Your Favorite Author’s New Book Might Be an AI Fake

First, AI stole their books. Now it’s stealing their readers.

Illustration by Aldo Jarillo September 18, 2026, 3:36 PM ET Share Save Earlier this summer, Tamra Westberry received a Facebook notification that made her heart sink. A fellow author had taken to social media to endorse Westberry’s latest book, Project Erebus , after reading about it in a weekly roundup of the latest paranormal-romance releases. Independent authors like Westberry, who is based in Texas and has published dozens of books under the pen name Tara West, usually welcome an encouraging word and a bit of cross-promotion. But Westberry was dismayed. She had never heard of a book called Project Erebus . And she certainly wasn’t its author .