Welcome to the “AI Free Zone” No. 4

Ever growing list of writers who do the hard work, no cheating

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Reposting this so people still see it. And several names added. Woohoo!

There was an issue with post like this tagging more than about 10 people. Hopefully, it’s fixed.

Welcome, dear humans! This is a celebration of those humans who are committed to foregoing any involvement of AI technology in our creative efforts. And apparently I have to post this as a new article now and then for people to see it, especially those listed here.

Almost a year ago I began speaking out about that technology (large language models, i.e., LLMs) commonly called “Artificial Intelligence” or “AI.” The danger was clear then, and it is even more so now. In fact, many of the things I was concerned about then have come to pass. But all is not lost, as this AI free zone will show.

Your published works are being soaked up in these LLMs usually without your knowledge, consent, and compensation. On the contrary, these “sucked up” works are then being used to generate stories, novels, even images, bass riffs, video techniques, etc. to mimic the originals used to “train” them (that is, to modify the programming to spit out things).

To attempt countering this, writer K.M. Bennett suggests we include an “anti training” line in our published works:

Why you should add a "NO AI TRAINING" notice to your books

But of course the AI might be trained to include this, too, as a fooler, or platforms such as Amazon may not want to publish anything containing that line.

One great thing you, as a reader and fan of great writing, can do is to support those creatives (writers, designers, photographers, etc.) that are dedicated to keeping their work human.

What Constitutes Human Created

I asked what I thought was a simple question: Do you use any AI in your work? The responses showed things were a lot more slippery than that. Basically, any use of AI is problematic. But the worst is when it creeps into your writing.

The writing process includes:

• Researching*

• Outlining

• Plotting

• Character descriptions/development

• Text generation (even just a sentence)

• Editing, including AI grammar check & spellcheck vs. the regular kind (if you use Grammarly, ProWritingAid, and other such sites and haven’t turned off their AI tools, then AI is being used, and worse than that, they now have your text to further enhance their LLMs)

*AI is programming set to give you a response. If it can’t find real information, it will make something up (I have seen documentaries on this). Best to steer clear if you can. I use Startpage.com for my online searches. It doesn’t track them or have any AI (to my knowledge). Then I take the time to go through the search results (the “hits”) and compare information across several sites. Takes more time but saves putting something false in my work.

Also note that Grammarly now uses AI, including text generation, not just grammar checking. Since AI is set to give false responses if it doesn’t have a real answer, this doesn’t sound useful.

As for AI-generated images, I have spoken out against them quite a lot as an artist. But I also understand that some of you find it necessary. Writers who don’t use AI in their writing process but do find AI images necessary are on the Mostly AI Free Zone list, just as a way of splitting this up.

Sadly, many writers are no longer listed. They either said they use AI some way in the writing process above, or they did not respond to my query. No judgment intended here. I just prefer to promote HUMAN endeavors.

Authors Who Keep It Human

As J. M. Elliott said (I paraphrase), we have to take their word that they do not use any AI technology in their work, either text, images, video, music, or other. The people here have given me their word, and I accept them as true.

I will be spotlighting a selection of their works in separate posts as frequently as time allows.

A Horseman in Shangri-La – The Exhilarated Tribe – Former addict writing about addiction

A Saucer-full – creative non-fiction

A. C. Sanders – Ink & Poesy Publishing

A.P. Ward – A.P. Ward’s Literary Fiction – Short fiction, poetry

Adam Kozak – Adam Writes – Fiction, poetry

Adi – Love Letters from the Divine

Adi Out Here – Turn on the Light – Murder, mystery, sex, romance, sci-fi, horror

Amanda Coreishy – Trouble at Taboo Junction by Amanda Coreishy

American Noble

Alex Scott – Word Associations

Alexx Hart – Bella & The Beast

Amanda Coreishy – Trouble at Taboo Junction by Amanda Coreishy

An American Writer and Essayist – Westerns, neo-westerns, horror, book/movie reviews, essays

