I could reactivate my Bookstagram page as I only used the temporary deactivation function, but I pause. Do I really want to be sucked into that world again? Yeah, sure, validation would be nice but being free of all of the pressure has been even better. Will opening up this can of worms mean I’m constantly searching for Wi-Fi so I can keep up with the latest instalment, all the commentary that will no doubt come with a bombshell this big? Will my phone become glued to my hand again as I let that social media buzz take over once more? Yes, I miss the comradery, the friendships, chatting about books, but I get all that right here too, with the three Lucys, Doris, Brian and the guests that ebb in and out like the tide…
‘Harper? Are you there?’
‘Yes, I’m just not sure I want to give Tia Amboro more airtime. Isn’t that what they want? And I don’t want to play into their hands when all this ends up being shared on their social media as a tricking-the-system series on YouTube or something.’
‘Yeah, I get that, Harper, but the internet came for you in a really uncool way; don’t you want to show everyone that you were right?’ Her voice is incredulous, as if she can’t believe I’m not rushing to post the I told you so’s.
A couple of months ago I would have done exactly that. That’s all I wanted, to prove I was right, to voice my concerns about how the use of AI will damage the publishing industry if we don’t ask for transparency. Whether I share this proof online or not can wait. There’s more to this. There’s a niggle at the back of my mind, something that remains unclear. ‘I feel like they zoned in on me specifically. Why? I’m not an outspoken content creator. I’m not one to flame the fire. How did they know I’d react the way I did?’
‘Well, they didn’t.’
‘But I feel like they did. That’s the thing I can’t reconcile.’
‘What are you saying, Harper?’
‘I’m saying it’s like they know who I am and they targeted me knowing there was a chance I’d call it out because of how satirical the book was. Honestly, it’s offensive to cowboy romance.’
‘But who? Who would do that to you?’
I have a suspicion but telling Lily might push the boundaries of our friendship and I’m not sure I should risk it. It’s just the timing of it all…
In the background there’s a voice. ‘It was me.’ Then a loud sob follows.
In the end I’m saved from having to share my suspicions. It’s a short-lived relief.
‘Go away, Mai, for once this isn’t about you,’ Lily says dismissively.
‘It was me. And my Twitch stream friends.’
There’s a long silence before Lily replies in a dangerously low voice, ‘You? You’re Tia?’
‘Well, and my friends, yeah.’
There was Mai making noises about moving to London. Dropping hints about if only Lily had a spare room, a room that I inhabited. About how the cousins could be reunited. As if they didn’t already see each other at the many Zhou family functions and talk on the group chat side chats all day every day. A couple of months after all that talk started,Bang, Bang!released and sure enough, Mai got her wish; she decimated my London life and moved in with Lily.
I close my eyes against the betrayal. Mai is young and naïve in so many ways, but still, this is huge and had the potential to do some serious damage.
‘Why would you do such a thing!’ Lily bellows.
‘Everyone’s obsessed with Harper. Harper this, Harper that. She’s all the family ever talk about. How successful her Bookstagram page was, and how pretty she is, how it’s a mystery no man has married her yet. How well read she is. How much of a good friend she is. What about me? I’m all those things too. No one mentions how impressive it is to earn a decent wage as a Twitch streamer, when it’s exactly the same as earning as a Bookstagrammer. It’s all content creation.’
‘Oh, Mai, you did this because you were jealous?’
I listen intently as my gut roils.
‘I – I guess? Harper talks about romance novels like they’re the answer to everything. I just can’t understand the obsession. They’re formulaic, cheesy, predictable.’
‘It’s about the journey a book takes you on, Mai. It’s what you learn along the way,’ I say. ‘Denigrating the genre is what misinformed people do and it’s just lazy, to hear those same old insults thrown around time and again.’ Grinds my gears. It’s like they’ve all read the insult romance handbook, or something. It’s tedious to hear the same old tripe but I’ll never stop defending romance novels.
There’s a long exhalation and then, ‘Yeah, well, that’s how it all started. We were low-key stalking your page, seeing these romance books take off after you and other Bookstagrammers raved about them and wondered if we could do it too.’
‘Why though?’ I ask. ‘Why bother?’
‘It was meant to be a social experiment to see if we could use AI to write a silly little cowboy romance and get the book in the charts, effectively beat the system at its own game. We filmed everything we did, to release later on TikTok, which we hoped would go viral and earn money, so we’d recoup what we spent on marketing to get the book where it needed to be. It was my idea to sendBang, Bang!to you, Harper. I had a strong sense you wouldn’t rave about a book so clearly and exaggeratedly written by AI. And you didn’t. When you accidentally streamed your conversation with Lily, it shotBang, Bang!further up the charts. We never imagined it would take off like it did, but it shows it can be done, if you have enough tech skills. Not for one minute did I think you’d get cancelled over it, though.’
‘What did you think would happen?’ Lily spits.
‘I thought she’d lose a few followers. I’d bring her down a peg or two.’
