House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal has finally responded after George R.R. Martin shared his criticisms of the show’s second season last year.  5a2j6w

In case you missed it, Martin — who authored the original book, Fire & Blood, upon which House of the Dragon is based — took to his blog last August to discuss the second season of the fantasy HBO series. While they have since been deleted, the blog posts saw Martin outline plans to write about “everything that’s gone wrong” with the show’s second installment, a promise which he made good on the following month. 

Reading George RR Martin’s blog post that criticizes — and spoils! — house of the dragon, and watching the chaos and Mess like pic.twitter.com/A9jmrcgWpu

— Lauren Sarner (@LaurenSarner) September 4, 2024

Those posts included criticisms of Condal making changes from the original book for season two of House of the Dragon, including the decision to remove the character of Prince Maelor. Martin said that decision would have repercussions for the broader future of the show, and claimed that he had raised these objections with Condal and “argued against it.” Now, Condal has hit back with his own thoughts on Martin’s criticisms, saying they were “disappointing.” 

Condal delivered his response in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. The showrunner began by saying his work on House of the Dragon is “one of the great privileges of… my life as a fan of science-fiction” and praised Martin as “a monument, a literary icon” and “a personal hero,” before directly addressing Martin’s previous comments. “I made every effort to include George in the adaptation process,” Condal said, “and we really enjoyed a mutually fruitful, I thought, really strong collaboration for a long time.”

Showrunner Ryan Condal says “It was disappointing,” regarding George R. R. Martin’s criticisms of ‘HOUSE OF THE DRAGON’ Season 2:

“I will simply say, I made every effort to include George in the adaptation process. I really did. Over years and years. And we really enjoyed a… pic.twitter.com/BjGKzlrZBf

— westerosies (@westerosies) March 31, 2025

According to Condal, the pair reached a crossroads when Martin seemed unable to relent on some of the practical requirements involved in making a television series. “At some point, as we got deeper down the road, [Martin] just became unwilling to acknowledge the practical issues at hand in a reasonable way,” Condal said, adding that he struggled to “keep my practical producer hat on” as well his “creative writer, lover-of-the-material hat on.”

“I just have to keep marching not only the writing process forward, but also the practical parts of the process forward for the sake of the crew, the cast, and for HBO,” Condal added, “because that’s my job.” As for the specific practical matter that Martin seemed unwilling to budge on, the author wrote in his blog post last year about the difficulty of casting young actors, like that needed for the role of Prince Maelor, due to their aging in the off-seasons.

George RR Martin and Ryan Condal at the HBO crisis meeting tomorrow pic.twitter.com/LBvaLTbixh

— カサンダラ (@M0NK3Y_G1RL) September 5, 2024

Regardless of Martin’s thoughts on the trajectory of the show — he is still credited as an executive producer — Condal is still holding out hope for some kind of creative resolution in the future. “So I can only hope that George and I can rediscover that harmony someday,” he said, “but that’s what I have to say about it.” 

It remains to be seen how Condal’s changes will come into play for the remainder of the series, but we do know that production on season three of House of the Dragon has begun, with a release date expected for sometime next year.

An author in Australia is facing charges over depictions of pedophilia in her novel after the internet labeled the material as “child abuse,” however, the woman has defended herself claiming that it’s all a “big misunderstanding.”

The book caught the attention of people online earlier this week, namely the corner of TikTok known as “BookTok.” Many condemned the book for the incredibly controversial premise which sees a “barely-legal” 18 year old fall in love with her father’s friend who has desired the protagonist since the age of three.

Lauren Tesolin-Mastrosa wrote the book under the pen-name Tori Woods, and upon its release she received backlash from a mob of readers. 

Many authors have received hate from the internet for controversial material but this is another level, even the novel’s title “Daddy’s Little Toy” seems to meld ideas of a sexual nature with infantilization in a way that is unsettling. The cover design doesn’t help with the title being spelled out in children’s toy blocks against a pink background. 

Lauren’s arrest 6q6c47

The New South Wales police reportedly began investigating the author after receiving “reports of a fiction novel containing child abuse material.” Detectives arrested Tesolin-Mastrosa at her home in Western Sydney on Friday reports the Independent.

The home was searched and several copies of the book confiscated for forensic examination while the 33-year-old woman was “charged with [possessing] child abuse material, [disseminating] child abuse material and [producing] child abuse material.” She was later granted bail and is expected to appear before Blacktown Local Court on Monday March 31st.

