Author: Marissa DeCuir

A former award-winning journalist with national exposure, Marissa now oversees the day-to-day operation of the Books Forward author branding and book marketing firm, along with our indie publishing support sister company Books Fluent. Born and bred in Louisiana, currently living in New Orleans, she has lived and developed a strong base for our company and authors in Chicago and Nashville. Her journalism work has appeared in USA Today, National Geographic and other major publications. She is now interviewed by media on best practices for book marketing.

New poetry collection redefines aging with humor, authenticity

Posted on | by Marissa DeCuir

In a world where aging is often feared, award-nominated author, poet and psychotherapist Jane Seskin takes readers on an emotional road trip where they can celebrate the joys and challenges of aging . In “Older, Wiser, Shorter: The Truth and Humor of Life After 65” (Tallfellow Press, August 21, 2024), Jane Seskin reflects on how resilience and self-discovery helped her combat life’s trials and tribulations, especially as she grew older. Through a collection of 89 poems, Seskin redefines the narrative of aging and offers readers a positive take on what is often perceived as a negative.

“Older, Wiser, Shorter” is an insightful collection of poetry; authentic, funny, quirky and heartfelt, acknowledging the physical vulnerabilities, emotional losses, and surprises people encounter in their  senior years. Seskin also pays tribute to  the sense of power, resilience and new-found joys people discover as they acknowledge and accept their aging. Seskin’s talent for finding the universal connecting tissue of even our most intimate moments will resonate with readers seeking to discover new ways to honor the past, celebrate the present, and welcome the future.

Growing old is a gift. Believe in it. Respect it. Embrace it. From varicose veins to doctors’ appointments to forgetting why you walked into the kitchen, “Older Wiser Shorter” illuminates the ups and downs of growing older, one poem at a time. Not to be feared but welcomed, aging is natural, exciting, and it’s better than the alternative!

“I sat down to read one poem last night and I ended up reading half the book. I feel as though I know you. You have definitely captured the experience of aging.”

—Mary Pipher, author of Women Rowing North and My Life in Light

“Older, Wiser, Shorter”

Jane Seskin | August 21, 2024 | Tallfellow Press | Poetry 

Paperback | 9780578447247 | $15.00

“Optimistic” by Jane Seskin from “Older, Wiser, Shorter”

Last week

I ordered

one thousand sheets

of personalized

note paper.

Advance Praise for “Older, Wiser, Shorter” 

“Even though I’m not a fan of poetry, I found Jane Seskin’s poems to be a delight. They hit home.”

—Jane Brody, former personal health columnist, New York Times

“Your words jump and laugh and rest and reach…it’s an activity reading those poems! I love them.”

— Elizabeth Lesser, cofounder Omega Institute and author of the New York Times Bestseller  Broken Open, and other books including Cassandra Speaks

“You don’t need to be at a late stage of life to appreciate and learn from Seskin’s energetic collection of poems…We are blessed to have work such as this to help us see our way gracefully.”

—Justen Ahren, Martha’s Vineyard Poet Laureate and author of Devotion to Writing

“Jane Seskin writes with keen insight and eyes open to the inadvertent miracles in our everyday life.”

—Arthur Sze, author of Glass Constellation

“She’s lost height, years, love, and youthful abandon but in doing so, has gained a deep understanding of what it really means to be alive. Her poetry is honest, heartbreaking, witty and uplifting, a gift she wraps in gratitude.”       

—Carol Waldman, MS, Gerontology, former Executive Director, Glen Cove Senior Center

“Candid, funny, and best of all inspiring, the poems in Jane Seskin’s “Older Wiser Shorter” throw open a window on aging. Suddenly, a breeze of resilience sails through. I learned from Seskin’s poems: they become like mentors for the strange adventure of late-life living. Kindness infuses them. The ‘enormous optimism’ of this intrepid book might prove the greatest wisdom of the ages.”  

“Jane Seskin’s poems take us into her world and shed new light on our own. An important book for older women and those who care for and about them.”

—Ann Burack-Weiss, PH.D, LCSW, author of The Lioness in Winter: Writing an Old Woman’s Life

More about the Author

Jane Seskin is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and the author of 13 books (most recently the poetry collection “Older, Wiser, Shorter: The Truth and Humor of Life After 65”.)  She’s also written nonfiction articles and poetry online and for national magazines and journals (20 poems published in Cosmopolitan Magazine, five poems in Woman’s Day. Eighteen of her posts have been published in the Metropolitan Diary column in the New York Times.) Jane has been a writer-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center and Noepe Center for Literary Arts. She has also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Ms. Seskin is a practicing psychotherapist, who counseled survivors in individual and group treatment at the Crime Victims Treatment Center in New York for 20 years.

In her free time, she enjoys the theater, walking by the Hudson River, visiting with friends, reading poetry and mysteries (Louise Penny, David Baldacci, Donna Leon) and listening to jazz (Keith Jarrett, Houston Person, Chris Botti). Give her a piece of bread and butter and she’s a happy camper! Jane wrote therapeutic sound-bites on Twitter under the title: “Emotional Band-Aid. Small Steps for Change.” Find out more about her at her website.

In an interview, Jane Seskin can discuss:

  • Turning the stereotypically negative view of aging into a humorous and intimate poetry collection
  • How writing has allowed her to explore self-discovery and resulted in resilience 
  • The process of writing poetry versus her other works
  • Her mindset that aging is natural, can be exciting, and something to look forward to
  • How creating each poem is an experience in navigating aging

An Interview with Jane Seskin

1. What inspired you to write about aging through poetry?

I’ve been poeming for more than 40 years. It’s a natural way for me to quickly put a feeling or experience on paper to think about, reflect and expand upon in the days that follow.

2. What do you hope readers will take away from your collection of poetry?

I hope readers will identify with the stories I tell and know they’re not alone in this process of growing older.  That all of us age differently. And to some degree we still have the choice to create a full rich life.

3. What is the biggest challenge of navigating life trials, tribulations and vulnerabilities, especially when you begin to age? How can one be resilient to this challenge?

Vulnerability is shareable. When you tell another person of your feelings you make connections and that is the beginning of community. I’ve included Vows in this book that are affirmations to build on. When you affirm yourself, give yourself validation through the Vows, you build self-esteem and that is a pretty powerful feeling!

4. What is the most important lesson that your self-discovery journey has taught you?

That I am okay. That life is different at different ages. I’ve learned I can adapt to change.  That friendship is extraordinary and necessary. 

5. What does your poetry writing process look like? Where do you seek out inspiration for your poems?

I am alive and that is my inspiration. Days are both  difficult and soaring with joy and I let myself be open to all. As a therapist I am acutely aware of people’s behavior, the landscape around me and what goes unsaid. I also am very curious and eager to hear the stories of others and create my own.

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Dancer and Special Education Advocate Shares Journey of Raising Two Children with Disabilities

Posted on | by Marissa DeCuir

In “Fall and Recovery: Raising Children with Disabilities through Lessons Learned in Dance” (She Writes Press, Sept. 17, 2024), author Joanne De Simone delves into the transformative power of dance in navigating the challenges of parenting children with disabilities.

