Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.

It’s April Fool’s Day, which is a holiday I could do without. There are enough fake things in the world that I give no credit for piling on. However. I almost fell for one today. In fact, it is one of the three below stories. So here’s today’s game: I am going to link to the headline for three stories and include some of the actual copy from each story. Read them all and then try to guess which one is a joke. I will link the fake story at the bottom so you can check your work. Here we go.

Harlequin to Co-Produce AI-Generated ‘Microdramas’

“Harlequin has announced a multi-year agreement with Dashverse, an AI entertainment company specializing in shortform video, to co-produce a slate of 40 animated microdramas inspired by Harlequin Romance titles, beginning with Catherine Mann’s A Fairy-Tail Ending next month.

Per the announcement, each shortform video series will be “developed by a team of illustrators assisted by Dashverse’s proprietary production system, Frameo,” and will be distributed in English across “leading global microdrama platforms, including Dashverse’s DashReels.” The “concise, mobile-friendly episodes” are intended to appeal to “on-the-go” audiences, the publisher said.” [Full story]

John Green’s First Novel For Adults Publishing This Fall

“Adapted from a story he read on “a series of semi-secret livestreams” during the early days of the pandemic, “Hollywood, Ending” follows the rise of two young actors, Kai and Juniper, on the verge of a breakout. But as their buzzy biopic “Andy Warhol Never Gets Old” blows up, they’re also falling in love. Now, they must confront celebrity and “the private cost of a public life.” [Full link]

AI Platform Set to Transform Publishing

“A consortium of Big Five publishers announced the launch of Txt2U, an artificial-intelligence platform designed to automate every stage of the literary supply chain.

The new venture will publish books written, edited, reviewed, and purchased entirely by AI.” [Full link]

And Here is The Link to the Fake One

In case you didn’t realize you could clink in the bold above, you can click here.