Upon her release from jail the author took to social media to defend herself and her work from the accusations. She claimed that it was a “big misunderstanding,” and that the book “is definitely not promoting or inciting anything ever to do with (child sexual abuse) or paedophilia.”

She also stressed that the story depicted was purely fictional but that she understood why certain aspects of it were being “frowned upon.” The book has since been removed from platforms such as Amazon and Goodreads and Tesolin-Mastrosa has deactivated her social media s.

Responses to the book 6z523z

The response to the book has been negative to say the least. The uncomfortable promotional material was enough to anger most people, TikToker @AuntKaren0 didn’t mince words when talking about it.

In the comments one person wrote “Lucy’s not even written to ACT 18. She’s full on written like a child. The paedophilia is so transparent.” The responses were pretty similar all over the internet.

Many also took issue with the individuals who had a hand in the novel’s existence, such as the designer responsible for cover art claiming she knew what she was doing. However, the designer, who’s name is Georgia Stove, denies any knowledge, “All I had known about the book was the blurb which read “barely legal” and in my mind I truly thought that was okay.”

It’s also been confirmed that Tesolin-Mastrosa lost her job as a result of the backlash. She was reportedly let go from her Marketing Executive role at the Christian organisation BaptistCare on March 20th.

Editor’s note: Naomi King has deleted the two videos in which she accused Daniel Greene of sexual assault, and has since posted an apology video. Greene’s response to her claims can be found here. The original version of this article was published on Feb. 15, 2025, and can be read below:

Daniel Greene, one of the most popular book vloggers on YouTube, has recently been accused of sexual assault by a former friend and fellow content creator, Naomi King.

Greene started his online career in 2016, where he initially posted videos talking about his favorite fantasy book series like The Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire. He then transitioned into a full-fledged content creator, introducing and recommending books, reviewing them, and even launching a weekly fantasy news segment. Over the years, Greene slowly grew to become one of the most popular BookTubers on the platform with more than 500K s subscribed to his main channel at the time of writing. He has also collaborated with other content creators and at times inspired them to launch their own channels.

Now, the YouTube content creator-turned-novelist is facing allegations of sexual abuse from long-time former friend Naomi King, only weeks after the literary world was shaken to its very roots following the damning allegations leveled at Neil Gaiman and his wife.

On Feb. 10, Naomi King posted a now-deleted video on her YouTube channel detailing the cease and desist letter she received from Daniel’s attorney a while back, over a video she posted on her channel titled “A Conversation About Manipulation, Consent, and Assault.” In it, Naomi discusses her horrifying encounter with an individual who sexually assaulted her. She doesn’t explicitly name anyone in this video, but the implication may have been enough to spur Greene into taking some precautionary measures, like sending the cease and desist letter.

You can also check out the original video from a year ago here.

Since the release of this exposé, many BookTubers have commented on the controversy and expressed their for King. As for Greene, he published a video calling the allegations “false.” He also claimed that he has “clear and convincing” evidence that everything between him and King was consensual, though from the short nature of the video and the clipped tone in which he conveys the message, it’s obvious that this was just a PR-crafted statement until he can present the purported evidence. He has since posted a follow-up video.

Since the release of these videos, Greene has lost almost 30K of his subscribers, with someone going as far as commenting on the video above: “Bro is the Neil Gaiman of BookTubers.”

Naomi King, for her part, released another now-deleted video giving further details of the pair’s Las Vegas encounter. It’s not clear if any of these revelations will be damning to either of their cases, since Greene seems adamant about taking this to court.

Now, as the community digests all of this information, it’s important to note that none of this is confirmed as fact. King paints a very damning picture of Greene in her video, but it would be prudent to wait for more evidence to emerge. Since he is such a prominent and beloved cornerstone of the fantasy and BookTube worlds, I have no doubt that we haven’t seen the end of this by a long shot.

The sudden emergence of sexual assault claims leveled against Daniel Greene, a prominent BookTuber in the fantasy sphere, has sent shockwaves across social media over the last week. This new controversy, happening almost in conjunction with the recent damning allegations against Neil Gaiman, is making everybody wonder if the MeToo movement is now coming for literary figures, but the Daniel Greene/Naomi King drama may have been resolved sooner than anyone could’ve anticipated.