When the pediatrician placed the measuring tape around her infant’s head and noted, “His head is a little small,” Joanne knew that motherhood wouldn’t be as she had dreamt. Even as a special educator, Joanne wasn’t prepared to raise a child with a life-limiting brain malformation. Nor was she ready for the compounded pain and alienation that came when her second son was diagnosed with autism. But the struggle to balance her sons’ medical and educational challenges drove Joanne to reconnect with the lessons she learned as a modern dancer – and there she found enlightenment.

Inspired by her experience performing José Limón’s “There Is a Time,” based on Ecclesiastes 3, each chapter of “Fall and Recovery” details a dance lesson and the dichotomy of parenting children with disabilities. Over time, Joanne discovers that surviving motherhood isn’t a matter of strength, bravery, or faith. It’s a matter of linking your past experiences and creating your own purpose. It’s realizing that we live simultaneously in love and grief. In the end, dance teaches Joanne not only how to move freely through pain but also how to fall and recover.

“Fall and Recovery:  Raising Children with Disabilities through Lessons Learned in Dance”

Joanne De Simone | Sept. 17, 2024 | She Writes Press | Memoir 

Paperback | 978-1-64742-714-6 | $17.99

E-book | $12.99

About the Author

Joanne De Simone is a graduate of Hunter College with degrees in dance and special education. After dancing professionally with companies including José Limón and Dianne McIntyre, she dedicated her life to teaching children with disabilities and supporting families. Currently, Joanne is a special education advocate for the Alliance of Private Special Education Schools of North Jersey. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Exceptional Parent Magazine, and the Rumpus, among other publications. She is a contributing author to “Barriers and Belonging: Personal Narratives of Disabilities.” Joanne and her son, Sebastian, were instrumental in a legislative change allowing students with intellectual disabilities to participate in NCAA D3 intercollegiate sports. Joanne has been featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer, on HuffPo Live, CNN, and GMA3. Visit www.Special-EducationMom.com for more information.

Follow Joanne De Simone on social media:

Facebook | Twitter (X) | Instagram

In an interview, Joanne De Simone can discuss:

  • The profound challenges of raising two sons with disabilities and the life-changing moment at the pediatrician’s office that reshaped her journey as a mother.
  • Why it was important to her to be honest, vulnerable, and unfiltered in sharing her family’s experiences, and how this transparency fosters connection and understanding.
  • Her background in special education advocacy and her mission to empower parents navigating the special education system.
  • The co-existence of love and grief, and how accepting this duality is essential for emotional resilience.
  • The practical difficulties and emotional impact of raising children with disabilities, including feelings of pain and alienation. Plus, her hope that other struggling parents feel less isolated and more understood.
  • Her professional dance career and rediscovering how dance taught her valuable life lessons. Plus, how dance provided her solace, strength and enlightenment.
  • How each chapter in her book mirrors a dance lesson with the realities of parenting children with disabilities, drawing powerful parallels between the two.
  • How performing José Limón’s “There Is a Time” guided her approach to parenting, helping her navigate pain and transform struggles into recovery.
  • Her efforts advocating for legislative changes that allow students with intellectual disabilities to participate in NCAA D3 intercollegiate sports, opening new opportunities for inclusivity and recognition.

An Interview with Joanne De Simone

Before we dive into everything else, please introduce yourself and your family.

I’m a former dancer and special educator. I currently work as a special education parent advocate. My husband, John, works in film production. We have two sons. Benjamin was born with a rare brain malformation. He has cerebral palsy, an uncontrollable seizure disorder, and a soul lifting smile. Sebastian is on the autistic spectrum. He’s an accomplished long distance runner with an unflinching ability to see the good in others.

Can you share the moment you realized your motherhood journey would be different from what you anticipated?

When my oldest son was one week old, my husband and I took him to the pediatrician for a check-up. The doctor placed a measuring tape around his head and noted, “His head is a little small.” I knew instantly there was something wrong. I felt an immediate unease in my entire body telling me this journey was going to be unlike anything I’d dreamt.

What was your reaction to your second son’s diagnosis of autism? Did it compound the challenges you were already facing? Or did you feel more prepared?

I had spent a fair amount of time in denial before seeking a clinical diagnosis for Sebastian, so I was prepared for it when it came from the doctor. Prior to the diagnosis, I fought to hide from my and my husband’s observations, which clearly pointed to the fact that Sebastian was on the autism spectrum. It was too much to face and process the unknown future of yet another child. Nothing truly prepares you for the challenges and the stress of raising a child with high medical needs and another with autism. That’s why my experience as a special educator wasn’t enough to manage my version of motherhood.

The tone of your book is honest and vulnerable, sometimes dark yet hopeful. Why was it important to you to share your family’s experiences in this way?

Years ago I wrote an essay for Brain, Child Magazine called “Bury My Son Before I Die.” I discussed my conflict of having a child who might die, doing everything I could to keep him alive, and being terrified about what happens to him if I die first. The piece went viral. I was astonished by how many people reached out to me to share their stories. One parent wrote that for the first time, she didn’t feel like a monster for having all of these same thoughts. Knowing that this mom shared my experience, but shamed herself for having a normal response to a stressful situation broke me. It drove me to write about the difficult moments in the most unfiltered way.

How did your professional background in special education influence your initial approach to raising your children? Do you think that training prepared you to navigate your children’s disabilities? 

Having a background in special education allowed me to advocate for my children’s educational needs. There was a tremendous advantage to understanding the law and all the clinical information, but it didn’t prepare me for managing the emotions or the conflict that can come with parenting children with disabilities. It didn’t prepare me for the utter feeling of loneliness.

How did reconnecting with your past as a modern dancer help you navigate the challenges of raising two children with disabilities?

At first, my dance experience helped me with practical issues like doing stretching exercises with Benjamin to manage his tight muscles or teaching Sebastian about dance so he could be more mindful of his movements. Later, I realized that dance lessons could be generalized and used to approach the complex feelings I struggled with. As a dancer my goal was to express a story or feeling through movement. The message of the dance was more important than any one dancer on stage. It wasn’t about me. This mindset is useful when confronting complex medical decisions. When I get caught up worrying about how a decision will affect me and my ability to care for Benjamin, I remember that it’s important to focus on his needs and take myself out of the equation.

What are some specific dance lessons that you found particularly relevant to parenting children with disabilities, and how do these lessons manifest in your day-to-day life?

One of the dance lessons I learned was to live in the movement. It’s a reminder to focus on and enjoy what you’re doing in the present moment. As a parent, it’s so easy to worry about the future. This dance lesson reminds me to live one day at a time and focus on the moment I’m experiencing. Another lesson related to this idea is focusing on the process, not the product. When you choreograph a dance, or write a book, or raise a child, it’s important to focus on making the journey as fulfilling as possible as opposed to fretting about the end result.

In your book, you suggest that surviving motherhood with disabled children isn’t about strength or bravery alone. Can you elaborate on what that means to you?

I think when things don’t work out as we planned, it’s easy to fall into a state of blame, guilt, and regret. I know so many parents who feel like complete failures. I certainly fell into the habit of wondering what I did wrong. Dance taught me that everything connects through space and time. For me, turning a presumed failure into success was a matter of linking my experiences and using my collective knowledge to move forward with purpose, thus limiting regret.

How did you come to terms with the coexistence of love and grief, and how did this realization impact your approach to parenting?

