Draft:The Editors

The novel is set in a fictional world where an online encyclopedia called Infopendium exists.{{Cite web |last=Purdy |first=Kevin |date=2025-01-16 |title=The Editors weaves Wikipedia's volunteers into a global suspense tale |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/the-editors-weaves-wikipedias-volunteers-into-a-global-suspense-tale/ |access-date=2025-02-03 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-US}}{{cite interview|website=Numlock News|publisher=Substack|title=Numlock Sunday: Stephen Harrison on The Editors|first=Stephen |last=Harrison|interviewer-first=Walt |interviewer-last=Hickey|date=August 18, 2024|url=https://www.numlock.com/p/numlock-sunday-stephen-harrison-on|access-date=September 4, 2024|archive-date=September 26, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240926012508/https://www.numlock.com/p/numlock-sunday-stephen-harrison-on|url-status=live}} Set in the early days of a pandemic, the novel examines the challenges of describing what is happening in the world in a neutral, non-biased, fashion in the online encyclopedia that is read by millions of people daily.{{Cite web |last=EST |first=2025 2:53 pm |title=How Long Can Wikipedia Hold On? |url=https://www.insidehook.com/internet/long-can-wikipedia-hold-stephen-harrison |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=InsideHook |language=en-US}} Infopedium has three core tenets: "We Need Better Sources", "Anonymity Is Fundamental", and "Aim for Neutrality".

The characters include a freelance journalist, Morgan Wentworth, trying to forge a career in quality journalism, and an assortment of Infopedium editors.{{cite web|first= Avi|last=Holzman |title=Stephen Harrison's debut novel says Wikipedia matters (regardless of what your middle-school teachers might say) |website=Student Life - The independent newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis |date=13 August 2024 |url=https://www.studlife.com/scene/2024/08/13/stephen-harrisons-debut-novel-says-wikipedia-matters-regardless-of-what-your-middle-school-teachers-might-say |access-date=27 November 2024}} There are some bad actors, involved in paying for inserting particular points of view in the encyclopedia.

The Editors was published by Inkshares on 13 August 2024.{{cite web |title=The Editors |website=Inkshares |date=18 August 2021 |url=https://www.inkshares.com/books/the-editors |access-date=26 November 2024}}{{cite book |last=Harrison |first=S. |title=The Editors |publisher=Inkshares |year=2024 |isbn=978-1-950301-68-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8kH8EAAAQBAJ |access-date=26 November 2024 |page=}}

Taylor Lorenz, technology columnist at The Washington Post called the book "A strikingly relevant and compelling suspense novel". Richard Cooke wrote in The Monthly that it is "an enthralling, ambitious and sharply observed contemporary thriller – no citation needed", while The BookLife Prize described it as "a timely and entertaining thriller that confronts the perils of misinformation on the eve of a pandemic."{{cite web |title=The Editors by Stephen Harrison: Wikipedia, internet communities, and the battle for truth in the digital age |website=New America |date=22 August 2024 |url=https://www.newamerica.org/future-tense/events/the-editors-by-stephen-harrison-wikipedia-internet-communities-and-the-battle-for-truth-in-the-digital-age/ |access-date=26 November 2024}}

Walt Hickey of Numlock wrote that the novel is a "really, really fun read". Katy Trail Weekly noted that "online information" is a rare "foundation of a novel" and reported that reviews have been "extremely positive" since its release.{{Cite web |last=Mullen |first=David |date=October 18, 2024 |title=Mystery uncovers web of online information |url=https://katytrailweekly.com/mystery-uncovers-web-of-online-information-p12439-188.htm |access-date=2024-11-27 |website=Katy Trail Weekly}} Sharing the sentiment of Hickey and Katy Trail Weekly, GeekDad praised the book in its review, considering it a "gripping" read that is "really fascinating" and "makes for a revealing peek behind the curtain" of how the real-life Wikipedia works in terms of the "revision history" tab and behind-the-scenes discussions that shape how the site runs.{{Cite web |last=Liu |first=Jonathan H. |date=2024-11-11 |title=Stack Overflow: Changing the World |url=https://geekdad.com/2024/11/stack-overflow-changing-the-world/ |access-date=2024-11-27 |website=GeekDad |language=en-US}}

The novel is a suspense or thriller novel, and has also been described as literary fiction.{{cite web |title=The Editors by Stephen Harrison |website=Fantastic Fiction |url=https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/stephen-harrison/editors.htm |access-date=27 November 2024}}

