My observations as a reader, news about current and future novels, guest posts, independent author adventures, and more.
Announcing my first Kickstarter campaign — whee! I’m calling it the Galactic Pirates Collection, a Kickstarter special. It’s in pre-launch right now while I finalize all the parts that make it special. ❗ UPDATE 27 Feb 2024: CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED! ❗ The campaign will start a short run at the end of this month. If you…
Several highly popular generative AI art services continue to roll out new versions. I primarily use MidJourney, but dabble in others, notably NightCafé. I’ve seen impressive results by others from DALL-E v. 3, but I haven’t played with it myself for over a year. The nuances of prompting — describing the image you want —…
Kickstarter is an online all-or-nothing crowdfunding platform that helps people find creative projects to support. Artists offer special benefits to people who pledge support for a creative project. If the project meets its funding goal, the artist gets the funds, and the backers get the rewards. If the project doesn’t make it, no one’s credit…
Most years, but not all (looking at you, horrible COVID year!), it’s fun to look ahead. I come from a long line of folks who are rather bad at looking back, so that section will be brief. The more interesting sections — to me, at any rate — are plans for 2024. 2023 Plans vs….
Sometimes when I need a break so my brain can have time to think, but I can’t go for a walk, I get generative AI art services to make some coloring pages just for fun. As is always the way with A.I. anything, some attempts are more successful than others. Fair warning: This is image-heavy…
When my friend and part-time travel companion Nancy and her husband Harl said, “Let’s go to Iceland!”, I said “yes.” This post has lots of photos from my fabulous Iceland adventure Part 2. (Click the photos to see bigger versions.) See my other post, Fabulous Iceland Adventure Part 1, for a handy map of the…
It’s been a while since I posted about generative A.I. art. Artificial intelligence, as in machine learning, has been around for decades. The comparatively small part that generative AI comprises — art, music, text — is drawing all the attention. I still think of it as a tool to spark my human imagination and help…
Without actually planning it, this has apparently been my year to travel. Well, I definitely planned the trip to Australia because it’s on the other side of the planet and the flight is 15 hours(!) long. I’d heard good things about Iceland, but it wasn’t until my travel companion Nancy and her husband Harl said…
In “Stellar Drift,” my story in Pets in Space 8, determined forest ranger Houyen convinces mysterious pilot Sairy and her pet to help him track the source of a deadly disease before a greedy crime lord gets there first. My story ideas usually start with characters and the trouble they get up to, so let…
What do disabled veterans, service dogs, and spaceships have in common? When I was invited to participate in the first of several Pets in Space® anthologies, and later took over as editor, my favorite thing about them was the charity focus. Of course, I love science fiction romance, but the chance to help Hero Dogs…
A Pilot and Her Pet Gargoyle In “Stellar Drift,” my novella in the Pets in Space 8 science fiction romance anthology, the heroine Sairy has a pet gargoyle named Kyala. A pilot and her pet… what? A gargoyle, you say? Yes. In the worlds of the Central Galactic Concordance, it’s all kinds of illegal to…
I recently visited the Land of Oz, otherwise known as Australia, and had a blast. I took so, so many shareable photos that I had to break this down into four posts. This the last post about my Great Aussie Adventure, Part 4. (Click the images to see larger versions.) Melbourne (Part 1) • Cairns…
It seems like every day brings the announcement of another A.I. art service and/or another A.I. writing service. And owing to my recent Great Aussie Adventure and busy summer, I was already weeks behind in keeping up with these and MidJourney changes. So many things to catch up on! This is my exploration of and…
I recently visited the Land of Oz, otherwise known as Australia. I took a gazillion photos on this trip of a lifetime, so I’m breaking them down into four parts. This is my Great Aussie Adventure, Part 3. (Click the images to see larger versions.) Melbourne (Part 1) • Cairns (Part 2) • Uluru (Part…
I recently visited the Land of Oz, otherwise known as Australia. I took a gazillion photos on this trip of a lifetime, so I’m breaking them down into four parts. This is my Great Aussie Adventure, Part 2. (Click the images to see larger versions.) Melbourne (Part 1) • Cairns (Part 2) (this page) •…
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