AI IS THE DEVIL
So please support this very human author struggling to get seen
Earlier this week, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer, both once reputable newspapers, published an article previewing a Summer 2025 reading list in their annual “Heat Index” inserts.
Looks good, right? Nicely laid out, attention-getting, all the things to grab a reader and hold them for a moment before sending them to the bookstore/library/Amazon.
The problem is, the entire thing is AI-generated.
The Heat Index summer guide newspaper, containing AI-generated misinformation and reading lists full of books that don’t exist, was created by a subsidiary of the magazine giant Hearst, according to the website 404 Media.
YAAAAAY, said the struggling self-published author still desperately trying to get a proper book deal in the middle of the worst political crisis to face our country since the Civil War.
As far as I’m concerned, the only good use for AI is making dumb memes to trigger MAGA, which I succeeded at doing when I created this fake image of Barack Obama as the Pope, and it got almost 6 million views on Twitter.
But I still think it’s the worst thing ever invented since the internet. More proof that AI will end human civilization:
I’m aware that AI can be used for good things, like figuring out DNA sequencing in an attempt to eliminate diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. That would be the best use of a technology that far too many people can access and abuse, which could very well lead to ending careers for anyone deemed “replaceable.”
If an AI program can generate a fake book list, it can also write fake books, and probably already has. Because it can already write fake papers for high school and college students. And it can write fake news articles.
Other writers on Substack are also ripshit furious about the AI fuckery, as well they should be. Like, the struggle for us isn’t hard enough, right?
In my case, I physically appear on podcasts [insert plug for THE TARA SHOW, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2 pm ET/11 am PT], and I also do video posts along with writing for the Political Voices Network, so AI can’t replace me that way. And AI can’t capture my writing voice either, because I’ve played with ChatGPT. It can’t think like I do, so it can’t write like I do.
Jake Tapper’s Biden book bombing should inspire everyone to boost my beloved book BIGLY so I can finally land a proper publishing deal for The Sound of Settling. Considering I’ve got a healthy social media following, a blurb from Cameron Crowe, and a ringing endorsement from Ellen Barkin, who’s essentially attached to play Grady’s mom, it should have already happened.
I’ve also queried more than 50 agents over the last five years since I first finished the draft of The Sound Of Settling during the Quarantine Summer of 2020. There were more AI-generated rejections than not, which makes being rejected even shittier than if a human rejected me.
What’s the name of my book, Anna? What’s my story about? What’s the “quality of my manuscript”?
WHATEVER, AI-bot, you didn’t read a damn word of my submission and neither did any human person with real human eyes, because the real humans LOVE MY BOOK.
Anyway, you get the point.
Aside from the entire world being on fire, my Twitter account is being throttled big time by the unelected ketamine-cooked Nazi immigrant bureaucrat, except for when I trigger the MAGAts like I did with the Obama tweet. But it was a struggle to get it seen even when Joe Biden was in office, because politics and its outrage cycle drive social media conversations these days.
So I used AI to try to trigger them again, but since MAGA doesn’t read and no one wants to see this rat bastard’s puckered anus fuckyface any more than they have to, it didn’t connect with Cult 45. Maybe it’s the weird extra finger?
I’ve also written a follow-up, Heavy Meddling, but I’m holding onto it until I get the real publishing deal. My readers demanded it, so I did it. The two men who’ve read it so far both said it’s BETTER than The Sound of Settling AND it made them both CRY. So yeah, I need to get things going.
So it’s up to you, real human reader. I’m asking you to buy a copy of The Sound of Settling, which is available on Kindle, in paperback, and now as an Audible audiobook—with AI narration, it pains me to say. But that’s another reason why I need a proper book deal, so I can give you all a proper audiobook version that I’d either voice myself or, hopefully, get Eve Hewson (my dream Lila for the eventual adaptation).
I’m also asking you to please share the link on your socials, which is free to do! But if you’d also consider upgrading to a paid subscription, that would also be fantastic and greatly appreciated while I still wait for my big break.
Thank you for keeping it real!