Elizabeth Gonzalez James

@egjames.bsky.social

951 Followers 864 Following

Screenwriter and author of The Bullet Swallower, Mona at Sea. “Middling” — The Michigan Daily

Portrait of an older Black man wearing an enormous red cowboy hat with enormous red pointy boots and a matching red suit reclined and looking pensive and stylish as hell.
Elizabeth posing with author George Saunders
Friendly skeleton in a Santa hat saying hello from some porch steps
Author and reluctant husband dressed as Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI
Isabella Rossellini’s character Lisl Von Rhuman in Death Becomes Her.
The mind flayer from Stranger Things, a big scary thing with a bunch of arms and can shoot fire lightning out of its … somewhere.
Elizabeth wearing a red blazer and black pants
Javier Bardem as the character Anton Chigurh in the movie No Country For Old Men. He’s wearing a jean jacket, white socks, and is carrying an oxygen tank.
Medieval plague doctor wearing long black cloak and a mask with a long bird beak
Cleyvis Natera, Elizabeth Gonzalez James, bookseller, and Xochitl Gonzalez. Authors all hold copies of their books.
Madonna from early 2000d wearing a shirt that says Snatch coming soon
Picture by one of Andrew Wyeth’s kids of a man with a pumpkin for a head sitting in some cold looking Maine landscape and he’s gesticulating because he’s about to say something smart.
Two mega bowls of assorted cherry tomatoes, big bowl of Concord grapes, a bunch of yellow squashes, and a bowl of green beans.
What hand knit mock neck sweater with puff shoulders and lace detail at the sleeves
Elizabeth doing a really good variation of the Pilates 100 on a paddle board at sunset
I've been a reader of House Beautiful for many, many years, going back to leafing through my mother's issues when I was a small child. It's my favorite decorating magazine, as the feature spreads are usually stylish yet achievable, highlight a diversity of perspectives, and adhere to editorial standards that are consistently high. I was saddened, then, to open the July/August issue and discover "Pick Your Potion," a three-page spread of AI-generated concepts for in-home bars. As a writer myself, I have many, many qualms about the use of AI, and I will not get into them here. But suffice it to say that using AI in any capacity is problematic as many generative AI models were trained on pirated copyrighted works (including my own novels). But my biggest gripe with a magazine featuring AI-generated content is: If you can't be bothered to write it (or illustrate it), why should I be bothered to read it? What possible benefit could I derive from something no one thought was worth the time to compose themselves?
Screen cap of a dirty ass Wordle bot telling me I should have guessed Pubic
Elizabeth balancing on one foot with arms extended in front of primary color wall drawing of squares by Sol LeWitt.
Some crochet work balanced on my knee in front of Plymouth Beach.
Frog and toad off on their merry way to fly a kite
Religious icon candle featuring Pedro Pascal and it’s lit, indicating that the author has made a wish or prayer on it
Photo of the book How Fiction Works by James Wood
Garden bed with yarrow, dianthus, peony, catmint, and lavender.
Ridiculous two piece bathing suit with floral pattern and pink ruffles. A monstrosity. No one should wear it. (But I would!)
The author taking a selfie wearing a wool sweater and wool coat
Lovely cross stitch that reads, Fuck the partriarchy.
Room covered with too many balls of goddamned yarn
Cover of the book The Crazies, showing a black and white picture of a big mountain
Forrest Gump and Jenny praying, asking god why my dumbass ate so many cheezits before dinner
The neck and beginning of shoulders of a hand knitted white sweater - about to be undone (ie, frogged)
A sign that reads In this house we believe Wade Boggs drank 70 beers on a cross country flight from Boston to LA and went 3 for 5 the next day.
An adorable Frenchie who’s sort of wall-eyed but still really cute. Sadly he refuses to smile at photos so he always looks sort of mournful but I promise you he’s well fed and over indulged.
The Three Body Problem trilogy by Cixin Liu.