Eggplant.place

24d

@bookstodon #Writing #Publishing #Translators #PSA

Some publishers are delegating translation of your work to GenAI/LLMs, which a) puts humans translators out of work, and b) ensures you'll lose readers, because GenAI/LLM translation is basically Google translate: no context word for word translation.

So you need to contact your publisher about this AND make sure you future contract include a clause demanding human translators for the FULL job--not just "fixing" slop.

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/02/03/how-translation-works-book-title-edition/

Apolline Dsc @apolline.bsky.social:
French publishing house Harlequin decided to use AI translation instead of human translations.
All their freelance translators (some of whom had been working with Harlequien for +30 years) were told they would no longer receive work from Harlequin.
If they want to keep getting work, they can review (meaning rewrite) the AI slop, for one third of their normal rate (which was already low to begin with).
Readers, we have to complain about it, hold the publishers accountable, and boycott these books.

ALT

John Scalzi @scalzi.com (on Bluesky):
Remember how I said I have it written into my foreign language contracts that my work has to be translated by an actual human? This shit is why.
Those book translations are gonna suck. The'll save money putting out books that are going to be painful to read. That's not a great long-term strategy.
(quoting Apolline's Bluesky post about Harlequin switching to GenAI translations)

ALT

John Scalzi @scalzi.com (on Bluesky)
Authors, remember that you CAN insist on human translation of your foreign-language editions and have it written into your contracts. You can no longer just assume you're going to get a human to work on the book whose every word you wrote wit intent.
I wrote a piece about translation earlier in the year, talking about how a good translation isn't, and can't be, just matching words one for one.

ALT

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22d

New on my #blog: "Holiday Post 2025: Books and reading." https://itinerantlibrarian.blogspot.com/2025/12/holiday-post-2025-books-and-reading.html

Third post in my holiday series, and today we at some of those book lists out this time of year.

#books #reading #ItinerantLibrarian #Christmas #holidays #writing #bookstodon 💙📚

@bookstodon

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22d

Looking for some soft, comfy reading to ring out this hard old year? You're sure to find something delightful in my whimsical fantasy story collection. Elves, gargoyles, mischievous young magicians, heroic aunties, brave doggo, and much more.
#fantasy #wizards #monsters #fae #witches #sorcery #elves #heroines #FoundFamily #GoodBooks #reading #writing #AmReading #FediBookfair @bookstodon

Bookshop.org
https://bookshop.org/p/books/relics-from-a-traveling-show-k-m-herkes/0abf2118b4e0a1c2?
Other booksellers:
https://books2read.com/RelicsFromATravelingShow

3D mockups of a paperback and ebook for Relics From a Traveling Show by K. M. Herkes on a green background with dancing gingerbread figures wearing top hats in the foreground and strings of vintage holiday bulbs hanging overhead. The cover of the book shows a figure in a green and blue traveling cloak, shown from the rear, seated at a desk gazing out an arched window at a carnival tent bathed in sunset light. The figure has short brown hair, and they are petting the ears of a dog sitting beside them. The dog's mouth is open in a happy doggy grin. An eldritch lamp decorates the desk, beside a binder labeled "DPS Orientation Guide." At the left stands a tall bookshelf filled with artifacts, books, and knickknacks. A bonsai tree sits on the windowsill, and a pair of sinister glowing eyes lurk in the shadows behind the chair.

ALT

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22d

I’m offline enjoying a social media break, but just in case you missed it, this really resonated with a lot of people. The Colonization of Confidence., Sightless Scribbles https://sightlessscribbles.com/the-colonization-of-confidence/ #AI #AISlop #AIHype #LLM #Blog #Blogging #Writing #Author

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10d

Welcome to WordWeavers 2026! Here are January’s #WordWeavers questions!
Written by @AlinaLeonova & I, you’ll find the month’s questions pinned to our profiles on the 1st. All are welcome to join in.
Participate with a WIP or an already published book.
As always, play the days you want, skip the others. Please use CW as necessary. Looking forward to seeing your answers & meeting new friends.
#amwriting #writing #authors

January 2026 #WordWeavers 1. What are your wildest (writing-related) dreams for this year? 2. How does your MC talk? Describe their voice and speech. 3. What does the way your MC talks reveal about them? 4. Describe an uncomfortable situation a character experiences. 5. Tell us about something funny that happens to a character. 6. If your antagonist played video games, what would be their favorite kind? 7. What's your MC's family like? 8. Antagonist POV: What advice would you give to people 10 years younger than you? 9. Have you invented any words/sayings/swears etc. for your story? 10. SC POV: Describe a perfect setting for you to relax. 11. What does the opening chapter of your story reveal about the world it's set in? 12. Does your MC have a good support system? 13. Where was your latest writing session? How did it go? 14. If your MC lived your antagonist's life, what would they be like? 15. MC POV: What's the most exciting thing that ever happened to you? 16. If your MC had one photograph near where they sleep, what or who would it be? 17. If cost wasn't an issue, what would your ideal setting be for you to write in? 18. Your antagonist gets a call or message from their mother. How do they respond? 19. Who is the most moral character in your story? 20. Do you make use of weather in your story? If so, how? 21. If in the middle of the book your MC discovered a foundling, what would they do with it? Created by @BranwenOShea@writing.exchange &@AlinaLeonova@wandering.shop

