CULPABILITY is a novel about family and our loss of agency and autonomy in a world increasingly defined by AI. Author Bruce Holsinger explores the loss for our families, our communities, and our moral formation at the hands the billionaire tech class–moguls (such as Elon Musk and Sam Altman), whose visions of the future are having a profound impact on every aspect of our daily lives.
The novelist chats with Authorlink’s Doris Booth in the video below about the new book, and what writers might do to help reshape our modern world of AI.
Holsinger says many people don’t realize the increasing controls on our lives today. Even when you do a Google search, AI automatically pops up. He believes humans may be beginning to resist AI, and for very good reasons. “I hope writers are taking a step back, and, you know, cognizing in their own way with their own writing.” He also advises emerging writers to persist in efforts to find an agent and publisher. Get in on the full conversation.
“I’m a novelist, though in my day job I’m an English professor. I’ve been obsessed with artificial intelligence over the last several years, particularly its effects on my students at the University of Virginia, and the many conversations around Large Language Models (e.g. ChatGPT) in academia,” he says. “But my fellow academics tend to minimize the implications of AI. My older son is involved in a lot of programming and data analysis, and he’s seen AI completely take over large sectors of his industry. As a writer who straddles these two worlds, I’m fascinated by the simultaneously dismissive and apocalyptic attitude toward AI within and beyond the university.”
In their starred review, Kirkus says, “Medieval historian-turned-novelist Holsinger seems to have created his own subgenre of psychosocial thriller, spinning super-smart, propulsive page-turners out of zeitgeisty worries like ultracompetitive school admissions (The Gifted School, 2019), disaster relief (The Displacements, 2022), and now, to absolutely crushing effect, artificial intelligence. If you are not already hooked on Holsinger, it’s time to join the club.” The publisher moved the publication date up from October to July 8, because as Newsday said in their “12 Must Reads for the Beach, “CULPABILITY is the thinking man’s page-turner, absolutely of the moment.”
Below is the early praise, along with a brief Q&A with Holsinger. Please let me know if you would like to schedule an interview. Thanks, Nicole
“A wise, propulsive, and deeply powerful novel.”—Laura Dave, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me
“It’s equally emotional, entertaining, and important.”—Janelle Brown, bestselling author of What Kind of Paradise
“Gripping, wise, and eerily prescient, CULPABILITY is a family novel for the age of AI.”—Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train
“Holsinger has written a novel that is as propulsive as it is thought-provoking, a thriller with a brain. This novel might feel futuristic, except it isn’t. It’s happening now.”—Mary Morris, author of The Red House
“CULPABILITY is whip-smart, fascinating, and gripping. It reads fast like a thriller, but this novel takes on the great cultural challenges of today: AI, electronic surveillance, and billionaire culture.”—Stephen Kiernan, author of The Glass Chateau and The Baker’s Secret
