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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy

@mbaileywriter.bsky.social
5.1K followers 471 following 15K posts

Independent author (superhero, fantasy, urban fantasy), stage combat director/instructor in the central MA area. Native Cape Codder. Shares a bed with one wife, two dogs, and three cats. He/him/his. #fuckAI innsmouthlook.com

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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 2h
Oops, didn't read far enough, sorry!
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Veronica Bailey (she/her) @empheliath.bsky.social · 8h
The news is terrible, so please enjoy this picture of puppy Nadja cuddling me four years ago.
A white woman with red hair, bangs, and black rimmed glasses wearing a green plaid shirt is sitting with a puppy in her lap. The puppy is reddish brown and wrinkly and is curled around her left arm.
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Christopher Golden @cgolden.bsky.social · 7h
Fall appearance schedule! Oct. 14th at Side Quest Books & Games in Somerville, MA as the conversation partner for WINTERSET HOLLOW author @thisone0verhere.bsky.social Jonathan Edward Durham! Oct. 17th from 1-4pm I'll be at Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival (at its new location!). 1/?
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Veronica Bailey (she/her) @empheliath.bsky.social · 6h
QRP with your moon art 🌕 #art #watercolor #moon #fox
A watercolor painting of a red fox sitting in the snow with its back to the viewer. There is a very large moon just at the horizon, and the sky is dark blue and filled with stars.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 5h
This applies to indie authors too, IMO. Armchair editing is not helpful or welcome behavior.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 5h
Age yourself with a childhood crush
static.klipy.com
Ginger Grant: Gilligan's Island Smile
ALT: Ginger Grant: Gilligan's Island Smile
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 8h
A flashback to Nadja's puppy days, when she first started doing this when I was on the couch. She still does this today and it always makes me feel loved.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 9h
The Empire Strikes Back From the Future.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 9h
Today's dream "let them fight" scenario: the WWE going after all the Instagram accounts that use lengthy clips of WWE matches to badly disguise the fact they're promoting C-list betting apps.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 9h
Today's gAI slop cover, featuring a boring composition of bland people in bland poses with bland expressions, and a hand that one could reasonably call remarkably manly for a college-age women.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 10h
I don't say this jokingly: the next step is subscription fees for your wired products. You want your fancy fridge to keep working? That'll be $5.99 a month or kiss your milk and produce goodbye.
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Appalachian Blue @republicofcascadia.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 11h
The most blissed-out horse you'll ever see.
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Laura Bassett @lebassett.bsky.social · 19h
“If you don’t like public executions just don’t watch it” says the crowd trying to ban drag shows and books
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Gail Simone @gailsimone.bsky.social · 23h
Terfs suck.
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Liz Climo @lizclimo.bsky.social · 23h
Otter says “everyone says there’s a monster in this lake.” Monster replies “yeah. They’re talking about me.” Otter hugs monster “I don’t think you’re a monster.”
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PizzaCake @pizzacakecomic.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
These are the kind of men who refer to caring for their own children as "babysitting."
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Action Figures – A Series Overview What’s it About? The series focuses on Carrie Hauser, a 15-year-old girl who one summer experiences two life-changing events: her parents announce they’re getting divorced, and she gains superhuman abilities after encountering a dying extraterrestrial after he…
innsmouthlook.com
Action Figures – A Series Overview
What’s it About? The series focuses on Carrie Hauser, a 15-year-old girl who one summer experiences two life-changing events: her parents announce they’re getting divorced, and she gains superhuman abilities after encountering a dying extraterrestrial after he falls to Earth. Her adventure begins after Carrie and her mother Christina move back to Christina’s childhood home town of Kingsport, Massachusetts, and Carrie meets four teens with powers of their own: superhero fanboy Matt Steiger, who owns a pair of magic gloves that can produce any object he can envision out of thin air, like a living cartoon character; Sara Danvers, a telepath and telekinetic who is afraid of her own abilities; the easygoing Stuart Lumley, who possesses superhuman strength; and Missy Hamill, an adorable motormouth with enhanced strength and reflexes.
