What do you think?
Rate this book
Death of an Author: A Novella
What happens when artificial intelligence comes for the novelists?
Death of an Author
is a groundbreaking, suspenseful experiment in the meta world of man meets machine.
When Gus Dupin, literary critic and scholar, finds himself invited to the funeral of Peggy Firmin, celebrated novelist and now murder victim, he is determined to find out who killed her and why. As his investigation gets underway, it is not long before he finds himself at the center of an experiment at Marlow AI, a large language model company.
Why was he included in this experiment and what role did Firmin play? Further, why is Dupin suddenly a suspect in Firmin’s murder? And is he the next victim? As Dupin attempts to unravel the mystery of the death of his favorite author, listeners find themselves in an alternate reality that raises a sinister what is the appropriate relationship between humans and machines and is murder the consequence when it goes too far?
A revolution in narrative and an unprecedented use of Artificial Intelligence, Death of an Author is a masterful and stunning examination of the nature of storytelling and the power of language.
When Gus Dupin, literary critic and scholar, finds himself invited to the funeral of Peggy Firmin, celebrated novelist and now murder victim, he is determined to find out who killed her and why. As his investigation gets underway, it is not long before he finds himself at the center of an experiment at Marlow AI, a large language model company.
Why was he included in this experiment and what role did Firmin play? Further, why is Dupin suddenly a suspect in Firmin’s murder? And is he the next victim? As Dupin attempts to unravel the mystery of the death of his favorite author, listeners find themselves in an alternate reality that raises a sinister what is the appropriate relationship between humans and machines and is murder the consequence when it goes too far?
A revolution in narrative and an unprecedented use of Artificial Intelligence, Death of an Author is a masterful and stunning examination of the nature of storytelling and the power of language.
Audible Audio
Published May 9, 2023
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
Read
May 20, 2024Wer die Rezension zu diesem Roman auf einer anderen Seite als direkt auf meinem Blog liest, wird sehen, dass ich hier keine Sternebewertung hinterlassen habe. Und das hat auch einen guten Grund: "Death of an Author" ist ein Buch, das KI-generiert wurde. Das Thema ist aktuell riesig in der Bücherbubble und das auch aus gutem Grund. KI wirft viele Fragen auf, die noch nicht geklärt sind und die wir vielleicht auch zum aktuellen Zeitpunkt gar nicht wirklich klären können. Es geht dabei zum Beispiel um Fragen des Urheberrechts und der Kreativität. Egal, wie wir diese Fragen am Ende beantworten werden: Wir befinden uns am Startpunkt eines großen Umbruchs und ich bin gespannt, wo uns diese Reise hinführt. Und gleichzeitig habe ich auch Angst davor. Diese Mischung an Gefühlen ist für mich wohl der Hauptgrund, warum ich mich entschieden habe, meine Masterarbeit zum Thema zu schreiben. Aktuell bin ich laut meiner Wortzähl-App bei aktuell circa 60% meiner Arbeit und damit zeichnet sich das Ende damit endlich, endlich als kleiner Punkt am Horizont ab. Es geht in meiner Masterarbeit um Intertextualität und um Konzepte der Autorschaft und wie sich beides mit Künstlicher Intelligenz verbinden lässt. Und das muss ich natürlich anhand von verschiedenen Beispieltexten herausarbeiten.
Einer dieser Texte ist "Death of an Author". Bei diesem Buch handelt es sich um einen Krimi, der laut eigener Angaben zu mindestens 95 % von KI generiert wurde. Und glaubt mir: Ich habe mir ordentlich den Kopf zerbrochen, ob es ethisch überhaupt vertretbar ist, dieses Buch zu rezensieren. Doch es ist mir wichtig, Künstliche Intelligenz und generierte Texte nicht im allgemeinen zu verteufeln. Denn wie immer gibt es nicht nur schwarz und weiß, sondern sehr viele Graustufen. Es gibt nicht nur die großartigen menschgemachten Texte und die schrecklichen KI-generierten Texte, die nicht mal das Papier wert sind, auf dem sie gedruckt sind. Stephen Marchine - der Mensch, der hinter diesem Buch steckt - hat es sich mit dieser Veröffentlichung nicht leicht gemacht. Der hat nicht einfach ChatGPT befohlen, ihm einen Kriminalroman zu schreiben, sondern viele Monate mit verschiedenen Programmen gearbeitet, um einen lesenswerten Roman zu verfassen. Dabei beweist er durch verschiedene intertextuelle Anspielungen im Text und durch ein ausführliches Nachwort auch, dass er sich mit den Themen Literatur und Kreatives Schreiben auch tatsächlich auskennt und sich wirklich für kreative Experimente wie eben dieses hier interessiert, und nicht einfach nur auf ein passives Einkommen hofft.
Ich bin an dieses Buch mit eher niedrigen Erwartungen herangegangen - denn sind wir mal ehrlich, die meisten generierten Texte, die aktuell im Netz herumschwirren, sind einfach nicht besonders gut. Denkt bitte daher auch gar nicht erst daran, mir jetzt euer generiertes Buch anzubieten, solltet ihr eines haben. Ich lese diese Bücher für meine wissenschaftliche Arbeit, nicht, weil ich in Zukunft nur noch solche Bücher lesen möchte. "
Death of an Author" hat mich dann aber doch noch überrascht. Doch einiger ungewöhnlicher Phrasen und Satzkonstruktionen, ist dieses Buch gut geschrieben. Auch der Inhalt war interessant und glaubwürdig, Einzig das Ende ließ mich etwas unzufrieden zurück. Da wurde die Spannung sehr schnell aufgelöst und ich finde, dass man dem Abschluss mehr Seiten hätte widmen können.
