I try to post on Sundays. I wasn’t able to post yesterday, so today’s effort will be a bit longer.

Literary scammers continue to target me. The pace of incoming emails has increased, which I attribute to the war in Iran. The scammers’ language often sounds like something a Donald Trump fund-raiser would say:

“Your book will be displayed across our platform and listed as an invited title on our website, which receives up to 1.7 million visits every year.”

“Your book collection caught our attention and passed our review process with distinction.”

Today I received two messages from organizers of global book clubs with tens of thousands of members:

Elaine Louise, Literary Adviser and Book Selection Specialist for “The Elite Book Club,” invited me to be part of their “Spring 2026 Global Spotlight.” “Our readers specifically highlighted how your work captures the kind of emotional resonance we look for as we head into this season of renewal.” Tell them that in Tehran, Beirut, and Kiev.

And Sherry Organiser, Organiser of “THE Book Club (TBC),” also wants to hook up. “Our readers are deeply interested in stories that explore complex characters, moral dilemmas, and thought-provoking themes, exactly the kind of discussion your writing inspires.”

Sherry Organiser is a good name, but not as good as the scammer who signed one as Fanbase. And how many of you are members of book clubs that report up a ladder to people who control book clubs?

The only new wrinkle lately was an invitation to spend a base fee of $1,100 on audio book production (they don’t usually mention money right away) and a note from the “Literary Bureau” telling me how much they love my book. Which, as readers around here know, I haven’t finished. It seems that this book I haven’t finished, which they claim to have read, “closely matches the types of stories currently being explored for potential screen adaptation.” Wow!

They like my book so fucking much—you know, the one I haven’t finished and that they claim to have read—that they asked me to send them a copy so they can review it because they already fucking loved it. “If the project appears to be a good fit, we may then invite you to present your work and discuss the story further in a Zoom interview with a Netflix representative.”

As Margaret Atwood said recently, these scams are cruel. They take advantage of people’s hopes and their lack of understanding about publishing. It’s spam, my friends. Delete it. And pray for peace.

Some art now, please

Right. A book I thought was about steam railroads turned out to be black-and-white glam shots of steam locomotives, most of them captured in full throttle. I can only handle so many smoking wedgies. Soon I was ripping the book apart. Turns out that book paper from 1960 takes ink perfectly.

Sometimes you lift the stamp and you see the image is incorrectly placed. Sometimes you lift the stamp and it’s perfect.

Too bad the brakeman on the back porch isn’t more visible, but I love his expression.