I don’t know anything about the man or his politics and I only recently saw what he looks like.

I’ve read maybe three of his books. One was from his young adult series about kids with wings or something like that. The other two were the ones he wrote with Bill Clinton. He’s an okay writer. I think his main draw now is who he’s going to write with next. He just wrote one with Dolly Parton. I wonder if he’ll write with Snoop Dogg next, or maybe Eminem. Snoop works with everyone, though. He would have done a duet with Dolly Parton for sure.

Alex Cross… I saw one of the movies. It was okay. I didn’t think it needed 50 sequels. Then again, I didn’t think Stargate needed an 18-season TV show and two spinoff films, but here we are. (And I liked that movie.)

I do think he writes way too many books to not be using AI, but he doesn’t, or at least, he had that quantity before AI writing was a thing. He’s been doing this for years. I’m a Constant Reader (fan of Stephen King), and King writes a lot by anyone’s standards, but Patterson writes more. And I really don’t think people like Dolly Parton or Bill Clinton actually did any writing. I think they just bounced ideas around and Patterson actually wrote the books. I’m not sure, but I think what happens is, he has an idea, he interviews somebody famous, bounces the idea off them, they help with ideas, and he writes the book and puts their name on it, to help sell it.

He’s also held writing classes, and competitions, where the winner would be one of his co-authors. Which puts them on the bestseller list, pretty much guaranteed. I imagine that works the opposite way — the winner gives Patterson their idea, Patterson tells them what will work and what won’t, they go back and forth, and then Patterson writes the book.

In a sense, Patterson does for celebrities what AI does for AI prompters. Takes their idea and makes it a book. Only I don’t think he uses AI. I think he just types really fast, maybe he does something like shorthand/stenography and has his computer expand the words. Long-form typing doesn’t quite approach the speed of speech, let alone thought. Stenography can meet or beat speech (that’s what court reporters use), but I don’t think it can meet the speed of speech. So he may be using technology, but the words are his. The ideas are his and whoever he writes a book with. I think he may have some unconventional system to write faster, but I don’t think computers are involved in the creative process.

If you told me he wrote with a typewriter, I would not believe you. If you told me he wrote with a pen, I would think you’re full of it. But who knows.

Regarding the statement about white writers: Personally, I think the magic of reading and writing is, the demographics of the writer don’t matter, unless they make it matter. I read Aftermath by LeVar Burton (a Black man; he was Geordi LaForge on Star Trek: The Next Generation) and it was about Black people and very much written with a Black voice. I’m not trying to be funny or offensive here: the book is about white people skinning Black people and wearing their skin as armour against solar radiation that melanin defends against. That’s the plot. It’s very obviously a Black book. I still enjoyed it — I love Burton as an actor; he played my favourite character on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and I loved listening to him read his book (I listened to the audiobook). But that’s just one example. A book shouldn’t tell you who the author is. What they stand for, maybe. I just started reading the Expanse books. (Again, audiobooks.) I know from the show that Fred Johnson is a Black man, but nowhere in The Butcher of Anderson Station (one of the three novellas that take place before the first book) does it say or even imply that. I picture him as Black because I watched the show. Those who didn’t can make him however they want. Like Dawes from the same novella; he’s an Irishman in the show, but again, he can be anyone you want. Also, James S. A. Corey, who wrote the books, isn’t even a real person. It’s the pen name of two authors living in America. I have no idea what race they are, their age, their background, or their politics. I’m just there for the story. Of course, if I know a writer is a piece of shit, I won’t read them. I hear the full-cast recordings of the Harry Potter books are great, but I won’t be listening. I liked the books when I read them and I won’t apologise for that, but I also will never partake in anything that in any way benefits JK Rowling ever again. That, I can do.