Trotzdem war das eine interessante Lektüre, die ich nach meiner Masterarbeit hoffentlich nicht hassen werde.
Mein Fazit? Interessant und mal was ganz anderes, als ich es sonst so kenne.
Einer dieser Texte ist "Death of an Author". Bei diesem Buch handelt es sich um einen Krimi, der laut eigener Angaben zu mindestens 95 % von KI generiert wurde. Und glaubt mir: Ich habe mir ordentlich den Kopf zerbrochen, ob es ethisch überhaupt vertretbar ist, dieses Buch zu rezensieren. Doch es ist mir wichtig, Künstliche Intelligenz und generierte Texte nicht im allgemeinen zu verteufeln. Denn wie immer gibt es nicht nur schwarz und weiß, sondern sehr viele Graustufen. Es gibt nicht nur die großartigen menschgemachten Texte und die schrecklichen KI-generierten Texte, die nicht mal das Papier wert sind, auf dem sie gedruckt sind. Stephen Marchine - der Mensch, der hinter diesem Buch steckt - hat es sich mit dieser Veröffentlichung nicht leicht gemacht. Der hat nicht einfach ChatGPT befohlen, ihm einen Kriminalroman zu schreiben, sondern viele Monate mit verschiedenen Programmen gearbeitet, um einen lesenswerten Roman zu verfassen. Dabei beweist er durch verschiedene intertextuelle Anspielungen im Text und durch ein ausführliches Nachwort auch, dass er sich mit den Themen Literatur und Kreatives Schreiben auch tatsächlich auskennt und sich wirklich für kreative Experimente wie eben dieses hier interessiert, und nicht einfach nur auf ein passives Einkommen hofft.
Ich bin an dieses Buch mit eher niedrigen Erwartungen herangegangen - denn sind wir mal ehrlich, die meisten generierten Texte, die aktuell im Netz herumschwirren, sind einfach nicht besonders gut. Denkt bitte daher auch gar nicht erst daran, mir jetzt euer generiertes Buch anzubieten, solltet ihr eines haben. Ich lese diese Bücher für meine wissenschaftliche Arbeit, nicht, weil ich in Zukunft nur noch solche Bücher lesen möchte. "
Death of an Author" hat mich dann aber doch noch überrascht. Doch einiger ungewöhnlicher Phrasen und Satzkonstruktionen, ist dieses Buch gut geschrieben. Auch der Inhalt war interessant und glaubwürdig, Einzig das Ende ließ mich etwas unzufrieden zurück. Da wurde die Spannung sehr schnell aufgelöst und ich finde, dass man dem Abschluss mehr Seiten hätte widmen können.
Trotzdem war das eine interessante Lektüre, die ich nach meiner Masterarbeit hoffentlich nicht hassen werde.
Mein Fazit? Interessant und mal was ganz anderes, als ich es sonst so kenne.
December 31, 2025
BOOOOOOOOOO
Embarrassing that this author used AI and yet put only his name on the book. So hollow, so predictable, so repetitive. At least Goodreads admits it’s a part writer.
I would give 0 stars and warn anyone interested in reading. Waste of my REAL LIFE time
Embarrassing that this author used AI and yet put only his name on the book. So hollow, so predictable, so repetitive. At least Goodreads admits it’s a part writer.
I would give 0 stars and warn anyone interested in reading. Waste of my REAL LIFE time
May 11, 2023
Interesting for so many reasons. A novel about AI… written by AI. Just so interesting.
May 18, 2023
Fascinating use of AI, guided by a skilled author. Enjoyable read. Loved the explanation of the creation of the work at the end.
November 14, 2024
4 Stars for Death of an Author (audiobook) by Aidan Marchine, Stephen Marche (afterword) read by Edoardo Ballerini.
This was an interesting story. An author was commissioned to help create an AI generated book and I think he did a great job. The story was compelling and unique and half way through it I’d completely forgotten about the AI. And probably the best part was the afterword, where the author explained all the details to how he created it. It looks like it can be done but it might be easier for an author to just write the book from scratch.
This was an interesting story. An author was commissioned to help create an AI generated book and I think he did a great job. The story was compelling and unique and half way through it I’d completely forgotten about the AI. And probably the best part was the afterword, where the author explained all the details to how he created it. It looks like it can be done but it might be easier for an author to just write the book from scratch.
May 21, 2023
A book 95% written by a machine? I had to read it. (I listened to the audio, narrated by a human).
My opinion: excellent! From a literary point of view, the writing was tight and evocative. The story was fast paced and interesting with a twist and insights on how we think and engage with technology.
On the whole ‘using AI for writing is cheating and ripping off writers’ debate, my perspective is that using AI tools ADDS to the writing experience as an author. It stretches thinking, adds new connections, pushes ideas into new corners, makes research faster.
It’s still a human driving the story, overseeing the artistic vision, pulling it together, snipping and sewing the threads and images.
AI will only respond to input, not generate a work of art that resonates, that reaches deeply into the soul and rattles the cage. Humans will do that, with our AI co-pilots making it faster, easier, deeper, and richer.
Highly recommended - see what AI human collaboration can achieve, now, at the nascent stage of this tech evolution.
My opinion: excellent! From a literary point of view, the writing was tight and evocative. The story was fast paced and interesting with a twist and insights on how we think and engage with technology.
On the whole ‘using AI for writing is cheating and ripping off writers’ debate, my perspective is that using AI tools ADDS to the writing experience as an author. It stretches thinking, adds new connections, pushes ideas into new corners, makes research faster.
It’s still a human driving the story, overseeing the artistic vision, pulling it together, snipping and sewing the threads and images.
