Chapter 47
You worked it out, Harper. We knew you would. Not a joke. Not a prank. A social experiment to see if we could get an AI-written book to the top of the eBook charts, using all our tech expertise. And it worked.
I’m fuming. And I also feel vindicated. But what to do with this information?
I take a screenshot of the message and forward it to Lily before calling her.
‘I’m going to pop you on speaker, while I read it,’ she says by way of greeting. ‘Oh my God, you were right, Harper. This is huge! But she says “we” so who are they? Have you replied?’
‘No, I haven’t. What’s the chances they’ll be honest with me?’
‘None, I imagine. Why don’t you reactivate your Instagram account and share the screenshot, prove that you were in the right all along?’
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 Zhōu 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 na?ve 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 send Bang, 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 shot Bang, 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.’
Bring me down? ‘Mai, you contacted Paddington’s Books and got me fired. Surely that shows you intended to ruin my life?’
‘No,’ she says firmly. ‘It wasn’t me. I promise you, I didn’t call Paddington’s.
By that stage, I’d pulled out of the entire mess.
I’m really sorry, Harper. It was only supposed to be a joke, us gamers gaming the system for a few weeks and then we’d wrap it up and share how we did it, to show it was possible.
When the book hit the top of the bestseller charts, the group were suddenly divided.
It was making real money, lots of money, and even though we were spending most of it on ads, my friends got caught up in the thrill of it.
They decided to do whatever was necessary to keep it in top spot, in the hopes it would eventually profit without the need to continue to outlay huge sums on marketing spend.
You were collateral damage, Harper. I tried to stop my friends, I did.
But it was too late. For what it’s worth, you weren’t the only one who was suspicious.
My friends are all techy and managed to bury or remove any negative talk about it on social media.
Especially on Reddit. And we paid for all the positive posts. ’
‘This is why you had a falling out with all your gamer friends?’ Lily asks.
‘Yeah. It was never meant to ruin Harper’s life. Just shake it up a bit and they, we, went too far. I’m truly so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking, I really don’t.’
I try my best to ignore how contrite she sounds. I want to hold on to my anger. ‘There was never any legal team?’ As soon as I ask, it clicks.
‘No, that email was generated using AI too, so it would sound legit.’
Whoa. I didn’t even think to check the firm was real. Why would I? I wanted to run away screaming from the threat of it all. ‘And the doxxing?’
‘Not real either. Fake accounts that commented that you’d been doxxed.’ So that’s why she didn’t feel any concern hosting a Snapchat pal party. There was never any threat from incels.
‘What do you expect me to do about this?’ I ask.
‘Expose the whole thing. I’ll admit my part in it, even if that means The Mums will hand out a punishment worse than death. I deserve it.’
The dramatics of her young age shines though.
‘I hardly think it’s as bad as what I’ve been through.
’ But then I reconsider. If none of this had happened I wouldn’t have found my way here to the island.
I wouldn’t have found Xavier and whatever the heck might happen with that.
The beautiful island bookshop. Old man Turt.
The merry band of kooky expats. Mariola’s steady friendship.
Freedom. My last chance… became a second chance.
And so can I forgive Mai, and give her another chance, like Gus did for me?
It’s an impossible choice. I’m quietly seething that she’d be so stupid but I’m also mindful of her age, and this tech-obsessed world that we live in where a stupid idea to cheat to the publishing system went too far.
‘No, it’s not as bad as what you’ve been through, Harper.
Lily is right, I did it because I’m so envious of you, when I should have just told you how much I admired you.
How you built your page from nothing inspired me.
It’s what convinced me to try Twitch streaming.
And your friendship with Lily is like this precious tangible thing and I wanted that so badly. ’
She’s made some stupid choices but haven’t we all done that?
I’m just thankful that my youth wasn’t documented with a phone in our hand, camera at the ready, endless possibilities at the touch of a button.
Egged on by other teenagers who are too clever for their own good.
‘I hope you learn from this, Mai. And find some better friends. That’s the hard part.
Knowing who to keep and who to cast away if you ever want a friend as good as Lily.
I don’t know what else I can say.’ She’s still Lily’s cousin and right now I’m too stunned to think straight. Or to absolve her.
‘Harper,’ Lily says. She’s just barely containing her rage. ‘This is unforgiveable. I’m going to call The Mums now. This is too big for me to handle without backup. Is that OK by you?’
‘More than OK.’ If I know the Zhōus like I think I do, they will dole out a punishment far worse than I ever could. ‘And Mai, you’re the one that can speak up online about this. Not me. You make it right. This is on you.’
‘I will, I promise I will.’
‘I cannot believe this.’ Lily lets out a frustrated sigh.
‘Let’s talk a bit later, yeah?’
As I go to hang up the call, all I hear is the sound of Mai sobbing and it pains me to hear such anguish in her voice, but I take heart, knowing her family will sort it out in the meantime. Just like they always do. Together.