This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books.When I tell people about the new novel I just finished, the first thing they ask is whether it’s sexy. The question is understandable: The book, SenLinYu’s Alchemised, is a romance novel adapted from the author’s own Harry Potter fan fiction, and both genres are known for featuring sex—leading to the common assumption that their readers are seeking explicit scenes. But Alchemised is not particularly erotic. Its source material, a story called “Manacled,” imagined Harry’s friend Hermione and his enemy Draco as lovers on opposite sides of a war, but both the fanfic and Alchemised are more about war than love. The core relationship is invisible for nearly a third of the novel’s 1,000-odd pages, and even the “happily ever after” comes with lots and lots of caveats. (The characters remain marked by harrowing earlier events; in addition to Harry Potter, the original fan fiction took inspiration from The Handmaid’s Tale.) Alchemised is more accurately described as a dark fantasy, one that’s primarily interested in the ways terrible conditions can challenge one’s sense of morality.First, here are four new stories from The Atlantic’s Books section:Why the latest Nobel Prize winner makes perfect senseThe writing-advice book that teaches us how to readWhat not to fix about baseball“After Balthus,” a poem by Courtney KampaDespite genre complications, just a couple of weeks after Alchemised’s release, the book is breaking records: It has become the fastest-selling adult debut novel of the past two decades, selling 300,000 copies in its first week alone. That a romance novel is selling well even as it breaks some of the genre’s conventions should not be a surprise. As Rebecca Ackermann wrote earlier this week in The Atlantic, romance has “dominated” publishing recently, in part because of how flexible the category can be. “Romantasy” and “dark romance” in particular are popular, and Alchemised generally falls into both. Another key to the genre’s success, Ackermann writes, is the dynamic between the fans and writers that fuels romance’s tight-knit, highly engaged scene. Authors tend to interact with their fans and fellow fiction lovers, even after they’ve become prominent. “Romancelandia in particular,” Ackermann writes, “prides itself on being a community of equals.”Because “Manacled,” first published serially on the fan-fiction site Archive of Our Own, already had a huge following, SenLinYu benefited from a built-in audience—one that crosses over substantially with Romancelandia, and helped build buzz long before the physical copy’s release. Many of the story’s devotees showed up to support the author’s new book, and although SenLinYu’s achievements in traditional publishing could theoretically allow them to leave their internet community behind, they continue to interact with fans there. This week, for instance, they posted a video of all the fan art that’s been popping up for Alchemised.I suspect, though, that Alchemised will soon travel far beyond its primary audience. The world of Harry Potter is gone; in its place, SenLinYu has created a vivid new universe. Learning the new rules made the first part of the book somewhat tedious, and I frequently craved a glossary. But soon, Alchemised made me remember what makes reading good fantasy so enjoyable. It immerses readers in a fantastical land, but its characters face very real, very human problems: how to have faith when everything seems to be going wrong, how to live according to one’s values when the people in charge seem to have none. Most important, its main characters must learn how to love themselves unconditionally so that, one day, they can accept unconditional love from someone else.Illustration by Hannah RobinsonThe Publishing Industry’s Most Swoon-Worthy GenreBy Rebecca AckermannTight-knit but open-armed fans have made romance an especially hot commodity.Read the full article.What to ReadI Can Give You Anything but Love, by Gary IndianaI first read Indiana’s 2015 memoir when I was assigned to write about an odd film—part performance-art piece, part proto-reality-television show—called The Continuing Story of Carel and Ferd. The only person I recognized on-screen was Indiana, and his brief scenes as one of Ferd’s lovers contained what I already adored about his writing—the wry approach to melodrama; the cutting sincerity. I soon discovered that Ferd Eggan is something of a main character in Indiana’s own life story. Eggan, who died in 2007, was an activist who had a pivotal relationship with Indiana; their early sexual affair became a lifelong friendship. In Love, Ferd is always there: The underlying tensions of their attachment are still unrealized; they’re responsible for each other’s happiness, but struggle to meet each other’s needs. Indiana writes beautifully about idealizing, then recognizing, Eggan, a person who held on to his heart for a long time. Indiana’s prose adds up to a completely unsentimental yet totally romantic approach to sex, affection, and the maddening prospect of being deprived of all of the above. — Haley MlotekFrom our list: Seven books that capture how love really feelsOut Next Week📚 Joyride, by Susan Orlean📚 Minor Black Figures, by Brandon Taylor📚 Next of Kin, by Gabrielle HamiltonYour Weekend ReadIllustration by The Atlantic. Sources: artisteer / Getty; MirageC / Getty.Something Weird Is Happening With Halloween ChocolateBy Yasmin TayagThis year, Hershey’s rolled out a chocolate-free Cinnamon Toast Crunch version of its classic Kisses; last year, it launched Reese’s Werewolf Tracks, which replaced half the chocolate coating with a vanilla cream. Ferrero’s newest versions of Butterfinger bars swap the milk-chocolate coating for salted caramel or marshmallow cream. Last year, Hershey’s released a white Kit Kat enveloped in vanilla-flavored cream. Non-chocolate versions of these treats have been sold before, of course, but their sheer prevalence in the midst of a cocoa crisis is notable.Read the full article.When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.Sign up for The Wonder Reader, a Saturday newsletter in which our editors recommend stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight.Explore all of our newsletters.