If you watch José Limón’s “There Is a Time,” you will see a community of dancers experiencing all the extremes of life. Looking back at my experience performing the dance and comparing it to the rest of my life, I was struck by the extremes I experienced as a child when my father died on my brother’s wedding day. I was able to accept that extreme opposing feelings are a normal part of life and parenting.

Similarly, how did you cope with the emotional impact of your children’s diagnoses? How did you manage the feelings of pain and isolation that accompanied these challenges?

Any emotional experience requires time to process. I think it’s essential to take the time to acknowledge both the joy and the sorrow that comes with living. Acceptance is not a place you arrive at by ignoring negative feelings. Pain is not an enemy, it’s a messenger. Parents are often told to enjoy every moment of their children’s lives. I don’t think being present and fully attending to the moment should be exclusive to positive experiences. In modern dance gravity is a force used to generate movement. You fall with the direct intention to rise. You must fall to recover.

How old are your sons now? How are they doing?

Benjamin is 25 years old. He is doing well and enjoying life at home now that his formal education is finished. He graduated at the start of Covid so that was a hard transition for everyone. There are still limitations for disabled adults when it comes to post-secondary opportunities especially for adults with complex medical needs. There are a lack of programs and a lack of providers.

Sebastian is 21 years old. He is thoroughly enjoying the independence that college affords him. He’s studying education and hopes to work with children with disabilities. He is also a proud three season NCAA athlete competing in cross country and  indoor/outdoor track.

Praise for “Fall and Recovery” and Joanne De Simone

“What’s most evident in the narrative is the love that De Simone and her husband have for their two boys…A moving account of caring and advocating for children with disabilities.” 

– Kirkus Reviews

“An unflinchingly honest and beautifully rendered memoir.  With breathtaking clarity, the author’s words dance across each page, imbued with love, pain and heart, as she shares the challenges and joys of raising her two special sons.”

— Diana Kupershmit, author of Emma’s Laugh: The Gift of Second Chances

“Joanne De Simone takes the reader on a powerful journey, masterfully weaving lessons learned as a dancer into her experiences as a mother of two children with disabilities. It is beautifully written, heartbreaking, and inspiring. The raw honesty of her storytelling allows the reader to truly understand the complexities of raising children with complicated challenges. ”

— Jesse Torrey, LAC, MA, author of Smiles & Duct Tape

“A memoir of strength, persistence, and—most of all—love. Parenting is never easy, but, as De Simone discovers, raising two children with disabilities can easily knock a mother down. Gracefully weaving the threads of dance, motherhood, and dis- ability through her remarkable journey, De Simone shows us all how to ‘fall with the direct intention to rise.’”

— Karen DeBonis, author of “Growth: A Mother, Her Son, and the Brain Tumor They Survived”

“Heartfelt and engaging, this memoir of raising children requiring vastly varying degrees of care and advocacy delicately threads blurred, complicated, and demanding lines. With the best parts of quiet compassion, noiseless rage, and complete, unconditional acceptance, Joanne De Simone depicts a specific, sweeping motherhood that soars far above unrelenting daily demands. Through the lens of her foundation in dance, Joanne embraces the gift of the children in her home, not those who once occupied her imagination.” 

— Lisa Romeo, author of “Starting With Goodbye: A Daughter’s Memoir of Love After Loss”

“The Limón technique centers the defined poles of ‘fall’ and ‘recovery.’ However, the dance is what happens in the undefined, unpredictable, unsettled, and magnificently alive moment-to- moment between the two. Wholly embodying this in-between mercurial time/space, Joanne De Simone writes—as she danced, as she lives—with raw honesty, brilliance, and seemingly boundless generosity. Joanne’s is a fierce grace; not delicately poised above, but rather in a visceral and dynamic intimacy with the gravity, heartfelt vulnerability, and wonder of person and parenthood.” 

— Steuart Gold, somatic psychotherapist and former Limón Company dancer

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A psychologist haunted by childhood trauma must unearth all that is buried in her past

Posted on | by Marissa DeCuir

A psychologist haunted by childhood trauma must unearth all that is buried in her past in this twisting, lyrical novel of suspense by Mary Higgins Clark Award–winning author Jenny Milchman.

Psychologist Arles Shepherd treats troubled children, struggling with each case to recover from her own traumatic past, much of which she’s lost to the shadows of memory. Having just set up a new kind of treatment center in the remote Adirondack wilderness, Arles longs to heal one patient in particular: a ten-year-old boy who has never spoken a word—or so his mother, Louise, believes.

Hundreds of miles away, Cass Monroe is living a parent’s worst nightmare. His twelve-year-old daughter has vanished on her way home from school. With no clues, no witnesses, and no trail, the police are at a dead end. Fighting a heart that was already ailing, and struggling to keep both his marriage and himself alive, Cass turns to a pair of true-crime podcasters for help.

Arles, Louise, and Cass will soon find their lives entangled in ways none of them could have anticipated. And when the collision occurs, a quarter-century-old secret will be forced out of hiding. Because nothing screams louder than silence.

About the Author

Jenny Milchman is the Mary Higgins Clark Award–winning and USA Today bestselling author of the psychological thrillers Cover of Snow, Ruin Falls, As Night Falls, Wicked River, and The Second Mother. Her work has received praise from media ranging from the New York Times to the San Francisco Journal of Books; earned spots on Top 10 lists from Suspense Magazine to the Strand Magazine; made Best Of lists from PopSugar to PureWow; and garnered starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, and Shelf Awareness, in addition to numerous other mentions. Before turning to fiction, Jenny earned a graduate degree in clinical psychology and practiced at a rural community mental health center for more than a decade. She lives in the Catskill Mountains with her family. For more information, visit www.jennymilchman.com.

The Usual Silence

by Jenny Milchman

Thomas & Mercer | September 17, 2024 | 369 pages Trade Paperback Original | ISBN 9781662518423

$3.99 Kindle e-Book | ASIN B0CQ35ZK15

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Steeped in Viking history and werewolf lore, new supernatural horror novel “Family Pack” leaves readers howling for more

Posted on | by Marissa DeCuir

As the powerhouse founder of Running Wild Press, Lisa Diane Kastner has been featured in Forbes and has claimed a spot on multiple “Best of” lists. In her acquisition editorial endeavors, she has identified talent like Jamie Ford (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet) and Tori Eldridge (Dance Among the Flames) among many other acclaimed authors and titles. A celebrated author in her own right, Lisa (pen name: Kali Metis) is gearing up to release “Family Pack” (Running Wild, October 3, 2024), the hotly anticipated follow-up to her 2022 novel “Cure.” 

In “Family Pack,” readers reconnect with protagonist Luna Auber after her trip to Sweden revealed her lycanthropic ancestry, igniting her shapeshifting ability. Set against the backdrop of a fierce conflict between two primary lycanthropic organizations–The Lycanthrope Society (TLS), which believe that humans and lycanthropes should exist in harmony, and The Righteous Group (TRG), which believe that lycanthropes are intended to rule over all other species–Luna must summon the courage to fight for what she believes in and battle to prevent the decimation of the world as she knows it.

“A study of otherness, identity, and belonging in the shape of a high-stakes supernatural adventure, Metis changes up the werewolf genre in a beguiling mix of medieval and modern. With a touch of romance and a good dose of danger, ‘Cure’ eclipses expectations.”