AI will only respond to input, not generate a work of art that resonates, that reaches deeply into the soul and rattles the cage. Humans will do that, with our AI co-pilots making it faster, easier, deeper, and richer.
Highly recommended - see what AI human collaboration can achieve, now, at the nascent stage of this tech evolution.
December 22, 2023
I thought this book wasn’t bad considering it was 95% written by A.I. There are definitely parts where you can tell A.I. wrote it but I didn’t mind and was overall entertained. I particularly liked that it was set in Toronto and the Leslie spit. It was also interesting to read Stephen Marche’s process for using A.I. to write this book and think about the possibilities for A.I. generated writing and art.
“On his first day back, he decided to treat himself to a chocolate cake with raspberry jam. The tangy sweetness of raspberry cut through the cocoa flavor, a burst of fruit, but even the most delicious cake is unpleasant eaten alone. Food is context. A lasagna that is frozen in individual portions and microwaved later is a sadness lasagna.”
“On his first day back, he decided to treat himself to a chocolate cake with raspberry jam. The tangy sweetness of raspberry cut through the cocoa flavor, a burst of fruit, but even the most delicious cake is unpleasant eaten alone. Food is context. A lasagna that is frozen in individual portions and microwaved later is a sadness lasagna.”
August 20, 2024
The biggest twist is the book itself.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2025
Gripping. A bit rushed at the end. One wrong pronoun referring to the daughter. I found out that this book was AI generated halfway through.
May 17, 2026
The story itself isn’t worth the time to review. If it wasn’t worth a human’s time to write it, it’s certainly not worth mine to review it.
But let’s talk about the afterward by the “author”
There are brilliant use cases of AI — tumour detection, medical assistive devices, disease modelling, fraud detection, vehicle safety etc. These have existed long before the first paper on the transformer architecture ever did, and they will continue to provide genuine value to the world separately and regardless of the fate of generative AI.
But the use of generative AI in creating art is unequivocally an insult to what it means to be human. Marche talks about how AI can’t write about someone’s specific childhood cat, but can write things about cats that the same person couldn’t. But here’s the thing: I want to read about the specific cat. About the specific emotions and the specific bond that that cat’s existence made possible. I want to read about the human experience that was shaped by that specific cat. Why? Because that is the beauty of shared experience that makes art so special. Marche can pass off his failure to understand this as some enlightened view of AI, but given that he doesn’t understand the basics of LLM regurgitation of training data, I think we can call a spade a spade. Here, the spade is just a mediocre writer playing with chatbots and calling it an experiment in the hopes that his books might, one day, see the outside of a drug store clearance rack.
But let’s talk about the afterward by the “author”
There are brilliant use cases of AI — tumour detection, medical assistive devices, disease modelling, fraud detection, vehicle safety etc. These have existed long before the first paper on the transformer architecture ever did, and they will continue to provide genuine value to the world separately and regardless of the fate of generative AI.
But the use of generative AI in creating art is unequivocally an insult to what it means to be human. Marche talks about how AI can’t write about someone’s specific childhood cat, but can write things about cats that the same person couldn’t. But here’s the thing: I want to read about the specific cat. About the specific emotions and the specific bond that that cat’s existence made possible. I want to read about the human experience that was shaped by that specific cat. Why? Because that is the beauty of shared experience that makes art so special. Marche can pass off his failure to understand this as some enlightened view of AI, but given that he doesn’t understand the basics of LLM regurgitation of training data, I think we can call a spade a spade. Here, the spade is just a mediocre writer playing with chatbots and calling it an experiment in the hopes that his books might, one day, see the outside of a drug store clearance rack.
August 7, 2024
3.5 ⭐️ honestly I think this could’ve gotten a 4 if it had been a little longer with more development. It was truncated a bit too early, however this was a very cool concept (primarily written using AI), and even more interesting to hear the “author’s” note at the end explaining the project.
June 8, 2023
Not the most cohesive book- which I assume because this was written mostly through the use of AI (which I didn’t know when I picked it up)
It was a bit muddled, repetitive, and just a bit meh
It was a bit muddled, repetitive, and just a bit meh
January 13, 2025
Crap
1 have about 1 page review but the summary is this: crap.
1 have about 1 page review but the summary is this: crap.
June 28, 2023
4 stars for the concept, the work, and the narration
I think there are two other books with the same title that are popular on Goodreads at the moment. When Hoopla suggested the audiobook of Death of an Author to me, I was intrigued. As someone who earns a living by writing -- nothing exciting, mind you -- and has "write bio for the new AVP, Artificial Intelligence" on her task list, I could not resist!
This was a really interesting novella, written in part by creative AI, and I am impressed. In the author's notes, Stephen Marche describes the creative project: it was to be 95% computer-generated, but the content had to be something that someone would want to read. It had to be a "page-turner".
The result -- Death of an Author -- is "a murder mystery about a writer being murdered by the tech that is supposedly killing writers". The novella is simple, but atmospheric. There are nods to Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Sir Conan Doyle, etc. of course. Largely because Marche (the human driving the AI) read those authors and tried to make the machine write like them.
Frankly, the process of writing the novella was absolutely fascinating -- maybe more fascinating than the novella itself. As a non-creative writer, I see how AI could be employed to assist me -- or even replace me. Fingers crossed that they generate a nice severance package when the time comes.
I think there are two other books with the same title that are popular on Goodreads at the moment. When Hoopla suggested the audiobook of Death of an Author to me, I was intrigued. As someone who earns a living by writing -- nothing exciting, mind you -- and has "write bio for the new AVP, Artificial Intelligence" on her task list, I could not resist!
