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Out now: 10th Anniversary Edition of Earworm

01 October 2025

My novel for adults Earworm is now available in a 10th Anniversary Edition.

In the book, a record company plans to replace pop stars with music-generating technology, and comes under fire from ageing rocker Dove and two of his most devoted fans.

It's never been more topical: The Velvet Sundown recently achieved a million streams on Spotify before they were rumbled as being an AI band. Streaming service Deezer reported this month that it is receiving more than 30,000 fully AI-generated tracks every day, more than 28% of new music uploaded. When I tried using AI to make music, I was struck by how convincing it was. Play my EP Songs About Coding here.

Earworm was first published under the title University of Death in 2007, named after the band at the centre of the action. When I published it on Kindle in 2015, I made some small edits, commissioned a new cover and changed the title to Earworm.

Music magazines have reviewed the book positively, saying it's smart, fast moving and funny. The latest review is in this month's Blitzed magazine (issue 22). They said: "Given that it was first published in 2007, Earworm is really prophetic. Who would have thought that computers could write entire songs in just a few seconds? I really enjoyed Earworm and the Extras section at the end is very interesting too. There are several laugh-out-loud moments. Highly recommended."

The extras section has been enhanced with 101 free band names, taken from the source Jonathan identifies in the story, and a new Afterword. There are two deleted scenes (only one on Kindle for technical reasons), and I updated the Poptastic Trivia, too, which often surprises readers by showing how much of the book was inspired by real life.

It was a delight to read it afresh after so long and to be reunited with the characters from the book, with whom I spent a couple of years during drafting. I wasn't sure how I would feel about the book looking back on it now, but I was pleased with the characterisation and the way it all fits together like a jigsaw. I would find myself wondering why I had put a particular scene or detail in, only to rediscover its role in the plot later on.

Earworm is out now in print and on Kindle. It makes a great gift for the music lover in your life. Find out more, get a free PDF sampler of Earworm and buy your copy here.

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