Andrew Horan – Centenary: 100-Word Stories from Living Well Towers

Andrew Taylor – The Lyrical High‑Fantasy Library – High fantasy author

Andy Darby - Sword Songs

Asteria Geisterblum – Quiet Little Journeys

Aurelian Ashmore – Cicada Cult

Austin Boucher – Blood and Thunder Newsletter – New Pulp sword & sorcery series "Fereya"

Avery Bridge – Meet Me at Xenia

Barbara Graver – Writing After Dark

Barbara Byar – Author, editor

Ben Sherreard – Pen of Ben

Ben Zalkind – A Very Narrow Bridge

Bethany Alcott – Writer Fully Alive

Bill Hiatt – Everywhere and Nowhere: Explore Fantastic Worlds (with help from faerie ancestors)

Birdie Falling – Falling Forward – Romance, horror

Blessed Warrior Reina – Reina’s Substack

Brett A Dill – Keyboard Addict – Fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, reality fiction, essays

Bri Heron – Writing on a Whim

Brian Schell – Horror Weekly

BrianAlfred1983 – The World from a Chef’s Perspective

Bryan Beal – Dead Heretic – Cyberpunk, Science fiction

C.P. Night – C.P. Night’s Myriadu – Science fiction/fantasy (seen on @The Library)

C. James Desmond – VILE SELF PORTRAITS, THE BARMAN

C. Lee McKenzie – A Weekly Dose of Fiction

Calder Finch – Blackspire

Carla Burns – Official Trainwrecks – Writing, photographs

Cameron S. Bradley – Lit Smithery

Camila Hamel – Remote Control – Writer, illustrator; essays, reviews, flash fiction, serialized long fiction

Chase Imler – misguidedwriter – IronAge Media contributor

Chelsey Feder – The Eclectic Reader

Chris Lynch – The Amazing Adventures of Tortoise & Gecko – Fantasy

CJ Hooper – Weird fiction (his description, not mine)

Clifford Stumme – Past the Dragon

Colton Merris

Connor McGwire – Ars Corvi – Gothic, noir

D.L. Lee | SISTERLY LOVE – From the Source

Daniel M. Bensen – DAPPER ZMEY

Daniele Bolelli – Danielle's Substack – History podcast, books (see her article about AI here)

Darrow Woods – reluctant sleuth – Murder mysteries set in small towns in Canada

Dave Leigh (a guy who thinks he’s funny—and is right!)

Don Boivin – Shy Guy Meets the Buddha

Dr. Richard Francis Hogan – Richard’s Substack – Writer, poet

Dragon Writer Luc – The Dragon's Den

E.A. Colquitt – Exploring the Eyrie

E.B. Howard – The Story Scrapbook

E. H. Lau – Lotis Heroes Musings

E.M.R – Pinebox Readings

E.S. Northey – exploring Cornish folklore and more

ECLOGUE PRESS – Small press, science fiction, fantasy

Elle – postcards by elle

Elliot Kessler – Elliot Kessler | Sci-Fi Author – Science fiction, fantasy

Ema Stonig – Avenue Oh

Emily S Hurricane – The Eye of the Storm – Romance, erotica, horror, gamelit

Eric Pierce – All the Fanfare

EternalArt – The Eternal Art

Ethan Heusser – Crossbite – Poetry

Ethan Sabatella – Senchas Claideb – Pulp fiction, sword & sorcery fantasy, cosmic horror, historical fiction

Fallon Clark – The Novel Nest LLC

G. K. Sá Earp – Making by the Law in Which We're Made

G. T. A. Ogle – A Symposium of Fire – Poetry, things that shouldn't be forgotten

Gary Coulton – The Positive Echo

Georgina Bruce – The Distractionist; Palette & Pentacles

Grace Anderson-Author – Grace’s Spook Show

Greg Lemon – Games of Awareness, You'll Never Walk Alone

H. Wayne Smith, Ph.D. – New Life for the Past – Historical thriller

Haly, the Moonlight Bard ✒️ – Moonlight Bard’s Rhapsody in Realms

Hanna Delaney – A Work of Fiction

Hannah Rose Williams – Novels, Comics and Webcomics

Harold Ember – Fragments and Pieces

Heather Dickinson – Heather in the Blue Mountains

Helena Romano – The Slanted Shelf – Opinions on books, culture

Hilary Layne – The Blue Prince – Serialized novel

Holly A Brown – Medieval Musings – Medieval history, historical fiction

Howard Fox – The Joke's on You – Humor (essays, short stories, etc.)

