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Jenny Jackson , author of Pineapple Street , is back with The Shampoo Effect , out today from Pamela Dorman/Viking Books. Below, she discusses how John Updike’s Couples inspired her new novel. (Photo credit: Torey Liddel)

I grew up in Ipswich, Massachusetts, a seaside town north of Boston famous for three things: beer, clams, and John Updike.

The celebrated author wrote his biggest books, including the Rabbit novels, while living on East Street, a few blocks from my house. Ipswich is a small town, and Updike was very much a celebrity in the midst, winning every major literary prize, appearing on the cover of Life magazine, and regularly contributing to the New Yorker.

But he wasn’t a reclusive star; instead, he was enmeshed in the social fabric of the town, playing volleyball with a big gang of friends, parenting his small children alongside a dozen other couples, and conducting messy extramarital affairs with a few of them.

In 1968, he published the novel Couples , a story of adultery, unplanned pregnancy, and partner-swapping in a small Massachusetts town, and it didn’t take much detective work for readers to figure out who he was writing about.

The book put a spotlight on Ipswich, painting a portrait of the place as a hotbed of sexual adventure, and causing a moral outcry. At the same time, the book was a cultural phenomenon, a #1 New York Times bestseller, the biggest of Updike’s career.

I’ve been an editor at Knopf, Updike’s publisher, for the past twenty-five years, and so I’ve thought a lot about Couples, about the impact it had on American readers and on our small town. What would it be like if he published Couples today? Would it be as scandalous?

In 1968, the sexual revolution was playing out across America. The birth control pill was brand new. Most people waited until marriage to have sex, most people married by the age of 22 or 23. In many ways, things that felt shocking at the time wouldn’t raise an eyebrow today.

On the other hand, I can only imagine how social media would amplify the guessing game of who’s who in a novel like this. I can picture blurry iPhone pictures of Updike’s friends getting out of cars or kissing on the porch. Podcasts detailing the timelines of their affairs. Entire Reddit threads devoted to the scandal.

With my new novel, The Shampoo Effect, I have played out the idea of a writer arriving in a small town today, becoming entangled in the social set.

It is a story of betrayals, pregnancy, secrets, and gossip among a group of friends in a thinly veiled Ipswich. A New Yorker arrives in Massachusetts, she falls in with a wild group of friends, she joins their messy affairs, and then she discovers just what it means to write about real people.

The novel is full of beer and clams, too, a true homage to everything that made Ipswich famous, everything I love about home.

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Harlan Coben 's partnership with Netflix has become one of the streamer's most reliable success stories. His mystery thrillers consistently rack up impressive viewing numbers , but ironically, a different trend accompanies those wins. While Coben's adaptations continue to hook audiences with shocking twists and family-driven mysteries, critics' and audience reactions have increasingly been at odds. The popularity of Coben's work now appears to be driven merely by compelling premises rather than overall quality. Run Away , his first Netflix release of the year, was deeply polarizing, and now, his latest release, I Will Find You , appears to be continuing the divisive trend.

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It’s not uncommon to hear the refrain that it’s harder to write a short story versus a full-length novel; encountering powerful short fiction can feel akin to sitting in on a storytelling masterclass. In my reading life, especially as I’ve developed a deeper appreciation for short stories and fallen in love with novellas and novelettes, I’ve had the privilege of reading some of these unforgettable works. One of them is a science fiction story by a real genius of shorter tales. Ted Chiang wrote an emotional gut punch of a first contact novelette in “Story of Your Life,” later adapted into the Oscar-nominated film Arrival .

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang

For anyone with a sense of wonder and curiosity about life beyond the stars, first contact stories promise cathartic exploration of the “what ifs,” and the best ones grapple with deeper themes tied to the human condition. An initial encounter and contact with alien life forms is bound to take established perspectives and long-held beliefs for a ride. In “Story of Your Life,” Chiang gives readers a compellingly intellectual look at linguistics through Dr. Louise Banks, a linguist recruited by the Army to decipher the language of and communicate with newly arrived extraterrestrials. We understand the tragic element of the story from the start, and it exquisitely sharpens the magnitude of each moment in the story, leaving you with a thousand tiny cuts by the end. In Arrival , the viewer is effectively convinced of the questions being asked by the story, and swept away by the drama of the encounter as well as the tension between Dr. Banks and her prickly colleague, only to be taken out by the tragedy in the form of a twist.

I’ve done the thing of comparing the original novelette and its adaptation before, by design, but I’m more inclined to take each on their own merits without pitting them against each other. I will say that I was more emotionally bereft from start to finish reading Chiang’s story, and that I would recommend watching the movie first since the twist is such a formidable piece of that screenplay.

“Story of Your Life” was originally published in Starlight 2 , an anthology edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden, before being collected alongside more of Chiang’s short fiction in Stories of Your Life and Others . This was my introduction to the author, and what a way to get to know him. I remain blown away by his ability to drive so much depth and resonance into such brief works. This novelette will break your heart and put it back together again. It remains my all-time favorite first contact story.

