Hillsboro Library tonight! On the west side here in Portland. Feeling adventurous? See you there!

A note of caution, regarding the article in Wired pointing out that major publishers are foisting AI onto their employees to cut production costs: INDY writers, you are not exempt. Read the TOS for the platforms you publish on: if they invest your books and artwork into AI. Big tech feeds itself.

Publishers feeding ORIGINAL unpublished work to LLM FOR CUTTING PRODUCTION COSTS is an egregious breach of integrity. Worse, using AI to write rejection letters means feeding your original submissions to the slop machine upfront. Against everything publishing once stood for. There is no bottom.

WIRED@wired.com · 2d ago

More than two dozen workers at three major publishing houses—HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette—tell WIRED that LLMs are being used for publicity, cover art, back cover copy, and emails, as some execs push junior staff to champion the tech. Read the full story: buff.ly/p0ymGmN

The worst has gone unsaid: to 'use' LLMs to write flap copy, marketing copy, rejection notes (likely add proof reading/editing) and cover art: THEY HAVE TO FEED YOUR MANUSCRIPT INTO AI TO DO SO! ANY publisher of 'original novels' is GIVING OVER YOUR WORK! Egriegious. Copyright integrity is toast.

Paolo Bacigalupi@paolobacigalupi.bsky.social · yesterday

Meanwhile, same publishers are playing footsie with the LLMs to do their publishing work.

Try to remember that you're not alone in this. Too often we hunker down and don't ask others what they've seen or what is standard.

John Wiswell@wiswell.bsky.social · yesterday

Interlude 1: yes, always read your contracts. If you're new to them, use them as a learning experience. If you are worried about any thing and have connections to pro-published authors, ask them. They can spare you some headaches. It's a privilege and it's not foolproof. But if you can, ask.

New #WriterBeware blog post: Two artists' decisions to go public this week reveal new concerns at Must Read Magazines, which was the subject of controversy last year over its unfriendly contract terms writerbeware.blog/2026/10/09/m...

More Rights Grabs from Must Read Magazines - Writer Beware

In early 2025, a group called Must Read Magazines acquired a suite of six well-known genre fiction magazines: Asimov’s Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, The Magazine of Fantasy & Scien...

writerbeware.blog

Authors new to the biz and aspirants: READ THIS.

John Wiswell@wiswell.bsky.social · yesterday

In light of some magazines pulling scummy things on creators lately, I’m doing a little thread on short story rights. I don't want anybody getting taken advantage of. Also, if you're new, this stuff can be confusing!

We will go forward without them. F/SF began as a niche market, small press, smaller companies, before mergers ate them all and crushed numbers to create uniformity by algorithm. The future will return, the hotbed of ideas will be grown from the grassroots upward.

Manisha Krishnan@manishakrishnan.bsky.social · 2d ago

NEW: Staff at HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette told @adamm0rgan.bsky.social AI is infiltrating their workplaces, from generating cover art and back cover copy, to publicity materials, to rejection emails, as execs tell junior staff to "champion" the tech. www.wired.com/story/book-p...

It's good they dropped the "moral rights" clause, but much of this is nonsense... 1/7

Analog Science Fiction and Fact@analogsf.bsky.social · 2d ago

From our publisher:

This is what fake thinking and stolen creativity strip mined for usage is doing to peoples' lives and the planet. Inexcusable. Imagination is our most inventive human asset. Using AI is like selling us already masticated chewing gum.

Patti Olivier 💙VOTE BLUE@patti3333.bsky.social · 2d ago

My Heart goes to VIRGINIA THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS Last night in Sterling VA. Following a critical power failure at the Vantage Data Center So they ran back-up diesel generators that produced ROARING LEVEL NOISE & HEAVY DIESEL EXHAUST causing residents to flee VA has the most DATA CENTERS VOTE

One inch to the finish line: Proof reading and spellcheck underway for The Guardian.

We're taping this today and I'm so excited to talk to him! One of the joys of my existence is how many of my literary heroes I've gotten to talk with, and he's definitely one.

Jen@jenbached.bsky.social · last wk.

Happy October Pod People! If This Goes On (Don't Panic) has an interview with the illustrious horror author, Ramsey Campbell, coming up. He's won 23 literary awards including 4 lifetime achievement awards. What burning questions do you have for him? @itgodp.bsky.social @catrambo.bsky.social

Happy Caturday! Ariel (once shelter named Saturn) on the move. Ariel - moon of an outer planet, spirit of the air, earth healer - suits her better than the masculine (and saturnine) Saturn...she is a complete sweetheart, fearless, and loves wrassling with her pal, Arriken. They are inseparable.

Naomi Klein Is Spot On.......