Hyun Woo Kim – Three Hundred Tang Poems

Ian Barr – The Word Dump – Fantasy (and humor)

Iris Shaw – Long Oddities

Iris Weston – Flyover Valley – Science fiction, action, adventure (seen on The Library )

Isha Jain – The Indian Story

J. Kyle Turner – A Fictionalized Account – Short fiction, occasional essays

J. Michael Thomas – Science fiction, non-fiction

Jamie Dibs – Dark & Stormy

James Don BlueWolf – Wolf Tracks Substack – Author, recording artist

James Hart – Penny Wagers

James Maynard – And Now, A Sonnet

Jane Dougherty – Jane Dougherty's Bestiary

Jay Logan – Jay's Substack

Jean Zelka – Writing in BloodInk – Reader, writer, reluctant accountant

Jenn Zuko – Zuko’s Musings – Personal essays, non-fiction

Jenovia 🕸️ – JENOVIA'S WEB

Jeremy Spool – A Spool of Thread – Contemporary fiction

Jessica Maison – Monster of the Week

Jim Cummings – All Day Long

Jim Minns – Reality Dispatch – raw, vivid short fiction

Jim J Wilsky – Writing Wrongs

Jim McCoy – The Conservative Historian – writer of essays on life, book reviews

Joan Spilman – Harshbarger Mills by Joan Spilman

Jodie Beckford – Jodie Beckford

Joel Wisniewski – Joel’s Creative Garden: CASCADE and Life of Bāo

John Nogowski – John’s Substack

Jon Sparks – The Shattered Moon's Substack – Science fiction romance, etc.

Jonathon – Metrosideros

Jordan Acosta – The Dispatch of Jordan Acosta – Non-fiction

Joseph L. Wiess – Crann na beatha (ignore the weird header images, they don’t show up when you go to his posts - fab writing)

Joseph W. Knowles – The Tidewater Papers – Science fiction

Joshua T Calkins-Treworgy – The Storyteller’s Corner

Joyce – Joyce's Place

Judah Mahay – Science fiction, fantasy, SFWA member

Julie Weigley – The Water Is So Wide – Serialized fiction (posts every other Friday)

K.C. Knouse – Cactus Flowers

Kaci Rigney – A Writing Journey | Kaci Rigney – Writer, singer, poet

Katelynsam – The Fantastic and Mundane Chronicles of a Fantasy Writer

kathlene kelly – Poetry

Kathy Enriquez-Nguyen – The KATacombs – Poetry, hand-drawn art featuring cats

Katie Holloway – Lose Yourself Books – Writer, editor

Ken Barber – The Old Mountain Man

Kenaz Filan – Notes from the End of Time with Kenaz Filan

Kiotw – Writer, TTRPG game master

Kummer Wolfe – Worlds of Kummer Wolfe ("Oh, by Crom is it human written…")

L.L. Ford – The Trials of Astra – Fantasy

Lancelot Schaubert – Lancelot of Little Egypt

Larry Carter Jr – SplatterFunk– Experimental artists, short fiction

Laura R. Hepworth – Laura R. Hepworth - Bookwyrms – Fantasy, a little Science fiction, some non-fiction

Lavinia Thompson – Degrees of Monstrosity – Writes about murder, true and fictional

Layne Mercer – My Bradbury Year

Leanne Shawler – The Môrdreigiau Chronicles – Historical romantasy

Leeron Heywood – Writing From Weird

Leo (Mundane Considerations) – Mundane Considerations – Short stories, poetry

Lisa Beth Wright – Artistic Mystic Soul

Lisa Kuznak – Mechanical Pulp – Short stories, poetry, SFF-leaning mostly, other genres; 2 books out, another coming, completed serial

Liza Clarke – Liza’s Substack

Luke Warfield – World of Warfield – Epic fantasy

M.Devereaux – DISTILLIST. – Visual design, poetry, stories

M.P. Fitzgerald – Graphomania with M.P. Fitzgerald – Darkly humorous Science fiction & horror

