On the rise (and fall) of the Japanese cell phone novel in the early 2000s (and the its attendant moral panic). | Lit Hub Technology

Josh Cook, bookseller and founder of the Porter Square Review of Books, explores why booksellers are stepping in as book criticism disappears. | Lit Hub In Conversation

“Put simply, people don’t buy books. They buy holograms, and they hope the book matches up.” What happens when the idea of a book supersedes the book itself in the eyes of readers. | Lit Hub Criticism

Alice Mattison embraces the "nostalgic glamour" of reading other people's letters. | Lit Hub Craft

“There have been more than a few times lately when I wanted to throw my laptop across the room, drop everything, and go live in the woods. This was one of them.” Monica Potts confronts the extent of AI theft of her work. | The New Republic

Even if Sarah Wynn-Williams was supposed to stay silent, Meta still looks like a bully “pursuing a personal agenda.” | Wired

Nitsuh Abebe explores the rising (“almost camp”) use of “degenerate.” | The New York Times Magazine

“As we look upon burned flesh in Gaza, we are also seeing the rubble of this older version of Western empire. How best to splice the frame, to keep them both in mind, to keep looking?” Isabella Hammad on Gaza, ruin, and mourning. | Equator

David Cole considers the ruling against Florida’s Stop WOKE Act. | New York Review of Books

Katie Kitamura tells Ann Tashi Slater about the importance of staring out the window. | Tricycles

Ali Rıza Taşkale considers Silicon Valley’s misuses of science fiction. | Aeon