The Kindling

From #1  New York Times bestselling author L. K. Steven, The Kindling is Fahrenheit 451 for the ChatGPT generation—a terrifying work of speculative fiction perfect for fans of Emily St. John Mandel.

If art could kill, would you risk your life for it?

In a near-future United States where cinemas, galleries, and bookshops were overrun by AI, human creativity mutated into something powerful and deadly to survive. This awakening of dormant power was called the Kindling—a gift that manifests differently in each person touched by it, activated by the expression of their art. With real art deemed “too dangerous” to be made, it changed humanity forever. A decade later, American citizens live under the Ban. Their books have been burned, a song is a prison sentence, and the only legal art is government-sanctioned AI propaganda.

Known for canvases that bring the beholder to ecstasy with one glance, Isaac risks everything—including the love of his life—to sell miniature paintings disguised as keychains on the black market.

Since her daughter disappeared, the last thing Delphie has to live for is the sense of connection she finds performing comedy in a secret, New York-based underground cellar.

With a devastatingly beautiful voice that disturbs the sanity of those who hear it, exiled politician’s son Augustus is destined to live out the rest of his days in the remote forests of Montana.

A mysterious note will set three paths to collide in the most unexpected of ways, and their story might just be the one that sparks a revolution.