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20d

50% off @ #Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1667520

The Hunter seeks peace and quiet to mourn the loss of her best friend in a world that seems bound and determined to make that task impossible. Enemies attack when she’d rather be alone, allies can’t take a hint and the arch-demon Wrath seeks the Hunter’s hand in marriage, even though she’d sooner kill him.

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #actionadventure #fiction #books #EOYSale25 #ebook #sale #books2read #indiebooks

(Left) The cover of She Seeks Peace, by Owen Tyme.

The background is a snow-capped, craggy mountain with green, grassy hills at its base, which feature yellow and blue flowers.

The foreground is dominated by the round symbol for peace, in gold. Along the bottom of it are two olive branches. At the top is a dove in flight. Arranged on the lower three spokes of it are three figures based on the AIGA symbol for a woman. The figure on the right is blue. The one in the middle is a very dark gray, bordering on black, which includes a top hat. The figure on the left is red and has horns, like a demon.

(Right) The background is a view from the interior of a gun's barrel, with the rifling very apparent and the following quote over the top:

Reggie looked down the barrel of one of his own pistols, which the girl held in both hands, because the M1911 was a little large for someone so small.

There was a long, silent moment as the girl giggled and met his gaze. The murderous look was gone, replaced by something more playful, like a cat toying with a mouse.

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/SheSeeksPeace

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17d

Chapter 44 of Stone Prophet is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/108234/jigsaw-city

Nicole flies through the air, thrown free of Olyna's attempt to step on her by the extreme air pressure!

Seeking control, she uses a little known fact: self-image determined shape within any mindscape.

Nicole forces herself to believe she's a dragon and begins to change form...

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #actionadventure #fiction #fairies #webseries

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19d

Free @ #Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1462617

Having an abusive assassin for a sister was bad enough, but when Lyra’s older sister, Nicole, becomes obsessed with killing the teenage troll, her life becomes a special kind of nightmare. Will she escape, or become just another victim of the unstoppable woman?

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books #EOYSale25 #ebook #sale #books2read #indiebooks

(Left) The cover of Troll Song, by Owen Tyme, Illustrated by Ryan Johnson.

There's a woman in mud spattered white, leather armor crossing a pair of short swords against the neck of a terrified, shirtless dwarf.

The woman has white hair and a darker skin tone on the left side of her face. Her left eye is green and her right eye is blue.

The dwarf's hair and beard are blond.

The background is a green forest, with some flowers among the tall grass.

(Right) The background is a snow-covered forest, with a pair of dark silhouettes in it, one small and the other large, like a giant. The smaller silhouette is of a young woman walking away and the interior is filled with musical symbols, in green, white and two shades of blue. The larger silhouette is a woman wielding two swords and the interior is full of blood spatter. The larger one appears to be chasing the smaller one.

The following text is laid over the scene:

“I can’t die until Lyra takes her last breath! She’ll regret betraying her sisters!”

“There’s no price I won’t pay to see that happen, no pain I won’t endure and I’d sacrifice the whole world to seal her fate!”

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/TrollSong

ALT

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19d

Fedi hive mind, I'm writing a story. The MC investigates a Luo folk song (re: oral history, Uganda/South Sudan) that has clues saying 500 yrs ago an astronomer from China visited and documented Luo space travel technologies (portals to the stars). This knowledge is now lost and my MC has to unravel the clues, but what clues could point to China without usung racist stereotypes? Perhaps a word, a name, a description, something?

Context in the next toot.
#writing #writingcommunity #sff

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19d

Hello 👋

I'm giving Mastodon another go after quietly despairing about the awfulness of normie social media.

I'm a late diagnosed autistic humanoid, living in tranquil rural sometimes- bliss with my wife and dog, in Cornwall, UK.

I'm a freelance copywriter, voracious reader and aspiring writer of crime fiction, history geek & nature lover.

It would be good to connect with nice folks whoever and wherever you may be.

#Introductions

#actuallyautistic
#books
#writing
#crimefiction
#history

Edited 19d ago

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23d

Hello, I’m new to Mastodon. Here is a little bit of information about me.

