I've now heard from 3 authors targeted on X by a scammer impersonating Lois McMaster Bujold. Bujold impersonator refers author to "Eleanor Wood at Spectrum Literary", also an impersonation. Goal: to sell editing svcs. Scam is impersonating multiple authors & agents writerbeware.blog/2025/11/14/i...

Some good news for a change!

Good article on the targeting of Australian authors by scammers posing as publishing service providers (I've been reporting on these scams since 2022--one of the markers for them is that, unlike other publishing scams, they sell ghostwriting services) www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...

Now is the time to prepare to not set your house on fire this Thanksgiving.

New #WriterBeware blog post: Yet another in the growing catalog of AI-driven writing scams from Nigeria: a multi-layered marketing/editing referral scheme that begins with a message or email from someone purporting to be a well-known author writerbeware.blog/2025/11/14/i...

So far this season, I'm seeing more "Oh heck, I have COVID" posts than I have since maybe 2022. Get your boosters because #VaccinesSaveLives and #CovidIsNotOver

So there’s a lawyer going around BlueSky right now responding to everyone talking about the Anthropic book settlement by (1) urging people to opt out and (2) saying that they are representing authors who are opting out.

Reminder: A lot of great books published this year during absolutely bonkers news & world event times. That squashes people talking about them. Keep buying books please, keep borrowing them from libraries, and for the love of all that's good, talk about them. Post about them. 📚

If you're looking for a Thanksgiving-set cozy mystery, may I suggest www.amazon.com/Deadly-Thank... On sale for just a buck (not sure how long, so don't delay!) #BookSky

It's driving me batty that nobody except Heather Cox Richardson, the Washington Monthly, and myself is covering Trump's race to sell off (for likely demolition) "the Sistine Chapel of the New Deal," w/ murals by Ben Shahn, Philip Guston, etc. I've furnish links below to help reporters get started.

Shout out to everyone completely demoralized about the state of the world who still manages to get out of bed each morning. And shout out to you, too if you’re still in bed. This shit is hard. Talk to your friends and neighbors. They’re going though it too, which is both terrifying and comforting.

Earnest post: there is increasingly direct evidence that Trump participated in child sex trafficking or at least knew about it. He should resign, be impeached and removed from office, and prosecuted. Even if you don’t think that WILL happen it’s important to say publicly that it SHOULD happen.

So this morning I get an urgent email for a same day cardiology appointment at my local treatment centre. I was surprised (and alarmed) but fine. I moved things around and went there a few minutes ago. Only there was no real appointment. The receptionist said I wasn't supposed to receive any 1/

Watch out for solicitations from Enlight Women's Magazine offering to feature you on a Top 10 list: it's a pay-to-play scheme (a "nominal" fee of $900). I'm especially tempted by the "personalized digital plaque of honour" (emphasis added in the screenshot below)

Writer Beware is always looking to hear about stuff like this [email protected]

Authors, Beware! There's a firm called "ClaimsHero" doing aggressive social media outreach claiming to "help" you file to get $ in the Anthropic class action. In fact, it's a bait-and-switch, they are luring authors to sign up with them, then OPTING THEM OUT of the class action so they'll get zilch.

I really love this idea. It sounds small, but 1) it's like the saying about rescuing a stray -- might not change the world, but it changes the world for that one animal; and 2) if done in enough locations, it would, in fact, change the world.

Having shitty, corrupt, thuggish cops is expensive. Not for the cops I mean. But for the taxpayers.

Think about buying a car, a fun, stress-free negotiating process that everybody loves. Now imagine that if you don’t buy a car you die and if you buy the wrong car you also die

Wrote to both of mys enators (who did NOT cave) and asked them to encourage Schumer to step aside in favor of someone capable of leading an opposition party. #DidThisToday

Convincing you to read my [short story] with the first sentence. Share yours if you want. "When guests were making plans to spend a romantic Valentine's Day weekend at the Three Sisters B&B, they hardly ever remembered that it fell during the peak of snow season in Kentucky." #BookSky

Mood. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsNV...