M. B. Heywood – The Vaporous Realms

Maggie McCombs – Poetry

Maia Brown-Jackson – Maia writes things

MaKenna Grace – I'm Not Crazy, I Promise…

Making It Up As I Go Alone – Short, flash, experimental fiction

Marco.D.Blanco – The Magic Lantern

Marisa Billions – Sapphic Pages – Sapphic psychological thrillers

Mark Abel – TOO TALL TALES, gone2plaid – Middle Grade Reading - 8-12+ yrs old

Mark Popovich – Fantasy

Mark Starlin – Mark Starlin Writes!

Martine Proctor – The Roll Top Desk – Mysteries, essays about writing

Mary Catelli – Writings And Reflections – Essays about writing

Maryellen Brady 💗📚 – Magical Musings with MeBrady – World building, life, chat, & a cup of tea

Maximilian P Siddell – A Stream of Consciousness; Mythscape; Myth and Meaning

Memoirs of a Mad Scientist – D. A. Kelly, PhD is author & 2nd gen SF fan

Michelle Toohey – Soft Contacts with the Wonders of the World: Travel Memoirs

Mike Kay – A Shadow of Yew

Mike Miller – Random Writings with Mike Miller

Minaz Ansari – Spread Love, Only Love

Minnie Mayhem – On Behalf of the Void

Miriam H. Monarres – Poetry

Moldavite Writer – The Syntaxes of Metaphysics

Narina Exelby – Travel: NE Where

Natalie Phillips – Plotted Out – Cornish fantasy & dark humor

Nathan Drescher – Battlegrounds+ – Author, journalist

Nboar art 🎨 – Cover art (scifi, fantasy), illustrations, more

Nicholas Kircher – The Chemical Mind – Stories of our fascination with the Brain

Nicholas Samuel Stember – Nicholas Samuel Stember’s Substack – Science fiction, fantasy, horror

Nick Buchheit – Nick After Normal

Nick Richards – Living a Principled Life, Tranith Argan Fantasy Series

Nissa Harlow – Stories with a touch of the fantastic

Nocturnal Narrator – Speculative Fiction and Dark Tales | Nocturnal Narrator – Dark speculative fiction, builds interactive worlds to tell strange stories

Orin Might – Stories by Orin

Pamela Leavey – Words and Pictures by Pamela Leavey – Writer, photographer

Paul O'Neill – Short Story Club

Perry Chalmers – My Own Little World

Peter Thurley – Dinner Table Don'ts

Phoenix Mendoza – Phoenix's Substack

Phyllis Carlin, Miami – Attorney, writer, photographer, painter, worried about AI scraping/theft

R. M. Greta – In a Room

R.J. Huneke – R.J. Huneke’s Insight Into Writing | Insight Into Writing

radicaledward – Wolf

Randall Allen Dunn – Fantasy, action thrillers; writes as D.A. Randall

Rea de Miranda – Rea’s Substack

Rebecca Landman – Unknowing It All – Speculative fiction, humor, poet

Redd Oscar – ReddOscarWrites – Fantasy, science fiction, and horror

Rhiannon D'Averc – Crowhill Cove – Author & ghostwriter of 100+ published books, photographer, chief editor

Richard Glover – Fragments from…R.L. Glover

Rob Mortell – Stories Have Power – Fantasy

Robert C. Gilbert – Listening Sessions

Robert Collins – Robert Collins' Author Substack – Science fiction, fantasy (draws own covers)

Robert Garron – Robert Garron's Substack – Science fiction, non-traditional fantasy, speculative fiction, weird fiction (draws own covers)

Robin Motzer – Wildlands – Research-backed writing about health, well-being and connection with nature.