#Photography #Canon R5 Mk2
 #fiction/#nonfiction #books
# fountainpens
# tea+#chocolate
# history 
#Writing #poetry/short fiction

Edited 23d ago

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17d

50% off @ #Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1559436

Spies, aliens, trolls, wizards and a disowned prince use a time machine, but Levi Jacobs stands in their way, despite having just lost his parents in war. Will he stop them or will they kill his father at a pivotal moment, on which the fate of the galaxy hangs?

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books #EOYSale25 #ebook #sale #books2read #indiebooks

(Left) The cover of The Third Wish, by Owen Tyme, illustrated by Ryan Johnson.

A wizard in a black robe that glitters with hints of gold stands on a mountain and looks down at a city of sky scrapers covered in greenery. In his shadow lurks a creature with glowing red eyes.

In the background, the sun is setting and stars are becoming visible.

(Right Background) Four images separated by black lines, with the silhouette of a woman wielding two swords laid over them. She's outlined in black and her interior is yellow clock-based imagery that spirals outward from the center.

The upper left quarter is a queen in a red, furred robe, wearing a gold and diamond crown. She has dark eyebrows and blond hair.

Upper right is a planet seen from orbit.

Lower left is a symbolic wire frame representation of the view inside a wormhole, in green and yellow.

Lower right is dandelions among grass.

The angle of the planet, one of the woman's swords, the yellow highlights of the wormhole and some of the dandelions form a line that draws the eye along a sweeping curve.

(Right Foreground) The following quote:

He admired the flawless beauty of the insane swordswoman’s fluid movements as Ida took desperate step after step, backwards!

He felt waves of mental energy pour off the panic-stricken troll, but the energy bounced right off of Nicole’s mind, as though she’d shut herself inside a solid, red-hot, steel box of rage!

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/TheThirdWish

ALT

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1y

New article: Dependence - Confession 95

https://reader.tymoon.eu/article/438

#creativetoots #writing

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358d

#Society always tries to convince you that you need a solid reason to do something. It has to be worth your #time, whatever that means, and I always found that idea confusing.

For starters I never chose to have all this time. It was given to me randomly one day and I appeared here with a bunch of it, that everyone always wants.

What's worth my time is for me to decide, society just wants me to think differently so they can have a piece cuz it's valuable.

#philosophy #writing #lifelessons

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14d

50% off @ #Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1657116

After experiencing the death of his wife and child, destruction of his home world, an addiction forced on him by the one responsible and a third of the galaxy falling under the heel of that tyrant, Levi Jacobs, a wizard, seeks to unravel the secrets of time and fate.

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books #EOYSale25 #ebook #sale #books2read #indiebooks

(Left) The cover of The Inverted Glass, by Owen Tyme.

The Background is a pink and purple nebula in space.

The foreground is largely line art, in white, with a black shadow outline.

At the center is an hourglass. The bottom has black sand, with a white figure standing in it. The top has is an inverted mirror image of the bottom, with a black figure in white sand.

The hourglass serves as the balance point for a set of scales, which hold a heart and a feather. The heart is on the left and the feather on the right. The heart is lower than the feather.

(Right) Lying in blue sand is a heart made of the same sand, full of cracks. It glows from the inside in a warm, yellow color. Over that is the following quote:

Nicole felt an extreme kind of loss, realizing she’d been stolen away from the afterlife, just before finding out if she deserved punishment or not!

“How dare you do this to me? Why?”

“I’m always in need of strong spirits and I’ve seen none stronger. You have unique talents I refuse to see go to waste.”

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/TheInvertedGlass

ALT

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16d

50% off @ #Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1604529

On a world long thought to have no moon, its sudden appearance inspires wonder and terror. Hasty research links it to catastrophe and the so-called ‘Harbingers of Doom’, creatures that harvest souls. Can everyone survive or will they become part of the dark harvest?

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books #EOYSale25 #ebook #sale #books2read #indiebooks

(Left) The cover of dark moon, by Owen Tyme, illustrated by Ryan Johnson.

In the foreground, a redheaded witch and a dark haired wizard fight back to back, holding some rather large pistols. The witch is in a black dress and the wizard is in a black robe with golden decorations. Both looked a bit purple, due to the lighting. The witch's hair blows on the wind and she wears a necklace of bone beads.

Behind them, there's dust, mist and fog lit by twilight as a moon rises, framing their heads. Objects that look like shooting stars fall from the moon and there's a few visible impacts.

(Right) A white moon, on a background of the stars of space, with the following quote over the top of it:

“Idiot! You’ve likely killed us both, leaving us stuck out in the open like this.”

“We’ve got incoming. I know you’re angry and I suppose you’ve got every right to be, but we need to defend ourselves.”

“ ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend’, for now, and then we decide what to do about the conflict between us.”

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/TymeDarkMoon

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1y

I started a new project titled 'Starwitch'.

It's about three sisters that launched themselves into space with magic. The novel has been named for the ship itself. The setting will be primarily fantasy, though with some minor scientific elements, mostly in the form of mathematics and orbital dynamics.

