Seth W James

@sethwjames

Cyberpunk novelist, author of The Cain Series. Handcrafted cyberpunk: written by a human for human readers. No AI now, No AI ever (see pinned post). SFWA member Sic semper tyrannis US Army Infantry Nazi punks fuck off

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Seth W James@sethwjames· 10d

Yesterday, I wrote, "The End," on the first-ish draft (with my process, kind of a second draft) of my 16th novel. And here are the mad stacks of specific notes that went into it. Hope to announce the novel in September. Now the editing begins. #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky #indieauthor 💙📚

Stacks of notecards, upon which are the specific notes for a forthcoming novel in The Cain Series, by Seth W. James.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jul 3

If you did not write it, you are not it's author: if you stole it, you are a thief. AI: the only winning move is not to play. #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky #indieauthor 💙📚

Movie poster of "Wargames," 1983, with two kids looking at a computer screen, playing a WWIII game. Beneath has been added the text, "AI: the only winning move is not to play."

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jun 3

While I, too, lament the passing of the mass-market paperback book, I must admit that this sadness has rarely afflicted my trade paperbacks. It's like the book is self-serializing. #booksky #indieauthor 💙📚

A paperback book sits on a small table, some of the pages of which have come loose from the rest of the binding, still glued to each other in little pamphlets.

Seth W James@sethwjames· May 13

Well, there they are, the first 5 books in The Cain Series. I had set a goal of completing this first multi-book cycle in the series by 2027—and got there a year early. Cycle 2 starts immediately with book 6, but it's nice to take a moment and look. #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky #indieauthor 💙📚

Bookshelf displaying the first 5 novels in The Cain Series by Seth W. James. In order, they are ETHOS OF CAIN, A DESPERATE MEASURE, AN UNCALCULATED RISK, THE FALL, and LOGOS OF CAIN.

Cover art for books 1-3 by Damonza.
Cover art for books 4-5 by James T. Egan of Bookfly Design.

Seth W James@sethwjames· May 7

Surveillance-state AIs that look the other way for a price; billionaires using war to manipulate markets; rebels in VR headsets controlling drone swarms. Nope, it's not the news, it's The Cain Series. Book 5 out now. #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky #indieauthor 💙📚 www.amazon.com/Logos-Cain-B...

Cover art for LOGOS OF CAIN, book 5 in The Cain Series, by Seth W. James. Cain standing inside a space station with Mars seen out through the window behind him. Cover artist James T. Egan of Bookfly Design.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Apr 9

It's almost as if the universe knows that I'm three weeks out from a book launch, because, every time, life decides it needs to get real damn busy. Whatever. The cover for LOGOS OF CAIN is still badass. See you May 1 (buy after the strike, please). #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky #indieauthor 💙📚

Cover art for LOGOS OF CAIN, book 5 in The Cain Series, by Seth W. James. Artist credit: James T. Egan, Bookfly design. Cain in a space station with Mars out the window, holding a gun and looking all badass.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Apr 1

Cover reveal! It's cover reveal day for LOGOS OF CAIN, book 5 in The Cain Series, and artist James Egan of Bookfly Design has delivered. Love this cover! Launch is May 1 (buy it after the general strike, of course) #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky #indieauthor 💙📚 www.sethwjames.com/logos-of-cai...

The cover for "Logos of Cain," book 5 in "The Cain Series," by Seth W. James. On the cover, Cain is standing inside a space station, holding a gun, and behind him, through the window, is the red planet, Mars.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Feb 20

I'm thrilled to announce that James T. Egan of Bookfly Design is the new cover artist for The Cain Series. Just like the text inside, the cover is 100% human artistry: no AI. I look forward to all the great covers to come. www.bookflydesign.com #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky #indieauthor 💙📚

Cover for "The Fall," book 4 in "The Cain Series," by Seth W. James. Cain and Francesca standing before the unfinished pan-European seawall. Cover art by Jams T. Egan of Bookfly Design.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jan 22

