James Tobin
@jamestobinauthor.bsky.social
Fiction writer, at least while our machine overlords allow. Longlisted for CWA debut dagger and shortlisted for Goldfinch novel award.
Reposted by James Tobin
Right then. It's mid-November and if you're thinking about #Christmas shopping, now's the time. All my products are designed here in Manchester and made in the UK.
Shop's open gailmyerscough.co.uk
Shop's open gailmyerscough.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Right then. It's mid-November and if you're thinking about #Christmas shopping, now's the time. All my products are designed here in Manchester and made in the UK.
Shop's open gailmyerscough.co.uk
Shop's open gailmyerscough.co.uk
Reposted by James Tobin
1°C of global warming does NOT mean that heatwaves 'just' get hotter by 1°C.
Over large parts of the UK, global warming means that heatwaves are 3-4°C warmer, with worse consequences for people and ecosystems.
Over large parts of the UK, global warming means that heatwaves are 3-4°C warmer, with worse consequences for people and ecosystems.
July 2, 2025 at 8:32 AM
1°C of global warming does NOT mean that heatwaves 'just' get hotter by 1°C.
Over large parts of the UK, global warming means that heatwaves are 3-4°C warmer, with worse consequences for people and ecosystems.
Over large parts of the UK, global warming means that heatwaves are 3-4°C warmer, with worse consequences for people and ecosystems.
Reposted by James Tobin
If you use AI to create your art, your story, your whatever, I immediately know you don’t care about making things — you only care about selling them.
June 26, 2025 at 4:49 PM
If you use AI to create your art, your story, your whatever, I immediately know you don’t care about making things — you only care about selling them.
Reposted by James Tobin
A thread on our response to AI 🧵
✅ We will never knowingly prioritize, publicize, nor market AI-narrated/generated audiobooks.
✅ Recommendations on Libro are from real, live booksellers and our team, not algorithms.
✅ Our customer support team is made of real people, not bots.
✅ We will never knowingly prioritize, publicize, nor market AI-narrated/generated audiobooks.
✅ Recommendations on Libro are from real, live booksellers and our team, not algorithms.
✅ Our customer support team is made of real people, not bots.
June 4, 2025 at 5:49 PM
A thread on our response to AI 🧵
✅ We will never knowingly prioritize, publicize, nor market AI-narrated/generated audiobooks.
✅ Recommendations on Libro are from real, live booksellers and our team, not algorithms.
✅ Our customer support team is made of real people, not bots.
✅ We will never knowingly prioritize, publicize, nor market AI-narrated/generated audiobooks.
✅ Recommendations on Libro are from real, live booksellers and our team, not algorithms.
✅ Our customer support team is made of real people, not bots.
Really interesting article. Captures a lot of my thoughts perfectly. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
‘Nobody wants a robot to read them a story!’ The creatives and academics rejecting AI – at work and at home
Is artificial intelligence coming for everyone’s jobs? Not if this lot have anything to do with it
www.theguardian.com
June 3, 2025 at 5:23 AM
Really interesting article. Captures a lot of my thoughts perfectly. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Reposted by James Tobin
Well this is a bit depressing.
It’s getting harder and harder to make a living and it worries me.
Please have a look and repost.
www.gailmyerscough.co.uk
It’s getting harder and harder to make a living and it worries me.
Please have a look and repost.
www.gailmyerscough.co.uk
May 22, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Well this is a bit depressing.
It’s getting harder and harder to make a living and it worries me.
Please have a look and repost.
www.gailmyerscough.co.uk
It’s getting harder and harder to make a living and it worries me.
Please have a look and repost.
www.gailmyerscough.co.uk
Definitely not by doing a victory lap around a ping pong table after an all-you-can-drink holiday brunch. Nope. Turns out you can find crutches in a beach resort if you look hard enough.
What's the stupidest way you've hurt yourself?
Oh I'm so glad you asked! I knocked myself out with a frozen bag of omelettes.
Oh I'm so glad you asked! I knocked myself out with a frozen bag of omelettes.
May 20, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Definitely not by doing a victory lap around a ping pong table after an all-you-can-drink holiday brunch. Nope. Turns out you can find crutches in a beach resort if you look hard enough.