It would be a gross understatement to suggest that Daniel Green is a cornerstone of the fantasy community on YouTube. Starting his career as a very young reader, Greene may have spent most of those early days in obscurity reviewing his favorite books, recommending series he’d read, and very, very slowly expanding his little community, but now he is everybody’s go-to fantasy book reviewer, having roped in a whopping 500k subscribers to his main channel. The man has even published three of his own books over the last few years, so he’s also an established author in his own right.

All of this is to say, it is entirely understandable why the community, and even social media at large, absolutely exploded last week when a former friend and colleague of Daniel’s, Naomi King, came forward and accused the BookTuber of having non-consensual sexual encounters with them during a trip the pair took to Las Vegas.

Per King’s first video, which they published on Feb. 10th, Greene engaged in sexual acts with them while they were half-asleep and under the influence of drugs. At first, King had opted to discuss this experience in ambiguous , releasing a video on YouTube that brushed on the encounter without naming anyone in specific. Greene, who of course knew it was about him, asked his lawyer to send a cease and desist letter, which then compelled King to make their Feb. 10 video, explicitly accusing the BookTuber of having non-consensual sex with them.

Greene, in turn, released a video denying all of the allegations and threatening King with a lawsuit. He then published a second video, wherein he explains why King’s narrative doesn’t make sense, and that they have purposefully edited the evidence (consisting of an apology letter and a few chat screenshots) to make this case against him.

Now, for whatever reason, whether it was the realization that their narrative was already unraveling or the legal woes of taking this to court, King deleted their two videos and published a third one, apologizing to both Daniel and his fiancé Kayla, and all the people whom she may have misled.

And that’s the crux of it. ‌‌But of course, where the internet is involved, things are always bound to get more complicated than they should. Like the fact that because of his dominant status, many fellow BookTubers released videos of their own condemning Greene for his behavior, and then immediately backtracked on it when the full picture emerged. Daniel’s Discord mods went on a campaign disowning the content creator in every sense, and folks on social media, taking Greene’s preemptive legal action as an ission of guilt, piled on with accusations and speculation.

What essentially took a matter of days to be resolved (well, at least partially) spiraled into a web of unjustified outrage and emotional manipulation. Of shifting stances and unnecessary apologies.

I wonder what this says as a community, where such rhetoric as “innocent until proven guilty” are, in practice, just ideals we toss around, never to be actually employed when it comes to our own personal, often parasocial relationships with celebrities, influencers, content creators, and the like.

That’s not to say people were gullible to believe King, or vice versa. One usually deals with evidence as it’s presented to them, and if one narrative is convincing enough, you can’t help but lean towards it until a clearer picture emerges. We now have this clearer picture, but even then, we couldn’t possibly say for sure how it all went down in reality.

The distinction is in recognizing that no narrative, no matter how compelling, should be taken at face value in this digital age. Just as the tide has now shifted in favor of Greene, King could swoop in with her own evidence and take us back to square one. I wonder how the other content creators would react then. Would they delete their apology video to Greene and another one in of King? And round and round we’d go, over an issue that feels less about the truth and more about who controls the current narrative.

It’s also important to note that while the severity of issues like sexual assault is treated with due respect by most audiences, the lives that could directly or indirectly be affected by these controversies is something often overlooked. If King’s allegations are false or misrepresented, then that ends up casting a long shadow over the uphill battle other survivors of SA have to fight in society. It won’t matter then if this was King’s intention or not, because the damage is done.

The same could also extend to Greene’s fiancé, Kayla, who now has to relive the trauma of being cheated on (at least that part is something both parties acknowledge) and deal with the public scrutiny of an issue that should’ve remained private.

We can only hope that people will now give the couple and everybody else involved enough space to work through this and find their way toward healing.

One year ago Neil Gaiman was riding high. The Sandman had been a hit for Netflix and production for season 2 was underway, new comic book adaptations of his work were being published, his literary career was still going from strength to strength, and his legions of fans were hanging on his every word.

