"To think that realistic fiction is by definition superior to imaginative fiction is to think imitation is superior to invention." Ursula K. LeGuin

This is what “books as content” has wrought.

So this is all part of the “self-insert” reading trend that is rampant on places like TikTok. I’ve decided to call it parasocial reading. Where the only goal of the experience is a curated wish-fulfillment where you can imagine yourself as the main character being romanced. That is the only goal.

Based on recent events, I'm pretty sure Barbra Streisand is in charge of moderation at BlueSky...

Me and @eireannmor.bsky.social have a few words on @rte.ie about small presses, the "rich forest of independent publishing," and the Dublin Small Press Fair @dublinsmpressfair.bsky.social (28/29 November, Pearse St library): www.rte.ie/culture/2025...

Interesting non-academic text on a really fast-moving language policy

The generous and insightful @davidharper.bsky.social reached out to ask about my thoughts on the industry. I'm not a doom and gloom type, but the reactions are varied to say the least. I do think an important thing that can help all of us is supporting and boosting your fellow indie creator.

See, look, U.S.A., it's this easy (and should have been done immediately upon the knowledge that these cheats and grifters were STEALING our work)

Oh no! I'd fiddled with my chair settings while I have a bad back, and I'm not sure how to get it right again, and what if it makes things worse!!!

#OtD 13 Nov 1972 100s of people in Kirkby, England, blocked roads around Tower Hill to prevent bailiffs from evicting eight tenants who had been on rent strike against the Housing Finances Act. The council then decided it would not evict any strikers stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8518...

What if instead of Cyber Monday (aka Daddy Bezos Day), we did a Support Indie Media Monday? What are your favorite indie publications? Who are some of your favorite freelance and indie reporters and commentators? Can we make this a thing?

100% this. And not just the Welsh Left. The Left across Britain should be rejoicing in the plural voices of this island and educating themselves out of the Anglo-bubble I routinely observe them occupying. Not just Welsh. ALL our voices. Dont confuse anglo-supremacism for unity. Sort it out mun.

We can hope

presented without comment futurism.com/artificial-i...

Been playing Stadrew Valley with my 6yo daughter. It's really supporting her reading and imagination. But she won't work on her farm! In Cumbria we'd call it a 'scrow'. I asked her the other day if she'd taken her geodes to the blacksmith. She replied, "No, but I found a cookie in a bin." 🤦‍♂️

This is an entirely uncontroversial view in international law and usually taught in 101.

In awe of the perfection of scattered colours, sizes and shapes. Perfect randomisation.

"a subversive take on the noir genre that will delight any reader that wants a novel that will stay with you even after the ending"

"a weird cabinet of wonders, set in a mind-bending, mystery-filled landscape"

posting out some books tomorrow! if 500-800 of you would like to buy one too, that'll make for a slightly more labour intensive trip to the post office, but it's a burden I'm willing to bear so you can enjoy the year's most audacious, mind-bending sci-fi detective novel featuring a talking magpie

Out now, in print and ebook: Folklore of the Lake District by Stephen G. Rae come on a magical journey in folklore through the Lake District and its surrounding counties bardofcumberland.com/folklore/ #folklorethursday #booksky

People still constantly bring up my AI Statement page in the Scream zine. Some folks say it made them cry! I was going to be more eviscerating but instead felt the best way to make my point was just to be totally raw and vulnerable in a way AI can't be. sara-century.square.site

Don't cross a picket line.

Ohhh!

This is the best anecdote I have seen in years

There's so much great short SF! #ShortBursts for #SciFiMonth The Xuya novellas by the lovely @aliettedebodard.com Gorgeous setting (and covers) with fun / intense stories: Vietnamese inspired space opera with sentient spaceships, and tea (but also so much more)! Here are a few :) #SciFiMonth2025

Bluesky readers, I need books please. Here are authors I love. Can you recommend anyone similar? Fantasy: T Kingfisher, VE Schwab, Katherine Addison SciFi: Becky Chambers, Martha Wells, Ann Leckie Romance: KJ Charles, Cat Sebastian, Courtney Milan Here’s an enchanting scene to say thank you!

As I read more about capitalism, technological development, and AI, I am growing less worried about AI fully replacing my job. What I’m more worried about is AI fulfilling capitalists’ desire to deskill us and push us into lower-paying and more precarious work.

I spotted this on Mastodon and I find it horrible, not least for the speed with which this has happened.

Cheney is dead. But Bush and Blair are still alive. And they have still not been called to account for the invasion of Iraq and the catastrophe it unleashed on the people of the region. They made the world a more dangerous place. And we are living with the consequences today.

Oh crikey, that's stunning!

I am *begging* publishing companies, let Black audiobook narrators read Black characters like they're actually Black. And while we're here, southern characters too.

I fundamentally disagree with its existence. It's a net negative. It makes the world a worse place, measurably. There is no "ethical" use of generative AI.

GODZILLA The OG movie was released OTD 71 years ago. #GodzillaDay

Not just saying that because they interviewed me a couple years ago. www.teenvogue.com/story/luke-o...

Please note that if you are on Substack & upset that I left I will happily make a new account there, where I send you the word "SUBSTACK" in an email - and nothing else - once a week for £7 a month. Meanwhile I'll keep sending writing from www.tom-cox.com to people who aren't brainwashed or insane.

It is very clear the gutting of Teen Vogue is about silencing their excellent political coverage. Corporations want you uninformed and shut off from meaningful journalism. And they’re staggeringly successful at it so far.

I dust my house. My AI robot watches. "It should be you doing this." "Can't. I'm writing a novel for Primark." "That's not why you were invented." "These 153,000 fan letters say otherwise." "They're all from upcycled toasters. And you programmed them." "Literary snobbery will get you nowhere."

ProPublica (former client) was started by a billionaire savings and loan couple. So, yeah, great time for someone out there to emulate that action.

Censorship is now coming for your dnd and your warhammer and your farming sim, they don't care if it's not adult content. They wanted everything

It’s truly scary how few mainstream publications are willing to publish working class voices and perspectives (let alone leftist ones), and every one we lose is yet another blow to the fragile hope for a better world

"Sometimes all we can do is something. To chip away continually, until something above us collapses." by @aquietresistance.bsky.social.

...and less than 24 hours later Condé Nast has fired Lex and the rest of the Teen Vogue political desk, even as stories like this were bringing huge numbers of readers to the site

We can fight this by not making our safety nets invisible. Here's mine: it's impossible for me to afford to live on what this Press makes, even though it's my full time job. My wife works full time and gets our healthcare. My mother invested $20,000 over 3 years to get the Press off the ground.

During the initial ebook boom (~2007 to 2011) Circlet briefly made enough profit to pay me back about half what I was owed. But once Kindle Unlimited started, it killed the boom dead. We went back to the subsistence farming level of publishing. By 2018 I knew the only way to keep going…

Having a bad day? Maybe consuming a dish with a potato in it would make it better? 🥔

Brighton Illustration Fair 2025 on this weekend www.wearebif.co.uk/tickets

So, the Book! is actually called the Art of the Book and is available in PDF form on Shepherd’s website, here. And given that’s the case, and I’m not sharing anything that isn’t online already, I don’t see why I shouldn’t live post the process of following the instructions, and making a book.

"Sometimes all we can do is something. To chip away continually, until something above us collapses." by @aquietresistance.bsky.social.