I am going to incorporate the potato test into all my future online interactions. Say potato dammit!
this is such an interesting time to be alive. we concreted the internet as our second equal and primary reality but it's full of ghosts now
we try to talk to them and they pass right through
it's a haunted world of dead things who look real but don't really see us
we try to talk to them and they pass right through
it's a haunted world of dead things who look real but don't really see us
May 20, 2025 at 10:24 AM
I am going to incorporate the potato test into all my future online interactions. Say potato dammit!
Day 4 of great quotes because its more interesting than posting what my kids had for breakfast (toast and jam x2).
'Books are a uniquely portable magic.' Simple as that.' Stephen King
'Books are a uniquely portable magic.' Simple as that.' Stephen King
May 18, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Day 4 of great quotes because its more interesting than posting what my kids had for breakfast (toast and jam x2).
'Books are a uniquely portable magic.' Simple as that.' Stephen King
'Books are a uniquely portable magic.' Simple as that.' Stephen King
Day 3 of great quotes because its more interesting than telling the world what my kids had for breakfast (yoghurt and granola). (Side note: discovered I cant spell yoghurt without a run up.)
'All is fair in love, war, and tax evasion.' Tom Sharpe
'All is fair in love, war, and tax evasion.' Tom Sharpe
May 16, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Day 3 of great quotes because its more interesting than telling the world what my kids had for breakfast (yoghurt and granola). (Side note: discovered I cant spell yoghurt without a run up.)
'All is fair in love, war, and tax evasion.' Tom Sharpe
'All is fair in love, war, and tax evasion.' Tom Sharpe
Replace polar bear with wasp and saucepan with upside down glass, and same, same www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Experience: I fought off a polar bear with a saucepan
I pulled back the tent flap and there it was, an arm’s length away. So I reached for the closest weapon to hand – my mother’s old porridge-encrusted pot
www.theguardian.com
May 16, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Replace polar bear with wasp and saucepan with upside down glass, and same, same www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
👏
Portugal is taking online disinformation and fake news seriously. As part of a broader attempt to encourage media literacy, it’s offering 15-18 year olds a free digital subscription to a range of respected newspapers and magazines as well as online upstarts that don’t spread lies. (Monocle)
May 15, 2025 at 3:31 PM
👏
Discussing the use of AI at work:
Me: Ha, yeah imagine if i used AI to respond to emails.
Colleague: James, LLMs sound upbeat and chatty, not snarky and irritated. Bit of a giveaway.
I'm choosing to be flattered. I think.
Me: Ha, yeah imagine if i used AI to respond to emails.
Colleague: James, LLMs sound upbeat and chatty, not snarky and irritated. Bit of a giveaway.
I'm choosing to be flattered. I think.
May 15, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Discussing the use of AI at work:
Me: Ha, yeah imagine if i used AI to respond to emails.
Colleague: James, LLMs sound upbeat and chatty, not snarky and irritated. Bit of a giveaway.
I'm choosing to be flattered. I think.
Me: Ha, yeah imagine if i used AI to respond to emails.
Colleague: James, LLMs sound upbeat and chatty, not snarky and irritated. Bit of a giveaway.
I'm choosing to be flattered. I think.
Day 2 of posting quotes i love because its more interesting than telling the world what my kids had for breakfast (cereal, one with no milk. Dry as dust 🤷).
'The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they’ve found it.' Terry Pratchett
'The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they’ve found it.' Terry Pratchett
May 15, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Day 2 of posting quotes i love because its more interesting than telling the world what my kids had for breakfast (cereal, one with no milk. Dry as dust 🤷).
'The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they’ve found it.' Terry Pratchett
'The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they’ve found it.' Terry Pratchett
And teaches you things about yourself you didnt know, in my experience. That you hate gardening, for example.
I go to the gym 3/4 times a week, I consider myself to be in quite good shape. Recently moved to a house with a garden for the first time. Gardening makes you use muscles you did not realise you had.
May 14, 2025 at 8:38 AM
And teaches you things about yourself you didnt know, in my experience. That you hate gardening, for example.
Reposted by James Tobin
We need a hand #Booksky – do please buy a book from us today!
Dear everyone!
Do please lend a hand and share our offer – times are extremely tough and we desperately need to raise some cash to keep things moving.
Simply use TheBigSaltSale in our checkout or click on the link below—
www.saltpublishing.com/discount/The...
