by E. E. Lawson
Community rating: 4.5/5 from 1 rating.
Hannah Johannesson has spent years chasing a dream only her librarian best friend, Solveig, believes in: becoming a published author. So when a mysterious agent named Virgil discovers her in an online writers group and offers her a book deal with the glamorous New York publisher Sinclair & Ward, it feels like everything she’s ever wanted—finally.
What Hannah doesn’t realize is that Sinclair & Ward isn’t powered by editors, marketing teams, or human instinct.
It’s powered by The Feed—a sentient, trend-obsessed algorithm that predicts bestselling books before readers even know they want them.
Overseeing it all is Lucy Sinclair: impeccably dressed, devastatingly charming, and always ready with a contract that’s just a little too perfect.
Swept into a relentless press cycle and cut off from the outside world for months, Hannah begins to sense something is wrong. When she finally reconnects with Solveig, she realizes her dream deal may have come at a supernatural cost—not just her debut novel, but every story she’ll ever write.
Together, they must outwit Lucy Sinclair before the last page turns on them for good.
Witty, imaginative, and sharply satirical, Prose & Cons is a magical publishing-world fantasy about ambition, friendship, and reclaiming your creative voice in an algorithm-driven world.
Genres: Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Satire Fiction
263 pages
Published: 2026-09-15
Publisher: Shadow Dance Stories