Smash cut to the present day and those former die-hard fans wouldn’t pour a bucket of water over Gaiman if he were on fire. Scarlett Pavlovich, Gaiman and his estranged wife Amanda Palmer’s former babysitter, has filed a civil lawsuit in Wisconsin against the couple. The lawsuit says the author repeatedly sexually assaulted her and accuses him of rape, coercion, and human trafficking. Palmer is said to be responsible for “procuring and presenting” her to Gaiman “for such abuse.” As the filed papers say:

“Gaiman engaged in many nonconsensual sex acts with Scarlett. Those acts were abusive and demeaning… Scarlett endured those acts because she would lose her job, housing, and promised future career if she did not.”

Gaiman’s collapse began with the release of a podcast series in mid-2024, followed by a bombshell exposé in early 2025 that recounted the horrific stories of the young women who had the misfortune to fall into his clutches. He responded with a rebuttal, claiming “I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever,” but few considered it remotely credible.

Consequences were swift. Dark Horse Comics announced it wouldn’t continue publishing its Anansi Boys adaptation, his publishers said they had no future plans to work with him, and Netflix put out a terse statement explaining The Sandman will now conclude with its second season. So, Gaiman’s reputation is obliterated, his career is basically over, and now the lawyers are hammering on his door.

Gaiman has kept a very low profile throughout all this, not commenting on the allegations other than the denial posted to his website. Meanwhile Amanda Palmer — previously considered a feminist icon — has put out a statement by her representative saying she’s “profoundly disturbed” by Pavlovich’s story and asked for privacy in an Instagram post: “As there are ongoing custody and divorce proceedings, I am not able to offer public comment. Please understand that I am first and foremost a parent.”

Public opinion is almost entirely ive of Pavlovich and a peek at social media indicates a universal desire to see Gaiman face justice:

It remains to be seen what will happen next. The suit concludes by saying “Gaiman is liable to Scarlett in an amount to be proven at trial, but which is reasonably believed to be in excess of $1,000,000.00.” Gaiman is believed to have a net worth of around $10 million, so there’s a chance he might attempt to settle with Pavlovich. Alternatively, given that his reputation is already trashed, he and his lawyers may conclude it’s worth taking this to court in the hope a judge rules in his favor.

Either way, his days of giving readings to adoring fans, having streaming giants quickly greenlight his projects, and strutting the red carpet are well and truly over. The same probably applies to Palmer, as it’s difficult to be a feminist icon when you’ve been accused of providing vulnerable women for your husband to rape.

For decades Neil Gaiman was one of the most beloved authors in fantasy fiction. His comic books and novels earned him a legion of devoted fans, and throughout the 2010s and 2020s, his work was adapted into critically acclaimed movies and TV shows. Now that’s all come tumbling down. Fans are tossing his books in the garbage, those tattooed with his characters are frantically searching for removal or cover-up services, and the author himself is lying low.

Gaiman’s fall from grace began with a series of podcasts in 2024 detailing a history of sexual misconduct, which blew a hole in his reputation but somehow didn’t sink it. Now a bombshell article from Vulture has finished the job, recounting in painstaking, disturbing, and — frankly — disgusting detail exactly what Gaiman has been doing to the vulnerable young women unfortunate enough to have fallen into his orbit.

The article focuses on Gaiman’s recent behavior and his relationship with Amanda Palmer, who he was married to between 2011 and 2022. But there’s also a tantalizing mention of his first wife, Mary McGrath, who he married in 1985 (long before he was famous) and divorced in 2008. So, what’s their story?

Gaiman’s first marriage 251830

Gaiman met Mary McGrath in the early 80s through Gaiman’s connection to Scientology. Throughout Gaiman’s childhood, his father David was a notable figure amongst British Scientologists, with Gaiman himself considered a Scientology prodigy in his teenage years.

The year they met is vague, but McGrath appears to have arrived in England from America by the early 1980s. Soon after she began studying Scientology at a house owned by Gaiman’s father in East Grinstead. Gaiman and McGrath entered into a relationship and in 1983 they had a son named Mike. In 1985 they married and shortly afterward had their second child, a daughter, Holly.

As Gaiman was being paid in dollars for his DC Comics work the family chose to move to the United States in the early 1990s. McGrath’s family lived in Minneapolis, so Gaiman relocated to the area and the couple had their third child, Maddy. From then on the story gets a little murky, as we don’t know the particulars of what went on in Gaiman’s marriage.

However, during the late 1990s and early 2000s, Gaiman frequently traveled to sci-fi and fantasy conventions, leaving McGrath to raise their children. The Vulture article claims it was an “open secret” that Gaiman was regularly cheating on his wife with women on these trips, encounters that by all s were consensual.