I intend to publish as an episodic web series, then as a novel, so keep an eye out for details.

https://owentyme.us/books/starwitch/index.html

#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #actionadventure #fiction #wip

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2d

Ebook and paperback: https://books2read.com/WrathOfTheSky

Zechariah Jacobs has angered a vast empire that spans a third of the galaxy, which is far too much for his planet to stand against, but in a clash of wizards and magic versus technology, it’s hard to say which will win.

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books

(Left) The cover of Wrath of the Sky, by Owen Tyme.

On a black background, a planet much like earth burns, set aflame. The flames are on the top and sides, but haven't yet reached the bottom.

(Right) An ogre stands on a rocky cliffside path, clearly quite upset, with both his head and arms raised as he cries out! The background is blue sky with white clouds. The following quote is laid over the top of the scene:

Winzon grinned evilly. With great slowness and ceremony, he undid the draw-string of his sack and up-ended it, dropping an ogre skull at the brute’s feet!

The massive ogre’s entire demeanor changed in an instant! He backed away, carefully stepping out of reach of Winzon’s ax, even though it was still strapped to his back!

The brute whispered, “Ogre-slayer!”

(Bottom) https://books2read.com/WrathOfTheSky

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15d

Chapter 45 of Stone Prophet is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/108234/jigsaw-city

Kazic enters a looping miniature universe that resembles Relativity, by M. C. Escher.

He soon hears running footsteps and spots a terrified Ulkun looking back over their shoulder.

He works out how he might intercept them and they soon come face to face...

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #actionadventure #fiction #fairies #webseries

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1y

My first fictional story. There are no physical descriptions or names so as to allow our minds to fill in those details based on our own experiences from our own cultural, racial, and religious backgrounds. What image did your mind create of the couple? Did certain people come to mind?

#shortstories #writing #author

https://philpetree.com/slinging-mud

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1y

Cosmic horror but make it funny

In my latest post, I reflect on the kinds of stories I most like to read, and maybe should write as I seem to be running out of them. 

https://rinsemiddlebliss.com/posts/2024-10-25-cosmic-horror-but-make-it-funny/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

#NaNoWriMo #CosmicHorror #PlanetaryRomance #writing

Photo of the exposed insides a decaying building with peeling paint. On the left side of the frame, the peeling cement looks kind of like a monster and someone drew eyes and a smile on it.

ALT

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1y

Update on my situation, mutual aid post

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16d

chimney-soaked sunset
mirth struggles for a foothold
these slippery hopes

#DailyHaikuPrompt #vss365 #haiku #senryu #poetry #writing #poem

View over a hedge line across a plowed field, the sky in fading blue, sunset light orange at the horizon where a single tree is silouetted under the setting sun. Rays shoot out from 4 different points on the sun, the longest of the rays reaching back over the hedge line to the foreground.

ALT

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13d

50% off omnibus @ #Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1733647

Levi always dreamed of being like his father, a great wizard, but had no understanding what it would be like. Follow Levi's journey from bumbling teen to great hero, while the young wizard learns to master magical powers that are barely under control.

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #sciencefantasy #scifi #actionadventure #fiction #books #EOYSale25 #ebook #sale #books2read #indiebooks

The ad flyer for the series The Wizard's Scion.

(Background) View of a planet from space.

(Top Center) A black flying saucer surrounded by this text:
Trolls, boogeymen and witches, oh my!
Just another day for a young wizard.

(Top Left) The cover of Troll Song displays a woman in battered, muddy armor with her two swords crossed against the neck of a dwarf.

(Lower Left) The cover of Forgotten Legends displays a child reading in bed as a black, smoky monster with red eyes peeks out from under the bed.

(Lower Center Left) The cover of The Third Wish displays a wizard on top of a mountain, looking to the sunset, over a city of sky scrapers that have plants growing on them. In his shadow is the red eyed creature from Forgotten Legends.

(Lower Center Right) The cover of Dark Moon displays a witch and wizard fighting back to back, holding pistols, while objects fall around them, with the moon behind their heads.

(Lower Right) The cover of The Inverted Glass displays a line art hourglass with a white figure in black sand at the bottom, with a black figure in white sand upside-down in the top. Balanced on a scale are a heart and a feather.

(Upper Right) The cover of The Wizard's Scion: The Complete Series displays several figures in silhouette representing the main characters, as they traverse a wormhole. Behind them is a red-eyed octopus.

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1d

Chapter 51 of Stone Prophet is available to read on #RoyalRoad: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/108234/jigsaw-city

While Nicole, Cha'da and The Seventh Sage work to defuse the explosive spell, the rest of Nicole's team search the blasted landscape for the painted witch...

@bookstodon
#author #indieauthor #writing #fantasy #scifi #sciencefiction #sff #actionadventure #fiction #fairies #webseries

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