Welcome to the August issue of Hacker Chronicles!

And happy birthday to me, and to my youngest daughter. We share August 1st, which often reminds me of the birthday paradox in probability theory. Many think it's highly unlikely for two students in the same class to share a birthday, but counter to human intuition, only twenty-three students are needed for that probability to exceed 50%.

Yes, I am the kind of dad who often tells his kids about the birthday paradox.

This issue is an actual news one: news about my writing and news about publishing and TV series beyond me.

Enjoy!
/John

Writing Update

Travel

I traveled to Germany and Sweden for two and a half weeks in July and didn't find much time to write. Instead, I focused on a research seminar in Saarland, right by the French border, and then on seeing friends and family in Stockholm and Dalarna.

I brought back fifteen books from Sweden, eight of which had been waiting at my brother-in-law's house since last year. Physical books in Swedish are not available in the US so I have to plan ahead if I want anything that's not on shelves in Swedish bookstores right now.

The eight ones I had waiting for me are all in the police procedural series about Inspector Roland Hassel, written by the late Olov Svedelid. Used copies, as I prefer. Svedelid unfortunately doesn't have an English Wikipedia page, despite the global popularity of the Scandinavian Noir genre and the fact that he wrote 185 books across many genres, including historical fiction for children and young adults. I particularly remember reading Mor är ingen häxa, translated My Mother Is Not a Witch, in school. It's about the horrible witch hunts in Sweden in the 1600s.

Photo of Olov Svedelid.

Where I Am on Writing Yield

I got about 2,000 words written but I've done quite a bit of restructuring, even splitting chapters to line things up correctly. Some of this is a consequence of writing out of order.

John on Instagram? Yes, It's Happening

For some reason, Instagram never clicked for me. I think it's because I'm much more about text than photos. I love visuals when I present in front of an audience, but there I have the spoken word to carry it.

Regardless of my personal preferences, visual social media and fiction have a strong relationship. The rise of BookTok has caught the attention of any author who is involved in their own marketing. So I've been thinking about how to engage on such platforms in a way that feels like me. I think I've found my niche.

At this point I own a pretty awesome collection of cyberpunk and hacker fiction books. Not just well-known works like Neuromancer and Snow Crash, but rare pieces I've had to seek out and even import. So I decided to set up a little photo booth at home, take beautiful pictures of them, and post them on Instagram together with short blurbs about each book.

I've been experimenting with backdrops and lighting since June. Classic John to get bogged down in polish. Here's the first test photo I took. You can see that the gray felt has creases that I've tried to address in various ways. The backlight is also too intense. But you get an impression of what I'm working on.

You can follow me at @hackerfiction and you'll see me bootstrap the account with a first grid of photos before I actually start posting.

Two Very Exciting TV Series Coming Up

A big part of why I want to get going on Instagram is that there will be renewed interest in cyberpunk in just a few months.

On November 25, 2026, Prime Video will launch Blade Runner 2099:

Official Blade Runner 2099 teaser on YouTube (click the image to go there).

On January 22, 2027, Apple TV will launch Neuromancer:

Official Neuromancer teaser on YouTube (click the image to go there).

I don't think I need to explain how excited I am about these. 😍 It's a "take my money" moment.

Yet Another Novel Comes Crashing Down Because of AI Allegations

The crime novel Call Me, I'll Hide the Body got a million dollar contract before the agent pulled out because of alleged AI use by the author.

Wall Street Journal, yesterday (paywalled):

A book agent, Marc Gerald, said he signed its author, Jerry Falade, about a month ago, after reading a copy of the unsolicited manuscript. He flew to Dallas to meet Falade, a graduate student at Southern Methodist University, and the proposal for the debut book was sent to publishers and Hollywood representatives a few days later. (…) Soon after the deals closed, [the agent] notified the publishers in a letter that it could no longer support the book after concerns were raised about the author's possible AI use.

I wrote about an earlier case in my April issue. This is now the second high profile, late-stage discovery of undisclosed AI use this year, if indeed Falade did use AI to write the novel.

By the agency's own account, they had spoken with Falade about his writing process and warned him of the repercussions of not disclosing any use of AI. After rumors spread of AI use, the agency spoke to Falade again, and his answers this time didn't match what he had said earlier. That's when they withdrew support.

This is crushing in several ways. Another young author named in an international scandal and media whirlwind. Further mistrust in new authors among publishers and agents. And no certainty for readers who care about AI vs. no AI regarding anything published after the 'ChatGPT moment' of November 30, 2022.

I'm so happy that my first novel, Identified, was published in 2021. My readers at least know I can write without generative AI. It also took me ten years to write, but that I can't really prove.

Starting with my second novel, Submerged, and certainly with my upcoming novel, Yield, it'll come down to trust. Side note: I write these newsletter issues manually and only use AI to check spelling, grammar, and phrasing as a last step.

I don't believe AI detection tools are or even can be effective. Large language models are trained on human writing. They will write like humans. And we are all reading AI-generated text in the news, on social media, and in emails, so AI and human writing are blending.

Currently Reading

I finished reading the sixth book in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series, Killer's Payoff.

I also read Polis, Polis, Potatismos (Eng. Murder at the Savoy) by Sjöwall/Wahlöö. OG Scandinavian Noir from 1970.

Now I'm reading Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome. I try to read one book from the 1800s each year, and this one is from 1889.