We don’t know whether McGrath permitted or was aware of her husband’s infidelity, but they gradually became estranged in the 2000s and, after a long separation, divorced in 2008. As of 2010 The New Yorker reported that McGrath was “living on a cottage on Gaiman’s property” and the two were said to have remained friends after the divorce. And that’s where the trail goes cold on Gaiman’s first wife. There’s no indication on whether she’s remarried or in another relationship and — as far as we can tell — she has no online or social media activity.

Neil Gaiman has been at the center of controversy following a bombshell exposé into accusations of sexual assault levelled against the author by multiple women. This has culminated in a Vulture article published on Jan. 13, in which Coraline and The Sandman graphic novelist was accused by at least eight women of sexual assault on multiple occasions, with some instances dating back to 2007. 

While rumblings of these allegations first sprang up in July of last year as part of a six-part podcast titled Master, the recent article marks the first time the accs were referenced by name, and the first time a publication has explored the full extent of the allegations. The negative headlines surrounding Gaiman have now renewed interest in the author’s life, specifically his connection to the Church of Scientology. 

Neil Gaiman’s family has close ties to Scientology.  1b533u

While Neil Gaiman has consistently distanced himself from the controversial religion — which names fellow high-profile names like Tom Cruise and John Travolta as devotees — rumors have nonetheless persisted that the author is connected to Scientology. Gaiman’s family connection to the church is at the source of that speculation, since his parents studied Dianetics — a pseudoscience invented by Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard — at the Scientology center in West Sussex. 

Gaiman was five at the time of his parents’ involvement in those studies, and his two younger sisters are still active in the Scientology community to this day, according to The New Yorker. One sister reportedly works for the church in Los Angeles, while the other, Lizzy Calcioli, has mentioned her family’s connection to the religion in the past. “Most of our social activities were involved with Scientology,” Lizzy said. “It would get very confusing when people would ask about my religion as a kid. I’d say, ‘I’m a Jewish Scientologist.’”

The Vulture article details that Gaiman was used by his father as a way to promote Scientology, including a 1968 interview with the BBC when he was just eight years old. Gaiman was asked if Scientology made him “a better boy”, to which he replied: Not exactly that, but when you make a release, you feel absolutely great.”

It goes on to recount a horrific incident where the young Gaiman was held underwater in a cold bathtub and his “father drowned him to the point where Neil was screaming for air.” As a teenager, Gaiman apparently conducted “auditing” sessions, apparently being considered something of a Scientology prodigy. Gaiman’s direct involvement with the church ended after Hubbard’s death and the rise of current leader David Miscavige, who labeled Gaiman’s father a “suppressive person”, accused him of sexual misconduct, and sent him to a rehabilitation camp. These events took place at around the same time Gaiman began his writing career.

Speculation around Gaiman’s involvement in the church is only heightened by his ex-wife, Mary McGrath, whom he met while living in West Sussex. McGrath was studying Scientology in East Grinstead and living in a house owned by his father. The pair had a child, Mike, in 1983, and married two years later. Despite his family’s involvement in the church — his father went on to work in Scientology’s public relations wing and rose high in the organization — Gaiman himself has long avoided questions about his connection to the religion. 

Neil Gaiman has distanced himself from Scientology. x2n6v

He has said that he does not identify as a Scientologist, but feels some solidarity with the church due to his family and upbringing. In 2013, Gaiman described long-running rumors that he and his second wife, Amanda Palmer, “are both secret Scientologists” as “bonkers.” He also denied speculation that he and Palmer had donated large sums to the organization, as well as the rumor that they “were ordered to marry by the church.” Gaiman again broached the topic in 2022 during an interview on actor Marc Maron’s podcast, WTF. 

When asked what his “parents’ thing was,” the author again confirmed their involvement in Scientology. “My parents’ thing was mostly Scientology when I was growing up, that was their thing,” Gaiman said. “They were the first wave [of British Scientology] so that was their thing.” He went on to say that his parents practiced the teachings alongside their Judaism and that they treated the organization as a self-help pursuit.

As per the Vulture article, Gaiman appears to have been traumatized by his childhood:

After they’d been together for a few years, Palmer began asking Gaiman to tell her more about his childhood in Scientology. But he seemed unable to string more than a few sentences together. When she encouraged him to continue, he would curl up on the bed into a fetal position and cry.”