Happy reading!
Do please lend a hand and share our offer – times are extremely tough and we desperately need to raise some cash to keep things moving.
Simply use TheBigSaltSale in our checkout or click on the link below—
www.saltpublishing.com/discount/The...
Happy reading!
May 13, 2025 at 5:52 PM
We need a hand #Booksky – do please buy a book from us today!
Day 1 of posting quotes that i love because it seems more interesting than telling the world what my kids had for breakfast (crumpets with honey).
'A learning experience is one of those things that says, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.'
Douglas Adams
'A learning experience is one of those things that says, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.'
Douglas Adams
May 14, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Day 1 of posting quotes that i love because it seems more interesting than telling the world what my kids had for breakfast (crumpets with honey).
'A learning experience is one of those things that says, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.'
Douglas Adams
'A learning experience is one of those things that says, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.'
Douglas Adams
Seems like a good day to repost this, appropos of nothing, certainly not any AI audiobook nonsense. libro.fm/story
Our story
Libro.fm is the first audiobook company to directly support local bookstores.
libro.fm
May 13, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Seems like a good day to repost this, appropos of nothing, certainly not any AI audiobook nonsense. libro.fm/story
Reposted by James Tobin
Nice one whoever when to the trouble of cropping my signature off this one
Prints here: jimll.co.uk/products/mil...
Prints here: jimll.co.uk/products/mil...
April 15, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Nice one whoever when to the trouble of cropping my signature off this one
Prints here: jimll.co.uk/products/mil...
Prints here: jimll.co.uk/products/mil...
Reposted by James Tobin
Oops how clumsy of me to drop this here of all places.
April 8, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Oops how clumsy of me to drop this here of all places.
Reposted by James Tobin
My books (and many of my stories) have all been fed to Meta's (& other) genAI without consent or compensation to feed tech's anti-art crusade, so I'd appreciate if a few more humans bought/read my books. ICYMI, I've a mythic realist novella out about extradimensional refugees living in Calcutta:
The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar eBook
Subterranean Press creates readable art, publishing limited editions and groundbreaking original works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
subterraneanpress.com
March 22, 2025 at 2:57 PM
My books (and many of my stories) have all been fed to Meta's (& other) genAI without consent or compensation to feed tech's anti-art crusade, so I'd appreciate if a few more humans bought/read my books. ICYMI, I've a mythic realist novella out about extradimensional refugees living in Calcutta:
Reposted by James Tobin
Copyright law is clear. If you want to use a creator's original, copyright work for any purpose, you need to get their permission and agree payment.
Copyright law does not need revising. It needs enforcing.
#DoTheWriteThing
Copyright law does not need revising. It needs enforcing.
#DoTheWriteThing
April 3, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Copyright law is clear. If you want to use a creator's original, copyright work for any purpose, you need to get their permission and agree payment.
Copyright law does not need revising. It needs enforcing.
#DoTheWriteThing
Copyright law does not need revising. It needs enforcing.
#DoTheWriteThing
Reposted by James Tobin
Today UK authors are protesting against Meta for stealing our work to train their AI model. Authors earn an average of £7000 per year, we are not rich, and yet a trillion dollar company decided it didn’t want to license our work fairly as it was “too expensive”
Theft is not a valid alternative.
Theft is not a valid alternative.
April 3, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Today UK authors are protesting against Meta for stealing our work to train their AI model. Authors earn an average of £7000 per year, we are not rich, and yet a trillion dollar company decided it didn’t want to license our work fairly as it was “too expensive”
Theft is not a valid alternative.
Theft is not a valid alternative.
Reposted by James Tobin
I’ll be asking META to #DoTheWriteThing on Thursday 3 April ✍️ To help spread the word and protect writers of every kind, please join us in flooding social media with this important message! @societyofauthors.bsky.social
April 3, 2025 at 6:07 AM
I’ll be asking META to #DoTheWriteThing on Thursday 3 April ✍️ To help spread the word and protect writers of every kind, please join us in flooding social media with this important message! @societyofauthors.bsky.social
My three year old son had a play date at our house today. Good to get an idea of what total societal collapse will look like when it arrives
February 9, 2025 at 1:34 PM
My three year old son had a play date at our house today. Good to get an idea of what total societal collapse will look like when it arrives