Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼

Well, another Wrath Month has rolled around and we still don’t have a book. About that… 💙📚 #BookSky #SmallPress #Publishing #QueerBooks #AI (1/20)

We can't wait to see how this turns out! #BristolCon

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼 reposted

🎃 Trip Ghouley 🎃

@trip.bsky.social

LOOK at this one-book, two-novella queer combo from @wtpress.bsky.social !!! 💙🏳️‍🌈 Gay lizardman love? CHECK Trans lesbian astronaut discovering interstellar intimacy? CHECK Very worth checking this out if it sounds like your kinda fun!

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼 reposted

🎃 Trip Ghouley 🎃

@trip.bsky.social

BristolCon Guest of Honour, moi? ☺️

And if you're at Bristolcon, come visit us in the Dealers Room! We have copies of IWTTO, merch, and the last 5 copies in Bristol of @trip.bsky.social's debut novel...SIGNED!

Bristolcon Guest of Honour @trip.bsky.social is about to be interviewed by @chrismccartney.bsky.social!.These two seem familiar for some reason...

Another from Glasgow Fantasycon last weekend! @chrismccartney.bsky.social @trip.bsky.social @robwillb.bsky.social

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼@bonabooks.bsky.social

Most of Team Bona enjoying the "7th Best Pizza in the World 2026" the morning after Fantasycon in Glasgow 2026! @chrismccartney.bsky.social @robwillb.bsky.social @trip.bsky.social

@chrismccartney.bsky.social

Photo credit: @idakeogh.bsky.social

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼 reposted

C.L. McCartney

Starting in a little under an hour now ☺️

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association@sfwa.bsky.social

With scam artists empowered by LLMs, writers and editors have common cause to worry about submissions. That's why Emerging Tech is gathering @bonabooks.bsky.social, @reckoningmag.bsky.social, & SFWA Publications for I SWEAR I'M NOT A ROBOT Tues, Oct 13 at 1pm PT. RSVP today! sfwa.org/events/?even...

Most of Team Bona enjoying the "7th Best Pizza in the World 2026" the morning after Fantasycon in Glasgow 2026! @chrismccartney.bsky.social @robwillb.bsky.social @trip.bsky.social

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼 reposted

Ruth EJ Booth (she/they)

@ruthejbooth.bsky.social

I was on the Death to AI panel yesterday with Donna Scott, Geoff Ryman, Stephen Cox and Chris McCartney (Bona Books). *If this news is true* then the audience reactions we got indicate this is a terrible move @wishusdonna.bsky.social @stephencoxauthor.bsky.social @bonabooks.bsky.social #Fantasycon

Tristan Gray@eidyngray.scot

Peter F Hamilton announcing proudly to FantasyCon that he's having an AI film made of his work is an impressive display in not knowing your audience

Veeeeeeeeeery important conversations happening right now. Bona Books Managing Editor @chrismccartney.bsky.social will be taking part in this discussion.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association@sfwa.bsky.social

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼 reposted

gofundme.comDonate to Help Me Stay in the UK For Good (After 10 Years Living Here), organized by Robert BergWho I Am My name is Robert Berg and I’m raising funds to hel… Robert Berg needs your support for Help Me Stay in the UK For Good (After 10 Years Living Here)

13 Aug

Hi all, our lovely editor Rob is in danger of getting kicked out of the UK if he doesn't raise enough money for immigration fees by 27 Oct, so he's set up a GoFundMe. We very much want him here, making queer books, so if you're able to donate or simply share his campaign, we'd be so grateful!

21 Aug

In just over a week, Rob is already 59% of the way towards his goal! Incredible stuff. Please keep donating/sharing, friends! 😍

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼@bonabooks.bsky.social

@trudieskies.readindiefantasy.com

13 Aug

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼 reposted

Tru Skies

6 Aug

Replying to @trudieskies.readindiefantasy.com

10. Feels like your favorite cartoon on Saturday morning. It's the cover that does it for me 😂 But I Want That Twink Obliterated! by @bonabooks.bsky.social!

