Learning over the last 3 years: 1. Publishers don't have your back if someone steals your work, as long as that someone has deep enough pockets. Turns out copyright stuff was bluffing all along. 2. Writers' organisations are susceptible to AI bullshit and bad faith actors. 3. Governments. Pfah!

She's also a member of the HWA board of trustees *and* makes an AI "writing coach" app, neither of which are disclosed in the newsletter and about which many HWA members are pretty pissed off.

Because it apparently needs to be said: I have never fucking used the AI/LLM/chatbot/plagiarism machine and I never fucking will. If you use it, I think you're a bad person.

Is it elegant because it's French, or is it elegant because it's @lebelial.bsky.social ? French translation of The Apologists.

Thunder thighs save lives.

Since this is my only public-facing internet presence, here's my AI policy: I don't use AI for my writing. I don't use it for idea generation or editing. I don't use it for publicity. I have not in the past, and will not in the future. I have "no AI" statements in all the contracts that I sign.

Spider-man Brand New Day is really good. There's no spoiler-free way to properly comment on its awesomeness. It has a big beating heart. It has solid action. Every element seems to be there for a reason. It lands. [BUT! Don't bother waiting for the end credits scene. Trust me.]

There needs to be a dating app, but not for actual dating. It's for friendship (no benefits). And it's for people over 35. Also, introverts.

I suppose I should be grateful for the clouds. But would it kill you to drop some water on us, gods?

In a zoom meeting, doodling myself.

What kind of psyop nonsense is this? Yes, it is. Living is literally the point of being alive.

You wake up and find yourself trapped in a photo on 4th July 1921. You smile, because the photograph caught you that way. You're terrified, but you can't scream or frown. The people around you died a long time ago and smell of putrefaction, but they look perfect. And they smile. They all smile.

The only *guaranteed* piece of craft advice I can give -- I mean the advice that is universally applicable -- is that if you kill many other writers and eat their scribere gland (roughly the size of a black-eyed pea, so be careful not to damage it) then your prose will improve immensely

Another one of those "you're correct, and you haven't done anything wrong, but your tone..." type days. GTFO, my dude. That dog won't hunt.

Every now and then someone takes a run at me along the lines of "I don't understand why you, a scifi writer, don't appreciate 'AI'," and I'm all, motherfucker, it's *because* I'm a science fiction writer I have the positions I have, how many times do we have to fucking yell "torment nexus," my dude

If anything, you can't get writers to shut up about craft...

Antony Johnston@antonyjohnston.bsky.social · 2d ago

Seeing complaints online that authors 'gatekeep' information…! Absolute nonsense. There is no industry or craft in the world which is so comprehensively written about, studied, and discussed as fiction writing, and every author I know welcomes new writers who are serious about giving it a go.

Me, when someone tangentially and casually mentions anything related to JFK.

Charlie Day Conspiracy: Pepe Silvia

Alt: Charlie Day Conspiracy: Pepe Silvia

static.klipy.com

This was a weird experiment. I drew with oil pastels, then used a water soluble ink over it for a lark. Then I sprayed water over the whole thing. This is the result.

No, Scully, you can't check the radial pulse for less than 15 seconds and declare the person dead. A little CPR until the ambulance arrives, maybe?

The residue of plans after being punched in the face.

jentrification@jentrification.com · 3d ago

since that man gave Cheyenne a PhD in Theocentric Psychology, what made up field would you like a PhD in?

No, you just bought a kilo of mixed colour peppercorns...

If you can't think of anything to draw, just make marks. Your brain likes it when you do that.

Still one of the most unexpected moments of TV. It may have been flawed, but HBOs Watchmen had its moments.

Slippery Boi: See Ya Later Losers, I'm Out

Alt: Slippery Boi: See Ya Later Losers, I'm Out Lube Man slides into a drain.

static.klipy.com

Notes from the Shadowed City by Jeffrey Alan Love

"Mulder, the truth *is* out there, but so are lies." My X-Files rewatch is going great. I daresay I didn't enjoy it this much the first time around.

Three people have asked me about the Blood and Bone drama (maybe because of the Yoruba origins). 1. I don't know the YA space. 2. I haven't read the books, largely because I don't read YA. Nothing wrong with it, just not for me. 3. I don't know Tomi Adeyemi. 4. Her video suggests she's in pain. 1/2