The thrilling real story of a mysterious figure that haunted the book publishing world. For years, someone tricked agents and publishers into sending them unpublished books — but what for?

From Weekly Filet #360, in September 2021.

The Spine Collector

vulture.com

💔 Some older links might be broken — that's the state of the web, sadly. If you find one, ping me.

Here Be Monsters

For These 2 Children, Inequality in Every Breath They Take

nytimes.com

What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind

theatlantic.com

The Case of the Missing Hit

gimletmedia.com

Explore more →

Explore collections

Making Sense of the Climate Crisis 41 links Making Sense of Artificial Intelligence 39 links All-time favourites 20 links The Stuff Our Modern World Runs On 13 links The Art of Thinking (Differently) 28 links Bingeworthy Podcasts & Episodes 36 links Stories, too good to put down 16 links

Book recommendations

2025 Book Club Books curious minds wished they discovered sooner Our most popular crowd-curated book recommendations thus far. Read the post →

Weekly Filet Book Club All recommendations from previous editions, at a glance. Find your next read → 📚 David's Bookshelf The books that shaped how I see the world and inform how I think and act. Browse the bookshelf →