I just published an essay about the lessons I’ve learned over the past year as head of story for Tolan. It’s been a wild ride using fast-evolving AI tools to bring a character to life as our app went from zero to over a million downloads. I hope the piece proves useful to anyone working on narrative engineering projects and interesting to anyone curious about AI’s storytelling capabilities.

To complement the essay, Every interviewed me about my influences, writing set-up, reading recommendations, and creative process. (Yes, the profile includes a photo of my unreasonably cute dog, Claire.)

And now, a book I love that you might too:

Ghostman by Roger Hobbs is a crime thriller about robbing a Malaysian bank and an Atlantic City casino. Riveting characters. A gut-punch of a story. I love a good heist, and this one is bristling with technical details that make you wonder whether the author has some secrets of his own.

Things worth sharing:

• I just got notes back on the rough draft of my next novel and am diving into revisions.

• Nat Eliason, author of Husk and Crypto Confidential, reviews Bandwidth.

• Two subscribers generously sent me advance copies of their new books: Samuel Arbesman’s The Magic of Code and Joel Burke’s Rebooting a Nation. I love how many talented folks read this little newsletter.

• Craig Mod, another ridiculously talented subscriber, launched his new book, Things Become Other Things, which I’m excited to read. In addition to being a brilliant writer, Craig is constantly experimenting with new publishing models. His archetype has informed my publishing decisions, from self-publishing most of my novels, to building a custom site for True Blue, and even launching this newsletter. If you’re new to Craig’s work, this interview is a good place to start.

• IRL Veil.

• From Claire Keegan’s Foster: “At first, I struggled with some of the bigger words, but Kinsella kept his fingernail under each, patiently, until I guessed it or half-guessed it and then I did this by myself until I no longer needed to guess, and read on. It was like learning to ride the bike; I felt myself taking off, the freedom of going places I couldn’t have gone before, and it was easy.”

• The Redwall books were formative for me and still live rent free in my head (and heart!) decades later. If you have kids, check them out.

Thanks for reading. We all find our next favorite book because someone we trust recommends it. So when you fall in love with a story, tell your friends. Culture is a collective project in which we all have a stake and a voice.

Best, Eliot

Eliot Peper is the author of Foundry, Reap3r, Veil, Breach, Borderless, Bandwidth, Neon Fever Dream, Cumulus, Exit Strategy, Power Play, and Version 1.0. He also works on special projects.

“A riveting novel exploring the dark side of feeds and geopolitics… an engaging, electric read that forces us to confront the state of the world today.”
-TechCrunch on Bandwidth