It’s like the person who wrote that ad couldn’t figure out how we filled our time without social media. We just all must have had spare hours in the day when we collectively stared into space, waiting for apps to be invented.
I remember being a lot more productive without always checking my phone. I remember turning up to meet a friend on time and if they didn’t turn up, you’d either leave or go to a pay phone and find out where they were. I remember racing home to watch certain TV shows at set times. The analog days.
I’ve just had an email advertising posh pyjamas telling me what mornings were like in the 90s: ‘you had an actual alarm clock to wake you up and you listened to the radio. Without the internet everyone had 2-3 hours before work to do what they wanted’. Err. Sorry? That’s not what I remember.
Correction. Orwell never said this. He did however, warn that: "political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” (That's Politics and the English Language, one of my favorite essays)
That falls into the ‘I ruined her life and left her to deal with the consequences’ category
Or:
I killed her and I feel really bad about it.
I love traditional folk songs, but reading the lyrics of them make me realise that so many of these ditties go like this:
Hey-diddly-Dee
I ruined a woman’s life and then I ran away and left her to deal with the consequences
Hey-diddly-Dee
I’ve been writing so hard and for such long hours over the past week that it feels like I’ve worn out my glasses. Eye strain is real.
Hi, if you’re asking AI to write your book you’re not actually writing. You’re poking a Frankenparrot fashioned from rotting flesh on stolen bones covered in the feathers of a million other birds. You’re condoning theft. You’re trashing our planet. You’re robbing yourself of the chance to grow
Lady crooks n' Forty Elephants tips! @caitlindavies.bsky.social's ace book Queens of the Underworld, @sophiemhistory.bsky.social research for @lucyworsley.bsky.social Lady Swindlers, @hallierubenhold.bsky.social advised on #AThousandBlows. Brian McDonald on Alice Diamond - has family connections.
Thank you for having me on. Interesting to see how the story evolves. I’ve had 2 more messages in the 24 hours since we were on air.
Many thanks to @tds153.bsky.social for having me and @hallierubenhold.bsky.social on yesterday's BBC Front Row show to discuss the growing deluge of book club scams targeting authors. Check out the recording at around the 22:00 mark. www.bbc.com/audio/play/m...
Lost my phone in London, with four credit cards and £150 cash in the case. Returned to me within 21 minutes. This hellhole of a city eh.
People who immigrate to the U.S. come here to find safety and opportunity and contribute to our communities.
We should be welcomed with dignity, not demonized.
And with measles and whooping cough making a come back, you too can live as if it were 1905.
Thanks James. And so many readers get these confused.
Well, I couldn’t resist the alien abduction of Jack the Ripper. Perfect sense of closure.
Who are these people preying on writers? And please, my fellow scribblers, don’t fall into their traps.
I’ve had personalised messages from someone pretending to be Harlan Coben, ‘as one author to another, how do you find the writing process?’ I’ve had aggressive approaches ‘I see you’ve opened my last email but couldn’t be bothered to respond’ (like that would make me want to).
The spamming marketing crooks targeting authors are getting so desperate that I’m now receiving multiple approaches every day. At one time they used AI to create a personalised sounding approach. Now they can’t even be bothered to get my titles correct: ‘Loved your book, Moonrise Sunset’.
“AI giant Anthropic ran a massive program called Project Panama where they spent tens of millions of dollars to hoover up used books, which they then sliced, scanned, and pulped.”
The radical right lies about London. They can't fathom that a city anyone can call home can also be successful and vibrant. Londoners know better.
https://www.ft.com/content/05b8e8ba-5763-46f1-a2e5-9820bbe4d053
Everybody knows that Pupper just won Downhill Gold
We're back again this week even EARLIER than usual because this Thursday at 6 ET (<-- 1 hour early!) we're back with the incredible @hallierubenhold.bsky.social (THE FIVE) and her new book STORY OF A MURDER!!
Livestream: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYx6...
Trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFaf...
History and true crime readers! The next guest on @peculiarbookclub.bsky.social will be @hallierubenhold.bsky.social talking about her new book, STORY OF A MURDER! Thurs Feb 12, *6pm* ET.
Become a VIP member from $5 for pre-show green-room access.
💙📚 🗃 #TrueCrime
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYx6...
Thank you to Elif Shafak and those who joined us last night in person and online for The National Humanities Lecture.
Drawing on literature, history and her own experience as a writer and storyteller, Shafak made an impassioned case for the humanities. Watch here www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...
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Steve Pozgaj
beauty spots = poxed, definitely (also see Marriage a la Mode). Usually it references what might broadly be considered a 'fallen woman' too.
