Alex

AI impoverishes us at every step of the process: - data centers pollute our environment - energy use drives up costs - content theft robs creators of income - the actual output is used to displace workers and depress wages - using it harms our mental health and impairs our competence - the flood of AI slop is damaging our sociopolitical landscape All in service of making a worse product - and world - to enrich a handful of already spectacularly wealthy people

While defending the luddite argument in Discord, I stumbled into this IMO succinct explanation for opposing generative AI:

At every step in the process, it impoverishes us.

Currently at:
— only buy tech too old to have AI built in
— painstakingly disable AI every time they add it to something that used to work perfectly well
— if it can't be switched off, abandon the platform or tool
— if there are no good alternatives, avoid the AI parts
— patiently wait for the crash

So, You Want to Leave Bluesky... The most important thing you need to know is:

So, you want to leave Bluesky, but you don't want to lose your community and start all over again.

Great news! You can leave without losing anything. Here's how.

Please share if you find this helpful so people don't lose their shit and go back to twt for no reason 🙏💖

The Ultimate Swords & Sapphics Book Bundle: 19 sci-fi, fantasy, & horror books featuring weapon-wielding sapphics for $22, at tinyurl.com/sandsbundle. Includes the following books: Kiss of Death by Bryony Rosehurst Tide Breaker's Curse by Ivy H. Marikova Stars and Soil by Dax Murray Unchain My Heart by RJ Martin Her Lady of Steel and Fire by Fern V. Bedek Of Serpents and Sorrow by Katherine Shaw Shadows Dark and Deadly by Andrea Marie Johnson Jagged Shard by Dani Finn Valerin the Fair by Rien Gray Dame Ophis by Merlina Garance Soul Flames and Dawn Weaver by Issy Waldrom The Gift of Blood and They Who Brought the Storm by Vaela Denarr & Micah Iannandrea Blood Bounty by Elena Abbott Beyond Bringers by visceralhit Born from Earth by Jake Vanguard My Lord by L.B. Shimaira The Price of Peace by Senka Heksum

CALLING STABBY SAPPHICS!

Add 19 new swords & sapphics-themed books to your TBR this autumn with our Ultimate Book Bundle! 19 books for $22 including:

⚔️ fantasy, romance, mythology, sci-fi, & horror
⚔️ lesbian, bi, & pan women
⚔️ will definitely include sharp objects

itch.io/b/3296/the-u...

YouTube video by And They Weren't Roommates Let's go back to school! School Setting Recommendations!

It's back to school season so we're coming in hot with school setting BL recs!

Tell us your fave school recs in the comments!

#BL #BLRecs #ThaiBL #JBL #KBL #BLseries #LoveForLovesSake

On a blue to green gradient background, green text reads "Preorder Campaign" with the book cover for Dead & Breakfast (Two men stand in the foreground. On the left, a white man with graying hair wearing a suit and tie holds a cup of coffee. On the right, a shorter man with long dark hair, pale skin, and a ruffly cravat holds a goblet of blood with a silky straw. They both have vampire fangs. Behind them is a field of flowers and a large house with a cat perched on a sign that says “welcome. Over the top is the title “DEAD & BREAKFAST” the tagline “come for the vampires stay for the scones” and the byline “Kat Hillis & Rosiee Thor”) beneath. An orange and black bumper sticker says "COEXIST" with occult and paranormal iconography instead of religious symbols, and a die cut sticker says "The Dead & Breakfast" with a stack of pancakes and a stake through the middle. Beneath, text reads "Invite these vampires into your home via Always Here Bookstore before October 22nd to receive a signed copy and swag"

EXCITING NEWS!! Pre-orders for Dead & Breakfast through Always Here Bookstore will be SIGNED BY BOTH OF US!! You'll also get two spooky silly stickers and the joy of supporting an independent queer bookstore!

www.alwaysherebooks.com/product/dead...

YouTube video by And They Weren't Roommates August Media Favorites! Physical Music, Series, Books

August media faves video is up!