If we take the article at its word, then the trauma he experienced as a child transformed him into a truly despicable human being. Here’s hoping his victims receive the justice they deserve.

The golden age of Hollywood was paved with gold yet stained with tears — and just when you think you’re all caught up on the scandals of that era, a new book comes out detailing how Marlon Brando didn’t exactly like everything about his Oscar-winning role in the legendary 1954 film On the Waterfront.

Marlon Brando’s talent was oftentimes overshadowed by his equally troubled self-perception and self-sabotaging patterns. In the early 1950s, Brando had one of the most notable primes in the craft. He had the Midas touch — from A Streetcar Named Desire to Julius Caesar — as seemingly everything he starred in ended with an Oscar nomination or, at the very least, rave reviews. But, according to various Hollywood historians, Brando remained self-deprecating throughout the entire time. He infamously called his performance as Marc Antony “asinine,” a declaration most fans find frustratingly off the mark.

When Brando finally got his Oscar-winning role as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront, where he delivered his iconic “I could’ve been a contender” monologue, things weren’t as smooth as the subsequent celebration of the film might suggest. Although by Brando standards, this was actually his non-controversial Oscar, he still didn’t initially appreciate some of the post-production decisions made to ensure the film’s smooth release at its Italian premiere.

The film’s producers decided to show a dubbed version of the film and failed to alert Brando and his agent. Brando didn’t take kindly to the discovery — he reportedly stumbled to his assigned seat as if he’d just had a “heart attack,” as shared by Hank Kaufman and Gene Lerner in their memoir Hollywood on the Tiber (via The Guardian). Brando apparently even went ahead to give a succinct reason why he was so adamantly team “sub over dub.”

“I’m an actor, not a ventriloquist’s dummy, for Christ’s sake. Can you imagine what it’s like to hear somebody else’s voice come out of my mouth? You feel like a goddamn freak in a sideshow. Christ, why didn’t somebody prepare me? Didn’t you guys know?”

However, that wasn’t the end of it — Brando was seated next to the then 19-year-old Italian actress Sophia Loren, whom Brando just couldn’t stop checking out, getting lost in open-mouthed’ ‘double-takes.’ Apparently, throughout his presence at the premiere, Brando kept stealing glances at the young actress and gasping, but it wasn’t enough to make him stay.

But Lerner’s warning did the trick as he cautioned that Brando’s sudden exit would be detrimental to the film’s success as it would be misconstrued as him, the star of the story, disliking it. He then made a swift escape to a nearby bar and entered the theater a few minutes before the ending to make it seem he was there throughout the film.

This story, among many others, will appear in the t memoir of the American-born couple Hank Kaufman and Gene Lerner, who moved to Italy to work as agents during the final decades of Hollywood’s golden era: the 1950s and 1960s. The memoir was first published in Italian in 1982 but lacked an English-language publisher until now when Sticking Place Books picked it up. The publisher promises the book is like a non-fiction version of La Dolce Vita meshed with Call My Agent. The book will also include anecdotes about other stars of that era, including Ava Gardner and Sean Connery.

The star of the book is, however, undoubtedly still going to be Marlon Brando. Brando’s life is also set to be depicted in an biopic starring Billy Zane titled Waltzing with Brando, though its release date is yet to be announced. While Billy Zane has always kind of looked like the man in question — especially in that trailer — everyone is still holding onto their excitement, considering all that could still possibly go wrong (the story, the depiction, the portrayal — we have been burned wya too many times to not be cautious). But if Timothée Chalamet somehow made Bob Dylan work in A Complete Unknown, then maybe we can err on the side of optimism.

Stephen King has offered yet another one of his recommended viewing or reading picks, this time showering praise on the latest novel from Big Little Lies author, Liane Moriarty. 

King — who was one of multiple celebrities to depart from Elon Musk’s X amid his well-deserved gripes with both its owner and his presidential bestie — took to the new locale of Blue Sky to offer followers the reading recommendation. The It author said Moriarty’s latest, titled Here One Moment, has an “irresistible” premise while offering a logline of his own. “A woman on a flight from Hobart to Sydney begins predicting the age and manner of death of her fellow engers,” King surmised, painting a somewhat bleak portrait that might feel right at home in his own horror-filled oeuvre. 