This was a really interesting novella, written in part by creative AI, and I am impressed. In the author's notes, Stephen Marche describes the creative project: it was to be 95% computer-generated, but the content had to be something that someone would want to read. It had to be a "page-turner".
The result -- Death of an Author -- is "a murder mystery about a writer being murdered by the tech that is supposedly killing writers". The novella is simple, but atmospheric. There are nods to Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Sir Conan Doyle, etc. of course. Largely because Marche (the human driving the AI) read those authors and tried to make the machine write like them.
Frankly, the process of writing the novella was absolutely fascinating -- maybe more fascinating than the novella itself. As a non-creative writer, I see how AI could be employed to assist me -- or even replace me. Fingers crossed that they generate a nice severance package when the time comes.
August 6, 2026
Intrigued by the concept behind the creation of this novella and overall impressed but it did not capture me at all. I enjoyed the exploration of the author’s notes/opinions on use of AI in literary arts in the afterward more than the story itself.
December 18, 2025
Once again, I love to read about AI. this was so interesting
August 13, 2026
This is easily the most soulless book I've ever read, and the realisation that it was Gen-AI (even if the author likes to call it "creative" AI) made me so nauseous through the listening process. Stephen Marche's gloating afterword was probably the most interesting part of it all, because it outlines the process of using work that was clearly an abuse of copyright and pasting another copyright over it (Pushkin Publications FYI, fuck them to hell). Marche seems to think that he's done something really innovative by "writing" this book 95% via AI while cleaning out pronouns and some very inhuman language of the machine in the prose. He claims to have done a lot of murder mystery reading to come up with this book, except the one mystery cited in this narrative is a hallucinated story of Sherlock Holmes', and even within the narrative there's some discussion of how it's fair use now. A story that does not exist... Being deemed fair use by the AI that wrote the story... I'm going to kms posthaste. I'm going to read everything that was written about this little gimmick of a book. I didn't enjoy it at all, so much of the text was a waste of time and space and I hope I get to a point where I can hate on this better.
Read
May 28, 2025Why would anyone want to read this??! Let alone pay for it!?
Do all you readers want all books to be written by AI in the future?? Because that is exactly what will happen if readers don't reject all works written with any AI immediately. Publishers will gladly dispense with human writers (who might want to get paid, of all things!) to simply make money off of crap made by AI. Do you want to support unemployment for real actual human writers with real brains and real creativity? And the crushed hopes of anyone, including an generation of kids, to ever be a writer as a profession? Then go ahead any support this destruction by giving money for this awfulness. And then be ashamed of yourselves. And don't dare come back complaining when in the future we have no original creative stories written by actual people, until actual people forget how to even write them.
I don't know what is more disgusting, the books themselves, those who would "write" them, or readers for being too foolish, ignorant, and easily duped into buying them.
Do all you readers want all books to be written by AI in the future?? Because that is exactly what will happen if readers don't reject all works written with any AI immediately. Publishers will gladly dispense with human writers (who might want to get paid, of all things!) to simply make money off of crap made by AI. Do you want to support unemployment for real actual human writers with real brains and real creativity? And the crushed hopes of anyone, including an generation of kids, to ever be a writer as a profession? Then go ahead any support this destruction by giving money for this awfulness. And then be ashamed of yourselves. And don't dare come back complaining when in the future we have no original creative stories written by actual people, until actual people forget how to even write them.
I don't know what is more disgusting, the books themselves, those who would "write" them, or readers for being too foolish, ignorant, and easily duped into buying them.
May 19, 2024
This was a really interesting experiment, and the note at the end about the process creating the novella was as the most fascinating part. I don’t really know if you can truly claim it to be “95% machine written” when the composition was so intricately directed. It did make me think, though — I wish Ursula Le Guin and Octavia Butler were still around so we could get their take on the world of AI.
June 16, 2023
3.5 stars
I think that people's instinct will be to slam on this novella because of it 95% AI composition, but Marche, who produced and worked the text, succeeded at his mission to created a readable narrative. Marche's afterward is a must read and gives us a lot to think about.
I think that people's instinct will be to slam on this novella because of it 95% AI composition, but Marche, who produced and worked the text, succeeded at his mission to created a readable narrative. Marche's afterward is a must read and gives us a lot to think about.
October 23, 2023
Pretty cool to read a book co-written with a LLM. The mistery plot is quite good, as a sci-fi it is not exceptional and I found the writing style a bit dry. Definitely made me think of how to use LLMs better.
October 15, 2026
Can AI actually write a good book?
Well, I've officially finished my first AI-written mystery, and I have some thoughts!
Let's start with the story.
Surprisingly, it wasn't bad! There were a couple of twists I genuinely didn't see coming, and the mystery kept me interested enough that I wanted to know how everything would unfold.
The premise itself was fascinating. The story takes place in a world shaped by artificial intelligence, and some of the fictional technology honestly doesn't seem that far removed from what we could see in our own future.
But the writing wasn't without problems.
The repetitive language I noticed halfway through continued, although I became less aware of it toward the end. Did the writing improve, or did I simply get used to it? I'm not sure.
And the character names? Let's just say I won't be forgetting them anytime soon. They were repeated constantly.
I also noticed some overexplaining and moments when the narrative seemed to tell me what to think rather than allowing me to reach my own conclusions.
There was also a point-of-view change that briefly confused me. I'm accustomed to POV changes being clearly identified at the beginning of a chapter, so it took me a moment to realize whose perspective I was reading.
Despite those issues, the murder mystery worked well enough that, if there were more to the story, I'd probably keep reading.
Now, here's where things got really interesting.
At the end of the book, the author explains how and why he deliberately created this story using AI as an experiment.
