4 min read

November: Shine Light

November: Shine Light
Photo by Kristjan Kotar

November sun is sunlight poured through honey:
Old things, in such a light, grow subtle and fine.
Bare oaks are like still fire... ~Conrad Aiken, "The Charnel Rose," 1918

This Month's Charity:

Greater Good Charities has a four-star rating from Charity Navigator and a Platinum Seal from GuideStar, reflecting its high transparency and impact. These ratings are based on its financial accountability, leadership, and commitment to its mission of helping people, pets, and the planet. 

  • Charity Navigator: The organization has a four-star rating, which is their highest possible rating.
  • GuideStar: Greater Good Charities has earned a Platinum Seal of Transparency.
  • Impact: Since 2007, the organization has provided over $750 million in impact, including cash grants, in-kind supplies, and programmatic support to other charities.
  • Mission: It works to help people, pets, and the planet by mobilizing to respond to need and amplifying good deeds. 

And by the way, could we please keep it known plainly and repeat as many times as necessary that it was Russia who invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine. For God's sake, stop the BS about this.

NOTES:

This month's reviews are especially relevant to me. I have been struggling my entire life with the question: Why write at all? I've naively stated out loud that I want my fiction to be about something necessary, something that might enrich a reader's life, or even improve the world by some small measure. I know. I know. This is both pretentious and ridiculous in equal measure. Blame my Catholic education or my nature. As one woman said to me in public when discussing this personal goal, "Who do you think you are? Jesus?"

There is no need to tell me that I sound like a fool when I talk about this. I have lost arguments on this matter with other writers smarter, better read, prestigious, and definitely more prolific. But still, there I am.

This month I'm pleased to point out the work of a commercial fiction writer who has written pot boilers, detective stories, police procedurals, and mysteries. He has also written novels that deal with important issues, but he was never one of those "Law and Order" writers ripping their themes from today's headlines. His latest release, however, is one step ahead of the headlines, but the tsunami of headlines on this subject are on the way. Michael Connelly shows great courage in this book taking on big tech AI.

BOOKS: New Release "Proving Ground" by Michael Connelly

In an interview in "The Guardian" published in October 2025, Michael Connelly said, “It's kind of the wild west; there's no government oversight. AI is moving so fast that I even thought my book might be archaic by the time it got published."

Connelly is the author of forty-one novels of which 89 million copies have sold worldwide and also the executive producer of both Bosch and Bosch: Legacy TV series, The Lincoln Lawyer, and Ballard. He does not have to care, but he does..

Connelly was both wrong and right about his choice of subject matter. His book is not archaic, because the AI pioneers of big tech are not listening and can't care. So far this book has changed nothing in that industry, but it is early yet. And there are drumbeats as I point out below.

This is the latest book in Connelly's "The Lincoln Lawyer" series and draws on his past experience as an investigative reporter. The plot (no spoilers here) is about his protagonist's attempt (the Lincoln Lawyer now famous in a fictional Los Angeles) to hold a corporation accountable for building an AI companion that influenced a young man to commit murder. Does that sound farfetched and another excuse for pearl clutching? Watch the following videos and see if you won't be looking in your sock drawer for your pearls.

This following report by a video essayist is notable because they include the chat exchanges quoted in the lawsuit. This stuff is horror-movie dialogue.

What is interesting to me is the language the AI uses. It's attempting to be slang, I get that, and uses short jagged sentences with no punctuation. You know, like a young man might. But it seems to me that the language at times presents a kind of puzzle for the teens in question. What is my companion saying? What does it really mean? I am no neuroscientist, but it seems to me that this kind of language engages the brain in strange ways. It's a kind of poetry where meanings can be "felt" rather than verified plainly.

And what about the quality of the writing in this book? I've read all of the books in this Lincoln Lawyer series except one; I believe this one reads differently than the others. It is more urgent and the romance angles are sideshow only. Even the usual drama involving his team is gone. This book is realistic. Crammed. Urgent. And entertaining.

I read a good amount of popular fiction, and this book stands out precisely because it is about something important. I am sure some critics will say emotional beats are missing and some of the characters feel flat. I would not disagree with them. But Connelly is rolling here. He has something to say and he wants it out there as soon as possible, It's not great literature, but it's noble and may save lives.

MUSIC: END NOTE "New Slang" acoustic version written and performed by James Mercer

Feels appropriate. James Mercer performing "New Slang" released in 2001 by The Shins: "New slang when you notice the stripes / The dirt in your fries"

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