Russel D McLean/R.D. McLean

I am stuck in the laugh/cry dilemma here...

Screenshot of a word count from Scrivener for a project called THE GEAR shows it is at 20,688 words

Working on the next-next book, & its going slowly but now I'm at the stage where I know I can bring it to the end... Once you get over 20k, you tend to know if the project has legs (even when you've already done a plan, it's in the writing where you discover if the premise lives up to it's promise)

Its that bit of March where I keep checking the @alcs.co.uk in the hope that statements might drop early... They do brilliant work, and if you're a UK author and not a member, you need to remedy that ASAP... (when the members area is open again, of course!)

The cover of THE EXES by Leodora Darlington. A yellow backround and several smashed sweets that were in the shape of hearts.

THE EXES, the debut from the awesome @leodora.bsky.social (disclosure: I worked with her at a publisher for a bit)is SUPERB -- darkly witty, twisty as all get out (I thought I had it figured then she pulled the rug from under me!) and a superb take on the dark side of relationships. Go. Buy. Read.

Maybe I just have a big ego (no maybe about it), but when I’m in various writing applications and am inundated with buttons that beg to let some uninvited AI parasite to “Write” “Revise” “Polish,” my only thought is: You wish you could do this as well as I do.

A picture of the contents of the 4K edition of Patrick from Indicator DVD -- the sleeve with an illustration of a man in a hospital bed with wide staring eyes; the booklet, with a cover image of a young man with staring eyes hooked up to hospital machinery and the blu ray sleeve itself, showing the same image as the sleeve but with the credits for the film written over it.

Last night's watch was PATRICK (1978, dir. Richard Franklin) in beautiful 4k from @indicator.bsky.social -- a terrifyingly tight tale of a nurse charged with looking after a young man in a coma... but is he as functionally dead as he appears? An overlooked & surprisingly effective little chiller.

If they like that one, I think Miles in the Sky might work too (that's been on my turntable a lot lately)? (famous last words from me, of course!)

Only just discovered this one a few weeks back -- but bloody hell, is it a good 'un! (Only started exploring later Miles in the last year or so and while the 80s stuff so far doesn't work for me, loving this particular period a lot)

I always found them quite pushy (used to send me a lot of spam about joining them etc in the early days) and their claims felt so incredibly hyperbolic. Always rang my alarm bells and now I feel kind of justified.

A big, big, human-authored no. It feels like a half-measure especially given what we know about how AI uses authors' and artists' works for its "training".

I always resisted gramarly even in the early days when people claimed it was useful etc but this is a prime example of the kind of shite I worried they'd pull. And there's no way of even knowing if you're on the list of author/editors' names they've used, either (or at least not one I can find)

Its possible that loophole's there because frankly AI bollocks keeps being forced on us (i.e. whenever we use a search engine or whenever Word tries to fool us into thinking we haven't noticed them shoving co-pilot to "on") but the concious use of AI for research/planning needs to be red line imo.

The ridiculous exceptions of "using AI for research and generating ideas" etc very much put me off. Great idea in principle, perhaps, but massive loopholes and flaws in execution.

Joel & Ethan Coen on THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE YouTube video by CRITERION

Such a joy interviewing the Coens again for the new Criterion 4K of THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE, a deeply underrated noir gem.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZsF...

There's going to be a Folk Horror Film Festival in Leith! Amazing stuff!
fiendsinthefurrows.com

The blu ray cover for THE APPOINTMENT shows a snarling dog, and a car about to skid off a road.

Tonight's watch: THE APPOINTMENT (1981, dir. Lindsey C. Vickers) where Edward Woodward plays a father who pays a horrific price for missing his daughter's halloween recital. Originally intended to kickstart a series of TV films it never got a true release. Its bizarre dream logic is oddly chilling.

You know the best way to kill AI? Don't use it. Don't buy it. Don't share it. Don't give the people who use it your labour or your money.

Stop 👏 having 👏 unrealistic 👏 body 👏 standards 👏 for 👏 camels 👏

This is very good on the idea of stakes -- they don't need to be life or death, they just need to matter on an emotional level... something I have constant discussions about in the day job...

Unsolicited writing advice, no: 175:
No-one ever promised it would be easy. Anyone telling you otherwise is trying to sell you something.

Thousands of authors publish ‘empty’ book in protest over AI using their work About 10,000 writers including Kazuo Ishiguro, Philippa Gregory and Richard Osman join copyright campaign

As we wait to hear from Ministers next week on copyright + AI, we support the ‘empty book’ campaign signed by thousands of authors, which shows the depth of feeling across the UK creative industries about the large-scale theft of writers' work

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Almost 10,000 authors have come together to publish an empty book protesting the theft of books by tech companies to train AI models.

Titled Don’t Steal This Book, it is empty of text except the names of the authors involved.. 🧵

Last night's watch (no more film fest tho!) was PRINCE OF THE CITY (dir. Sidney Lumet, 1981) in which a cop (Treat Williams) turns relcutant whistleblower. Based on a true story, it's about good intentions gone bad, & a companion/response to Lumet's earlier SERPICO. Deserves to be much better known.

I still can't wrap my head around how this fire got so out of control and so fast -- the devastation to an iconic part of Glasgow's city centre here is insane.

Two young men on a stage with microphones in the middle of a performance. On the backdrop behind them, a banner reads: SILIBIL N BRAINS

Final @glasgowfilmfest.bsky.social film: the excellent CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN' (2026, dir. James McAvoy). A real life story of two Dundee lads who convinced everyone they were Californian rappers. Very funny, heartfelt without being schmaltzy, & importantly: Dundee looks great on the big screen!

Absolutely SHATTERED after a brilliant @glasgowfilmfest.bsky.social this year -- saw some ace films, attended some superb industry events, & met inspiring filmmakers & associated professionals. Have pretty much lost my voice, though, but it'll come back and it was all worthwhile for an awesome time.

Final @glasgowfilmfest.bsky.social viewing this year was also first @frightfest.bsky.social film -- one shot horror BURY THE DEAD (2026, dir. Adam O'Brien) as a live-in carer realises her patient may just be possessed by something very dark indeed... great fun & so cleverly staged. Loved it!

The poster for THE HOME (2026) shows a woman's face struggling to emerge from hands holding her down.

More screenings at @glasgowfilmfest.bsky.social yesterday -- THE HOME (2026, dir. Mattias Johansson Skoglund) where a sman sends his elderly mother to a nursing home, unaware she is haunted by a familiar presence... A little close to home if you have experience of dementia, but really well done.

The cover of THE GOOD SON (from 2009) shows a line of skeletal trees disappearing into a white-out skyline

Seventeen years since the US hardbacl edition of my debut, THE GOOD SON, got a cover... Bloody gorgeous it was, too (pity about the distribution issues it had, but that's another story)...

It takes a surprisingly long time to write a newsletter, or at least it does for me. The next one will be out some time tomorrow, complete with exciting cover reveal! Sign up if you don't want to miss out... jamesoswald.co.uk?page_id=669