—Lee Murray, USA Today Bestselling Author and Bram Stoker Award® winner

“Family Pack”

Lisa Diane Kastner | October 3, 2024 | Running Wild Press | Magical Realism/Horror

Paperback | ISBN: 9781960018878 | $19.99 

Praise for the author and “Cure”…

“The stakes couldn’t be higher for Luna. Love, health, safety, family, identity—they’re all in play as she sets out on a journey that stretches across continents and centuries and finally into the mystical, a menacing world of secrets and myths and shapeshifters. In ‘Cure,’ Kali Metis deftly weaves storylines of past and present that hurtle toward a breathtaking climax that make it impossible to put down this spellbinding tale.” 

—Curtis Smith, author of “The Magpie’s Return,” named best of 2020 by Kirkus Reviews

“Kali Metis is an exciting and unique new voice in modern fantasy and a writer you need to pay attention to.” 

—Taylor Grant, Bram Stoker Award® Finalist and author of “The Many Deaths of Cole Parker”

Lisa Diane Kastner “reinvents the werewolf novel in a compelling and terrifying way, and brings a new heroine to the forefront! Very highly recommended!” 

—Jonathan Maberry, NY Times bestselling author of
“The Wolfman” and “Kagen the Damned”

About “Cure”…

Stunned by her brother’s apparent suicide, Luna Auber discovers that he has not only left her the keys to his apartment but also trip to Sweden. Per his instructions, Luna is to explore their unexpected heritage of the Birke, an iconic female Viking warrior. Following her brother’s lead, Luna will soon discover that the terrible shakes he suffered from were misdiagnosed. The shaking was in fact the early stages of his transformation. Her brother was a shapeshifter. A lycanthrope. And her own shaking has just begun.

“Cure”

Lisa Diane Kastner | October 18, 2022 | Running Wild Press | Magical Realism/Horror

Paperback | ISBN: 9781955062312 | $19.99

About the Author…

LISA DIANE KASTNER (A.K.A KALI METIS): was born in one of the most dangerous cities in America. In high school, she was a dancer and co-host on Dance Party USA. At the age of 20 her house had burned down and she was suddenly homeless. She spent the next several years rebuilding and obtained her Bachelors, MBA, and MFA. While fulfilling an amazing corporate career, she began Running Wild, LLC. Lisa was named to Yahoo Finance’s Top 10 Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2021, nominated to FORBES NEXT 1000, featured in FORBES and named to New York Weekly’s Top Ten Females to Watch in 2021. Lisa has been an acclaimed writer and editor for more than twenty years. Learn more about her work at: https://lisadkastner.com 

 

Follow Lisa Diane Kastner on social media:

Twitter: @runwildbooks | TikTok: @lisakastner843 

Follow Running Wild Press on social media:

Twitter: @runwildbooks | Instagram: @runningwildpressllc

In an interview, Lisa Diane Kastner can discuss:

  • What originally inspired her to write “Cure” 
  • How she approaches writing and research, especially when Viking history is involved
  • How she tackled central themes of identity and belonging in both books
  • Her work with Running Wild Press, and how she balances her “editor persona” and her “writer persona”
  • Whether readers can expect more from Luna Auber in the future

An Interview with

Lisa Diane Kastner

1. What first inspired you to write “Cure”? 

I had been in conversation with Jonathan Maberry about writing a novel and we were tossing around ideas. When I threw out the idea to create a storyline that reveals the Birka, a female Viking warrior, was actually a werewolf, it naturally expanded from there. 

2. What does your writing process look like? Was there a lot of research involved for the tale of Freya and Ulf, and Viking lore in general?

Typically, I come up with an idea and then I start researching background on the topic. I then come up with what I think would be a great structure for the novel to give me a roadmap to start with. I typically will start writing from there. Sometimes I write what I think will be a short story and quickly realize that the storyline is too big for less than 15,000 words. 

3. How do themes of identity and belonging play into both “Cure” and “Family Pack”?

Much of the underlying story is about Luna, who was an orphan originally of undisclosed heritage, discovering why those things that previously caused others to mock her or reject her actually elevate her in the world of lycanthropes. 

4. Can you tell us a bit about your work with Running Wild Press? How do you approach your work as an editor versus as a writer?

As an editor, I’m looking for unique voices that tell great stories. At Running Wild our focus is on great stories that don’t fit neatly in a box and at RIZE our focus is on great genre stories written by people of color and those from other underrepresented groups. 

As an author, I’m typically looking for ways to tell unique stories that will entice, engage, entertain, and enlighten. 

5. What’s next for you? Do you have plans to continue Luna Auber’s story?

Absolutely!  We’re publishing an anthology of stories told in the world of CURE in 2025 with titles written by fans of the tale. WEIRD TALES magazine recently published a short story called, “Laurel Caverns” in the Occult Detective edition https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/products/book-fr9f which is set in the world of CURE and features Luna as the antagonist. Plus, we’ll be publishing another book in the world of CURE, most likely in 2026 and another series set in this world of lycanthropes but leveraging the structure of DUNE. The last one I’m doing on a dare by Jonathan Maberry so I better get to work. 😉 

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Industry Interview with the creator of of story time teen, James Tilton

Posted on | by Marissa DeCuir

For our 2024 blog series, we’re highlighting industry professionals to find out more about their time in the book world. Follow along for insight on what catches a reviewer’s interest, things to avoid when pitching a media outlet, what librarians are searching for and more. 

Today, we’re chatting with James Tilton, the creator of Story Time Teen and a Creative Writing teacher at his local public high school, where he’s helped hundreds of students publish poems, vignettes, and short stories for distribution at a nearby independent bookstore. He’s hoping one day he can see his own words in print as well.

1. As someone who hears about A LOT of books, what makes one stand out to you?

I’m always a sucker for new titles from authors I already love. Nic Stone and Becky Albertalli come to mind especially. I’ll read anything they write, and I suspect their teams are well aware of that at this point!

2. What’s the worst thing an author (or publicist!) can do in telling you about book they’d like you to consider for coverage?

I know that some people say “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” but I’m a sucker for a good cover. If you’ve got a great cover, include it at the bottom of your email. I love seeing stunning covers! It’s how I first fell in love with Nicola Yoon‘s A Sun Is Also A Star.

3. What makes your job easier?

We at StoryTimeTeen have a long-running series where young adult authors write letters to their teen selves. It’s incredible! We get the most honest, heart-breaking/warming letters from the most incredible authors, and it’s truly a pleasure to publish them. BUT sometimes those same amazing authors and publicists assume that we already have their bio, headshots, and book covers or can find that information easily online. The problem is that those things change sometimes, and it can be a little tricky to know if we got the right bio or the finalized cover or the most recent bio. Authors and publicists who remember to send that information to us, whether via email or as a Google Drive link, are my favorite! That simple step saves us tons of time and can help us make sure we’re getting everything right before the post goes live.

4. What’s the most memorable (or maybe funniest) pitch that’s ever come your way?

I’m a sucker for wordplay. One of my favorite pitches recently came from Books Forward actually. You pitched Tracy Badua‘s newest book as “When A Music Festie With Your Bestie Gets Testy.” That headline grabbed me. I guess you could say I thought it was the… bestie. Too much? I’ll stop.