To my fellow mad-dog notecarders: the fat stacks of hand-hewn imagination upon which the forthcoming book 5 of The Cain Series was built. Suck it, AI, you're nothing but a glorified copy machine. Handcrafted cyberpunk: written by a human for humans. #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky #indieauthor 💙📚

Fat stacks of notecards, which went into the writing of the, as of yet, unannounced 5th book in The Cain Series, coming spring 2026.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Dec 29

Oh no! The AIs are aware of my existence. As a cyberpunk novelist, there is nothing more disturbing than the megacorps' AIs knowing about, and likely stealing, my novels—because the billionaire assholes who own the AIs keep emulating the antagonists. #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky 💙📚

An uncalculated risk is a venture taken without proper forethought, analysis, or understanding of potential negative outcomes, essentially a blind risk, contrasting with a calculated risk where consequences are weighed. The phrase also refers to the title of a specific cyberpunk novel by Seth W. James, part of "The Cain Series," published in 2025, featuring futuristic espionage and corporate intrigue in South America

Seth W James@sethwjames· Nov 1

Launch day! Launch day! "The Fall," book 4 in "The Cain Series," is now live. Episodic, near-future, cyberpunk science fiction. Hand-crafted by a human for human readers. Link: a.co/d/9GSxW4q Press release: www.sethwjames.com/new-novel-re... #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky 💙📚

Book cover for "The Fall," book 4 in "The Cain Series," by Seth W. James. Cain and Francesca, dressed in black trench coats and carrying pistols, walk toward the viewer with an unfinished seawall in the background.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Aug 28

The cover for "An Uncalculated Risk" appears in the new issue of Cover Crush, a feature from Booklife by Publisher's Weekly. As always, a big thank you to @damonza.bsky.social for their excellent work creating the cover. #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky #indieauthor booklife.com/news/create/...

The cover for "An Uncalculated Risk", an episodic, near-future, cyberpunk science fiction novel, by Seth W. James, book 3 in The Cain Series.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jul 29

I think, as science-fiction authors, we can help to explain the misconceptions and misappropriations so often seen in regard to what is disingenuously named, "AI." Here's my take. #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky #sciencefiction #WritingCommunity #Indieauthor @sfwa.bsky.social

Artificial Intelligence remains what it has always been, a matter of science fiction. What is marketed as “AI” or “LLM” does not possess intelligence nor the ability to reason.

The big lie concerning AI is that it understands language and outputs a linguistic response: it does not. AI cannot comprehend language, but rather renders language into a mathematical representation. AI then applies its algorithms to the mathematical representation of language that it created, compares the transformed language input to its database of copyrighted material, and then outputs something mathematically corresponding to the “answer” within the copyrighted material. AI does not understand what it is saying, which is why it so often says such bizarre things: to the AI, it’s all just math.

Why this amounts to copyright infringement is that the mathematical representations of language found within its databases are, in essence, translations of copyrighted material. When the AI extracts and recombines fragments of copyrighted material, to create its output, it is, in fact, creating a species of anthology, reproducing the amalgamated work of human authors—without our consent.

There is no such thing as Artificial Intelligence.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jul 21

Cyberpunk plots from The Cain Series found in the real world: Corporate-owned politicians' performative outrage serves only one purpose: profit. Fact or fiction? (Both: from prison-corps to AI-corps, legal bribes of campaign cash control reality.) #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky 📚💙 a.co/d/aKRJNHQ

Cover for An Uncalculated Risk, a cyberpunk novel in The Cain Series by Seth W. James.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jul 6

Cyberpunk plots from The Cain Series found in the real world: Corporations kidnapping people for leverage and profit. Fact or fiction? (It's both; every corp that gave money to our fascist regime also owns the disappearances and concentration camps.) #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky a.co/d/0kMyRca

Cover for An Uncalculated Risk by Seth W. James

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jul 2

Cyberpunk plots from The Cain Series found in the real world: Platoons of corrupt cops, with military-grade equipment, hired like mercenaries to further the billionaires' agenda. Fact or fiction? (It's both; again, USA, look out the fucking window.) #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky a.co/d/1HNxYEL