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The Spaceshipper 🚀 @thespaceshipper.com · 08/10/2026
Happy birthday, Sci-fi Queen. 🥳 Sigourney Weaver has also voiced a spaceship two times (the Female Planet Express Ship in Futurama, 2002, and the Axiom from Wall-E, 2008).
Sigourney Weaver in Alien (1979)Sigourney Weaver in Galaxy Quest (1999)Sigourney Weaver in Avatar 2 (2022)Sigourney Weaver in The Mandalorian & Grogu (2026)
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Overheard at work this week: a couple buying foreign currency for a trip abroad and complaining about the very concept of exchange rates, which led to one of them proclaiming, "Everyone should just use dollars, it would be much simpler."
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
This has to be an elaborate joke. Like, these people dropped a couple hundred dollars to do something completely insane just to see if they could dupe viewers into trying it at home.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I'll go with whatever the anti-artificial intelligence masses prefer, but I always refer to it as "gAI," which, no kidding, I started doing because I wanted to distinguish the tech everyone hates with the musician everyone loves.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Still one of the funniest damn things ever committed to film. For me, the perfect Coen Bros. trilogy is Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy, and O Brother Where Art Thou? Perfect comedies that only get funnier with each viewing.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Stealth-pimping your book in a thread (e.g., someone's talking about dogs and you not-so-casually say, "My new book has a dog in it!")? That's a no-no. Obviously, if you use gAI in any way to promote your work in any forum, expect to get an earful. No one wants to see that shit.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Quick word to fellow #writers and #authors: there's a right place and a right time to push your work. Plugging your book in someone else's promotional post? Bad form, highly unprofessional. Pushing paper in a forum that is not explicitly intended for that purpose? Serious breach of etiquette.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Years ago, while working for a different company at a remote job site, I saw this sign on a door and felt compelled to add my own. I like to think someone saved it and it's still hanging in the office.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Nothing but respect for MY Digger
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Sleeping Awake @sleepingawake.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
-Climate collapse -Wage stagnation -Forced birth laws -Literal fucking Nazis dismantling the planet "Wow, you don't want to have children??? That's so fucked up, are you OK? Are you SICK?? You must just be weak-willed and suspectible to bad influences, it's the only explanation" 🙄
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
From the upcoming Ashcroft High Monster Hunters Club, in fact.
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Victoria Strauss @victoriastrauss.com · 07/10/2026
Canada is refusing to issue ISBNs to books primarily generated with AI. This illustrates both the urgency of the problem of the growing flood of slop books, and also the toothlessness of addressing it on the honor system without there also being consequences for lying
Use of artificial intelligence
By registering with ISBN Canada, you declare that your book was created by a human author. You may use AI tools only for limited support tasks, such as brainstorming ideas, checking grammar, or formatting your book. You must not use AI to generate the text, create the artwork, or translate the book. ISBN Canada does not issue ISBNs for works whose content is primarily generated by AI. LAC is currently reviewing its policy regarding the use of AI content creation and our guidance is subject to change.
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Dave Kellett @davekellett.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
TODAY'S COMIC: Rise and Grind! www.sheldoncomics.com/comic/rise-a...
PANEL 1: A white bulldog with grey ears and patches sits wearing a human’s button-up tshirt with yellow tie, glasses crooked on his face. Next to him stands a brown chow-chow with a blue tie around his neck. In between them sits a red stapler.
BULLDOG: G’morning, employee! Rise and grind!
CHOW CHOW: I have not had enough coffee for this.