I actually had no idea that was the intention when I started reading!
And how fitting is that? My very first book for an experiment about AI-written fiction turns out to be an experiment itself.
The author's discussion genuinely made me think.
One of the ideas that stood out was his perspective on AI as an artistic medium. You might disagree with that idea, and that's completely fine.
But AI is already being used in countless creative fields. Throughout history, new artistic methods and technologies have challenged people's understanding of what art can be. Something unfamiliar can be uncomfortable, especially when it begins changing an established industry.
Another point that stayed with me was the distinction between using AI thoughtfully and producing something poorly made simply because the technology makes it possible.
I think that's an important conversation.
When people hear that an author used AI, many immediately imagine someone opening ChatGPT, typing "write me a murder mystery," and publishing whatever comes out.
And unfortunately, I've seen people promoting exactly that approach as a way to generate passive income.
Shame on you.
Because treating books as disposable products instead of stories worth creating contributes to the negative perception surrounding AI writing tools.
There's a difference between using technology as part of a deliberate creative process and expecting it to do all the work without caring about the result.
And I think that distinction deserves more attention.
So, my final verdict?
⭐ The mystery: 3.5/5. An interesting premise, unexpected twists, and enough intrigue to keep me reading. But repetitive language, overexplaining, and a confusing POV transition held it back.
⭐ The author's explanation: 5/5. Thought-provoking, informative, and honestly my favorite part of the entire experience.
Would I recommend it?
Yes, particularly to readers who are curious about AI and its role in fiction. And I'd strongly encourage you to listen to or read the author's explanation at the end.
You don't have to agree with everything he says. But I think it's worth hearing his perspective before deciding what AI-assisted writing means to you.
Well, I've officially finished my first AI-written mystery, and I have some thoughts!
Let's start with the story.
Surprisingly, it wasn't bad! There were a couple of twists I genuinely didn't see coming, and the mystery kept me interested enough that I wanted to know how everything would unfold.
The premise itself was fascinating. The story takes place in a world shaped by artificial intelligence, and some of the fictional technology honestly doesn't seem that far removed from what we could see in our own future.
But the writing wasn't without problems.
The repetitive language I noticed halfway through continued, although I became less aware of it toward the end. Did the writing improve, or did I simply get used to it? I'm not sure.
And the character names? Let's just say I won't be forgetting them anytime soon. They were repeated constantly.
I also noticed some overexplaining and moments when the narrative seemed to tell me what to think rather than allowing me to reach my own conclusions.
There was also a point-of-view change that briefly confused me. I'm accustomed to POV changes being clearly identified at the beginning of a chapter, so it took me a moment to realize whose perspective I was reading.
Despite those issues, the murder mystery worked well enough that, if there were more to the story, I'd probably keep reading.
Now, here's where things got really interesting.
At the end of the book, the author explains how and why he deliberately created this story using AI as an experiment.
I actually had no idea that was the intention when I started reading!
And how fitting is that? My very first book for an experiment about AI-written fiction turns out to be an experiment itself.
The author's discussion genuinely made me think.
One of the ideas that stood out was his perspective on AI as an artistic medium. You might disagree with that idea, and that's completely fine.
But AI is already being used in countless creative fields. Throughout history, new artistic methods and technologies have challenged people's understanding of what art can be. Something unfamiliar can be uncomfortable, especially when it begins changing an established industry.
Another point that stayed with me was the distinction between using AI thoughtfully and producing something poorly made simply because the technology makes it possible.
I think that's an important conversation.
When people hear that an author used AI, many immediately imagine someone opening ChatGPT, typing "write me a murder mystery," and publishing whatever comes out.
And unfortunately, I've seen people promoting exactly that approach as a way to generate passive income.
Shame on you.
Because treating books as disposable products instead of stories worth creating contributes to the negative perception surrounding AI writing tools.
There's a difference between using technology as part of a deliberate creative process and expecting it to do all the work without caring about the result.
And I think that distinction deserves more attention.
So, my final verdict?
⭐ The mystery: 3.5/5. An interesting premise, unexpected twists, and enough intrigue to keep me reading. But repetitive language, overexplaining, and a confusing POV transition held it back.
⭐ The author's explanation: 5/5. Thought-provoking, informative, and honestly my favorite part of the entire experience.
Would I recommend it?
Yes, particularly to readers who are curious about AI and its role in fiction. And I'd strongly encourage you to listen to or read the author's explanation at the end.
You don't have to agree with everything he says. But I think it's worth hearing his perspective before deciding what AI-assisted writing means to you.
May 12, 2023
“Morte di uno scrittore” (“Death of an Author”) è un esperimento innovativo, pieno di suspense nel metamondo dell’uomo che incontra il linguaggio pensante della AI. Quando Gus Dupin, critico letterario e studioso, si trova invitato al funerale di Peggy Firmin, celebre scrittrice e ora vittima di omicidio, decide di scoprire chi l’ha uccisa e perché. Mentre la sua indagine prende il via, non passa molto tempo prima che si ritrovi al centro di un esperimento presso Marlow AI, una grande azienda di modelli linguistici. Scopre che è stato incluso in questo esperimento, ma non sa perchè. Inoltre, Dupin è sospettato dell’omicidio di Firmin ed è, addirittura, sospettato di diventare la prossima vittima. Mentre egli tenta di svelare il mistero della morte della scrittrice, suo autore preferito, chi legge il libro si trova in una serie continua di realtà alternative. Il lettore deve affrontare il problema di quale possa essere il giusto rapporto tra esseri umani e le macchine pensanti, con la conseguenza di un delitto molto misterioso. Un omicidio che simboleggia oltre il fatto fisico anche la metafora dell’assassinio non solo dell’autore ma anche dello scrittore e della scrittura. Una rivoluzione nella narrativa ed un uso senza precedenti dell’Intelligenza Artificiale. “Death of an Author” è un esempio di scrittura davvero magistrale e sbalorditiva della natura e del potere della lingua. Un vero e proprio romanzo giallo chiamato in inglese “novella” scritto da Stephen Marche, un umano, in collaborazione con Aldan Marchine che non è un essere umano bensì il prodotto, per così dire, di ben tre AI (Intelligenze Artificiali).
