A couple of quick items for today.
First, a scam that you might find yourself falling smack into. There are scammers picking up commercially released fiction and pushing it through Chat GPT with instructions to change the details enough to make the book “original”. Then they’re slapping unchanged AI art on the front and putting it up for sale.
The problem is that Chat GPT does not know how to write well (yet?), and untouched AI Art looks like nothing but untouched AI Art. So these books are terrible.
If you find yourself reading a book that sounds a lot like a different one you’ve read in the past, with just a few superficial changes, don’t dismiss the notion as silly. Contact the author of the original book and let them know it’s possible someone has ripped off their book.
Only the author can contact the booksellers and demand a takedown. But by alerting them, you’ll be doing the author and all readers who prefer decently written fiction a huge favour.
There is a Twitter video here (that everyone can watch, Twitter account or not), that goes through the scam.
It is March 23rd, which means this is the last day you can buy the Space is Big story bunle. After today, the bundle will be removed and you will not be able to buy these books at such a discount again.
There are some fabulous authors in the bundle, including Catherine Asaro, Brian Trent and D.M. Pruden.
You can pay whatever price you want for the bundle, too.
Check it out here — it closes tonight at midnight.
Cam