We talk physical music, books, BLs, and series!

youtu.be/vaQcdRUJhVE?...

My bday sale is reaching the last stretch! Get my books for 37% off or 7 for 7 bundle on itchio! Last, we have ERRANT WINGS! My contemporary fantasy about a punk growing angel wings and figuring out where he belongs in life.

Find your copy today!
books.earlronove.com/errantwings

The Voice of Wild Places: Queer Historical Fiction Adventure through Brazil in 1930 with queer archaeologists as they search for a lost legend, and themselves.

We have 10 days left, and are 80% funded!

The Voice of Wild Places follows two former childhood friends as they search for a lost explorer, and a legendary city.

🏳️‍⚧️ Trans Man x Cis Man Romance
🔥 Hot makeout sessions, no sex
🧭 Immersive historical facts

www.kickstarter.com/projects/noa...

Plot Twist Café A cozy, independent bookstore + coffee shop coming to Maryville, Missouri.

Want to help an author open an indie bookstore? Check out @bailswrites.bsky.social and her Kickstarter to do just that. We have until August 24th, so let's show a little #IndieAugust love. Please donate where you can and sharing is always free 📢📚

YouTube video by And They Weren't Roommates July Wrap Up

I am very bad at promoting myself, but one of my best friends, indie author J.R. Hart, and I started a YT!

If you're interested in queer media, BLs/GLs, manga, books, and music, check us out!

The first video is a July Media Wrap Up

#bl #gl #queermedia

A graphic for a sale. In the background is a faded out shelf of books. Along the top is confetti raining down. Near the bottom is a line up of book covers, each one by S. Jean. There is Errant Wings, Wherever the Stars Call, The Devil in the Woods, Born of Scourge, The Magician & The Bard, Forevermore, and Hymn of Memory. The text detailing the sale reads: August Birthday Sale! 7 Books for $7 bucks! All AUGUST, find my books in a bundle on itchio for only $7 USD! (or find them 37% off everywhere else to celebrate my 37 revolutions around the sun!) https://itch.io/s/157306/7-dollar-birthday-sale https://sjean.carrd.co/#books Then, there is text along the bottom detailing a short blurb for each book in the sale. It reads: A lost punk with angel wings, space runaways and their vampire, an urban legend that’s real, a fallen star’s journey for revenge, a magician’s and a bard’s adventures, a necromancer’s tragic desire for more, & a young man’s memories eaten away by divinity...

It's AUGUST, which happens to be my birthday month. Why not celebrate with a birthday sale?

My 7 books for 7 bucks bundle is back on itchio (bc my bday is the 7th), but also! My books are 37% off elsewhere & retailers bc that's my revolutions around the sun! Pick up a cool new book!

Links below! 🎈

Boundless is going under, it’ll cease trading by end of day. Archna has emailed Neem Tree Press authors about this but not Unbound ones :/

Authors, a couple staff members are working hard to get reversions, subcontracts, and files to us—if you need them email NOW before the lights go off

A mockup of a Trans Books print catalog with mockups of author entries and QR codes.

#Trans #nonbinary authors! To combat bans, I'm making a print catalog of authors to distribute when I vend. Will also provide the master file when done. Please reply here with the name you'd like in the catalog, a link I can make into a QR code, tags, title feature, short URL. Please repost.

YouTube video by ONE OK ROCK ONE OK ROCK - Change [Official Video from "EYE OF THE STORM" JAPAN TOUR]

Okay, another music rec. ONE OK ROCK has been one of my hyperfixations lately, so I recommend everyone go listen to them.

I saw them live this summer, and it changed my life. They're amazing live.

A song to start is Change

I'll hit you with another indie rec since indies are the love of my life.

Our Bloody Pearl by @dnbryn.bsky.social

Murderous Mermaids, aro and ace rep, pirates, intrigue, found family, disability rep. One of my favourite books of all time. Another one I need to reread soon.

Next is an anime rec! My best friend and I recently watched My Happy Marriage in two sittings.

We were absolutely hooked. Full on yelling at the TV screen and desperate to know what happened next.