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
“Death of an Author” is an innovative, suspenseful experiment in the metaworld of a man meeting the thinking language of AI. When Gus Dupin, literary critic, and scholar, is invited to the funeral of Peggy Firmin, a famous writer and now a victim of murder, he decides to find out who killed her and why. As his investigation gets underway, it’s not long before he finds himself at the center of an experiment at Marlow AI, a large language modeling company. He discovers that he has been included in this experiment, but he doesn’t know why. Furthermore, Dupin is suspected of the murder of Firmin and is, even, suspected of becoming the next victim. While he tries to unravel the mystery of the death of the writer, his favorite author, whoever reads the book finds himself in a continuous series of alternate realities. The reader must face the problem of what could be the right relationship between human beings and thinking machines, with the consequence of a very mysterious crime. A murder that symbolizes not only the physical fact but also the metaphor of the assassination not only of the author but also of the writer and of writing. A revolution in narrative and an unprecedented use of Artificial Intelligence. “Death of an Author” is a truly masterful and stunning example of writing about the nature and power of language. A true thriller called in English “novella” written by Stephen Marche, a human, in collaboration with Aldan Marchine who is not a human being but the “product”, so to speak, of three different AI (Artificial Intelligences).
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
“Death of an Author” is an innovative, suspenseful experiment in the metaworld of a man meeting the thinking language of AI. When Gus Dupin, literary critic, and scholar, is invited to the funeral of Peggy Firmin, a famous writer and now a victim of murder, he decides to find out who killed her and why. As his investigation gets underway, it’s not long before he finds himself at the center of an experiment at Marlow AI, a large language modeling company. He discovers that he has been included in this experiment, but he doesn’t know why. Furthermore, Dupin is suspected of the murder of Firmin and is, even, suspected of becoming the next victim. While he tries to unravel the mystery of the death of the writer, his favorite author, whoever reads the book finds himself in a continuous series of alternate realities. The reader must face the problem of what could be the right relationship between human beings and thinking machines, with the consequence of a very mysterious crime. A murder that symbolizes not only the physical fact but also the metaphor of the assassination not only of the author but also of the writer and of writing. A revolution in narrative and an unprecedented use of Artificial Intelligence. “Death of an Author” is a truly masterful and stunning example of writing about the nature and power of language. A true thriller called in English “novella” written by Stephen Marche, a human, in collaboration with Aldan Marchine who is not a human being but the “product”, so to speak, of three different AI (Artificial Intelligences).
October 17, 2026
Jujur dari awal udah suka banget sama cover dengan gaya surealis, yang memperlihatkan isi pikiran seorang wanita dipenuhi siluet gedung tinggi, termasuk CN Tower di Toronto, Kanada, dengan air di bagian dasar sebagai lambang kedalaman pikiran, memori, dan refleksi batinnya.
Di halaman akhir, jurnalis Stephe Marche yang sering menulis artikel berkaitan dengan AI (Artificial Intelligent) mengaku bahwa Novela ini merupakan hasil eksperimen menggunakan 95% AI, dan nama pena "Aidan Marchine" merupakan permainan kata dari "AI and Machine".
Di Amazon terdeteksi lebih dari 200 novel menggunakan AI. Udah kayak gelombang sampah gara-gara konten kreator mempromosikan sebagai pendapatan pasif.
Jujur saya masih blank dan belum tahu gimana caranya mengenali novel yang menggunakan AI.
Kalau design / ilustrasi / video yang visual saya dengan mudah mengenali. Begitu juga lagu dengan musik dan suara vokal AI juga kentara banget, terlalu sempurna kaga ada falsnya yang membuat kurang nikmat saat didengarkan.
Sebelum bilang suka atau tidak suka emang musti baca novela ini dulu, nggak bisa ujug-ujug bikin statement anti AI. Sama halnya seperti makan bubur, untuk memutuskan tim diaduk atau tidak, kan kudu nyobain keduanya lalu mengambil kesimpulan.
Setelah baca novela ini jujur saya tidak bisa mengenali bahwa ini AI. Mungkin akan lebih mudah kalau ditulis dengan bahasa indonesia, tapi rada sulit mendeteksi kalau bahasa Inggris.
Lagipula gimana nggak sulit mendeteksi kalau yang ngasih perintah ke AI banyak baca karya sastra dan tahu bagaimana teori menulis yang baik, kalimat yang rapi dan paragraf menarik.
Apalagi pada saat proses pengerjaan, Marche membaca ulang fiksi detektif : Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson, Kenneth Fearing, dan George Higgins.
Ditambah lagi dengan fiksi detektif : That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana, Hard Boiled Wonderland & The End of The World, dan The New York Trilogy.
Judul novela "The Death of the Author", yang dicomot dari judul teori sastra terkenal Roland Barthes, terasa ambigu. Kisah misteri pembunuhan tentang seorang penulis yang dibunuh oleh teknologi, apakah AI akan membuat profesi penulis mati?
"AI is alien, and its art feels alien. That alien has come from a universe of beauty."
Buku ini bisa jadi contoh yang menarik untuk bahan diskusi.