I have a new novella out in the 20th Anniversary edition of Clarkesworld this month! "The Job" is about a woman with serious self-image issues who takes a contract to survey an alien ocean for corporate exploitation, wearing the body of a bioengineered whale. clarkesworldmagazine.com/bear_10_26/

The Job by Elizabeth Bear

Clarkesworld Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine and Podcast.

clarkesworldmagazine.com

Authors and narrators with books on audible: write your publishers and agents STAT on this one! Derivative uses that 'create' subsidiary material are NOT PART of your contract that authorized narration of the book's text. This is off the scale! What was audible paid by AI for this fresh ripoff?

Aram Sinnreich@aramsinn.bsky.social · last wk.

Woody Allen wrote a short story in which a dude invented this tech... it didn't end well.

There is an October price drop on Where Oblivion Lives. The Los Nefilim series is near and dear to my heart, so I hope it finds a wider audience this time around. If you enjoy novels with m/m protagonists & gothic mansions set during the 1930s, this might be your October read:

T. Frohock (she/her)@tfrohock.com · last wk.

On sale through October! Check out your favorite vendor at awfulagent.com/ebooks/where...

Apologists still doubt that artists and original creators are not being ripped off by the slop machine: Left image is a Maitz oil painting commissioned as an anniversary celebration for a couple as period pirates. Right hand image is a cheat using the slop machine swipe version of the same image.

Octocon is less than 2 weeks away! Whether you're coming to Cork or joining us online, you'll get plenty of chances to hear & see our Guest of Honour @cemurphy.bsky.social talking about her writing life, her many many SFF (and mystery) books, & lots more! #Octocon2026 octocon.com/2025/10/c-e-...

Today! Come get things signed!

Django Wexler@djangowexler.bsky.social · 3w ago

If you're around Redmond and want to see me in person, on Wednesday the 30th I'll be at @brick-mortar.bsky.social in conversation with the fabulous Ali Oliva! Many things will be signed. www.brickandmortarbooks.com/events/61880...

Attention: I got an email today offering for sale the CONTACT INFORMATION, PHONE, ADDRESS, BUSINESS INFO - everything for the entire LIST of attendees for the 2026 World Fantasy Convention. Very ugly - did that list get hacked from the convention? I did fwd the email to writerbeware.

A stellar month of content coming up on @sffaddictspod.bsky.social!

SFF Addicts Podcast@sffaddictspod.bsky.social · 2w ago

As the autumn season sets in, we’ve got a fantastic month of content on SFF Addicts podcast! Our schedule for October includes interviews and writing masterclasses with authors V.E. Schwab and @stephengrahamjones.com. Stay tuned for more info! All episodes available in audio/video.

They quoted me in this New Yorker piece about AI today. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Mortality Gauntlet. Turn Nine of the Hybrid Helix. Coming October 20. The shadow must fall. a.co/d/04bbyGiS

Okay. Forthcoming books to want to read. @kateelliottsff.bsky.social's Flower Court. @fozmeadows.bsky.social's Godburned. @melissacaruso.bsky.social's Last Star In the Void. @stephanieburgis.bsky.social's Melting the Ice Queen. @tkingfisher.com's next several (what? she's prolific).

Hello we the good people of Reactor have recently launched our OFFICIAL YOUTUBE PAGE!!! Sharing interviews, book recommendations, and more! Some delicious morsels are coming up soon, so you'll want to subscribe!! www.youtube.com/@ReactorMaga...

Reactor Magazine

Quality sci-fi/fantasy/genre book coverage + short fiction + essays + news + everything else

youtube.com

I could yank every hair from my head/supporting documents for Anthropic settlement. Publishers merged; manuscripts split into two books; temporary titles changed on print books,;publishers gone defunct, merged; paper records dumped/lost: Agents died/disabled/moved/replaced/fax paper bleached. AUGH!

Luna's vet bill is probably going to hit $1500 by next week with no plans of stopping anytime soon, so anyway, feel free to buy books lol payhip.com/kristadball

Krista D Ball is Canada's Spooky Potato@kristadb1.bsky.social · 2y ago

Spirit Caller (complete series) Ghost banishing in outport Newfoundland with one's 93 year old neighbour. Spirits Rising – Free books2read.com/u/3yPRpb SC Vol 1 books2read.com/u/4DAVOb SC Vol 2 books2read.com/u/bMGpN5 Dead of Knight (new release) books2read.com/u/b5wyV6

Happy Caturday! Arriken, all grown up, and his new little sister, with the favorite toy that has been beloved by four generations.

New #WriterBeware blog post: If you're a writer, you've probably gotten one (or more) of those AI-generated scam marketing emails or book club invites that make it seem like the sender really read your book. Here's a little peek at how it's done. writerbeware.blog/2026/09/25/h...

How Those Personalized Generative AI Scam Emails Are Built - Writer Beware

One of the things I often hear from writers whose inboxes are crammed with incredibly personalized marketing or book club or editor impersonation emails–you know, the ones that make it seem the sender...

writerbeware.blog