If that synopsis tickles your fancy, know that plenty of fellow bookworms have been equally excited by Here One Moment since its release in April of this year. The novel — which marks the Australian author’s tenth overall and fourth since 2014’s Big Little Lies — has been met with widespread praise from readers and critics, and King seems to be singing a similar tune. “Beautifully written, this propulsive novel has a serious theme,” King wrote of Here One Moment, before suggesting that the book “could be a great Xmas present for that special someone.” 

It’s not the first time Moriarty has received praise from the Carrie author, who said Big Little Lies — the novel adapted into the equally acclaimed HBO series starring Reese Witherspoon — was “a hell of a book” and described it as “funny and scary.” 

More broadly, King’s unfortunately defunct X page, when not aimed squarely at Donald Trump, was filled with book recommendations from other authors, including Joe Hill’s Full Throttle, Peter Straub’s Koko and Sharon Kitchens’ Stephen King’s Maine: A History & Guide, though he was a little less complimentary of the Twilight franchise and Harry Potter author JK Rowling. Beyond the page, King has shared his thoughts on everything from Netflix’s ​​It’s What’s Inside to Jeremy Saulnier’s Rebel Ridge and the Will Smith-starring Bad Boys: Ride or Die.

The fact that King finds time to read is irable in itself (I’m not even half as busy as him and I’ve only managed a chapter of my current book), since the author just came off the press tour for The Life of Chuck, the Tom Hiddleston-starring adaptation of his 2020 short story of the same name. Elsewhere, it looks like we’ve got a Carrie television series adaptation in the works, as well as director Edgar Wright’s take on The Running Man and The Monkey directed by Osgood Perkins. 

Moriarty has an equally busy schedule, having written the source material for the third season of Big Little Lies. In October, Nicole Kidman — who stars opposite Witherspoon in the TV adaptation — said Moriarty is “delivering the book” which will inform season three, adding that the installment is “in good shape.” Big Little Lies isn’t the only Moriarty novel to make it to the screen, with both Apples Never Fall and Nine Perfect Strangers getting the TV treatment with star-studded casts. Meanwhile, on King’s broader and burgeoning Blue Sky feed, the author has weighed in on gun control and Trump’s cabinet picks for his second istration.

Jodi Picoult‘s books are beautifully written, fast-paced stories about love, family, friendship, and resilience. And now the beloved author is adding her (wise) opinion to the frustrating “keep politics off BookTok” conversation that has occurred after the 2024 U.S. election.

In a brilliant TikTok, Picoult said people have said she should “stick to my books and not be so political in my videos. So today I’m just gonna stick to my books.” She picked up Mad Honey and said, “This is my book about trans rights.” She then said of Nineteen Minutes, “This is my book about a school shooting.” She explained that her other books are about eugenics, racism and white supremacy, the Holocaust, abortion and reproductive rights, the death penalty, and “discrimination against women in the arts.” She ended her video by asking, “What was that you were saying">the incredibly important need for trans rights. Picoult and Boylan merged a fast-paced tale that reads like a thriller and also explores all the painful stereotypes and hate that still occur today. I will never forget Mad Honey, and isn’t that the whole point?

As a Picoult fan since I was a teenager, I’d argue her books deal with what’s relevant today, and that’s always going to include political topics. The first book of hers I read was The Pact about Chris, who has been accused of murdering his girlfriend Emily. But did they make a suicide pact? That’s so much weightier than your typical teen drama and, like Nineteen Minutes about a brutal school shooting and My Sister’s Keeper about a sibling coming of age while her sister has cancer, stuck with me. I’m going to keep reading Picoult’s, yes, political books, and I’m not the only one.

Cher’s new self-titled memoir gives readers an inside look into her decade-long marriage with Sonny Bono, including the good and the bad that came their way while navigating their busy careers amid their supposedly picture-perfect union as collaborators and husband and wife.

Interestingly, the book also exposes a “much darker” aspect of their relationship that almost completely changed the trajectory of their lives and affected her legacy in Hollywood. “I stepped barefoot onto the balcony of our suite and stared down. I was dizzy with loneliness. I saw how easy it would be to step over the edge and simply disappear. For a few crazy minutes, I couldn’t imagine any other option,” Cher reveals in her new book, Cher: The Memoir, which was officially released on Nov. 19.