5. Did you always know you wanted to be involved in the book world?

I got involved in book blogging when I first started writing young adult novels myself. My agent thought it would be a good way for me to find a bookish community, and I’m so glad I listened to her. I’m a high school teacher as well, and I’ve found so many books that I can recommend to my students. We’ve even got a book club now and take regular field trips to local book festivals, including YALLWest, where I was lucky enough to be honored with a Purple Ink Award. None of that would have happened if it wasn’t for book blogging.

6. What is your most recommended book and why?

That’s such a hard question, and it’s why I created an algorithm to do it for me. It takes a reader’s bookish preferences and gives them a personalized recommendation in less than a minute. I call it the Book Rec Generator, and it’s one of the things that really sets StoryTimeTeen apart! You can try it here.

7. What is a book that surprised you recently?

I just finished TJ Klune‘s In The Lives Of Puppets this morning, and it was incredible. It’s this Pinocchio retelling set in the future that manages to be laugh-out-loud funny and still have so much heart. His writing always makes me fall in love with being human, and this book is no exception.

8. What is your favorite part about working in the book community?

The free books, for sure. I think it’s my students’ favorite part too. My classroom library is loaded at this point, and they love it!

Exploring AI Part 2: limitations and legalities

Posted on | by Marissa DeCuir

Content alert: the following was written by a human.

In this three part series exploring AI, Books Forward is chatting with Dr. Andrew Burt, author of lots of published science fiction, including his newest novel, “Termination of Species”, for those who like AI, biotech, chess and a bit of romance.

Dr. Burt was VP of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) for several years. He heads Critters, the first writers workshop on the web and home to other writerly resources. He runs ReAnimus Press and Hugo-winning Advent Publishers, helping award-winning and bestselling authors breathe life into great books. Outside of writing, he’s been a computer science professor (AI, networking, security, privacy and free-speech/social issues); founder of Nyx.net, the world’s first Internet Service Provider; and a technology consultant/author/speaker. For a hobby, he constructs solutions to the world’s problems. (He jokes: Fortunately, nobody listens.)

PART 1: Changes in publishing

What can AI NOT do?

There are plenty of non-writing related aspects that AI won’t help with; at least for now.

The current breed of AI is focused on creating content, not so much on finding answers to questions or planning. So ChatGPT isn’t going to be great at finding a list of places to advertise, but it can help write ads. It could regurgitate ideas for marketing plans that it’s found that others have written, but AI’s can’t yet really plan such things. Remember, it’s all based on the probability of what word could come next in an answer.

That’s just today’s AIs. Nobody foresaw ChatGPT’s capabilities just a couple years ago; it just popped up based on AI people trying things with huge amounts of data. (And, frankly, getting surprised at the result.) Tomorrow’s AIs… who knows. That’s one reason I wrote a novel about where AIs and humans might be going.

What should authors be wary about when it comes to using AI?

If a newbie wants to use AI to write their whole book/story/article, then it won’t really be “theirs”; it won’t be their own artistic creation. If the goal of a certain author is to breathe life into their own artistic creation, then the more they use AI the less they’re doing that.

If an author’s goal is to make money, by quickly creating some particular text, then AI is getting pretty close to that in a number of areas. Again, the shorter the text, the better AI will be at it. A lot of AI generated text won’t be salable, though; so don’t bother trying to get rich quick by sending in a bunch of AI stories or books to get published. (As many people are doing, clogging the slush piles of publishers. This ultimately hurts new authors, as publishers shut their doors to slush and only accept work from authors they know, or via agents or other forms of vetting.)

If an author does want to create “art,” they should minimize the use of AI. That applies to any use of it, for idea generation, editing for length, smoothing out word choices, or critiquing—any of that reduces their artistic input.

A big problem with AI content is that it often contains factually incorrect information. So, never rely on AI content to be correct. The technical term for it is “hallucination,” but the lay term for it is “lying.” I wrote a couple blog posts about this showing how insidious their lying is. Generative AI’s are structurally incapable of telling true from false information (they are literally making randomized guesses at what the next word in a sentence might sound good), so I’ll repeat this: Never rely on them for factual accuracy.

Another pitfall to be aware of with AI created text is that it tends to have a certain style about it. It can often come off as bland, corporate, uninspired or generic. AI’s are, after all, mimicking the sort of “average of everything ever written” in their approach. Even if you ask it for a certain style, the way these AIs work is by looking for the most generic output. They look for the “most likely” next word that follows the words they have so far. Then they look for the “most likely” next word after that, and the next. This inevitably produces a sort of non-unique style, or if you ask it for a specific style, like “write like a pirate”, you get a generic version of a requested style.

To further keep you up at night, there may be obvious or unknown biases in AI output. (Gender, race, ethnicity, etc.)

And some readers may react negatively if they know or think you’ve used AI. For example, people have won awards based on what turns out to be AI generated content. People ask, how deserving are they? How much of the award-winning aspect is their own, vs. software created?

What are the legalities surrounding AI?

From a legal standpoint, it’s unclear if there are copyright infringement issues at play. The current batch of AIs were “trained” by “reading” massive amounts of (copyrighted) material. If they then spit out some text, there’s a question whether it’s either a direct copy of some of the input text (unlikely, but not impossible), or a close enough derivative of it, that some author of the original text could find out and bring legal action about it. Such lawsuits are already happening. (Whether they win or lose, defending yourself against a lawsuit is costly and time consuming.) Some authors contend that merely using their work as input without permission is illegal (thus anything it creates as output they contend is likewise illegal). It will be for the courts to decide this since it’s such unexplored legal territory. There’s no law against copying an artist’s style (freedom you have to like Yoda write); you just can’t copy others’ specific artistic creations.

It’s also unclear if AI-generated or AI-assisted text itself can be copyrighted. So far the answer has been “No” on AI generated text. So if you use AI to write a book, article, etc., it may not be something you can copyright—that is, anyone else may be able to copy it for free. Using AI for assistance? Totally unknown copyright issue.

As a final thought, Amazon has been asking authors if their KDP content was produced with assistance from AI. It’s unknown what they’ll do with this information, but it’s possible they’ll refuse to publish such works (as they now do with books that contain whatever they deem too much public domain content).

 

Worried about book industry scams? A few helpful resources

Posted on | by Marissa DeCuir

Recently Writer’s Digest ran an article I wrote to help authors avoid AI-generated Bookstagram scams.

As a former newspaper journalist, I feel so passionate about helping people discern reality from fake information.

The rise of social media has certainly played its role in causing a sincere confusion between real and fake news, though propaganda and scams are nothing new.

Many industries have their share of scammers trying to con people out of money.

Specifically in the book industry, our author clients often ask our Books Forward team if a promotional offering is worthwhile. And while it’s typically not, the real question cuts even deeper: is the opportunity even legitimate?

We’ve had the joy of representing authors and promoting their books for decades, and with that experience has come many promotional programs that make ridiculously exaggerated (sometimes flat out false) offers to our clients.

Be alert, be aware and ask questions.

Ask your author friends and industry insiders for their experiences and guidance on whether or not a promotion is credible.

And consider these helpful resources:

  1. Stay tuned to The Authors Guild Publishing Scam Alerts.
  2. Writer Beware consistently shares real scam examples and questionable trends in the industry.
  3. Author Alexa Donne released this video walk through of two real book marketing scams. 
  4. Books Forward author Dr. Seema Yasmin’s “What the Fact? Finding the Truth in All the Noise” may not be book industry focused, but there are plenty of great concrete tips and tools to lean on in considering what’s real or fake.