Are you a lawyer? Have you been litigating against DOJ or other executive branch attorneys? Did you witness them engage in professional misconduct that has NOT been reported in the news? Do you have the receipts? We want to know! We document it all here, where you can also submit information:

This is his pardon, purchas’d by such sin For which the pardoner himself is in.

American politics makes a lot more sense when you realize that the GOP is afraid of pissing off the GOP base, and the Dems are afraid of pissing off the GOP base, but neither party is afraid of pissing off the Dem base.

Why, You grave but reckless senators

The coordinated nature of this—none are facing voters in 2026—means that either Schumer approved it or failed in his job as Senate Majority Leader to stop it. Dems voting "no" get zero credit until they demand a change in leadership. Schumer out as Leader, Durbin out as Whip.

Cowards die many times before their deaths, The valiant never taste of death but once.

I've done so much free motion quilting recently that I borked the sewing machine foot. The piece that caused the foot to go up and down a little with the needle, so it glided over the fabric, snapped off. #QuiltSky

These same bums will be asking us for cash at the next deadline; looking forward to sending this back to every Senate fundraising text

Dear Democratic Senators: if you vote for this selling out of the ACA it will be the end of your careers. Depend upon it. You are there to defend this country against Trump and the fascists, not collude with them. If you become Quislings, you will forever REMAIN Quislings

Regular reminder that Axios stories saying Dems are about to cave are likely sourced from GOP staffers trying to make it happen. Doesn't mean it definitely won't happen. But it's like those NYT stories that Harvard is considering caving (they haven't). The anonymous source was trying to manifest it.

I’ve come to believe that we need to gather considerable forces and a campaign to demand the removal of face masks by ICE, Border Patrol, FBI and police. It is a practice in conflict with the principles of transparency & accountability that are central to the concept of democracy.

50 year mortgage is so crazy. to put it in perspective, 2016 was 50 years ago

Senate Dems, do not cave. Ensuring healthcare premiums don’t surge is an 80-20 issue. They want to gut the ACA because their disdain for Obama far outweighs their concern for anyone’s health.

if you are food insecure for both the humans and pets in your household there is a tool called Pet Help Finder that can help locate pet food banks nearby and other free or reduced price assistance and supplies for pets. no one, ABSOLUTELY NO ONE, should have to give up their pet bc of this.

Rosie likes to help with machine quilting. #QuiltSky

This is an all hands on deck moment to save health care. If you got a notice this month that your health insurance premium is going up by $500 or maybe even $1,000, send me your story: www.warren.senate.gov/health-care-...

Good morning! AI is being force-fed to you by a handful of billionaires who will lose a bunch of money if they fail to convince you that you need it. You do not need it 🫶

HE'S APPEALING TO THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES THAT HE BE ALLOWED TO STARVE AMERICANS

JUST IN: A federal judge has barred the Trump administration from using furloughed employees’ email accounts to broadcast partisan messages about the shutdown. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

New #WriterBeware blog post: the minute the humongous Anthropic copyright settlement was announced, it became inevitable that unrelated third parties would seek to benefit...in this case, by convincing authors to opt out writerbeware.blog/2025/11/07/p...

Fly? Not we.

Good literary translation requires understanding (language, culture, genre--on both sides of the translation) and an ability to write well. "AI" can't do that. There are no shortcuts. Treat your work and foreign language readers with the respect they deserve. You won't fool anyone with this.

I helped make a film, out this week, called “Rovina’s Choice,” about the deaths this man without conscience or accountability has caused — already 600,000, ⅔ of them children.

The AI generated scam emails from nonexistent book groups (that try to extract some sort of fee) and phony book marketing/promotion ‘experts’, both trying to scam vulnerable authors, are out of control. The sheer number I receive daily is nuts. AI generation makes them un-filterable.

At this point, anyone—a university, a law firm, a corporation, a Democrat—bending the knee to Trump is doing it because they want to, not because of any political reality.