, they provide valuable historical context to understanding the world in which Jesus lived—and in which early Christianity was born and evolved—including the beliefs and practices of Jews in the land of Israel."

Feeling Less Sanguine About AI In Publishing

I've said before I never set out to chronicle developments in AI-assisted writing and publishing, but the technology has become so pervasive, ignoring it is difficult, especially when the media seems to love running headlines on the subject like it's the advent of Skynet. On some days, it feels like we're edging closer to that reality. On other days, we're already there.

Alex Reisner studied a dataset used by Meta to train its large language model LLaMA and found that the data included content from pirated books. "The future promised by AI is written with stolen words," Reisner writes in The Atlantic. He adds that...

Upwards of 170,000 books, the majority published in the past 20 years, are in LLaMA’s training data. ... nonfiction by Michael Pollan, Rebecca Solnit, and Jon Krakauer is being used, as are thrillers by James Patterson and Stephen King and other fiction by George Saunders, Zadie Smith, and Junot Díaz." What's more, LLaMA isn't the only AI this dataset is training.

Legalities of the creation, usage and ownership of the dataset aside, large language models can now be prompted to write in the "voices" of certain authors, and sometimes, they do a pretty good job. How far can their imitation go if continually trained with more data? Will they be good enough to replace those authors entirely? A chilling possibility in an age of tech-enabled deepfakes and identity theft.

Swiftly written books, some with AI assistance, published in the wake of a major event is one way to make coin. But when it's about a tragedy, I think it's distasteful, as in the case of a book about the Maui wildfires.

According to Forbes, "The 44-page book, available as an e-book or paperback, claims to have been written by a Dr. Miles Stone, but the about-the-author section on the Amazon page simply reads, 'I'd rather not say,' and no such person seems to exist in the public record, according to a LexisNexis search."

Independent fact checking organisation Full Fact looked into this and debunks the idea that the fires were premeditated because "how else could these books have been published so fast?" Amazon Direct Kindle, hello?

Scammers cobbling material into books is a longtime grift but with AI, churning out such books is now easier. Despite shorter pages and fast production times, numerous volumes can rack up a tidy sum even if priced cheaply. And nobody seems to care whether real authors or experts are behind these books. No surprise if "Dr. Miles Stone" doesn't exist – you can't call out a phantom for plagiarism, bad takes, or misinformation.

Perhaps we should care. AI-written how-to books are also flooding the market, and given how it writes, misinformation can be deadly. Books on foraging – looking for edibles in the wild – have to be well researched because misidentifying species of plants and fungi can be fatal. And what if real authors, especially accredited experts, are named as the writers of such books? AI, impersonating humans and trying to terminate people through books? An interesting premise for a sci-fi novel, albeit a horrifying one.

Let's not forget how this avalanche of machine-generated dross drowns out the presence of properly researched and published books by people who care more than the average spammer.

Not everyone is wary of AI. Tech entrepreneur and writer Ajay Chowdhury doesn't seem worried about AI replacing writers, even as he uses it to help him write ... with a little caveat. "The utopia to me is people using AI to enhance their creativity," he tells Sky News. "The side that worries me is if large corporations start to think we don't need creatives any more."

Chowdhury isn't the only writer who's excited about having AI help. Several local authors and publishers seem cool with it. No doubt the technology can be useful. Writers who are disabled would benefit from having an AI-powered assistant, and not just for helping around the house.

However, some businesses have started ditching humans for AI to speed things up, cut costs, or both. AI may never fully replace human creativity and adaptability, but disruptive tech affects lives and companies chasing the bottom line will do what they can to save a few bucks. Governments, institutions and tech firms can pitch in to arrest the growth of AI, but it's too late to lock the barn doors.

Jamie Canaves at Book Riot thinks the conversation about AI shouldn't be about how good/bad it is or whether it will replace people – a distraction, she believes, from the real questions.

Who are developing and investing into this tech? What they want to do with it. Do these people care about how it's being used? Do they care about the impact it causes? Because if the makers and funders of these AI models aren't thinking about regulations and limits, somebody has to, or the misuse of this tech will hurt more than help.

AI is here and it's not going anywhere. It will be part of our lives whether we want to or not. We either adapt or fade away.