PANEL 2: The bulldog leans in to the chow chow whose eyes are wide.
BULLDOG: You working hard, or hardly working?
CHOW CHOW: First I drink the coffee, then I do the things.

PANEL 3: The bulldog smiles as the chow chow looks exasperated.
BULLDOG: Welp! Another day, another dollar.
CHOW CHOW: Coffee is the only thing getting me through the day.

PANEL 4: A fawn great dane pokes his head in to the scene, the bulldog looks up at him, the chow chow continues to look stressed.
GREAT DANE: AW! Are you guys playing human without me?
CHOW CHOW: Don’t even coffee to me about coffee until I’ve had my coffee. 

——
Want 5,000 more comics like this? Join us at Patreon.com/sheldoncomics for the *FULL* Sheldon archives, art giveaways, fun community, and more! Sheldon Comics copyright Dave Kellett. Colors by Beth Reidmiller
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jess m. ☕🍂 @jametc.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
hey all, just a heads up to my artist peers- this is all AI slop, I would avoid this. It isn't adobe code, it's just vibecoded to emulate their features.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Office pizza party basic etiquette: you eat two pieces max, give everyone else a fair chance to have some. If, after the lunchtime rush is over, there's still pizza left, THEN you can have another slice.
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Bookshop.org @bookshop.org · 07/10/2026
Having trouble deciding which books to buy from Amazon during Prime Days? Try this: None, then go support an independent bookstore instead. 😌
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Every person who talks about taking risks when they're the only ones benefitting:
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Another past October art challenge entry. The prompt was "enchanted," and I couldn't think of a horror movie that applied well, so I went with a classic horror short story.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
"It chose you in the face" remains the funniest line I've read in comics in some time.
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Dave Kellett @davekellett.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
COMIC: The Daily Schedule
PANEL 1: A cartoon, generic person walks jauntily on a yellow-to-orange background. Music notes come out of his pursed lips, as if whistling.
NARRATION: 11 AM. Happy!

PANEL 2: Same character, still walking jauntily and whistling. 
NARRATION: 4 PM. Still happy!

PANEL 3: The person is now in bed, gripping his blankets to his chin, eyes bulging, teeth tight together.
NARRATION: 3 AM. EVERY WORRY EYOU’VE EVER HAD.

PANEL 4: Return to the first scene, yellow-to-orange background, person walking jauntily, whistling. 
NARRATION: 11 AM. Happy!

———Want 5,000 more comics like this? Join us at Patreon.com/sheldoncomics for the *FULL* Sheldon archives, art giveaways, fun community, and more! Sheldon Comics copyright Dave Kellett. Colors by Beth Reidmiller
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I loved Zork so much.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Plus, you didn't have to pay anyone any "money," you just contributed to degrading the environment, mass art theft, and tech bros' bank accounts, and you got a piece of shitty not-art out of it that will drive away potential readers because they're so very sick of gAI slop. What a win, right?
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
See, generative AI isn't protectable by "copyright," which means anyone can steal the slop you made with the plagiarism machine and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. But hey, at least by using the slop software, you skipped over all that pesky "work" part of the process.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
If there's something I don't like for any reason, I can request a "revision." She'll "revise" the image based on my request, show me the new "version," back and forth, until we're both happy, at which point I exchange "money" for "goods and services." We also agree to share the "copyright."
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Or she'll try something different to see if it works better. Trial and error is part of making "art," you see. It can be frustrating, sure, but figuring things out and discovering something that works is exciting and satisfying. Eventually, she'll have a piece of "finished art" for me to approve.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
"Perspective" or "anatomy" might be off. She'll add some "meaningful details" that don't convey the "visual information" she intended, or make the "image" look "cluttered" and "too busy" and end up distracting the viewer, or just look weird. So she'll "erase" the offending bit and try again.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
This "rough layout" gives her a sense of the final "image" she's aiming to "draw" so she can make adjustments before getting into the higher levels of "artistic creation" like "linework," "colorwork," "texturing," "shading," etc. There will be missteps along the way. It's part of the "process."
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
This particular "rough layout" was "sketched out" by @patricialupien.bsky.social, a human "artist" I hire to make "art" for my books. I ask her to make "art," she makes "art," and I "pay" her "money" for her "labor." That's how it works. Anyway, this "stage" is a bit of an experiment.
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Michael C. Bailey - Indie Author, Stage Combat Guy @mbaileywriter.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Hey, #AI sloppers. Want to see something interesting? (Warning: heavy sarcasm ahead.) This is from a "work in progress," which means a human "artist" has started a "project," of which there are multiple "stages." This stage is called a "rough layout." It's a loose "sketch" of an "image."
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Spacegryphon @spacegryphon.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Artists, show us how you draw black women!
Ismene the Warlock. She has dark brown skin and curly hair. She is carrying an evil book. Her clothes are: white shirt, light green skirt and a green jacket.
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