@tinyfairyhunter.bsky.social

15 July

👇

This post is unavailable.

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼 reposted

K.A. Doore

@kadoore.com

15 July

I guarantee that everyone has read something generated by AI without clocking it at this point. Blaming a small press for being transparent about being fooled is wild.

This post is unavailable.

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼 reposted

Paula Weiman

9 July

I found this report really interesting. Most of it supports what I've been saying in conversations with authors worried about how to respond to potential accusations of AI use in their work, as well as editors who ask how I screen for AI-generated material: it becomes clear through revisions. 🧵/

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼@bonabooks.bsky.social

AI fraud nearly derailed our next anthology. Today we’re talking about what went down, the things we missed, and publishing the report we wish we’d had when it happened. Read all about it on our new blog, and download the full report:

bona-books.comHoney, We Bought an AI Story — Bona BooksThe Queer Torments of the AI-sphere

A+ no notes.

Cursed Morsels@cursedmorsels.bsky.social

Thinking of adding "If you submit an AI story, I will hunt you down like a starving polar bear tracking its doomed prey through the tundra wastes" to the submission guidelines.

This is one of our top concerns in the report and its recommendations - it lobs massive barriers between the new and/or marginalised author and a pro-published career. We will do more work on identifying and combatting these impacts (watch this space! 👀). But yes, this is pure hell, basically.

John Scalzi@scalzi.com

This is the sort of thing means new/emerging writers will have yet one more hoop to jump through to prove their work is actually from their brain and not ChatGPT, etc. There's not an easy answer to this; the reward for the "AI" scammers is too great to get them to stop.

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼 reposted

Karen Lord

@drkarenlord.bsky.social

@julietemckenna.bsky.social

Wrt my last repost, this validates everything I’m trying to teach in the Clarion West Novel Writing Workshop. AI can’t do what we do.

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼@bonabooks.bsky.social

We didn’t find a smoking gun. Nothing so neat. But we found patterns: • hollow worldbuilding • limited interiority • strange behaviour in editorial • missing drafts/notes • contradictions • weak craft conversation

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼 reposted

Juliet E McKenna

bona-books.comThe Machines Are Coming For Your Masthead — AI Report — Bona Books🤖📚 *Small Press Publishing in the Age of AI* Bona Books' research reveals the hidden risks of Generative AI in the slush pile. This report exposes how AI fraudsters infiltrate small presses and prov...

Whichever version you opt for, this is essential reading, for publishers, authors and readers.

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼@bonabooks.bsky.social

We're mainly sharing the link to the rather more digestible blog post, but if you want to jump to the straight our AI report:

We have 100% confidence that all of our remaining and forthcoming stories are certifiably human-authored by our righteous contributors. And a cracking bunch of reprobates they are too 🤘🏼😛🧱

This post is unavailable.

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼 reposted

Lee 🐰

@lyamkk.bsky.social

This was a very tight rope to walk - we tried our utmost to make the advice practical and relevant, while not just handing our arms over to the other side. @chrismccartney.bsky.social can say more on how the limitations of LLMs mean our report is likely not much use to a present-day AI scammer. 🏋️‍♂️

Shannon Fallon@shannonfallon.com

Love that you published this to show the patterns you noticed and the strategies you used to detect. But without creating an easy cheat sheet for "this is how to sound convincingly like an author". I fear that scammers will try to perfect their scams ☹️

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼 reposted

Aliette de Bodard

@aliettedebodard.com

bona-books.comHoney, We Bought an AI Story — Bona BooksThe Queer Torments of the AI-sphere

A detailed read that's well worth your time Also please support Bona Books, they deserve it!

Bona Books 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🤘🏼@bonabooks.bsky.social

Well, another Wrath Month has rolled around and we still don’t have a book. About that… 💙📚 #BookSky #SmallPress #Publishing #QueerBooks #AI (1/20)

bona-books.comHoney, We Bought an AI Story — Bona BooksBona Books share a hard-learned lesson: we accidentally bought AI-generated fiction. This deep dive into our experience with submission fraud covers the "red flags" we missed, the toll it took on our ...

