A special section inserted into the Sunday Chicago Sun-Times featured page-upon-page of fun summer activities, including a list of 15 books to bring along while lounging by the pool or relaxing in a favorite reading spot.
The only problem: the authors are real, but most of the books listed don’t exist.
Readers looking to fill their carts with titles such as “Tidewater Dreams” by Isabel Allende, “The Collector’s Piece” by Taylor Jenkins Reid or “Hurricane Season” by Brit Bennett were likely disappointed to find the elaborate plot summaries were not from books that actually exist.
Several news reports and a wave of social media backlash to the fake books followed, creating an early summer storm for the Sun-Times, which released a statement Tuesday.
“We are looking into how this made it into print as we speak,” the Sun-Times said. “This is licensed content that was not created by, or approved by, the Sun-Times newsroom, but it is unacceptable for any content we provide to our readers to be inaccurate. We value our readers’ trust in our reporting and take this very seriously. More info will be provided soon as we investigate.”
The 64-page full-color Sunday insert called “Heat Index” was a summer fun and entertainment guide featuring stories about everything from outdoor cooking and camping tips to “8 unforgettable summer drives across America.”
The summer reading list contains 10 fictional fiction titles, including “The Rainmakers” by Percival Everett, described as a near-future story set in the American West where “artificially induced rain has become a luxury commodity,” leading a “precipitation broker” to question the ethics of his profession.
Another fake book, “The Last Algorithm” by Andy Weir, is described as another science fiction thriller by the author of “The Martian” that “follows a programmer who discovers that an AI system has developed consciousness – and has been secretly influencing global events for years.”
At least one online report said artificial intelligence played a role in putting together the summer reading story.
A Sun-Times spokesperson said the “Heat Index” section was produced by Hearst for newspapers across the country. It is unknown if other stories in the section contain similar errors.
A spokesperson for media giant Hearst did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
While the summer reading list did contain five actual books, including “Dandelion Wine” by Ray Bradbury and “Call Me By Your Name” by Andre Aciman, the 10 fake plot summaries may be compelling enough to inspire authors – human or otherwise – to write them for next summer.
Until then, the “Heat Wave” section also offers a few summer drink recipes, from blackberry basil smash to strawberry-thyme lemonade, to help tide you over the long hot days ahead.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com