Happy truth hunting!

Semi-autobiographical writing exercise turned series celebrating LGBTQ+ youth

Posted on | by Marissa DeCuir

Barnes & Noble NOOK Top Indie Favorites for August and September 2024

Seattle, WA – Award-winning author Kelly Vincent re-imagines their teenage years in their empowering series “The Art of Being Ugly” — a compelling story of a teen grappling with their gender identity. The anticipated finale, “Ugliest,” (KV Books LLC, August 13, 2024) is a necessary and impactful commentary on the struggles LGBTQ+ teens face amidst a hyper-conservative landscape threatening the rights of queer people. 

Life, academics, and activism. Facing hate and bigotry, can this agender teen make a difference in LGBTQ+ rights?

About the novel: Determined to excel, seventeen-year-old Nic Summers strives to find time to survive physics, build confidence, and enter a competitive art mentorship at the local university in Oklahoma City. However, Nic’s stress skyrockets when a protest video results in them and a trans friend being forced by the school to move to the girls’ dorm. Burning with a strong sense of justice, the normally shy teenager summons the courage to speak out against damaging state legislation. But when the vision goes viral, they’re shocked when the authorities hand down an ultimatum: stop or be expelled.

Can Nic dig deep and prevail against institutional bullies ready to erase their identity?

Sharing the plight of those too often silenced, author Kelly Vincent opens the door to understanding and empathy. Through the eyes of a big-hearted main character, Vincent leads the way toward accepting and appreciating each other’s differences.

“Ugliest”

Kelly Vincent | August 13th, 2024| KV Books LLC

Young Adult | LGBTQ+ | Fiction

Paperback | 9781958342169 | $10.99

Ebook | 9781958342152 | $2.99

KELLY VINCENT (they/ them) wrangles data weekdays and spends the rest of their time playing with words. They grew up in Oklahoma but have moved around quite a bit, with Glasgow, Scotland being their favorite stop. They now live near Seattle with several cats who help them write their stories by strategically walking across the keyboard, with their first novel, “Finding Frances,” a fine example of this technique. 

Their four subsequent books, “Ugly,” “Always the New Girl,” “Binding Off,” and “Uglier,” were released in 2022 and 2023. “Finding Frances” and “Always the New Girl” won several indie awards and “Ugly” was selected as the Honor book for SCBWI’s Spark Award in the Books for Older Readers category for 2022. 

Kelly has a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Oklahoma City University’s Red Earth program. Learn more about Kelly on their website. 

Follow Kelly Vincent on social media:

Instagram: @kvbooks

TikTok: @kv_books

Facebook: Kelly Vincent, Young Adult Author

In an interview, Kelly Vincent can discuss:

  • How current legislation, such as the “don’t say gay” bill and attacks on gender affirming care inspired parts of the plot for “The Art of Being Ugly” series 
  • Why trans and nonbinary stories need to be showcased in the young adult genre 
  • How writing Nic’s story helped Vincent navigate their own journey with their gender identity 
  • The writing exercise that inspired the series: Vincent imagining themselves as a teenager now instead of in the 80’s and 90’s 
  • How the safety of trans and nonbinary people cannot be separated from politics
  • The importance of protecting the rights of trans and nonbinary people and how rolling back rights for LGBTQ+ folks negatively impacts everyone
  • How Vincent’s horror over the Oklahoma trans teen Nex Benedict’s real-life tragedy motivated them to expedite the release of this story well before the November US elections

Praise for “The Art of Being Ugly” Series

Barnes & Noble NOOK Top Indie Favorites for August and September 2024 

BookLife Editor’s Pick 

“A hopeful and empowering novel of teen activism.”

 –Kirkus Reviews 

“An important work of YA fiction, Vincent’s evolving storyline and mature thematic focus make this a profound work of LGBT literature.”

–SPR Reviews

“Kelly Vincent’s novel Ugliest is the earnest continuation of an agender Oklahoma teenager’s coming-of-age story.” 

–Foreword Reviews

“Empowering journey of LGBTQ teens standing up against adult judgment.” 

–BookLife Review, Editor’s Pick

Honor book in SCBWI’s 2022 Spark Award in the Books for Older Readers category

Semifinalist in the 2019 BookLife Prize for Fiction, Children’s and Young Adult category

“The compelling story will resonate with young adults going on their own difficult journeys and should help them feel less alone” —Kirkus Reviews, UGLY

“A book so obviously special and powerful that it feels like a gift” –BookLife Reviews, Editor’s Pick, UGLY 

“For readers looking for a novel that champions the underdog, offers a deep dive into the heartache and triumphs of growing up, and presents a candid look at the struggles facing LGBTQ+ youth, this novel hits all the marks and more, for a valuable addition to contemporary YA literature.” 

–Self-Publishing Review, UGLY 

Listed in Kirkus Reviews Top 100 Indie Picks for 2023 (December 15th, 2023)

Kirkus Reviews Editor’s Indie Pick (October 15th, 2023)

“Those seeking a thoughtful story about gender issues, with an endearing main character, will enjoy Ugly.” –BlueInk Reviews, UGLIER 

“An impressively honest and intimate first person POV powers this story of a young person struggling with gender and trying to find their place in a world that is seemingly determined to ‘erase’ them” 

–Kirkus Starred Review, UGLIER 

“Uglier depicts a captivating story of adolescent growth.” –BookLife Prize, UGLIER 

“Uglier is commendable for fostering increased empathy and understanding, and offering a beacon for young readers navigating the turbulent landscape of identity and acceptance” –Self-Publishing Review, UGLIER 

“Nic is still the same lovable, unwavering hero that she was in Vincent’s last book, despite the cost she suffers for simply trying to be herself… Readers will be eager for more of Nic in the future.” –BookLife Review

An Interview with Kelly Vincent

1. Tell us about the thought experiment that inspired “The Art of Being Ugly” series. 

I struggled with my gender growing up in Oklahoma in the 80s and 90s, and after I learned about the concept of gender not being a binary, I really felt like mine was a story worth sharing. That concept wasn’t in my mind when I was growing up, so I constantly felt like a girl utterly failing at being a girl and just being generally wrong. I wondered what it would be like to grow up now when those ideas are out there. I put Nic through the experiences I had been through—most of the incidents in the book Ugly really happened, although some are exaggerations and things were shifted time-wise—but also gave them Google, which made everything different. The books Uglier and Ugliest are almost all fiction, but I was still imagining myself going through those experiences, constantly asking myself, what would you have done in this situation?

2. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing trans, non-binary, and agender teens today?

I think it is fundamentally difficult to understand your gender when it feels different from what everyone else thinks it is, especially as a teenager (or an even younger kid) because you don’t have much life experience to build on. Most kids—especially those in red states—also don’t have exposure to ideas around what’s possible in terms of gender identity in a way that’s safe and fair. They often absorb the idea that deviating from the binary or what other people think makes them a “freak,” and in states where hateful politicians are creating legislation that takes away their ability to identify accurately (and giving permission to everyone else to mistreat anyone not conforming), it’s especially dangerous. People in positions of authority parrot anti-bullying talk when people are looking, and then turn around and back the bullies because the “freaks” deserve it for not conforming. This was my experience growing up and I honestly don’t think it’s changed much in school settings. 

