Peter Steinberg

This is the best way to start the day: The Wall Street Journal reviewed "Moses and the Doctor"! What's more, they loved it!

First copy I’ve seen in the wild, at Greenlights Bookstore in Brooklyn.

TONIGHT AT DSK 7PM

TIX: www.eventbrite.com/e/squawkin-s...

ICYMI

At my event in Philly on Tuesday, an audience member asked me for my Mount Rushmore of Philadelphia 76ers, and I chose Charles Barkley over Moses Malone. I stand by it.

Same image of AI-generated headshots as in previous post.

What appear to be AI-generated headshots of a "team" of individuals that do not seem to exist.

AI-generated headshot purporting to be author Colson Whitehead. The real Whitehead is African American.

Screenshot of 404 error message from dead link on Inklight website.

The unctuous emails, while still recognizable as AI, are increasingly cogent & sophisticated. The purported clubs often have glossy sham websites w/ dead links & fake, AI-generated headshots of famous authors & "teams" of people that almost certainly do not exist. This one, "Inklight," is egregious

Screenshot of so-called "Inklight Book Club" featuring what appear to be fake, generic, AI-generated headshots paired with the names of famous authors, including Margaret Atwood, Haruki Murakami, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

🧵 AI-assisted book promotion scams are completely out of control. Every week I get fawning emails from supposed book clubs offering to "showcase" my book to a "passionate community of readers" or some such. The catch? They want me to *pay* them. Oh, and the club (example below) is a charade.

kids’ll be like “I don’t have to pee” and then you make them go the bathroom and it sounds like fuckingham bucking fountain got turned on

Will be at this tonight. Please come!

YouTube video by Saturday Night Live Mom Confession - SNL

youtu.be/-wQhY5CMMl4?...

I keep watching this. I think it’s the perfect SNL sketch.

Interrupting my regularly scheduled programming to announce the happy news that the Baltic Sea froze over, generating vast surfaces suitable for long-distance skating. My old friend Jens Liljestrand and I took some time off to explore the edge of the archipelago today, and it was glorious ❄️❄️❄️

Moses and the Doctor by Luke Epplin | Astoria Bookshop The rousing story of two trailblazing superstars—Julius “Dr. J” Erving and Moses Malone—whose improbable alliance and unsung legacies shaped the wildest and most innovative era of basketball history.

Now that "Moses and the Doctor" is available everywhere books are sold, here's how to get a signed copy: Order through Astoria Bookshop (link below), or send me a request for a signed bookplate (my email is in my bio). I'll mail you one free. It's that simple. www.astoriabookshop.com/item/koW0Owl...

Last night, at my reading in Philly, my first editor, Nikil Saval, showed up. He's now a state senator, but a while back he was an editor at n+1 and gave me, a writer with no bylines, a shot. We did several pieces together, which got me more work. I was able to thank him for giving me a career.

NYC book event tomorrow night! Come by @greenlightbklyn.bsky.social. I'll be there with @pjsauer.bsky.social , @davidjroth.bsky.social and @lukeepplin.bsky.social. Info below.

Follies Winter 1933.

Follies Winter 1933.

racist, and fundamentally undemocratic; a reproduction of the serf-tied-to-the-land model writ large & complicated.

countries should be competing for citizens, not shutting them out.

“A poem is like a radio that can broadcast continuously for thousands of years.”

~ Allen Ginsberg

Writers Who Use AI Are Not Real Writers Dorothy Parker famously (but probably not really) said, “I hate to write, but I love having written,” which is a sentiment I don’t largely understand or agree with in the broader …

Huge thanks to @chuckwendig.bsky.social for this. When I read that "who's going to win the race" comment I was so angry. These fucking shitgibbons churning out "content". These cockweasels stealing everything we've done. I was so mad. So thanks, Chuck, for writing exactly what I wanted to say.

For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always chang-ing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out. 1964

James Baldwin

in 2200 people are going to be like "did you know that early american film actor al pacino has a *living* grandson?"

The Eye of an Editor with Alison Callahan

open.spotify.com/episode/7iPC...

Amazing podcast with author and her editor of you’re interested in the behind-the-scenes of a big five publication. @nikeshaelise.bsky.social and Alison Callahan are brilliant together.

Shot of MOSES AND THE DOCTOR by Luke Epplin.

Happiest of pub days to @lukeepplin.bsky.social, a terrific writer, who was kind enough to send me a copy of his new book. I cannot wait to tear into this one.

The Eye of an Editor with Alison Callahan

open.spotify.com/episode/7iPC...

Amazing podcast with author and her editor of you’re interested in the behind-the-scenes of a big five publication. @nikeshaelise.bsky.social and Alison Callahan are brilliant together.

This is a beautiful piece if you have the time.

Pigeons, by John Sloan, 1910.

The Finish Line Or, an Ode to My Wife and Daughter

"Moses and the Doctor" goes on sale today. For this week's newsletter, I wrote about the two people who made it possible: my wife and daughter. The book wouldn't exist without them. This day is as much theirs as it is mine. substack.com/home/post/p-...

All right, I'm off to the train station. Coming at you tonight, Philly. Any friends in Philadelphia: not too late to drop everything and come see me chitchat at the Barnes & Noble off Rittenhouse Square at 6 pm. www.eventbrite.com/e/luke-eppli...

Moses and the Doctor The rousing story of two trailblazing superstars—Julius “Dr. J” Erving and Moses Malone—whose improbable alliance and unsung legacies shaped the wild...

My pub day tradition is to buy other people's books that are out the same day to read, so today I'm getting @lukeepplin.bsky.social's MOSES & THE DOCTOR, because my spring league basketball season starts in 57 days and I need motivation while I condition...

www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/luke-...