KJ Charles

this is paywalled but perhaps someone can tell me if they rank the nadir as the dreadful didn't-understand-the-assignment of "Die Another Day" or the painful John Barry fail "The Man with the Golden Gun" (including the less than subtle line "He's got a powerful weapon").

I also don't want to look in case the no.1 isn't Shirley Bassey, and thus enragingly wrong.

reminder of a week-long sale, get your scary romance here. And for other scary romances (a thread):

Two great zombie apocalypse romances: Kick at the Darkness by Suleikha Snyder (mff) www.goodreads.com/book/show/59... The Last Woman on Earth by Bex Benjamin (f/f) www.goodreads.com/book/show/23...

reminder of a week-long sale, get your scary romance here. And for other scary romances (a thread):

But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo. Sapphic horror romance with, you know, class difference and, well, look SPIDER GOD OKAY

reminder of a week-long sale, get your scary romance here. And for other scary romances (a thread):

A Wild and Hungry Place by E.E. Ottoman, fabulously strange queer trans horror gothic romance I don't know just read it

reminder of a week-long sale, get your scary romance here. And for other scary romances (a thread):

yeah so this QT led me to their website, where I realise they also publish the incredible Hausa soapfest SIN IS A PUPPY THAT FOLLOWS YOU HOME (just read it okay) plus loads of Manickavel, and I just spent look sod off it's my birthday this week, I'm allowed.

And yes you DO want to read SIN IS A PUPPY THAT FOLLOWS YOU HOME, it's in my like top five soaps, and regular readers will know I think the ability to achieve full soap is one of the greatest writing skills.

yeah so this QT led me to their website, where I realise they also publish the incredible Hausa soapfest SIN IS A PUPPY THAT FOLLOWS YOU HOME (just read it okay) plus loads of Manickavel, and I just spent look sod off it's my birthday this week, I'm allowed.

Looking for queer historical romance with sinister supernatural shenanigans? Of course you are. THE SECRET CASEBOOK OF SIMON FEXIMAL and SPECTRED ISLE are both 99p everywhere this week! (If sale isn't showing where you are give it time, includes Amazon and all the usual suspects, e only)

The Secret Casebook is basically "occult detective with no social skills meets journalist with limited sense of self preservation", also gay. Lots of dark folklore and London stuff. Told as a series of stories.

Tangential to this excellent book that you should read: possibly my brain is rotting, but I twice attempted to recommend this in my panel at ComicCon and twice failed to claw any of the title to mind, and I had literally been reading it on the train there.

Venison lasagna and rhubarb crumble in the oven, waiting for the boy to wash off the mud of rugby in storm conditions. There will be custard, before you even ask.

So Eloisa James's latest book was given a cover made with GenAI. The publisher has withdrawn it and commissioned a new cover with a different artist. Props to the author for putting her foot down and the publisher for withdrawing it promptly.

"Pay freelancers more so they don't have to"--absolutely, but also lol, have you seen publishers? "Use only trusted people"--ok but how do new illustrators get started? "Use AI detectors/demand people record their process"--I do not believe this would work and anyway it's not OK.

So Eloisa James's latest book was given a cover made with GenAI. The publisher has withdrawn it and commissioned a new cover with a different artist. Props to the author for putting her foot down and the publisher for withdrawing it promptly.

I might be able to get a No GenAI clause regarding in house work but I'm not getting more than 'best endeavours' to cover what third parties (subrights, freelancers) do. How exactly do we handle this?

So Eloisa James's latest book was given a cover made with GenAI. The publisher has withdrawn it and commissioned a new cover with a different artist. Props to the author for putting her foot down and the publisher for withdrawing it promptly.

I am pretty sure this happened to me recently in a different area. The freelancer denied it. The publisher was great about fixing it, and I don't believe for a second they OK'd any GenAI use. Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure that was what I got.

So Eloisa James's latest book was given a cover made with GenAI. The publisher has withdrawn it and commissioned a new cover with a different artist. Props to the author for putting her foot down and the publisher for withdrawing it promptly.

Obviously I don't know anything about this case except the above, so let's just proceed on the assumption that the publisher did not OK use of GenAI for the cover. This has happened before and will again.

I'm desperately trying to work out what actual swears led the author to this choice of words. It could only be better by adding the classic American misplaced bloody. "Oh, bloody for crying in the piss!" perhaps.