Books

HarperCollins probably dropped a pretty penny to get Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson and James Patterson to collaborate on their newly released novel, The Most Dangerous Games. But Semafor reports that the publisher might have a hard time making that money back due to the book’s very, very low pre-sales.

It will be going away in 24 hours, but to celebrate 8/08 Bjooks, the company behind Beat Gems and Pedal Crush, is making Inspire the Music — 50 Years of Roland History free to read. The company is also offering 15 percent off the hardcover version for the day.

One day we will have a talk with the people who don’t understand what science fiction is (writing about politics with plausible deniability). Until then, please enjoy Ray Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains,” originally published in Collier’s in 1950 and taking place on April 28th, 1985. In The Martian Chronicles, the date is revised to August 4, 2026 and guess what! That’s today.

Ash Koosha — the director behind the $2,000 AI-generated movie that debuted at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival — has apparently made his own adaptation of The Odyssey, which will be available to rent / buy from Fountain 0 some time later this summer.

Bjooks has published several coffee-table books exploring musical instrument design, the history of Roland, the world of guitar pedals, and more. Its latest covers the evolution of drum machines from 1959’s Wurlitzer Side Man to modern oddities from Erica Synths. There’s only two days left to back it on Kickstarter, though.

The Future of Truth has at least six quotes that appear to be fabricated by AI. After initially taking “full responsibility,” he’s now pointing a finger at the chatbots, telling The Atlantic that they “fucked up the book.” In a separate interview with Ars Technica, he said he still plans to use AI in his writing, adding:

Amazon launched AI-generated audiobooks last year, and now Spotify is launching its own AI audiobook narration feature, Audiobook Creation Tools. Starting in June, self-published authors will be able to use the beta feature to create audio versions of their books using AI voices from ElevenLabs.

This summer, Spotify is launching its Prompted Playlist feature, which it is beta testing for music and podcasts, for audiobooks. The company says audiobooks listening hours on the platform are up 60 percent year over year.

Starting in June, your progress in ebooks and audiobooks will automatically sync to your StoryGraph account, including updating reading streaks, challenges, and book clubs. Kobo is also highlighting StoryGraph’s stat-tracking and recommendation algorithm, saying:

Hot on the heels of its new AI-powered localization tools, Webtoon is partnering with AI avatar firm Genies to launch a new chatbot feature that will allow users to “talk” with characters from comics featured on the platform.

The main highlight is a prequel novel, Baldur’s Gate 3: Astarion, by T. Kingfisher, coming September 29th, plus a notebook, coloring book, and a cookbook, which are all coming out this year.

Before Netflix’s live-action One Piece adaptation returns for a third season in 2027, the streamer will also debut a new One Piece Lego animated special this September, which will make a good companion for WIT Studio’s upcoming The One Piece anime remake series.

If you thought writer Jack Thorne’s Adolescence was a stressful watch, the new trailer for his take on Lord of the Flies might be a bit much to take in before the series hits Netflix on May 4th.

It was already exciting enough to know that Ryan Coogler was working on an X-Files revival, but The Wrap reports that he is also set to produce a new Animorphs reboot for Disney Plus.

There’s a new teaser out for Science Saru’s upcoming The Ghost in the Shell animated series, and it looks like we’re in for an absolute banger when the project premieres this July.

In this personal review of Everybody Loses, Jonny Auping recalls his time with a bookie: “thank God it was illegal bookies who got their hooks in me first. If it was the NFL and NBA peddling this stuff straight into my veins before I had any experience with my compulsions, I really can’t say how far it would have gone.”

Hulu has dropped a trailer for its upcoming Handmaid’s Tale spinoff, The Testaments, and when the series premieres on April 8th, it looks like it will be a harrowing reminder of much violence the girls of Gilead were forced to endure.

The new “standard” Audible subscription announced on Tuesday costs $8.99/month, compared to $14.95/month for the existing premium plan. Users on the standard plan get one audiobook each month, but unlike premium subscribers, don’t keep access to those audiobooks if they cancel their subscription.

Wuthering Heights being number one makes sense; it just got a blockbuster adaptation. But why is the 8-year-old self-help book from James Clear number two?

Uematsu has created music for countless Square Enix games, including classics like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and Final Fantasy VII. Now he’s going to be the subject of a biography by James Mielkem, Nobuo Uematsu: On the Record.

Though HBO still hasn’t announced a firm release date for House of the Dragon’s upcoming third season, there’s a new trailer teasing out Rhaenyra’s plan to make her enemies pay using her squad of newly-tamed dragons. The new season drops some time in June.