Seth W James

Yes and also you cannot "generate" a book: you can write a book, as a human being, or you can steal a book, using so-called AI, which is nothing more than a glorified Xerox machine.

Ah, Sundays on bsky, where all is calm for a few brief hours and all there is to do is drink coffee and read about all the indie books out there to read.

#booksky #indieauthor 💙📚

Makes sense: punk has a long history of kicking the shit out of nazis.

I've heard those, too, and they're valid, but a simple cross-out/replace wouldn't be open to too much abuse. Not like replacing an entire post or anything. But to have my typos preserved for all eternity?!?!?! The horror.

If only they'd give us an edit button . . .

Oh, certain things need to be left to the readers' imaginations. Reading is an artistic act and if the author over-describes, the readers' artistic input to the experience can be diminished. Outside of elements such as Cain's size and strength, which can impact plot, the rest is up to readers.

Well, with F having left her old life under such infamous circumstances (spoilers), she has to adjust to a seemingly selfish and pointless existence, at first, and C has to show her there are other options, though he is also plagued by dissatisfaction with a return to a life he doesn't control.

I gotchya. I hope to have 5 out by late spring, early summer. The story follows up on the aftermath of book 4, with Cain and Francesca returning to the life of taking scores; it's a character plot about never returning home and forging a new way forward. Lots of action, though, and timely topics.

Book 2? Book 2 is "A Desperate Measure," which published in 2024. Do you mean book 5? It's finished and in editing now. I should be able to announce a pub date in a couple months (fingers crossed).

Thanks, A.C.! They are indeed. Layered storytelling always hits harder.

While editing book 5 in The Cain Series (which I'll announce in a couple months), I have also begun work on cycle 2 in the series, which will encompass books 6-8, continuing Cain and Francesca's story. We're underway, baby. Might just do 2 in 26, too.

#cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky #indieauthor 💙📚

That's the Tolkien Tango: come to a name, flip back to the pronunciation guide, learn how it's said, flip back, continue for a paragraph; repeat.

Every few years, I'll do just that: start with The Silmarillion and then read LotR. Sil is a tough place to start, though, for readers new to Tolkien; not for the faint of heart; written in a mode infrequently employed these days. But it's so worth it. RotK is perfect reading, these days, too.

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Lyric Video)

I finally listened to "Streets of Minneapolis" last night and, wow, Bruce really brought it. Classic Springsteen sound, frank, honest, and unflinching lyrics, an historical document of these times, it needs to be listened to and watched by every American. No kings.

youtu.be/GDaPdpwA4Iw?...

With all that's going on in the world—fascism raging out of control (again), billionaires planning the culling of humankind, and fake AI plagiarizing and slopping us into a depression—it's hard to plug books, even relevant ones, without feeling cheap.

#cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky #indieauthor 💙📚

a man with his mouth open and the words " it 's beautiful " behind him ALT: a man with his mouth open and the words " it 's beautiful " behind him

Man, we need to find the warehouse where they're keeping this bad boy and ship it the hell out to Minnesota.

No worries. Thanks for taking the time. Hopefully it'll come as a pleasant surprise that there are more Cain novels to come 🙂

Thanks so much, Gina, for the great review! I'm glad you enjoyed the book.

Fat stacks of notecards, which went into the writing of the, as of yet, unannounced 5th book in The Cain Series, coming spring 2026.

To my fellow mad-dog notecarders: the fat stacks of hand-hewn imagination upon which the forthcoming book 5 of The Cain Series was built.

Suck it, AI, you're nothing but a glorified copy machine.

Handcrafted cyberpunk: written by a human for humans.

#cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky #indieauthor 💙📚

Thanks!

The numbers demand it!

Thanks! Oh, I just googled it 😄. Let's see, 10 represents leadership, purpose, innovation, and drive to complete goals. That's a good one!

Well, today I hit the big 5-O. 50 years old, writing part 5 of book 5, of The Cain Series, which is my 15th novel. Lot of 5s in there, so I looked it up: 5 represents freedom, change, adventure, and communication. Just what a novelist needs (probably, we all could, these days).
💙📚 #indieauthor

Wow, the AI-shit-machine is surpassing its sloppiness this week. It's fucking Tuesday and I've already had scam emails with "[Seth]" and "[author name]" in them. Even the AIs can't take themselves seriously.

#cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky 💙📚
#writingcommunity #indieauthor

Love the phrase, "LLMs are copying machines." Succinct, accurate, and honest.

With so much going on today in fascist America, something like the controversy around Nebulas seems a little trite, but I had a few thoughts and wanted to get them out in a post.

@sfwa.org

#scifibooks #booksky 💙📚 #indieauthor
www.sethwjames.com/nebula-react...

Our inescapable advantage over the fascists: they're always so damn incompetent. Just like their allies, the techbros, passing around that AI joint, getting high, predicting tech-feudalism—but they've never made a cent. The crater, for both of them, is going to be DEEP.

Maybe it'll be today.

2/2 The first link explains my use of the episodic form, which may from other novels you've read: www.sethwjames.com/stories-with...

For those of you new to cyberpunk, this link will help define cyberpunk as a literary subgenre: www.sethwjames.com/what-is-cybe...

#cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky 💙📚

1/2 For those who received The Cain Series novels over the holiday—and given how unusually good sales were, I'm guessing our unfortunate cyberpunk reality may have played a part—I thought I'd recirculate a couple links. (Which will go into a 2nd post, b/c wordcount)💙📚
#cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky