We're thrilled to present the shortlist for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction:

London's latest Blue Plaque is a brilliant one. (It was put up at the Tesla dealership in Tottenham by campaigners)

Bluesky dot jpeg

Rip Amazon off by buying my book!

Careless People which Meta is keen you don't buy or promote

Amazon is currently selling The Crooked Medium's Guide to Murder paperback at £4.79, and I get the same profit as if this was at full price. Consider, holding your nose and buy! Or buy from my website instead. #indieauthor #Victorian #spooky #books (I have non Azon options for eBook and print)

The book Meta is desperate you don't buy and promote

in their relationship. The book neither ignores nor dwells on the sexual aspect of the two women, which I really liked. The sequel, The Crooked Medium's Guide to Terror is being published in September and I'm really looking forward to it.

I've decided that one of the reasons that people aren't buying my books is because they don't really know anything about them, because I'm really useless at publicising my work. But, if I can write threads talking about other people's books, then I can certainly do it for my own. So here goes.

There is a need to demonstrate that this tech is universely useful and inevitable, which means the target for "copilot will help you bake a pizza' is probably not pizza parlours

But there is a broader point here. Sov AI’s Chair did this in response to a politely worded question about whether the Sovereign AI Fund would invest in companies that train on copyrighted work without a licence. This is a question the government has still not provided a substantive answer to. 2/6

Good morning! There's a spider that pretends it has been taken over by a mind control fungus, so its predators go ewwww and don't eat it. All relevance to British politics I leave to the reader www.discovermagazine.com/new-spider-s...

Oh, and there is a short story to download, a disreputable take from Mrs Ashton's past. stephens-newsletter-69af79.beehiiv.com

Hot news! I'm about to send my newsletter subscribers a big book giveaway, a Zoom call to discuss all things writing, and hold the date for launch party. It's always #free, not too often, subscribe any time, Beehiiv not Substack. #books #LGBT+ #crime #CWA #murder #fantasy #reading #indieauthor

Something I try to keep in mind is that if it seems like doing one simple thing would solve a group of people's problems, the odds that you are a visionary prophet sent from on high to save them are pretty low and the odds they already thought of that are quite high

This is fantastic.

A lot of media coverage of the ‘AI’ reading of the Herculaneum scrolls really fails to understand what’s happened here. There’s no language processing happening, the AI/ML is not trained on a corpus of texts or language. It can detect ink to see shapes. HUMAN EXPERTS are then transcribing the text.

Hot news! I'm about to send my newsletter subscribers a big book giveaway, a Zoom call to discuss all things writing, and hold the date for launch party. It's always #free, not too often, subscribe any time, Beehiiv not Substack. #books #LGBT+ #crime #CWA #murder #fantasy #reading #indieauthor

Two years into "steampowered looms will revolutionise weaving" and the mill owners are rounding up experienced weavers and asking if they want their jobs back.

“Ford has admitted to rehiring hundreds of human workers after its aggressive AI adoption strategy backfired. “We had been relying more and more on automated quality systems and not getting the desired results,” said Kumar Galhotra, Ford’s chief operating officer.” This is very good

#69 (nice) The Crooked Medium's Guide to Murder by @stephencoxauthor.bsky.social The moral of this story is, at least for me, "keep as far away from the aristocracy as possible" and this remains as true in the 21st Century as it was in the late 19th which is this book's setting. The 'crooked /1

It's okay to prefer D&D over other systems. It's not okay like D&D and be snotty to those who don't. It's okay not to like D&D. It's not okay to harass and insult people who'd rather play D&D. It's okay to play reindeer games. It's not okay to ostracize the red-nosed reindeer when you play games.

Scammy spam Scammy spam Scams as hard as a spammer can spins their web spins their lies look out for the scammy spam!

If you don't want all the big money in publishing to go to celebs, talk about books you love. Write about them. Borrow books that excite you from the library. Read reviews. Listen to podcasts about books. Go to book events if you can afford it. Celebs get book deals because people talk about them.

Against AI and proud of it

I’ve been added to a block list called, “Hates People Who Use VR AI Crypto Smartglasses NFTs Bitcoin" and

Artist’s painting of a hippo on a flake of limestone 🦛❤️ Perhaps a practice sketch, or simply for the joy of painting 3,500 years ago! From Deir el-Bahri, ancient Thebes, c. 1479–1425 BC 📷 The Met #Archaeology #Art

As I am getting numbers on Net Zero (ending burning coal) and beating children as metaphor, I will mention my "warm, witty and queer-hearted' spooky Victorian mysteries, which comtain burning coal and we assume, beaten children. The second one is out in 14/9 #murder #crime #indie #spooky #books

As I am getting numbers on Net Zero (ending burning coal) and beating children as metaphor, I will mention my "warm, witty and queer-hearted' spooky Victorian mysteries, which comtain burning coal and we assume, beaten children. The second one is out in 14/9 #murder #crime #indie #spooky #books

A chance to see @elizachanwrites.bsky.social and her much lauded work. around the country

Unfortunately this rather overstated the case. It only considers territorial emissions, so for example about 5% of our electricity comes from biomass, almost all of which is imported, so is accounted as zero. We import half our food, so zero emissions. The true cut is nearer 30%.

'We're walking in the aaaagh'

The best analogy to the conversion therapy Bill would be a Bill that banned smacking children "unless the adult believed that the little blighter deserved it."

More than half way to Net Zero in UK The key fact is that most people believe it is a long way off and hard. Only 8% believe we're halfway there. www.gov.uk/government/n...

Britain is more than halfway towards reaching Net Zero. Most people don't realise this, not least as the fossil-fuel fanatics want us to think achieving it is impossible. Via YouGov

Also, this is EXACTLY what we mean when we say them coming for trans people is only the start. You better fight now before you no longer can.

Everyone meet the legend, Neil the Seal

It's friday! Time for the weekly good news thread. What's your good news this week? What's made you smile?

WELL BLOODY DONE!

This bass line is giving me life this morning

And yes, I do think there’s a totally valid conversation to have about foreign aid and how much focus should be on immediate aid and how much should be on infrastructure and economic development.

Those are the questions

Hard not to regard this as a classic example of a pre-emptive campaign by certain sectors, along with their media sympathisers, to discourage a new prime minister from appointing someone who might damage their interests in the long and short term. And it will almost certainly work.

The politician who gladly accepted £80 to say 'Up The RA' thinks it's nobody's business what he'll do for £5 million.

Hottest day of the year but still not as hot as IN THE DESERT! Get your copy today! Usa: a.co/d/049brzh7 or bookshop.org/p/books/in-t... or www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-the-des... Uk: amzn.eu/d/01xKTlSW Irl: amzn.eu/d/002o8GHz Or: www.buythebook.ie/product/in-t... Or your local amazon

Haha, nice one @privateeyenews.bsky.social !

brilliantly tackles nuisance without raising free speech hackles. all other councils follow please

Pirates need millions of gold coins or they will have to get a real job.

A secret cabal of opticians runs the country. Are we not told it is about the optics?

Writing news - my last read of The Crooked Medium's Guide to Terror, and 'finis'. Published Sept 14th worldwide. It is absolutely as good as the first three books of mine (others say) #amwriting #queer #sapphic #LGBT #Victorian #Booksky #books #murder #mystery #crime #CWA #indieauthor #women