New Books - NewInBooks

Interview with J.D. Macpherson, Author of Human Again: In the AI Age

What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?

I’ve been a journalist and writer my entire adult life. I’m a mid-30s mother of two who accidentally had my mind blown by ChatGPT a year ago. I felt this burning need to try to express what I was feeling and learning as I discovered this new thing. As I used it more and thought about it, I started questioning my own humanity. I felt alone and alienated, consumed by my thoughts. Writing Human Again didn’t feel like a choice. My hope is that other people will find some comfort in my writing and a renewed appreciation for critical thinking.

What's your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

Since journalism school, I have always been drawn to storytelling that tells the truth, but better. Journalism that reads like fiction, that makes you feel something, and makes you think differently. The stories that stick with you and change your perspective on more than just the direct subject. Conversations questioning the self, identity, and the world around us, ultimately in the pursuit of happiness. I love confessional, voice-driven writing, the kind of immersive storytelling that makes you feel like you’re living inside someone else’s skin. And yes, that’s my favorite way to write as well.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

I am rereading This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff. I’m currently reading Quick Silver by Callie Hart. I always have Joan Didion and The Lord of the Rings nearby.

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

Probably the Horoscopes scene. I was spending a lot of time talking to AI and poking holes in what was possible and where it fell short. Those moments I describe in the Sentience chapter really made me think and ultimately were driving factors in the need to write about my experiences.

Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)

I often write late at night and in bursts. I also often get my best ideas in my dreams. Lately, I ask AI to argue with me constantly. If it agrees too quickly, I don’t trust it.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

I love The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Many quotes, but specifically the idea that “it’s the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay.”

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

Right now, we need creatives, thought leaders, writers, thinkers, artists, and everyone in between to play, test, push, discover, philosophize, and explore, document this incredible and terrifying artificial intelligence. I hope this book is part of that story.

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J.D. Macpherson is the author of the new book Human Again: In the AI Age

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Interview with Riley Profit, Author of Financial Growth For Teens

What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?

This book hit home for me. It is a topic that I feel really strongly about. Finance has always been a huge source of constant worry and struggle throughout my life. I grew up poor, and my mother had a scarcity mindset about money that she passed on to me and my siblings. The only thing I knew about money while growing up was that I didn’t have enough and always wanted more, but never knew how to get it. Schools didn’t teach teenagers how to make money and spend it wisely. I feel that this information could have been life-changing for me as I grew up. I would have made better life choices about money if I had known the information in this book when I was a teenager. The purpose of this book is to reach as many people as possible, and hopefully it will have a positive impact on them throughout their lives.

What's your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

I like to read self-help and Christian books that inspire and uplift. These types of books are what gave me the motivation to write Financial Growth for Teens.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

Graced to Go by Victoria Osteen and Get Out of Your Own Way by Mark Goulston.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

I have always lived by the philosophy of treating people the way I would want to be treated. While writing this book, I kept the thought, “Is this information I would have learned from when I was a teenager?” in the back of my mind. Upon completing this book, I can answer that with an emphatic “yes.”

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

I don’t want them to just read it, put it away, and remember only one thing. This book is much more valuable than that. I want it to be a constant reference they can go to every day.

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Riley Profit is the author of the new book Financial Growth For Teens

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Interview with Ben Tor, Author of Death in Driftless Hollow

What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?

I wrote Death in Driftless Hollow because I don’t think most of us are afraid of “big” things. We’re afraid of what happens inside us when the rules change. We live by old wiring—fight, flee, freeze—while modern life teaches us to smile, push through, and call it “fine.” Many of us are not fine. We avoid. We manage. We negotiate with our own nervous systems. And sometimes that works—until it doesn’t. The Driftless gave me the perfect stage—and I genuinely love the land here. It’s beautiful. Remote when you want it. Quiet in a way that feels like permission. A pocket world—the kind of place you go to reset. But this story isn’t about relaxation. It’s about the body’s drive to stay alive. At its core, the book is about transformation through ordeal—the brutal kind that doesn’t ask politely. The ancient calamities by which humans once lived and died are reapplied to modern characters I’ve grown to adore—even, and especially, the ones who don’t survive. When comfort dissolves, and safety proves fragile—who decides what survival looks like? That’s the question behind DDH.

What's your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

I read just about anything—fiction and nonfiction—but I’m consistently drawn to stories that test people under pressure in interesting environments. Thrillers, especially those built around isolation or survival, are probably closest to my center. I’m fascinated by what happens when the rules change—when weather, geography, or circumstance strip away comfort and force characters to confront something older inside themselves. That interest cuts across genres more than it might seem. I can enjoy the tight, escalating tension of something like Freida McFadden’s One by One, the oceanic dread of Mira Grant’s Into the Drowning Deep, or the more intimate wilderness ordeal of Stephen King’s The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (loved). There are also quieter, harsher works that I approach with respect—Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, or Adam Nevill’s The Ritual—stories that linger because they’re unflinching about what survival costs. So yes—the genre I most love to read is also the one I most love to write. Stories where isolation isn’t just a setting, but a human catalyst.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

I prefer paper books. So at the moment, my TBR is a literal book pile. A mix of survival and psychological thrillers—Michael Rutger’s The Anomaly, C.J. Cooke’s The Ghost Woods, and a couple of winter-set suspense novels that I’ve somehow missed. And then, inevitably, there are a few completely unrelated books waiting their turn. The pile grows faster than I can read it!

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

My favorite scene to write wasn’t the most violent—it was the moment fear becomes useful. There are points in the story where panic stops being a “flaw” and starts being a survival tool. Writing that shift—from avoidance to acceptance—felt like the heart of the book. That’s where transformation through ordeal really begins.

Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)

Death in Driftless Hollow was nearly 20,000 words longer at one point. I tend to overwrite first and then carve the story back down until only what’s necessary remains. At some point in every project, I print the manuscript and read it on paper. Something shifts when the words leave the screen. I see rhythm differently. It’s a slower, more honest read for me. So no lucky mug—just a stack of marked-up paper pages!

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

“Endure, and see.” Those who’ve read Death in Driftless Hollow will recognize the spirit of it. We humans live imperfectly and only once—and that’s okay. We’re fragile creatures, finite and flawed, clinging to a rock racing through space, and yet we spend enormous energy trying to avoid discomfort in our narrow context. But avoidance rarely saves us. Life will bring pain, trauma, and trials we never asked for. We suffer less, I think, when we endure them with acceptance rather than resistance. Ordeal changes us. And if we’re a little more willing to stay through it, something honest and better can be revealed on the other side.

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

If Mara’s fear felt recognizable, I hope readers remember that panic or anxiety is not a personal failure. We carry ancient wiring. Sometimes it misfires. Sometimes it’s simply loud. But the suffering we often endure alone in silence—the loops, the scary thoughts, the dread, the unease—are shared human experiences. We are not alone in them. And we are not broken because of them.

What is your Author Website?

https://www.bentorauthor.com/

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Ben Tor is the author of the new book Death in Driftless Hollow

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New Mystery and Thriller Books to Read | February 24

Hold on to the edge of your seat as we hunt for clues and solve the case with these exciting new mystery and thriller books for the week! There are so many bestselling authors with new novels for you to dive into this week including Ben Tor, Mike Stetz, Ray M. Schultze, and more. Enjoy your new mystery, thriller, and suspense novels. Happy reading!