YouTube video by BUDDiiS Channel BUDDiiS「ALIEN BOY」Music Video

A music rec! I'll give you all a song by one of my fave jpop groups and one I can relate too 😆

Go check out Alien Boy by BUDDiiS

Another indie rec! Ask Me For Fire by @hallistarling.bsky.social

One of my favourite romances. Soft and cozy. Neighbors to lovers. Hurt/comfort. All the good nature vibes.

One BL rec! Old Fashion Cupcake. Japanese office romance about finding joy and love later in life

One indie rec! Phantom & Rook by @noahhawthorne.bsky.social

Soft and sweet and full of warmth. Highly recommend. I need a reread soon.

This seems fun!

One like = one recommendation (games, music, books, TV, moves, manga, etc.)

I'll do specifics, too, if you comment (if I have an answer)!

This is a (huuuge!) bundle I'm in, and something they've been working on for a couple months now. It features quite a lot of works that got delisted in the Itch debacle, but are still available and this still remains a great way to support queer artists, game devs, writers, and more. Take a look!

A grayscale picture reading "The We Don't Need An Excuse to Celebrate Authors with a Bundle...Bundle". It shows the covers of 12 books: - Tempered in Ash by Willo Glenn - Bloody Spade by Brittany M. Willows - Bleeding Heart by Brittany M. Willows - Family Dinner by W. Payne Sillivan - Silver Blood by T. L. Morgan - Sweet Sorrow by T. L. Morgan - Kotov Syndrome by S. Morgan Burbank - Woodpusher by S. Morgan Burbank - Pane by Bailey Elizabeth - I Know You're Still In There by Bailey Elizabeth - Because You Asked by A. E. Bennett - She Slipped Through the Cracks by W. Payne Sillivan Super impossed on the poster in a knockoff of the GTA 5 "Wasted" font is the words "0% cut for Itch"

The "We Don't Need An Excuse to Celebrate Authors With a Bundle"...bundle will run from August 8-10. We've been putting this together since August and OH BOY THE TIMING.

12 books. $20. 0% cut for Itch unless somethings change.

Support some lovely authors (tagging in reply)

itch.io/b/3190/we-do...

Trope map for Errant Wings by S. Jean, out now as ebook and paperback. The background is a photo of an alley street where a tree with golden autumn leaves covers the sky. In the center is Errant Wings's cover, featuring Asher with his angel wings against a blue sky as he kneels on the corner of a building, spray paint can in hand. Around the cover and pointing toward it are the tropes. They are: gay disaster punk, coming of age set in a fictional 90's, staying true to yourself, graffiti art as catharsis, angel & devil wings, relationships that need mending, punching assholes, and more fire symbolism than you thought you needed. Below the cover is where to order your copy and it is: "books.earlronove.com/errantwings"

Want a book about a punk who grows angel wings he really didn't want and the lengths he'll go to taking back control of his life when everyone thinks they can decide for him?

Then check out Errant Wings! Available in ebook and paperback!
books.earlronove.com/errantwings

Buy the books! Ask your library to buy the books! Review it everywhere! Gift it to your friends! If you can't buy right now, hype it up to all your friends! Scream at the top of your lungs about it! If you read an ARC review it! Post about it!

A promotional banner with the Disability Pride Month logo featuring a grey background and a rainbow stripe of red, yellow, white, blue, and green and the words Authors for Disability Pride.

July is Disability Pride Month, and we didn't want to end the month without celebrating indie authors with disabilities and chronic illnesses.

Here we have FIFTY (!) SFF books for you to choose from and support! There's something for everyone.

www.readindiefantasy.com/celebrating-...

Indie reader/writer friends, I want to make a thread of recs! What has been your FAVORITE indie read of the last few years?

me n my buddies were about to do an EVIL curated bundle a couple days ago, but it took us a few to set this up instead. theres no payment involved now, just promoting EVIL scary sexy games

click the link for a full description and get your hands on all the deleted games

thatsvnclub.neocities.org