3. How have current events impacted your writing? 

Every piece of anti-LGBTQ legislation that hate pushes through red state legislatures is distressing. So many people who don’t actually support these laws have been sitting by, electing these politicians filled with hate and thinking it doesn’t matter since it doesn’t affect them. But there have been some signs that people are waking up and it’s just so important that people are made to understand how important it is to stop letting politicians strip everyone of their basic human rights. 

Download press kit and photos

Exploring AI Part 1: changes in publishing

Posted on | by Marissa DeCuir

Content alert: the following was written by a human.

In this three part series exploring AI, Books Forward is chatting with Dr. Andrew Burt, author of lots of published science fiction, including his newest novel, “Termination of Species,” for those who like AI, biotech, chess and a bit of romance.

Dr. Burt was vice president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association for several years. He heads Critters, the first writers workshop on the web and home to other writerly resources. He runs ReAnimus Press and Hugo-winning Advent Publishers, helping award-winning and bestselling authors breathe life into great books. Outside of writing, he’s been a computer science professor (AI, networking, security, privacy and free-speech/social issues); founder of Nyx.net, the world’s first Internet Service Provider; and a technology consultant/author/speaker. For a hobby, he constructs solutions to the world’s problems. (He jokes: Fortunately, nobody listens.)

PART 1

When ebooks emerged, experts predicted “the end” of traditional book publishing. Is text generative AI “the end” of traditional book writing and promotion?

I was a fan of ebooks since the late 90s, when the very first ebook devices were coming out, and I largely only read only ebooks. As such—plus being a computer science professor and science fiction writer, inevitably peering into the future—I was indeed one of those predicting significant changes to how people read, and thus, to publishing.

However, my predictions came with a caveat, one which has not (yet) materialized: I said that when ebooks could mimic the most relevant aspects of a paper book, they would likely replace paper books. The tipping point I proposed was that when there a device that looked like a book, i.e. several hundred sheets of pages with words and images on them, bound at a spine, the “codex” format, but digital—basically a bound set of hundreds of sheets of thin digital paper, that can each act as a screen displaying whatever pixels we want—and super cheap—then there would be no real need for print books. There is something that people inherently like about these objects we call books: the shape, the multiple pages that you can riffle, that you can stick a finger in to hold a place, that you can quickly flip forward and back in, that can be dropped in a bathtub without causing (too much) emotional damage, etc. (and, as is almost invariably pointed out, “the smell”). But make the pages digital instead of static text, and wow, that would be a game changer.

Ebook devices don’t mimic that today. They display one page at a time and navigation within is cumbersome. The bound, multiple page aspect of a book is critical to its success. This “codex” format pretty much replaced “scrolls” of old. It’s a better format for humans to use. So, the market for print books still thrives.

On the publishing side, it’s not ebooks per se that have altered publishing, but the inexpensive cost of anyone being able to publish a book—both as an ebook and as a print-on-demand (POD) physical book. The one competitive advantage that traditional publishers still have that small or self publishers don’t, is the massive marketing dollars. This creates not just the ability to run ads and do all kinds of promotion to lots of eyeballs, but also the ability to print thousands or millions of copies in advance and get them on store shelves across the country and world. Thus, new authors with a traditional publisher still don’t get access to those huge advantages, and this is where publishing has changed. Now if you submit to the major publishers and get rejected, you now publish it yourself for a lower cost. It may not sell many copies, but it might. Lightning strikes. And the sheer volume of such books does, in aggregate, take readers away from books from the major publishers. A small number of readers each of millions of self-published books represents millions of readers who aren’t reading books from the majors. Readers have vastly more choice.

So—and I’m really working my way back to AI!—the new technology of ebooks, POD and free platforms like Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) did change publishing, but only when they meet the needs of the consumers. Likewise with AI.

So how do you anticipate AI will affect the industry exactly?

AI is really taking off recently in terms of capabilities, mostly because the computing power has reached the point it allows the massive amounts of calculations necessary.

It’s worth briefly mentioning how these “Generative” AIs work (also called “Large Language Models”, or LLMs; because they were trained on massive amounts of text). They look at a huge amount of text (and images, etc.), mush it up into hundreds of billions of numbers, and spit out the most likely next words based on the clues it finds in a question you ask it. It’s all based on the probability of what word could come next in an answer.

What we see today is the tip of the iceberg in what these AI systems can do. But, looking at what they can already do today, we can (at last!) get to some kind of answer to the question:

When AI can do what consumers-of-writing want, and do it better than humans can do it (notably in the realm of cheaper and faster, of acceptable quality writing), then, yes, AI will be “the end” of that kind of traditional writing.

But note I put some weasel words in there: “that kind” of writing.

There are all kinds of written material out there. Science fiction novels, fantasy short stories, scripts for rom-com movies, self-help web pages, historical scholarly journal articles about the crusades, scientific papers describing experimental results in quantum physics, holiday greeting cards, ad copy for TV commercials about cat food, headline news articles, business proposals, answering support questions in a chat session, getting ideas where to visit for a road trip, job descriptions, condolence emails, instructions for assembling a bookcase… the variety of “writing” is just massive.

Generative AIs like ChatGPT, Gemini, etc., can do some of these things already to the point where paying humans isn’t needed. This of course applies beyond words, to any kind of content, images, videos, audio, etc. These are human “creative” endeavors, even if Ikea pictorial assembly instructions aren’t exactly heartwarming art. 🙂

And that’s a big divide: Content created for art’s sake vs. content for commercial purposes.

I can say with near certainty that AIs will be “the end” of many of these human content-creating endeavors as career type jobs. Chatbots are already replacing human jobs for tech support. (Maybe not well, but they’re so much cheaper that businesses can’t help themselves.) AI created artwork can already replace costly human artists. There won’t be any aspect of “writing” (or other content creation) that won’t be touched by AI in some way. It’s simple economics: When a free/cheap method of producing something is discovered that mostly gets the same job done, it mostly replaces the old more expensive method. Cars replaced horses. How often do people mail hand-written letters to each other? Or send faxes? etc.

If/when this will happen to writing (and promotion) will depend on the kind of writing and promotion we’re talking about. But there are so many kinds of content creation that people are paid for now that simply will be cheaper to replace with AI generated content.

In terms of book writing specifically, how does AI come into play?

At book length, it will take longer. AI can’t quite today write a horror novel better than Stephen King—most AI generated novels are pretty horrible—today—so Stephen King’s job is safe for a few years. Maybe 5-10? If we’re talking non-fiction, since generative AI’s are untrustworthy for factual correctness, they could maybe produce readable prose, but you’d have to carefully check every single fact. AI might be able to scrounge up some actual facts (that you verify) that you didn’t know about, since they’ve been trained on massive amounts of data, although there are a lot of older books and articles that aren’t scanned yet, thus not available to AIs and only to humans. So, I don’t foresee AI replacing book length non-fiction for some time (although it may help make it much easier/faster to write).

At short length, AIs can already create poetry that humans can read and think has deep meaning, even when the AI creating it had no such intention. For that matter, I wrote a really simple AI back in the 90s that created a particular kind of gibberish writing derived from some input text. [It’s at critters.org/bonsai.] It was only a few lines of computer code, but it produced some random, intriguing sounding output that was so odd it often seemed “deep”—simply because humans are good at finding meaning in randomness. Think of how we find animal shapes in clouds.

