wait till he hears some of them were swedish

Meta is outrageous. The lack of outrage in relation to SW-W is surely connected to the fact that she worked there for years, she signed an NDA when she left (I know, she says it was under duress) and she has promoted the hell out of the book on the back of the scandal.

This is also how I feel about the prospect of reading an entire book written by AI. What’s the fucking point? Why should I pay the value of my attention to someone who has not paid the value of theirs?

So… as a medievalist it was a combination

I'm sure the pitch I was just sent was AI-generated. Vague yet faintly grandiose. Professional yet slightly chummy. Writers, if you're ever considering pitching to an editor using AI: don't. I can tell you that I was INFURIATED by it. A waste of my time and an insult to my professionalism.

wow! I just discovered that the arrow was probably shoved in the eye of (possibly) Harold in the 1842 restoration.

Authors: up your game

I enjoyed this piece very much. "What was quintessentially English has melted away into something that speaks to another England, a not-yet England, precarious and ill-defined."

Publication day for my new book Upland: The Strange History and Vital Future of Britain's Mountains. It's essentially about how they were made, literally and in our heads, and how we used and abused them, and how they still carry us along. Enjoy!

34 degrees celcius today. I do not like this 34. I do not like it on the shore. I do not like it on the floor. I do lot like it in a car. I do not like it in a bar. Not on a train! Not in a plane! Not in the dark! Not in a park! Not in my bed! Not in my head! Begone, no more, this 34!

Interesting post on Ask a Manager about a writer who is afraid of being accused of using AI when they don't use LLMs. Instead, their writing is edited. However, as the writer says, "The problem with heavily edited writing is that lots of readers now suspect or assume the content is AI-generated." 1/

'Policy wasn’t protection’ - this is exactly what I’m working on.

And let your kids see you reading something that isn't a phone.

oh good I've just realised that line two-thirds down is actually the perfect kicker - hashtag every journalist knows the feeling

'Funds to compensate artists' offered in exchange are a frankly offensive proposition. They would force artists to hand over their life's work for well below what it is worth. Artists' work is not the government's to give away to the biggest companies in the world. 2/3

well worth the ventilation of your interest, as they say

Just two months remaining for the Wildlife Trusts to raise, crumbs, over £12M to purchase the vast Rothbury Estate in Northumberland. They've raised 59% of the purchase price but have scarcely added to the pot in June. Needs one obscenely rich donor to pay off the (extremely rich) seller. 1/2

In other news, Tesco demands farmers provide milk for free. 'Paying for milk is stifling the growth of the dairy economy', a Tesco spokesperson told MPs at a special meeting.

other publishers: now tell us why you're not following Canongate's lead

Identifying patterns of uploading is one solution. Evidence of human authorship is another.

Transparency is going to be the base-level standard. Evidence is the next step.

In 1932 (and before that) there was an Olympic medal for literature. They gave it to a Nazi alpinist.

“Not an attempt to make evolution cuddlier, but a corrective deeply informed by what we have learned since Darwin. Written with immense charm & passion, it is a paean to the wonders of nature & the value & urgency of preserving them.” @philipcball.bsky.social on @rowhoop.bsky.social's Togetherness:

Just discovered I've been misspelling 'circumambulate' and 'sacristy' all these years. Luckily, they don't come up too often.

Congratulations to Steve Brusatte. I reviewed his lovely book for the Sunday Times. (Got in the words pygostyle, supracoracoideus and gizzard, too.) www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

Try the sign near me: ‘Animals In Road. DAY AND NIGHT.’

This is exactly it. The work is the point.

Currently just over 2k signatures. We need 10k for a government response. If you are in the UK please consider signing this petition.

No critic reviews books to make authors smile – but it’s a good feeling when your review makes them smile like this.

I had heard a review might be coming, but I didn't expect this! What a kind and charming review from James McConnachie, who I've long admired. Thanks to my pals @picadorbooks.bsky.social for making this all happen.

is it true you're legally allowed to forcibly confiscate neighbours' leaf-blowers and set fire to them?

As every writer – and parent, and child – has been saying for years.

This is extraordinary — the Facebook whistleblower was threatened with legal action from Meta if she spoke or nodded during her hour on stage www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

This is awful, and from what I'm reading UK law on the issue is completely inadequate:

A great many writers will be very sorry to hear this. Thank you, Maureen.

This is the 19th-century milestone that Clancy Docwra, working for Southern Water, threw away – and is now lost forever. www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6072595

some wonderful poetry from my near-namesake:

the protein shit

I am reminded of a limerick I once read: There was a young man from Bengal Who was persistently irritated by a large fly

4.25pm on a Friday and I'm finally getting into white-space territory in the chapter I'm working on.

I weighed in on the ongoing "AI-generated story" conversation. I believe that as a previous winner of the CSSP and a "young" writer, I need to say something. Thanks to @literaryhub.bsky.social for publishing this. lithub.com/everyone-is-...

Did you discover, as part of the Anthropic settlement, that your publisher failed to register your copyright? The @authorsguild.org is collecting information authorsguild.org/anthropic-cl... (This is a correction of something I posted yesterday w/ a significant error. Apologies for the mistake)

A historic local milestone that has stood for 200+ years went missing a few months back, when Southern Water/Clancy did works on the exact spot. I reported it. Months later, Southern Water have just knocked on my door to say they didn't record it and don't know where it went.

"Year after year the Betty Trask Awards shine a light on the future of the contemporary novel, rewarding not just one exceptional debut but recognising the sheer range of approaches to making outstanding new fictions. " Judge @andrewcowan01

How many editors does it take to screw in a light bulb? Not sure about this wording: could read as meaning editors have sex in light bulbs! Also, do we really "screw in" UK light bulbs or use bayonet caps? Rewrite and bring it back in your own time, OK? Have you finished yet?

Only possible because the LLM has ingested reams of postcolonial Caribbean prose. All of it stolen. It's almost as if AI is a fresh wave of extractive capitalism.

BUT, OF COURSE

Some other context that wasn't in the interview: OT sits on the board of a videogame developer that is developing a game based on her writing and which received millions in investment for an AI dialogue tool.

Exactly this. And as he says in his next post, literary fiction is also a genre. (Or in my view a distinctive set of genres.)