According to the singer, before that moment, she had a realization that she was stuck in a loveless marriage with a man who was no longer the same person she married at 23. “There I was, twenty-six years old and in what had become a loveless marriage. Sonny had given me the vehicle and the confidence to become the somebody my mother always told me I would be, and then he just lost interest.”

Revealing how much she longed to end everything that one depressing night in October 1972, Cher notes in her book that she thought of jumping about five or six times, but she couldn’t do it. “Each time, I’d think about Chas, my mother, about my sister, about everybody and how things like this could make people who look up to me feel that it’s a viable solution, and I would step back inside.”

The irreversible decision could have entirely rewritten the fashion icon’s legacy in the showbiz industry since it took place before her big success as a solo singer and her accomplishments as an actress in movies like Moonstruck, Silkwood, The Witches of Eastwick, and Burlesque.

Cher also details in her memoir the challenging aspects of her partnership with Bono, both personally and professionally. From the singer-turned-politician’s infidelity to his emotionally abusive nature, the “If I Could Turn Back Time” songstress does not hold back on how the relationship took a toll on her, especially in the final years of their marriage. According to Cher, the culmination of all these issues was what drove her to contemplate jumping off the Las Vegas hotel balcony. 

Even before the release of her book, Cher has always been upfront about how she felt and still feels about her ex-husband and their failed marriage. Earlier this month, she itted on CBS Sunday Morning that she found Bono childish despite their 11-year age gap. She was only 16 when they met, while he was already 27. She also shared that while she was all about him from the start, the latter didn’t like her when they met, so “it wasn’t love at first sight” for them. 

However, something blossomed between them as they spent more time together, first as friends and then as roommates. Eventually, the two were so loved up that they had an impromptu wedding in an apartment bathroom. At the start of their marriage, things were going smoothly, and this translated into hit songs as the Sonny & Cher pop duo and their work on their variety show The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. But as with other married couples, not every day was sunshine and rainbows. 

In 1974, Cher and Bono finally decided to separate while she was already in a relationship with record producer David Geffen. A year later, their divorce was finalized. Interestingly, since ending their marriage, the two had been on better as friends until Bono’s demise in 1998. Cher even refers to her ex-husband as her “close confidante” throughout her memoir, proving that the two were better off as friends than lovers. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or has had self-harming thoughts, do not hesitate to reach out to your local confidential for people in distress. In the U.S., the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s # is 988, OR you can call 1-800-273-8255. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK).

Humans like to think of themselves as evolved creatures with morals, values, and standards. So it was pretty darn shocking when one of the world’s leading publications decided to glorify the abuse of a 16-year-old girl at the hands of now-deceased author Cormac McCarthy. The author of the article might try to justify their relationship. But when a 42-year-old man says he fell in love with a foster child after meeting her at a hotel pool, something is seriously wrong.

The girl in question, Augusta Britt, is now 64 years old and spoke to Vanity Fair about the first time she saw McCarthy in Tucson, Arizona. When she eventually realized he was the author of The Orchard Keeper, a book she was reading at the time, she took her copy over to him for an autograph. Despite being tossed around the foster care system and enduring abuse from her father, she had no intention of starting a relationship with him.

Britt’s recollection of events paints McCarthy as her savior who took her away from an already troubled life. And if one were in her shoes, the sentiment might be shared. What is troubling is the glorification of the strange May-December relationship by the writer of the Vanity Fair article. The person goes out of their way to avoid the obvious problematic elements and instead chooses to describe the coupling as a “crazy” story about an author and his “secret muse.”

“Just imagine for a moment: You’re an unappreciated literary genius who has not even hit your stride before going out of print,” the Vanity Fair article asks its readers. “You’re sitting by a pool at a cheap motel when a beautiful 16-year-old runaway sidles up to you with a stolen gun in one hand and your debut novel in the other. She flickers with comic innocence yet tragic experience beyond her years and an atavistic insistence on survival on her own .”

Folks on social have been sharing their thoughts about this highly problematic take and have openly expressed their disgust. “Genuinely stunned this got published. The writer is positively drooling over the thought of an exploited, abused 16-year-old girl. He celebrates Cormac McCarthy’s pedophilia (he was 42!) as ‘the craziest love story.’ What is going on here">Blood Meridian author, and her story should not have been published in this manner.