Bintang 3/5.
Setelah nulis review baru terpikir, kenapa saya nggak nyoba bikin review pake AI juga biar sepadan. Huh.
Di halaman akhir, jurnalis Stephe Marche yang sering menulis artikel berkaitan dengan AI (Artificial Intelligent) mengaku bahwa Novela ini merupakan hasil eksperimen menggunakan 95% AI, dan nama pena "Aidan Marchine" merupakan permainan kata dari "AI and Machine".
Di Amazon terdeteksi lebih dari 200 novel menggunakan AI. Udah kayak gelombang sampah gara-gara konten kreator mempromosikan sebagai pendapatan pasif.
Jujur saya masih blank dan belum tahu gimana caranya mengenali novel yang menggunakan AI.
Kalau design / ilustrasi / video yang visual saya dengan mudah mengenali. Begitu juga lagu dengan musik dan suara vokal AI juga kentara banget, terlalu sempurna kaga ada falsnya yang membuat kurang nikmat saat didengarkan.
Sebelum bilang suka atau tidak suka emang musti baca novela ini dulu, nggak bisa ujug-ujug bikin statement anti AI. Sama halnya seperti makan bubur, untuk memutuskan tim diaduk atau tidak, kan kudu nyobain keduanya lalu mengambil kesimpulan.
Setelah baca novela ini jujur saya tidak bisa mengenali bahwa ini AI. Mungkin akan lebih mudah kalau ditulis dengan bahasa indonesia, tapi rada sulit mendeteksi kalau bahasa Inggris.
Lagipula gimana nggak sulit mendeteksi kalau yang ngasih perintah ke AI banyak baca karya sastra dan tahu bagaimana teori menulis yang baik, kalimat yang rapi dan paragraf menarik.
Apalagi pada saat proses pengerjaan, Marche membaca ulang fiksi detektif : Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Jim Thompson, Kenneth Fearing, dan George Higgins.
Ditambah lagi dengan fiksi detektif : That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana, Hard Boiled Wonderland & The End of The World, dan The New York Trilogy.
Judul novela "The Death of the Author", yang dicomot dari judul teori sastra terkenal Roland Barthes, terasa ambigu. Kisah misteri pembunuhan tentang seorang penulis yang dibunuh oleh teknologi, apakah AI akan membuat profesi penulis mati?
"AI is alien, and its art feels alien. That alien has come from a universe of beauty."
Buku ini bisa jadi contoh yang menarik untuk bahan diskusi.
Bintang 3/5.
Setelah nulis review baru terpikir, kenapa saya nggak nyoba bikin review pake AI juga biar sepadan. Huh.
November 17, 2023
Have you ever wondered what an AI would do if asked to write a murder mystery? Me neither, but here are the main points.
1. It would steal the plot from an existing novel. I have to applaud Aidan's choice of Agatha Christie, because quite frankly Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have done an exceptional job of reinvigorating Sherlock Holmes, so a plot from the great Dame of the genre seemed the more politically expedient move. But what AI misses about Agatha Christie's novels is there was a lot of scope for the audience to deduce what was going on for themselves, or at least figure out relevant clues. Aidan just grabbed an existing scenario, used it in the background, then presented it by outlining how it was used by Agatha Christie.
2. It would plagiarise itself. In an unusual move, the murder victim wrote a novel where she was murdered in the exact same way. Which OK, I guess that's not unheard of in crime fiction. But instead of the details being similar, they are identical. As in, the same words are used. Aidan literally plagiarised a fictional novel of his creation for this fictional novel of his creation - not considering that in the universe he created the novel that we read doesn't exist.
3. It ignored a seminal point that is arguably android cannon, created by Philip K. Dick in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968). That is, if you create an android, no matter how sophisticated your technology, there will still be some means for a dedicated individual to distinguish an android from a human. The characters in the novel can't. Because they are all the creation of AI, so the ones that are supposed to be human actually lack the quality that differentiates humans from androids (although in this day and age how they keep assuming battery life is going to skate under the radar, feels like a stretch).
I think the last point is the most interesting if you want to discuss the novel. There are some really interesting ideas about humanity, artificial intelligence and their relationship. But most of the really interesting points are in what is missing.
1. It would steal the plot from an existing novel. I have to applaud Aidan's choice of Agatha Christie, because quite frankly Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat have done an exceptional job of reinvigorating Sherlock Holmes, so a plot from the great Dame of the genre seemed the more politically expedient move. But what AI misses about Agatha Christie's novels is there was a lot of scope for the audience to deduce what was going on for themselves, or at least figure out relevant clues. Aidan just grabbed an existing scenario, used it in the background, then presented it by outlining how it was used by Agatha Christie.
2. It would plagiarise itself. In an unusual move, the murder victim wrote a novel where she was murdered in the exact same way. Which OK, I guess that's not unheard of in crime fiction. But instead of the details being similar, they are identical. As in, the same words are used. Aidan literally plagiarised a fictional novel of his creation for this fictional novel of his creation - not considering that in the universe he created the novel that we read doesn't exist.
3. It ignored a seminal point that is arguably android cannon, created by Philip K. Dick in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968). That is, if you create an android, no matter how sophisticated your technology, there will still be some means for a dedicated individual to distinguish an android from a human. The characters in the novel can't. Because they are all the creation of AI, so the ones that are supposed to be human actually lack the quality that differentiates humans from androids (although in this day and age how they keep assuming battery life is going to skate under the radar, feels like a stretch).
I think the last point is the most interesting if you want to discuss the novel. There are some really interesting ideas about humanity, artificial intelligence and their relationship. But most of the really interesting points are in what is missing.