When we add in the concept of collaboration, where a human author uses AI as a tool to help them write a “better” book than they could have alone, that opens up even more options for AI to replace human effort. Just like spreadsheets made it possible for non-techies to do some complex tasks, people who are less capable at writing can use AI to create books or other length content, especially (non-factual) non-fiction, like a book of jokes (to the extent facts don’t play a role). An AI is suited to taking stilted, grammatically incorrect, typo-ridden prose and making it sound much better. There’s a large market for that. But this could be a double edged sword: In this case, more newbie human “authors” benefit from being able to write “better”; but flooding the market with magnitudes more competent texts means even fewer sales for authors who have the native talent for writing and don’t need AI help. This isn’t to say anyone can ask ChatGPT to “write a 300 page book on the evolution of dinosaurs” and presto! out pops a bestseller, but AI might cut down their effort by a factor of, say, ten. (And who knows, in 5-10 years…)

People write a lot of short- and mid-length reports on things, like news articles, progress reports, job descriptions, etc., where beautiful prose isn’t a goal. If factually verified, AI’s can probably take over a lot of this work. Then the human becomes mostly the creator of the prompts, provider of the data to describe (both of which can be somewhat automated as well), and (very importantly!) the fact checker for the output.

On the promotional side, AI tools will also make writing book blurbs, ad copy, etc. easier for novices. It will allow for creating more variations that can be tested, to see which of several ads sells the most.

Stay tuned for more information!

Intimate memoir recalls journey with abuse, addiction, and disordered eating

Posted on | by Marissa DeCuir

An inspiring story perfect for fans of “Drinking: A Love Story” by Caroline Knapp

BOSTON, MA – In a raw and poignant coming-of-age memoir, “Make a Home Out of You” (She Writes Press, September 3, 2024), Ginelle Testa spends her adolescence searching for a home in one destructive place after another. Grappling with addiction after addiction – to sex, love, weight loss, drugs, and alcohol – she must find a way to claw herself up from rock bottom in order to find a joyful home within herself. 

Born to an abusive mother and a drug-dealer father, Ginelle Testa is not exactly set up for success. By the end of her thirteenth year, she’s started experimenting with alcohol and drugs, has fallen prey to anorexia, and has been sexually assaulted. And that’s only the beginning of her spiral down into addiction and disordered eating.

As Ginelle progresses into young adulthood, she plunges deeper into substance-related lows. In her senior year of college, after blacking out and ending up naked in her dorm’s community shower, she goes to Alcoholics Anonymous and gets sober. But steering clear of drugs and alcohol, she discovers, is not a cure-all—she still has a long way to go before she can truly heal.

Powerful and relatable, “Make a Home out of You”, is a riveting tale of making the slow, confusing, and surprisingly funny slog back from the brink—and learning to make a home in oneself instead of in substances and other people.

“A raw and honest portrait of unhealed trauma and its ripple effect on a young life. With an intense yearning for things, people, and vices, the author earned a heap of battle scars on the journey to self love and acceptance. This story reminds us that love starts at home, and that home resides within.”

–Suzanne Simonetti, USA TODAY bestselling author

“Make a Home Out of You: A Memoir”

Ginelle Testa | September 3, 2024 | She Writes Press | Memoir

Paperback| 9781647427443 | $17.95

GINELLE TESTA (she/they) is a writer originally from Hudson, NH. She has an MS in digital marketing and design from Brandeis University and a BA in sociology from Rivier University, and has been featured in Insider, Byrdie, Tiny Buddha, and other places. She’s a queer person in recovery. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys doing restorative yoga, playing video games, and thrifting eclectic clothes. Ginelle lives in Boston, MA. Find out more about them at their website.

Follow Ginelle Testa on social media:

Instagram: @ginelletesta

TikTok: @ginelletesta 

Facebook: @GinelleTestaWriter

In an interview, Ginelle Testa can discuss:

  • Ginelle’s experiences in both Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA)
  • How Ginelle’s experience with AA and SLAA has changed since writing their memoir
  • How pursuing sobriety empowered Ginelle to boldly embrace her authentic, queer identity and become an advocate for body positivity 
  • How Ginelle’s profound drive to share their story stems from a deep-seated conviction to inspire and uplift others
  • The process of writing this memoir and how it healed trauma from her childhood

Advance Praise for “Make a Home Out of You: A Memoir”

“Raw and uncompromisingly honest, Ginelle Testa’s memoir takes readers on a whirlwind journey through her teens and early twenties in her search for love and self-acceptance. Set in rural New Hampshire and Boston, Make a Home Out of You is Ginelle’s story of addiction, recovery, and the search for her soul. Like me, you’ll cry at her failures and rejoice in her triumphs. I guarantee you won’t be able to put down this beautifully crafted memoir.”

–Susen Edwards, author of What a Trip: A Novel

“Testa’s intimate memoir is a harrowing and ultimately triumphant tale of her decades-long odyssey of self-destructive addiction… With superhuman courage and conviction, Testa transcends a life of setbacks and despair to emerge as a powerful, purposeful woman. So many will be inspired by her brave story.”      

–Shary Hauer, author of Insatiable: A Memoir of Love Addiction

“Make a Home Out of You shines with honesty and introspection. Reading it feels like taking in the intimate diary of a friend as she grapples with body-shame, sexuality, and longings to feel safe and loved. At times heartbreaking, Testa’s memoir is more a story about perseverance, resiliency, and transforming trauma’s aftermath into something meaningful and brimming with hope.”

–August McLaughlin, Girl Boner podcast host and author

An Interview with

Ginelle Testa

1. Thank you for sharing this inspiring and vulnerable memoir! Why did you feel compelled to write this memoir? Has writing helped your healing journey? 

Writing this memoir healed me in a way I never could have predicted. I have found forgiveness for the broken parts of me that I have slowly put back together over the years, for the mistakes I made, and the person I was. I felt the need to share because many of us suffer in silence, and I’d like people to feel less alone. 

2. How did you stay sober during recovery? And do you have any advice you’d like to share with others who are experiencing similar struggles? 

At first, AA was immensely helpful. Now, support structures like therapy and meds, communities like writing groups and a cornhole league, and strong friends, are what keep me afloat. I recommend finding a community of some sort of sober people, hang in there, and talk about your struggles and triumphs. 

3. After writing this memoir and having reflected on your experiences, how has your relationship with 12 step programs (like Alcoholics Anonymous and Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous) changed? 

I needed these programs for almost a decade; they provided structure, healing, and support. Now, without them, I lean much more heavily on my intuition and my own experiences to inform the decisions I make and the way that I live. I still have a lot of love for SLAA & AA, but no longer feel I need them. 

4. How has your identity as a queer, non-binary person impacted your path towards self-acceptance and recovery? 

Being in recovery has helped me to embrace myself more fully. I was self-conscious of my queerness, and felt like I wasn’t queer enough in the early days. Now, I still have those moments but I have much greater acceptance and compassion that I’m allowed to be who I am, which is bisexual and a little genderqueer. 

5. What do you hope that folks reading the book take away from learning about your experiences? 

I hope they feel a sense of enoughness. Many of us spend time seeking comfort and validation in other people and in substances or behaviors, but my journey encourages people to seek enoughness inside themselves, and to build a home there. 

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