A Violent Masterpiece Check out A Violent Masterpiece - <b>This epic crime novel tells a story of Los Angeles power brokers and those at the edge--and a single shattering incident that threatens to bring it all crashing down. </b> <p/> Los Angeles, right now. America with its back up against the wall. This Frankenstein's monster of crimes and lurid dreams sewn together into something like a city. <p/> A city ready to explode: A Hollywood pedophile is arrested, and is ready to tear down the city to get his freedom. A young woman goes missing--and men in black rubber gloves who look like cops clean out her apartment in the middle of the night. And the serial killer known as the LA Ripper is on the loose, leaving tragic/graphic/brutal crime scenes in his wake. Three people trying to keep their heads above the dirty water will find themselves coming together to unite these strands into one enormous, unspeakable crime ... <p/><b>Jake Deal</b> is a gonzo live-streaming nightcrawler, beaming the city's chaos straight to his audience of blood-hungry subscribers, giving them the view from the top of the mushroom cloud--until a job he can't refuse drags him back into his old life of Hollywood glamour, drugs, sex and sleaze. Armed with cameras and hidden mics, he'll infiltrate private clubs, gather high-class dirt--and stumble onto a conspiracy woven into the center of LA's most powerful men, who call themselves "The Kids in the Candy Store." <p/><b>Doug Gibson</b> is a street lawyer, who fights for his clients against the army of cops, prosecutors and judges--he is the knife they bring to the gunfight. But when he's hired by a Hollywood pedophile ready to sell out his friends for a chance for freedom, he'll take on a fight bigger than he could have imagined. And when his client "commits suicide" in prison, Gibson will have to stop being a weapon--and become a warrior. <p/><b>Kara Delgado </b>works for an underground private concierge company--a make-a-wish foundation for the terminally rich. She scores drugs, makes connections, and plans multi-million dollar sex parties.She has learned the secret truth of this world: there are no rules, only prices. Her best friend Phoebe has gone missing, and Kara's the only person who knows that Phoebe's place was wiped clean of evidence by men in black rubber gloves. But when she begins to unravel the mystery of what happened to Phoebe, and its connection to the killer known as the LA Ripper, it will drag her into the dark heart of the city. <p/> As Jake, Doug and Kara all investigate these crimes, they'll encounter ketamine-addled sitcom stars, bloody riots, homeless gangsters, a killer cop on death row, secret vaults in Beverly Hills, tech-bro orgies, medical cannibals, true crime junkies, private security wet-work teams, reality shows, street takeovers, car chases, coyotes, a sadistic Tarzan, and a three day, fifty million dollar wedding, before everything is revealed and they must each make their choice about how to fight back in this violent world before the bloody, blazing conclusion. by Jordan Harper on Bookshop.org US!

@jordanharper.bsky.social is a Shepard tone of a writer, each book somehow building the tension and stakes and talent higher without ever reaching a limit. I honestly don't know how he does it. Can't wait for the new one, A VIOLENT MASTERPIECE, later this month.

bookshop.org/p/books/a-vi...

Red Alert opportunity to work with an amazing writer...

It will never not be crazy to me that we went to the moon and then stopped, like we just checked it off a list and had no need to go back until the T-shirt we bought as a souvenir faded too much to wear anymore.

Nice gyre you got there shame if somehow it got widened

Loved this book.

“A whole civilization will die tonight” is the most vile thing a US president has ever said, certainly during the post-1945 era when they’ve had the power to kill civilizations with the dropping of a bomb. I’m staring into the darkness. May this not be one of the most fateful days in human history.

Human Moments in World War III ‘Happiness is not a fact of this experience, at least not to the extent that one is bold enough to speak of it.’ Fiction by Don DeLillo in Granta 11.

did you guys know that, in 1984, Don Delillo published a short story called "Human Moments in World War III" and the premise is astronauts watching nuclear conflict on earth from space. haha
granta.com/human-moment...

Armageddon is terrible, but our only other option was diversity trainings at work.

Link please

Hey #akleg come to find out the DOJ lies. Well you knew that, but they lied in federal court about what they’re doing with voter data they’re collecting from the States.

The DOJ Misled a Judge About How It’s Using Voter Roll Data The acting head of the DOJ’s voting section told a judge last week that the agency had not touched the nonpublic voter roll data it has collected. That wasn’t true.

SCOOP

A DOJ lawyer told a judge in Rhode Island that voter rolls data the agency has collected from states was being kept separate, and no analysis was being done to identify voting irregularities.

That wasn't true....

www.wired.com/story/doj-mi...

Khanna: "No. I'm not supporting new funding. The answer for every Democrat should be 'absolutely no.' It's $400 billion for a war we oppose? We could have universal childcare for that. We could have free public college for that."

Remember when the NY Times had public editors? Those were the days.

Full wraparound. 04-10-26. Preorder now available.

www.amazon.com/Better-Kind-...

International Booker Prize 2026 shortlist revealed

ICYMI: The shortlist for the 2026 International Booker Prize has been revealed, as the award celebrates its 10th year 👇 #BookSky

My liver is not going to survive this presidency.

BREAKING: Trump Administration Orders Dismantling of the U.S. Forest Service The headquarters is going to Utah. Every regional office is being shuttered. The research program is being destroyed.

the trump administration is selling this country wholesale to rapacious, extractive industries that will destroy our collective resources for private profit morethanjustparks.substack.com/p/breaking-t...

haha I love this disclosure:

Two copies of Evan Morgan Williams' story collection, THE DIVIDE, sit on another writer's desk, making his own manuscript a little sick with envy.

Book Mail today! Got my copies of @pahoehoe.bsky.social's story collection, THE DIVIDE, which I highly recommend. Give him a follow and check out his books at www.evanmorganwilliams.com

As the number of outlets with sizable and engaged audiences shrinks, I think they should in turn be casting a wider net to include new and different voices. I'm rooting for you. Maybe we can make it happen by sheer force of collective, positive will...?

The audiobook of @nikwalk.bsky.social's How to Plant a Billion Trees is excellent. Give it a listen!

Huffington Post privacy notice saying they share your data with 987 partners.

I'd hate to see what not caring looks like.

Can vouch for this excellent anthology. Sure, I'm in it, but I'm in damned good company. The audiobook pairs some remarkable writers with stellar narrators for a great listen.

No Kings in Utqiaġvik (Barrow) Alaska!

This is so nauseatingly Un-American

Nessie sitting for what looks like a studio portrait but is really just her waiting for me to finish writing so we can go for another walk. (A white English cream retriever looking somber against a dark background.)

Every dog is just a little tragedy waiting to happen. I'm sorry, my friend. Happy birthday.

Happy Friday! Your assignment for the weekend: Tell a favorite author how much they mean to you. Find 'em on socials, hit up the contact form on their website, email their agent. It's rough out there & these little moments of connection & validation help us keep our heads up. Thank you!

REACHING

"He knew he was
in trouble when,
in the middle
of the poem,
he found himself
reaching
for his thesaurus
and then
Webster's
in that order."

—Raymond Carver

#5amwritersclub

The wonderful folks @highcountrynews.org are hiring a Partnerships Editor:

An unconstrained ego, an uninformed fool.