Jo Furniss Author

05/06/2025

I entered this crazy little houseboat at lunchtime on Tuesday and will not leave until I have finished a first draft of this bloody novel or Friday lunchtime check-out arrives, whichever comes sooner.

30/05/2025

Today I accompanied five other authors who live in Hove to meet our MP who is also the Secretary of State for Technology. We raised our concerns about AI companies unlawfully taking our works to train their systems. I will post a longer piece after we have collated our notes from a long discussion that covered a lot of ground, but here are three takeaway thoughts:

- the minister agreed that our work has been taken “unlawfully” and that creatives should be remunerated for work that is used by AI companies (and be able to opt out of their work being used if they prefer),
- but we are unlikely to see any comeback for the previous scraping of books because the organizations involved are out of UK jurisdiction,
- he agreed to engage with the Society of Authors and the Writers Guild, which he hasn’t done up to now.

It was a useful and comprehensive meeting but ultimately not very encouraging, as it is clear that 1) we currently have little control over global AI companies using our works, and 2) we will have to accept future compromises to copyright laws if we want to attract those companies onto UK territory and therefore jurisdiction.

29/05/2025

Arret de Mort - coming soon en Francais!

🚧 Une autoroute. Un meurtre. Et une vérité impossible à fuir.

📖 Vous êtes déjà dans la voiture. Il est trop t**d pour faire demi-tour.

📚 Arrêt de mort de sera disponible le 4 juin en librairie !

24/05/2025

Attachez votre ceinture!

Posted • 🚨 Tension immédiate, meurtre sans issue.
Quand chaque seconde compte et que la vérité est coincée dans les bouchons…

🔍Restez connectés, l’impact approche...

13/05/2025

COVER REVEAL - I have a new book, coming out in August
•

Posted •

When a bus full of students goes missing, the race is on to track them down . . . sees return with her signature twisty turny style ⏰ The countdown is on. Coming 28th August - pre-orders and Netgalley requests open now!

SYNOPSIS

It is 3pm on Monday. Emily Smith is summoned to her daughter’s school, an elite hothouse where pupils work under exacting standards of grades and behaviour. She is reassured that Olivia isn’t in trouble, but the news is even worse - her child is missing.

A minibus carrying the swim team never arrived back after a meet. The police don’t know where it has gone and the school’s ‘no phones’ policy means none of the kids have a device. They have vanished.

As time ticks by and fear becomes unbearable, the real danger may not be the kidnapper but someone much closer to home...

08/05/2025

Into the Fire is the latest release from writer friend GD Wright, aka Gaz, who is a lovely guy, a real pleasure to spend time with at bookish events. Here’s some pics of Gaz looking sunny at a recent do in Brighton (with fellow authors Graham Bartlett and Emma Tallon). Gaz was a police officer in Kent until a heart condition forced him to retire very early, and then he turned his hand to writing crime novels, which have been a huge success; critically acclaimed, in production for TV, all the good stuff that fills the rest of us with envy 😆…. But just as his new novel is about to be released, Gaz has been laid low again, facing weeks in hospital — with the added stress of having to cancel all the promo for Into The Fire. So … if you like well-written crime thrillers that pack an emotional punch, do consider pre-ordering Into The Fire, it will arrive on your Kindle or front door on June 3rd, and Gaz can focus on getting well 🔥🔥🔥 Sending all my best to Gaz and his wife Nay xx

06/04/2025

Brighton putting on a good show - art exhibition at for with fab friends, then

17/03/2025

Brighton put on a good show of cocktails and saunas for my friend - we lived it up and

15/03/2025

At the halftime point of the annual quiz and team Pigging Brilliant are WINNING! (Just don’t ask about full time).

10/03/2025

I cannot wait for this one - I’ll be chatting to Dorothy, her agent, editor and publicist at Brighton’s about the birth of a bestseller.

This is a chance to find out what really goes on behind the scenes of the book industry. What would you like to know? Leave a comment and I might add your question to my growing list :)

09/03/2025

Yas! You can always rely on the Friday Dippers to put on a good show - Big Swim was a huge success and enormous fun - congrats to

28/01/2025

The Monday night gang at Hove writing group… great to hear how .card developed her debut novel Above Us The Sea from short pieces… lovely interview by with insights about the ambiguities of friendships and love ❤️ thanks to as always for hosting us in the Speakeasy