What have you been reading lately? Let’s chat in the comments!

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CD Projekt Red has confirmed more about its quartet of main Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 characters , but datamined leaks suggest an unseen fifth major player in Night City has surprising links to two of those already announced.

As revealed on the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 website , Weak Kingsley is described as a "washed-up cyberpunk legend" who is "forced to live without chrome in a world that's passed him by."

The new synopsis also confirms family, obsession, and legacy are major themes in play here – which makes this next leak all the more intriguing.

Smets205 on Reddit has uncovered a fifth character card on the Edgerunners site.

Meet Avida, a "jazz singer and corpo insider" who is apparently "Weak's old flame." The plot thickens from there with the reveal she has a "fragile" daughter: Talia, the pink-haired Maelstrom member who forms part of Edgerunners season 2's main crew.

Old flame? A daughter? It's possible Weak Kingsley is hiding plenty of secrets – while the 'fragile' and 'weak' connection means there's almost certainly some hidden family drama brewing up in Night City's streets between the chrome-less protagonist and his ex-lover. A clip on the site, shown below, also shows a tense interaction between Weak and Talia.

Here's a clip between Talia & Weak that I haven't seen posted. Found it on the Edgerunners 2 site. pic.twitter.com/GCcaRtEvUO June 30, 2026

All told, it sets up an extra layer of tragedy to what is surely going to be another depressing story told in NC.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2, a standalone 10-episode story, is set for release on Netflix this fall.

For more, check out our picks for the new anime you should be watching right now. Need to fill out your watchlist? Our collection of best Netflix anime will ensure you have plenty to watch.

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SVP at Samsung says the Galaxy Ring 2 is officially in development

It could come with a slew of design upgrades as well as deeper integration with other Samsung devices

The biggest improvement is support for iOS, a first for Samsung wearables

When Samsung released the Galaxy Ring in 2024 it shot to the top of our list of best smart rings , but the Korean tech company has been rather silent on plans for the next-gen wearable — until now.

Speaking with Forbes , Senior Vice President and Head of the Digital Health Team at Samsung, Hon Pak, shared that the company’s next smart ring (presumably named the Galaxy Ring 2) is officially in development; “We are working on the next generation. I can tell you that,” he shared.

The announcement arrives just after the new Oura Ring 5 hit the shelves which, compared to its predecessor, is roughly 40% smaller with an even longer battery life, although does come with a higher price tag. It’s about time Samsung returned to the smart ring world given how fierce the competition has grown over the last two years — so how will the Galaxy Ring 2 stand against its rivals?

When Samsung released the first Galaxy Ring, Pak described it as “a comprehensive and simplified approach” to health and sleep, and it seems that he wants to build on this across both hardware and software.

For starters, if we look at the Oura Ring 5’s slimmer redesign, it wouldn’t come as a complete surprise if Samsung replicated a similar ‘smaller but tougher’ approach to its own smart ring for added comfort improvements.

Additionally, Samsung could take a page out of Oura’s book and remove skin contact bumps from the inside of the ring, all while extending its battery life — we also predicted that it will come with a solid state battery .

(Image credit: Future / Matt Evans) Though design upgrades are likely, Pak hinted that this won’t be the biggest difference with the Galaxy Ring 2. “If you look at the comparison of other rings, regardless of the competitor, the sensors are not that different right now,” he said, adding “It’s really about what services you create on the top layer. It’s really the software differentiation that you see.”

With these remarks in mind, the Galaxy Ring 2’s main focus will be on developing deeper software integration rather than reupholstering the hardware. Pak also shared that Samsung has plans to build on its connected ecosystem to help users receive more accurate metrics and get a better sense of their health habits.

Instead of using just the Galaxy Ring 2's collection of metrics to present the full picture of your well-being, Samsung takes your data from the smart ring and blends it with other devices in its network via the Samsung Health app. This could include Galaxy Watches and smartphones, and even its range of SmartThings home appliances to give you more detailed context into your daily activity and overall well-being.

For users who are deep into Samsung’s ecosystem of devices already, it’s a huge win, but one of the biggest setbacks with the first-gen Galaxy Ring is its lack of support for iOS. While Samsung has the overall edge over the likes of Oura, the latter supports iOS, giving users more reason to opt for its wearables over Samsung’s — but this could change with the Galaxy Ring 2.

In addition to software upgrades, Pak heavily teased that iOS support will finally be coming to the Galaxy Ring; “I’m smiling but I can’t say anything,” he hinted. Out of all the new upgrades, iOS support would throw the biggest curveball into the competition, giving non-Android users even more reason to make the switch to Galaxy Ring over rival wearables.

While it’s not exactly a formal announcement, it’s certainly a promising affirmation of what to expect from the long-awaited wearable. Despite not giving any details on an official launch date, Galaxy Unpacked 2026 is just around the corner where we’re expecting the announcement of the S26 lineup — could Samsung also throw the Galaxy Ring 2 into the mix?