Stephen Cox

The Crooked Medium's Guide to Terror Out worldwide "An absolute page-turner that masterfully blends Victorian crime with unearthly menace" "Humane, tender and funny..." KDP print www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1068164425 Kindle www.amazon.com/dp/B0HD64PT4X and Kobo www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/... #books #SFF

If someone could just explain to me how the machine putting us all out of work and flooding the market with bullshit is strengthening our economy, I'd like to know.

Just absolutely blown away. Got finished copies & look how stunning they are! That cover stamp! The endpapers!!

Seems important to note in Brazil and South Korea that *putting* *fash* *coupleaders* *in* *jail* works. And that letting them go free doesn’t work. Consequences >>> conciliation

‘My dream is for us all to live in a dystopian nightmare where technology never stops interfering with you for even a second of the day.’

Add "between my legs" to a movie title Treasure Island Between My Legs

It is a truth universally acknowledged that after you come home from the convention, you have to work on the new book.

the contrast between seeing US democrats fall over themselves to embrace idiot transphobia all year and tonight seeing footage of the president embracing my (trans) congresswoman, Erika Hilton, at the election night party

There are days I think Top Tips for Loving a Lizard is the best longform thing I have written. I'm not expecting everyone to agree but I really think it is worthy of your time.

In serendipitous timing, the OED has added the word "bwbach" (a household goblin from Welsh myth). Now, if you fancy reading a story that features a mischievous, brandy-drinking bwbach, then pre-order the anthology "They Are Still Here", which incl. my bwbach story "Don't Forget to Feed Barry" 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 1/2

Many comments on the great election victories in Brazil and Serbia state that the authorian right is in decline or that voters have rejected far-right authoritarianism. That is a wrong interpretation of what happened. Progressive movements mobilized and beat the authoritarian right. That's different

Genuinely I don't know that it comes across to people who haven't been here to watch how almost unbelievable this was, just people taking something that looked impossible and dragging it kicking and screaming all the way to inevitability.

Cafe near me wants to sell my books. Tells me their financial adviser warning they must charge VAT on my books. The UK has never levied VAT on books. Their financial adviser turns out to be The Oracle of Slop.

Happy why the heck do we still change the clocks? This increasing accidents and makes people tired in both directions. Surely we can let farmers or the Scots or whoever run their lives the way that works for them, and other people can too.

Honestly several things are depressing about ai but the two that stand out are the eagerness of people to outsource thought because cognitive effort is uncomfortable, and the casualness with which people use the shiny, easy thing knowing it's bad for climate change

The British approach to AI security

#Bristolcon - books from me or Wizards Tower press. come to my chat about why write and why publish or to say hi (going well!)

Come by the Wizard’s Tower Books table at #BristolCon and get @montrealworldcon27.bsky.social , 2028 Brisbane Worldcon, and @edmontonin2030.bsky.social ribbons, candy, cards, and koalas!

Accepting a pardon is an admission under US law you committed the/a crime

While I'm shouting at clouds, UK gov telling everyone to stockpile for climate-change-driven emergencies while fast-forwarding fossil fuel drilling is... I had thought it was the government's responsibility to fix problems, not cause problems and then tell us to deal with the fallout at our expense.

Brilliant cover. Startling mind-twisting premise. Gripping entry. Three Body Problem meets Ringworld #sff #books

Rowling Watch: 0: number of times since 4/15 that Rowling has tweeted on X in support of women’s rights, to protest discrimination against women in the workplace, or to denounce the real-world threats to women’s safety 279: number of times she’s tweeted transphobic hate.

Devolving readiness to households is devil take the hindmost. what is the strategy for foodbanks, councils, the vulnerable... early discussions in our residents association (which does not cover social housing!) Covid response very patchy. Big mosque stepped up but for its own community.

One million Londoners reached. Thousands fewer victims of violence. Our @london-vru.bsky.social is helping turn the tide, with hospital admissions for young people injured in knife assaults down 55% since 2019. This shows what prevention can achieve, but there’s more to do.

Very late to this, but this is an excellent framing, both as a sense-check to 'are you developing AI psychosis' but also for 'are you, Stephen Bush, wasting compute and AI tokens on trivial inquiries?'

God Save The King In My Pants (worst national anthem in the world contender)

Book Quote Wednesday "Clear" Top Tips for Loving A Lizard is a bit earthy. Harry is moody about dating and recalls the downside. If only some tall dark handsome guy would sweep him off his feet @wtpress.bsky.social @samarcand.northsky.social #books #reading

#Bristolcon - here's a lot of what I'm about. Not on any AI panel... Sat 10am Blurred Lines Panel Room One 2pm @wtpress.bsky.social (Launch, cake) 4pm Parents In SFF Panel Two Sunday 10 am The Wisdom Of Ages Panel Room Two 1pm Should you write a book? Does publishing it matter? (chat)

Happy Book Birthday to Joel Cornah and The Storm-Forged Throne. Our re-issue of the Sword-Breaker Trilogy is now complete. There will be a book launch at BristolCon. wizardstowerpress.co...

I swear media literacy in 2026 is getting reduced to “did you know, Peter Parker’s reaction to Aunt May’s death was so realistic because they killed *Tom Holland’s actual aunt* in front of him right before the take?”

Expensive gas behind ‘nearly 90%’ of rise in UK electricity bills, new analysis from @nesta_uk in @CarbonBrief Contradicts idea, which has become embedded in UK media and political narratives, that UK’s net zero target is to blame for high energy bills www.carbonbrief.org/revealed-ex...

This looks like a really cool service for people who want to hire artists who don't use AI. Check it out! hirehumanartists.com

Exactly 10 years since the Brexit vote, the verdict is in.

#Bristolcon - here's a lot of what I'm about. Not on any AI panel... Sat 10am Blurred Lines Panel Room One 2pm @wtpress.bsky.social (Launch, cake) 4pm Parents In SFF Panel Two Sunday 10 am The Wisdom Of Ages Panel Room Two 1pm Should you write a book? Does publishing it matter? (chat)

'Inadequate planning' Not least due to Jeremy Hunt not taking on board the results of Exercise Cygnus in 2017 and Boris Johnson shutting down the Pandemic Preparedness committee in 2019 to shift resources over to Brexit.

A really excellent discussion of Ali G from @stephenkb.bsky.social. I hadn't thought about it in quite these terms, although I now realise that I should have. www.ft.com/content/fac8...

Book Quote Wednesday "Clear" Top Tips for Loving A Lizard is a bit earthy. Harry is moody about dating and recalls the downside. If only some tall dark handsome guy would sweep him off his feet @wtpress.bsky.social @samarcand.northsky.social #books #reading

there was a point where the BBC might have done this. Or even reported if someone else breaks the story they should have.

There are days I think Top Tips for Loving a Lizard is the best longform thing I have written. I'm not expecting everyone to agree but I really think it is worthy of your time.

And I want it to be clear this should be a matter of consent. I should have a right to veto use of GenAI to alter the text of my book, to forbid my book being fed into any LLM including proprietary, and to veto its use in associated areas--cover, design, translation, audio, and marketing copy.

I have called for the SoA to facilitate whistleblowing from staffers and authors alike, in the absence of voluntary transparency. I would also like publishers to explain why, if they believe GenAI use is either ethical and valuable, they aren't prepared to say how they're using it.