Me, trying to be normal:

Another great book out today! If you need a cozy escape, this book is PERFECT.

This is such a strong collection, too. Read and be awed.

It sucks that if a fellow author reaches out to you, you have to suspect it’s an AI impersonation scam. But that’s where we are these days. Another reason to hate AI ( and scammers)

Hey all I know I’m extremely bitchy about “don’t email me unless you want to give me money” but this you can email me about please

A few years ago someone impersonating my business claimed I was raising funds when I was not and thankfully a follower was like “is this you” 💜

The new identity theives don't want your bank account; they want your name and reputation. Always ask via other means if it's too good that a person contacted you!

Capricorn: Today you should have with you a fire extinguisher, a five foot length of surgical tubing, three monkeys, a condom, and Mel Tormé's 1955 jazz album IT'S A BLUE WORLD. Trust me on this.

Happy National Library Week! This week you should:
1) Donate $ to your local Friends of the Library

2) Write to your public library director to thank them for standing up for diversity or to condemn them for caving to fascists

3) Plan a similar public comment for the next library board mtg

The author scam emails are continuing to evolve.

Over the weekend I received one impersonating an employee of a local NPR station. They'd gotten many details right, including the station name and a program they ran... but the employee name was slightly misspelled.

Anyway, be careful y'all.

Seriously!

Sorry/not sorry for adding to the deluge! I've had this on my calendar for ages. Seems I wasn't the only one, which is kinda cool!

Do I have any New York Public Library followers who are librarians in the system?

Great advice. That was wonderful that you reached out to the agency, too. It's good that they know--too bad they didn't respond with a quick "thanks," so I'll do it on their behalf!

Another eg of something I shared recently after alerting a different author's literary agency (no other way to contact the author; have yet to receive a reply).
I recommend that every author set up their own webpage with a "contact me" button. Anyone suspecting an impersonation can get in touch.
1/

Aw, congrats! I hope we get to see each other again in person. It has been way too long.

RAGE

Aww. I’ve seen very little SCTV, so I never had that cognitive dissonance. He is forever Egon to me.

Repost with your first crush (if you had one). In approximately this order, I think...

Ha! Yeah, there's no time to read extra stuff at all. My poor TBR pile overflows my shelf and that can't even include my ebooks...

Another scam to be aware of. What a time to be alive.

Shared with permission of the person who contacted me. I am so very grateful they listened to their instincts and reached out.

I get lots of the AI book club scam emails myself, but to the best of my knowledge, the sender names were made up. This may be a new, sordid twist.

A contact form reads: Subject: Checking Authenticity Body of message Hi there Beth. I have been contacted by someone who is using the email, [email blacked out], and using you name and one of your novels 'Feast of the Starving Stone: The Chef’s Five' to engage with me as a fellow author - if it is you then great, if it is not, as i suspect, then this is a fake approach. I just wanted to be sure. thanks. [signed name blacked out] You're a real person, right? No, I'm a bot. Please don't include existential questions in a contact form. Yes.

I just found out that an AI scammer is impersonating me in their spam campaign. I am LIVID.

Please, please share this post. Warn people. I’m horrified that someone might be ripped off in my name.

No one is safe from being impersonated like this.

I didn't previously know of Najwan Darwish's "Who Remembers the Armenians?" so here it is for anyone who was similarly unaware

“In order for me to write poetry that isn’t political,

I must listen to the birds.

And in order to hear the birds,

the warplanes must be silent”

- Marwan Makhoul

Google Starts Scanning All Your Photos As New Update Goes Live Google wants its AI to see all the photos of "you and your loved ones." Billions of users must now decide.

“Take a moment to think before you dive in. That’s the best advice for Google Photos users, as the company confirms its latest update can scan all your photos to “use actual images of you and your loved ones” in AI image generation.”

www.forbes.com/sites/zakdof...

Please don't use speaker phone while in library. Ask for headphones at the front desk.

Only a fallen society needs this sign

I AM VERY FRIENDLY AND PLEASANT DO YOU WANT TO ENTER MY HUT ON CHICKEN LEGS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WOODS.

Sure, I'll bring cookies.

Don't bring a knife to a gunfight. Bring a knife to a vault containing many wheels of cheese in a brutalized postapocalyptic society where knives are only a legend. You are now Knifebringer, Divider of the Cheese. Raise your knife and rule the clans.

Monday morning mood.