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jun 24

Cyberpunk plots from The Cain Series found in the real world: Corporations hiring mercenaries to intimidate, stifle, or kill anyone who impedes their profits. Fact or fiction? (It's both; look up Sinaltrainal v. Coca-Cola for a horrifying example.) #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky a.co/d/egKARGq

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jun 12

Cyberpunk plots from The Cain Series found in the real world: Corp-built city-states attacked by mercs to manipulate the market. Fact or fiction? (It's both; tech-bro fiefdoms are already on their way—as is the surprise, when a rival hires a PMC.) a.co/d/asP1Ith #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jun 10

Cyberpunk plots from The Cain Series found in the real world: Russia's 25+ year war on the west has ushered in the cyberpunkilization of the world. Fact or fiction? (It's both; bots causing civil wars, drone warfare, total corp control—it happened.) #cyberpunk #scifibooks #booksky a.co/d/abl12ik

Covers from The Cain Series of episodic, near-future, cyberpunk, science-fiction novels.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jun 8

I'm glad the county sends out these voting confirmation flyers. Peace of mind without having to call the BoE. Also, Ras! Ras! Ras! #newjersey

Seth W James@sethwjames· May 13

A wealthy industrialist exploits war and corruption to expand his business interests, selfishly inflicting misery upon the world. No, not that putty-faced asshole. The secret antagonist in "An Uncalculated Risk," book 3 in "The Cain Series." a.co/d/738Mk8G Cyberpunk by a human for human readers.

Seth W James@sethwjames· May 3

With the launch of "An Uncalculated Risk," book 3 of "The Cain Series," I wanted to give a special shoutout to @damonza.bsky.social for creating yet another amazing cover me. Thanks, team! Book link: a.co/d/0yL3vpi #indieauthor #indieauthors

Book cover for "An Uncalculated Risk," book 3 of "The Cain Series" by Seth W. James. Cain standing there looking all badass, a couple pistols in hand.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Apr 1

Cover reveal! Here's the cover art for "An Uncalculated Risk," book 3 in "The Cain Series" by Seth W. James, due out this May, 2025. Link to announcement: www.sethwjames.com/cover-reveal... #cyberpunk #cyberpunkbooks #scifibooks #booksky #sciencefiction #bookcover #bookcoverreveal

The cover for An Uncalculated Risk, book 3 of The Cain Series, by Seth W. James. It's Cain looking all badass, suited up to put some hurt on the antagonists.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jan 30

Or this one, too, really . . . i.imgflip.com/5vpxy8.jpg

A Garand rifle from the video game Fallout New Vegas, upon which is written the phrase, "Well, this machine kills commies."

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jan 30

Not to be confused with this machine of similar design and purpose . . .

Woody Guthrie posing with his guitar, which has printed upon it the phrase, "This machine kills fascists."

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jan 30

In an age where AI and chatbots threaten to overwhelm us with digital kipple, I think it’s important for we human writers to assure readers that . . . #cyberpunk #cyberpunkbooks #scifibooks #booksky #sciencefiction

Cyberpunk author Seth W. James wearing a shirt that reads, "This machine writes novels."

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jan 24

Current events got you down? Need a story of a trillionaire's extortion, a raid on a for-profit prison, and billionaire fascists getting shot to pieces? Then check out “Ethos of Cain,” book 1 of The Cain Series. Link: a.co/d/5p9GXp6 #cyberpunk #cyberpunkbooks #scifibooks #booksky #sciencefiction

Cover art for Ethos of Cain, book 1 of The Cain Series, by Seth W. James. Cain looking all badass, with a flooded city behind him and an orbital in the sky/space.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Jan 21

And here's a look at the cover art.

The cover art for A Desperate Measure, book 2 of The Cain Series, by Seth W. James.

Description: Cain and Francesca looking all badass, with CasiDrone vehicles and an orbital in the background.

Seth W James@sethwjames· Dec 26

The beginning. “Cyberpunk’s patient zero.” Here’s my copy, from back in the day, obtained from a used bookstore after a librarian chewed me out for trying to order Neuromancer (she thought these sorts of books promoted computer hacking). They don’t make covers like this anymore.