The spooky origins of Frankenstein (This week in BOOks)

This week! BOOks!

Happy Halloween, everybody! Just a quick reminder that next Thursday, November 6 at 9pm ET / 6pm PT I’ll be hosting my free monthly Office Hours exclusively for newsletter subscribers. Stop by to ask your writing and publishing questions and I might even do a query or first page critique as well. Hope to see you there!

Mary Shelley’s ‘Hideous Progeny’ – Miranda Seymour, New York Review of Books – How a nineteen-year-old prodigy went from telling ghost stories with Lord Byron near Lake Geneva during an infamous dark summer to writing one of the greatest and most enduring novels of all time.

Authors’ Class Action Lawsuit Against OpenAI Moves Ahead – Jim Milliot, Publishers Weekly – A consolidated class action lawsuit led by authors and the Authors Guild will move forward, as a judge ruled against OpenAI’s request to dismiss.

New Fund to Grant $50 Million to Literary Arts Orgs – Sam Spratford, Publishers Weekly – In the wake of the Trump administration stripping arts funding, a coalition of organizations is banding together to grant $50 million to nonprofit literary organizations.

Philip Pullman Brings Lyra’s Story to a Close – Sarah Lyall, New York Times – A profile of legendary author Philip Pullman as he brings Lyra Silvertongue’s story to an end.

Why I Give My Books Away For Free – Shane Hinton, LitHub – If what you really want is readers, should you simply give away your books?

Authors Who Sell Direct Are Winning the Long Game / More Thoughts on Direct Sales – Jane Friedman – Two very interesting posts from Jane Friedman about burgeoning opportunities for authors to bypass online retailers and sell to readers directly. It’s definitely worth subscribing to Jane’s newsletter, and I’m very curious to hear people’s experiences selling direct!

Bonus Q&A / Q&A Thursday: To Series or Not to Series – Kate McKean, Agents + Books – Literary agent and author Kate McKean weighs in on capturing platform in a query letter, when to try to make the leap from self-publishing to traditional, whether UK spelling matters when querying in the US, and how to pitch a series.

Best Children’s Books of 2025 – Publishers Weekly – I guess the year really is almost over because we’re already doing best-of lists.

The Counter Craft Halloween Horror Writing Guide – Lincoln Michel, Counter Craft – In honor of the sale of his new horror novel (congrats, Lincoln!), a roundup of Lincoln Michel’s posts on writing horror.

This week in bestsellers

Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

1. The Widow by John Grisham
2. The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly
3. The Things Gods Break by Abigail Owen
4. The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown
5. Gone Before Goodbye by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre
2. To Rescue the American Spirit by Bret Baier with Catherine Whitney
3. 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin
4. Giving Up is Unforgivable by Joyce Vance
5. Under Siege by Eric Trump

Young adult hardcover:

1. Fake Skating by Lynn Painter
2. Hour of the Pumpkin Queen by Megan Shepherd
3. Bitten by Jordan Stephanie Gray
4. Thorn Season by Kiera Azar
5. The Demon and the Light by Axie Oh

Middle grade hardcover:

1. Troubling Tonsils! by Aaron Reynolds
2. The Court of the Dead by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro
3. The Poisoned King by Katherine Rundell
4. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
5. The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs by America’s Test Kitchen Kids

This week on the blog

In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:

• The last thing I wanted to write about

And keep up with the discussion in all the places!

• Follow me on Bluesky
• Check out the Bransforums

And finally:

How Artists Are Keeping ‘The Lost Art’ of Neon Signs Alive – Jason Koebler, 404 Media – I’m a big fan of neon, and I really enjoyed this profile of artists in L.A. who are keeping the art form alive.

Have a great weekend!

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Photo: Me and Alyce at The Huntington’s fantastic Strange Science event. Follow me on Instagram!