I was born in 1984, and for most of my life, stories with black and white morality—in other words, stories about the struggle between good and evil, with good guys who are good and bad buys who are bad—have been considered unfashionable and out of style. This is especially true of fantasy, where grimdark has… Continue reading In Defense of Black & White Morality
Short-form vs. long-form fantasy
For the last month, I’ve been doing a lot of research into the fantasy genre, rereading all of the original Conan the Barbarian stories by Robert E. Howard and a bunch of the other ones too, by authors like L. Sprague De Camp, Lin Carter, Bjorn Nyberg, Robert Jordan, etc. I’ve also been reading a… Continue reading Short-form vs. long-form fantasy
Would you read an AI-written novel?
That is the question, more or less, that I posed in subject header of my last email newsletter. The goal was to be a bit provocative, of course, but I did genuinely want to hear from my subscribers on this topic, and in the author’s note I shared a lot more of my thoughts on… Continue reading Would you read an AI-written novel?
Riches of Xulthar update
So it’s the 25th of the month, which is also the 25th day of the billing period for Sudowrite, and used up all of my AI words. The Riches of Xulthar, my first AI-assisted novel, is currently a little over 27k, which means I have 13k words to go (I’m shooting for the minimum novel… Continue reading Riches of Xulthar update
More early thoughts on AI-assisted writing
It’s become something of a cliche that true writers write because they can’t not write, but as with so many other stereotypes and cliches, there’s a kernel of truth in it. I’ve been writing on and off since the 8th grade, and even during periods of my life when I wasn’t able to focus on… Continue reading More early thoughts on AI-assisted writing
ChatGPT owns the transgender movement with facts and logic!
So I was having a conversation with ChatGPT about how (in the context of a fictional novel) a superintelligence could domesticate humans and/or keep them in a sort of controlled enclosure or zoo. ChatGPT decided that the optimum tech level within this artificial human habitat would be the early modern tech level, before the industrial… Continue reading ChatGPT owns the transgender movement with facts and logic!
A hot take for Carl
One of the members of my writing group recently posted on Facebook that for his birthday, he wants his friends to share their most controversial and/or hilarious “hot takes.” Here’s mine: SFWA (The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer’s Association, or whatever the hell it is now) was founded by perverts and communists to purge the… Continue reading A hot take for Carl
Some early thoughts on AI-assisted writing
I remember the early days of indie publishing. Back in 2011, when self-publishing was still a dirty word (and Kindle Unlimited wasn’t yet a thing), there were a LOT of opinions about “indie vs. tradpub,” most of them heated opinions, and some of the arguments I witnessed at conventions like 2011 Worldcon Reno very nearly… Continue reading Some early thoughts on AI-assisted writing
AI-assisted story practice recap
So it’s Saturday night, which means the end of the work week for me. How did I do with my goal to write 10 AI-assisted stories? Not terrible: I did manage to write 6 stories, at least through the AI part. I also burned through about 40k word on my Sudowrite plan—obviously, I didn’t include… Continue reading AI-assisted story practice recap
Jordan Peterson defeats a dragon and saves a princess
Once upon a time, in a far-off kingdom, a ferocious dragon was wreaking havoc on the land. The people were living in constant fear, and no knight dared to face the beast. But then, a wise professor named Jordan Peterson arrived in the kingdom. He had studied the 12 Rules for Life and knew that… Continue reading Jordan Peterson defeats a dragon and saves a princess