May 17, 2024
This novella, in audiobook form, took me by surprise. I knew it had a connection to AI, but that was right there in the subject line of the "book". An respected author from Toronto is found dead on a bridge close to Gus Dupin's house in the woods outside a small town with a university. He doesn't really know here, has never met her, but has written about her and has received an invitation to her funeral.
He attends the funeral, worried about why he has been invited, and concerned because the police have interviewed him and seem to think it is possibly he himself was guilty of her murder. At the funeral, an avatar of the writer tells the audience how she died.
Only at the end, does the person bringing the story to us advice the listening audience that he generated the novella using AI, CHATGPT and other tooks of the trade. He believes that the wise, and clever use of the various tools can and should be able to develop a story just as "unique" as anything by a human being only.
In listening, I had a faint feeling of discomfort at the begining but it was because I thought the numbering of the chapters was off somehow. The story itself certainly felt like an authetically "unique" story at least as special as anything exclusively by a human being. What this implies to me is that perhaps AI will, in fact, introduce a new form of writing where plot points are put into different styles and make to sound differently and in some sense, as the "writer" suggests actually be less formalic than something simply wrote in the style of another author.
It does seem to take a certain amount of talent in technical use of the various tools available in order to product the narrative part of the "book". I am intriqued enough to want to explore other AI generated works if I can find them and know that they are that BEFORE reading them, (supposedly there are lots on Amazon.
He attends the funeral, worried about why he has been invited, and concerned because the police have interviewed him and seem to think it is possibly he himself was guilty of her murder. At the funeral, an avatar of the writer tells the audience how she died.
Only at the end, does the person bringing the story to us advice the listening audience that he generated the novella using AI, CHATGPT and other tooks of the trade. He believes that the wise, and clever use of the various tools can and should be able to develop a story just as "unique" as anything by a human being only.
In listening, I had a faint feeling of discomfort at the begining but it was because I thought the numbering of the chapters was off somehow. The story itself certainly felt like an authetically "unique" story at least as special as anything exclusively by a human being. What this implies to me is that perhaps AI will, in fact, introduce a new form of writing where plot points are put into different styles and make to sound differently and in some sense, as the "writer" suggests actually be less formalic than something simply wrote in the style of another author.
It does seem to take a certain amount of talent in technical use of the various tools available in order to product the narrative part of the "book". I am intriqued enough to want to explore other AI generated works if I can find them and know that they are that BEFORE reading them, (supposedly there are lots on Amazon.
Read
June 9, 2025I don't even know how to rate this. I'm so conflicted. I didn't realize this was an experiment in AI writing until the note at the end (I randomly listened to the audiobook from my library because the cover seemed interesting). Part of me was horrified to learn that I had listened to a product of the infamous chatGPT *shudder*. There are so many reasons to dislike the AI system and the way people use it. But I'd also like to think that I have an open mind. In a way, I can conceptualize the use of AI as a writing tool as being somewhat similar to the use of a special brush for digital art or a mold for ceramics. At what point is the tool making the art rather than the person? The question of what constitutes "real art" has no easy answers. I won't go on forever about this (although I could), but for now, let's just say that I think the discussion about AI art is just starting and this work raises some interesting points.
May 22, 2023
This is a fairly typical murder mystery, HOWEVER!, it is generated and crafted by AI. The story itself is cool in concept, rather meta, and I feel like this combined my two favourite things: classic mystery à la Christie and classic science fiction like Samuel Delany. The prose on the otherhand can sometimes be clunky and jarring. It reads like the type of work you'd read in a high school or first year creative writing course.
The resulting story itself is not worthy of the 5 stars, however, the afterword by Stephen Marche is superb. It reveals the work behind the curtain and argues that we just need to know how to use AI properly. Ultimately fascinating and I will continue to think about this piece for a long time.
The resulting story itself is not worthy of the 5 stars, however, the afterword by Stephen Marche is superb. It reveals the work behind the curtain and argues that we just need to know how to use AI properly. Ultimately fascinating and I will continue to think about this piece for a long time.
August 21, 2023
DNF.
It has all the elements of a book, the parts of a story. But it was just lacking something...
If you've ever used Chat GPT before, you know that the responses it provides are frequently verbose and presented in a list format, with repetitive words. This book (obviously as most of it was written with ChatGPT), had many issues with that.
I think it's a fascinating use of the AI models that we have access to today, but there are clearly limitations on what it can do. This book should be required reading for all Hollywood executives when they make decisions about not paying writers and just using AI to generate content.
Not saying that we won't get there in the future, but as of right now, pay your goddamn writers.
It has all the elements of a book, the parts of a story. But it was just lacking something...
If you've ever used Chat GPT before, you know that the responses it provides are frequently verbose and presented in a list format, with repetitive words. This book (obviously as most of it was written with ChatGPT), had many issues with that.
I think it's a fascinating use of the AI models that we have access to today, but there are clearly limitations on what it can do. This book should be required reading for all Hollywood executives when they make decisions about not paying writers and just using AI to generate content.
Not saying that we won't get there in the future, but as of right now, pay your goddamn writers.
July 31, 2024
This is an experimental book written by AI, had I known this or payed attention to the description I would have probably never read it. However I did, and it confirmed what I feel about AI-it can never truly replace the creative work of authors or artists. The work felt emotionally flat and disjointed. It felt like the work of the average Joe who says, “I could do that-and then failed miserably and realized that maybe writing a book takes more than just being able to write a sentence. That it takes more than a general idea and an ability to type. Creative people are good at what they do-let’s continue to let them thrive and producing wonderful works. Let’s not clog up our libraries, bookstores, museums, and galleries with half baked ideas created with little more than an ability to type.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews