First Novel Prize Buzz: The Center for Fiction named its 2026 First Novel Prize shortlist, spotlighting titles like Samantha Josephs’ Carrying and Nafissa Thompson-Spires’ The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford, with a December winner set to take $15,000. Spooky Season Reading: Illinois gets a new “Haunted America” travel guide, while Virginia Beach author Joe Tennis’ The Ghostly Tales of Haunted Coastal Virginia leans into coastal folklore and quick-turn Halloween timing. Horror & Literary Heat: Sarah Langan’s Trad Wife review praises how it weaponizes influencer culture into folk horror tension, and Josephs’ Carrying keeps critics talking ahead of its Oct. 6 release. Publishing Meets Pop Culture: The NHL is launching “Hot for Hockey,” commissioning romance-style shorts based on real league storylines (no player romances), while Verity continues to dominate screens and chatter. Local Book Life: Oviedo Mall’s Page & Pen Book Fair returns Oct. 3 with 100+ authors, and Summit County Library’s “Sips N’ Stories” marks five years with themed reads and drink pairings. Controversy Watch: U.S. envoy Mike Huckabee condemned an Indian festival’s removal of an Israeli photographer’s Jerusalem photo book as “book burning” rhetoric.