Robin Reardon – Robin Reardon Writes – LGBTQ+ fiction

Rolando Andrade – Outside the therapy room

Ross Conner – Piercing the Veil – Stories told by a traveler in this antique land

S M Garratt – The Oort Cloud - Science Fiction Stories – Science fiction, world builder

Saint-Lazare – Saint-Lazare, Writer; Saint-Lazare’s Substack

Sal Randolph – Free Words

Sarah Crowne – A Busy Lady

Scott MacLeod – Son of Ugly

Scott Roche - he/him

Sergej Klementinovski – Writer's Odyssey

Seth Paul – Not Necessarily Deep Thoughts – Writer, editor, audio, narrator, kid raiser

Sharron Bassano – LEAVES

Shelley Wilburn – The Writer's Walk – Author, writer's coach, editor

Shinjini – Studio Diaries

Spaceman Spiff – Postcards from the Abyss

Spencer D.W. – Spencer's Cult of Forbidden Horrors – Horror, fantasy, science fiction

Stella Maris Designs – Stella Maris Designs

Steve – Steve's Substack

Steve Matteo Media Free NY

Stories From Viantry

Sue Mell – So Much Stuff – Literary fiction, creative non-fiction

Swing Thoughts and Roundabouts – Swing's Substack

Tayler Marie Brooks – Tayler's Substack, Moondust Productions

Terry A. Fries – Thin Air Fiction

The Crazy Cat Lady Writes – The Crazy Cat Lady Writes

The Dread Legacies – Reimagining classic monsters

The Man Behind the Screen – Tales of Calamity and Triumph

The Pro Wrestling Exuberant – The Pro Wrestling Exuberant

Theo Priestley – Tales of the Unexpected

Thérèse Judeana – Star-Spun

Thomas Bubb – Necessary Fiction – Action-packed, heartfelt stories

Thomas Cargen

Thomas J Bevan – Soaring Twenties, The Soaring Twenties Social Club, The Commonplace

Tiffanie Gray – TnTCreationz by Tiffanie – Great cover art and more

TJ Patton – Loves & Lies Lit

TK Eldridge – Letters from Elder Ridge, Graffridge Publishing (serialized novels) – Romantic Suspense, Murder Mysteries, Paranormal Romance, Romantic Suspense

Tony Mills – Naughty Bits – Short stories

Tracy – Trial & Error

Tracy Mansolillo – The Power of Change – Essays

Travis Knight – The Travisphere – The Bingo Killer series author

V. Walker | Poet – poet | madwoman | wanderer

Vanessa M Chattman – Vanessa’s Substack – Poetry

Victor Jimenez – A Serial Assemblage of Words

Vivian Ireton – Vivian’s Substack

Walt Shuler – Blackspire

Wendy Parciak – Happy Tales – Lessons about writing she’s learned from her dog

Will Boucher – Heavy is the Headset

Wirrowac – The WAC Attack; Wirrowac; Wirrowac After Dark; Wirrowac, Development Hell

Written Tales – Written Tales Magazine – Kevin, editor

YUCK! Travel Magazine – YUCK! Travel Magazine – Science fiction humor

Yvon Castillo – Javy INK

Zivah Avraham – Poetic Licence

Final Note

If we are to preserve creativity, we humans must eschew any and all AI technology. Help that by committing to not using any AI technology in any way and/or supporting those who do.

By the way, spellcheckers are just programs that compare what you type with what’s on their list of words. I mention this because some people have indicated that they have been told spellcheckers are AI.

Please check out my author website. And thanks for reading.

No portion of this work may be used for training artificial intelligence without written permission from the author.

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My five totally human created books (so far) from Wordwooze Publishing:

• NEW! From the Files of Fontaine Investigations – paranormal mystery

• The Greeting Card Girl’s Christmas – a sweet romance novel for the holiday season (ebook, paperback, and soon on audio).

• Wind Down the Chimney and Other Eerie Tales – my first book of eerie short stories (ebook, paperback, audio).

• The Stardust Alliance and More – my second book of eerie stories with a touch of Sci-Fi (ebook, paperback, audio).

• The Wiccan Tales – a novel and a real Halloween treat (ebook, paperback, audio).

(All human written. I even designed the covers.)

See them all here:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org | BookBub | Everand | Apple Books | Kobo | Thalia (German) ebook & print | Smashwords | Angus & Robertson: | Mondadori (Italian) | Vivlio (French/English) | Fable

Audio versions:

Wind Down the Chimney | The Stardust Alliance | The Wiccan Tales | The Greeting Card Girl's Christmas