In a study published in the journal Scientific Study of Literature, two English professors, Chris Gavaler and Dan Johnson, seek to prove that readers approach science fiction more “stupidly.”

The New York Times profiles a new generation of Nigerian writers, including Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, author of the award-winning novel Season of Crimson Blossoms. “A new wave of thematically and stylistically diverse fiction is emerging from the country,” writes Alexandra Alter, “as writers there experiment with different genres and explore controversial subjects like violence against women, polygamy and

The New York Times 100 notable books of the year list has been published. Time magazine and Publishers Weekly have also announced their picks for best books of 2017.

The Los Angeles Times Guild (a unionizing effort at the paper) has published an op-ed saying that their parent company, Tronc, has plenty of money to fund the benefits and raises that the union is pursuing. The Guild dug into Tronc’s finances, singling out the high salary of CEO Justin Dearborn and other top brass, the cost of one executive’s private jet, and the excessive amount of money the company spends on tickets to sporting

Anthony Scaramucci has been shopping around a book proposal about his torrid ten days in the White House. The Mooch now says he won’t go through with writing the proposed volume, because publishers are only interested in a tell-all, something a “facts guy” and true “team player” like himself just won’t do. However, the proposal, obtained by Business Insider, seemed to promise dirt: “With a sense of nothing to lose, Scaramucci will take you exclusively behind the scenes in his first tell-all book. . . . Scaramucci was under an intense spotlight in those final days, but not everything got leaked

Liz Phair, the musician who brought us the indie-rock classic Exile in Guyville, has signed a two-book deal with Random House. The first book, a memoir titled Horror Stories, will apparently detail her “experiences with fame, heartbreak, motherhood, and everything in between.”

Garth Risk Hallberg, the author of City on Fire and a self-identified “unreconstructed geek,” explains how and why he updated his debut novella, A Guide to the North American Family, which is being released in a new edition by Knopf.

The Meredith Corporation is currently in discussions over the purchase of Time Inc—the

Anonymous staffers at Vanity Fair and Condé Nast are worried about incoming editor Radhika Jones’s plans for the magazine and its employees. According to the Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove, some worry that Jones’s arrival will be accompanied by layoffs and budget cuts, while others wonder how she’ll handle “the gossip-driven Condé Nast corporate culture” as she works to make the magazine more relevant in the digital age. “If you fail everybody will know it,” one unnamed editor said. “It’s not like you’re failing at some obscure web site in Seattle. This is like the Yankees.”

David France’s How to

The winners of the 2017 National Book Award were announced last night. Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing won for fiction, Masha Gessen’s The Future is History won for nonfiction, and Frank Bidart’s Half-light won for poetry.

Touchstone is publishing a new short story collection featuring the work of Louise Erdrich, Ha Jin, Walter Mosley, and more. It Occurs to Me That I Am America will be published next January and, according to editor Jonathan Santlofer, “aims to address the anxiety many Americans are feeling about losing the freedoms for which we’ve fought; to remind us of America as an

Doubleday has announced that it will publish Jeffrey Toobin’s next book, which will investigate the scandals of Donald Trump, focusing in particular on the probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller and on the Congressional inquiries into Trump’s possible collusions with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign. Toobin, whose previous books include The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court and American Heiress (about Patty Hearst), says, “We've been telling this story in bits and pieces for the past year, but I'm hoping to pull it together in single narrative that tells the tale

At Vox, a group of writers read and evaluated all twenty of the National Book Award finalists for 2017. (The winners will be announced on Wednesday night.) Some of the assessments are mixed: Elliot Ackerman’s Dark at the Crossing is a “compelling if uneven novel.” Frances Fitzgerald’s The Evangelicals is “written dryly, which renders it a little exhausting at times.”

At the New Yorker, Nathan Heller captures the editorial flair and era captured in Tina Brown’s Vanity Fair Diaries: 1983-1992. “That time was filled with famous people, endless parties, comic misadventure. But it’s Brown’s reports

Radhika Jones will be the next editor of Vanity Fair. Jones is replacing Graydon Carter, who announced his retirement this fall after twenty-five years as editor in chief. According to the New York Post, Jones will be taking a significant pay cut: While Carter reportedly made about $2 million dollars a year, Jones is being offered about $500,000. As one Post source put it: “The era of the highly paid Conde Nast editor is truly over.”

The Washington Post’s Opinion section with now use artificial intelligence to guide readers to stories with opposing viewpoints from what they’re reading.

Gossip

The Washington Post is launching a new feature to offer new perspectives to its readers. Counterpoint will search opinion articles and link to counterarguments based on what a user is reading at that time. Editorial page editor Fred Hiatt said the tool will not only expose readers to different viewpoints, but also to more Post content. “If you come to read a great column by Charles Krauthammer, would you be interested in a counter argument by Ruth Marcus?” he mused. “If a link to Greg Sargent brought you to our site, would you stick around if you knew that Michael Gerson had written a really

Peter Hamby takes a deep dive into the world of the White House press corps. Hamby writes that the inability of White House correspondents to question press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on inaccuracies and pressure the administration into discussing certain topics is having a detrimental effect on the media’s reputation. “The political press is facing a crisis of substance,” he writes, “and it’s not just poisoning the public’s perception of journalism, it’s playing right into Trump’s hands.”

Politico’s Jack Shafer looks at the now-reversed Disney boycott of the Los Angeles Times and explains

The Library of America announced that it has hired John Kulka to be its new literary director. Kulka—who has held positions at Harvard University Press, Yale University Press, and Basic Books—is replacing editor and author Geoffrey O’Brien, who will conclude his long tenure as LoA’s editor in chief at the end of 2017.

Mattress company Casper is launching its own quarterly print magazine. Woolly “encourages readers to relax with a mix of personal essays, comedic advice columns, yoga instructor confessions and much more,” according to Adweek.

The New York Times talks to Kevin Young about poetry,