Silence is the wrong response. That’s why today we are publishing ‘The Machines Are Coming For Your Masthead”, a report on our experiences, small press publishing in the age of AI. Read the blog. Download the report. Share your thoughts - we want to hear them. (20/20 - fin)

We're mainly sharing the link to the rather more digestible blog post, but if you want to jump to the straight our AI report:

Well, another Wrath Month has rolled around and we still don’t have a book. About that… 💙📚 #BookSky #SmallPress #Publishing #QueerBooks #AI (1/20)

But the answer cannot be to close the gates. Small presses exist to find extraordinary writers who have not yet been given a platform. The answer is better process, better training, shared resources, and solidarity.

Community saved us, this time. Another editor warned us. Other publishers shared what they were seeing. But whisper networks are not enough. Publishing needs collective tools, standards and action.

Well, another Wrath Month has rolled around and we still don’t have a book. About that… 💙📚 #BookSky #SmallPress #Publishing #QueerBooks #AI (1/20)

Purported ‘AI detection’ software is not the answer on its own. They can be biased, limited, racist, wrong. At most, they may be one indicative tool in a broader, fair, evidence-based process. Never proof by themselves.

Small presses are structurally exposed Open submissions, volunteer labour, tight budgets, a reliance on trust, and a commitment to platform new and marginalised voices are exactly what AI exploits.

Well, another Wrath Month has rolled around and we still don’t have a book. About that… 💙📚 #BookSky #SmallPress #Publishing #QueerBooks #AI (1/20)

We’re not saying authors should be treated with suspicion. That would be disastrous, especially for new, queer, disabled, neurodivergent, global-majority (or indeed any kind of marginalised) writers. Any response to AI HAS to protect access.

Well, another Wrath Month has rolled around and we still don’t have a book. About that… 💙📚 #BookSky #SmallPress #Publishing #QueerBooks #AI (1/20)

A stated editorial position can help you later. So can a contract clause. But it doesn’t train readers, spot warning signs, create evidence thresholds, or tell a horrified small press what to do when everything goes wrong.

Writing is easy to simulate; being an author isn’t. The prose mattered, yes. But it wasn’t the strongest evidence. A generated manuscript can look horribly plausible. But the surrounding authorship? MUCH harder to fake.

Well, another Wrath Month has rolled around and we still don’t have a book. About that… 💙📚 #BookSky #SmallPress #Publishing #QueerBooks #AI (1/20)

So we went back through the anthology. Two accepted stories prompted concerns. One shortlisted story did too. Then two more appeared in our magazine longlist. They were emerging everywhere we looked.

This is where the story went beyond “A Bona Books Nightmare” and became an industry problem. Because we had AI wording in our guidelines. We had declarations. We had contract clauses. But policy wasn’t protection.

Well, another Wrath Month has rolled around and we still don’t have a book. About that… 💙📚 #BookSky #SmallPress #Publishing #QueerBooks #AI (1/20)

Maybe you thought, like us, that if you read AI fiction you’d just *know*. We thought they’d feel obvious, but AI stories are already passing editorial scrutiny with magazines and presses around the world. That’s the most alarming lesson in this.

The first warning came from our community. Another editor spotted a problematic pattern and warned us. Without that, we might not have caught it in time.

Well, another Wrath Month has rolled around and we still don’t have a book. About that… 💙📚 #BookSky #SmallPress #Publishing #QueerBooks #AI (1/20)

bona-books.comHoney, We Bought an AI Story — Bona BooksThe Queer Torments of the AI-sphere

If you’re an editor, publisher, slush reader or industry organisation dealing with this: what resources would actually help? We want to hear from you. If this is relevant to your press, magazine, union, imprint, submissions team or writing group, please share it.

Well, another Wrath Month has rolled around and we still don’t have a book. About that… 💙📚 #BookSky #SmallPress #Publishing #QueerBooks #AI (1/20)