File:Author Photo - Stephen Harrison.jpg

Stephen Harrison attended Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and was the recipient of a Howard Nemerov writing scholarship.{{cite interview|first=Stephen |last=Harrison|interviewer-first=Avi |interviewer-last=Holzman|title=Ctrl+Alt+Delete: Q&A with author Stephen Harrison about his upcoming novel "The Editors" and the digital landscape |website=Student Life - The independent newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis |date=8 July 2024 |url=https://www.studlife.com/special-issues/starting-line/starting-line-2024/2024/07/08/ctrlaltdelete-qa-with-author-stephen-harrison-about-his-upcoming-novel-the-editors-and-the-digital-landscape |access-date=26 November 2024}}

He is a tech journalist and tech lawyer from Texas.{{cite news|title=Texas Author Publishes "High-Tech" Thriller About Wikipedia|first=Sheryl|last=Proctor|date=August 30, 2024|publisher=KAMR|location=Amarillo, Texas|type=streaming video|url=https://www.myhighplains.com/news/studio-4/texas-author-publishes-high-tech-thriller-about-wikipedia/|access-date=September 4, 2024|archive-date=September 6, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240906222841/https://www.myhighplains.com/news/studio-4/texas-author-publishes-high-tech-thriller-about-wikipedia/|url-status=live}} The Editors is his first novel,{{cite web |last=Harrison |first=Stephen |title=Wikipedia is facing an existential crisis. Can gen Z save it? |website=the Guardian |date=12 September 2024 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/12/wikipedia-generation-z-young-editors-chatbots |access-date=26 November 2024}} but he has also written non-fiction pieces on other topics as well as short fiction. His work has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and WIRED. From 2019 he has written the column "Source Notes"{{cite web |title=Source Notes |website=Slate Magazine |date=15 January 2020 |url=https://slate.com/tag/source-notes |access-date=27 November 2024}}{{Clarify|reason=Is Source Notes Harrison's personal newsletter or his column that he wrote for Slate? Or both?|date=February 2025}} for Slate magazine about Wikipedia, and the novel is based in part on his experience covering Wikipedia.{{cite interview|publisher=Yahoo! Life|title="Wikipedia says no individual has a monopoly on truth": an interview with author Stephen Harrison|quote=Harrison's forthcoming novel, "The Editors," is a timely techno-thriller based in its author's experience reporting on Wikipedia.|date=July 16, 2024 |first=Stephen |last=Harrison|interviewer-first=Caitlin |interviewer-last= Dewey|url=https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/story/wikipedia-says-no-individual-has-a-monopoly-on-truth-an-interview-with-author-stephen-harrison-170427521.html|access-date=July 18, 2024|archive-date=July 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718224853/https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/story/wikipedia-says-no-individual-has-a-monopoly-on-truth-an-interview-with-author-stephen-harrison-170427521.html|url-status=live}}

In a chapter written for the essay collection Wikipedia @ 20 (2020), Harrison wrote of a "need for media to play a larger role in improving the general public's 'Wikipedia literacy'... Encouraging critical readership of Wikipedia and helping to increase diversity among its editorship will ensure greater public oversight over the digital age's preeminent source of knowledge".{{cite book |last1=Benjakob |first1=Omer |last2=Harrison |first2=Stephen |title= Wikipedia @ 20| chapter=2: From Anarchy to Wikiality, Glaring Bias to Good Cop: Press Coverage of Wikipedia’s First Two Decades |publisher= MIT Press|editor1-first =Joseph |editor1-last =Reagle |editor2-first = Jackie|editor2-last = Koerner |date=13 October 2020 |url=https://wikipedia20.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/u1f6cq5i/release/2 |access-date=27 November 2024}}

• Reviews on The Signpost, October 2024

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• {{cite AV media|url=https://www.wfaa.com/video/entertainment/television/programs/good-morning-texas/287-6ff87475-8f7c-48e4-b1db-0d748f5b289d|publisher=WFAA|location=Dallas|title=New High-Tech Thriller: The Editors|work=Good Morning Texas|date=August 16, 2024|author=|type=video}}
• {{cite web |last=Harrison |first=Stephen |title=Little Assistance |website=Future Tense Fiction |date=19 November 2024 |url=https://issues.org/futuretensefiction/fiction-archives-little-assistance-stephen-harrison/ |publisher=National Academy of Sciences, Arizona State University}} (Short story by Harrison, first published 2023.)
• {{cite web|website=Ars Technica|title=The Editors weaves Wikipedia's volunteers into a global suspense tale|quote=This book lacks a Wikipedia page, but it's a good candidate|author=Kevin Purdy |date=January 16, 2025 |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/the-editors-weaves-wikipedias-volunteers-into-a-global-suspense-tale/}}
• [https://lccn.loc.gov/2024935607 Library of Congress catalogue entry]

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