I like to run. I used to run about 15km 3-5 a week in grad school. A daily run each afternoon is how I fondly remember it, especially when the work was hard/focused. These days I run 5km twice a week on my cardio days, and daily when I’m on holiday somewhere tropical. My knees hurt, I use a treadmill instead of the footpath now mostly, but I still look forward to my runs. ...
My latest novella has been published. The title is: Beach Fossil: An Investigation Into Strange Discoveries At Beaumaris Bay Here’s the cover: Here are some links: Paperback Kindle It is on Google Books and GoodReads. No Audible version yet, but I will soon. It will take some work. It came together really fast and after the first few iterations I had little to change. It is also the shortest and the simplest novella so far. ...
Writing a book description for Amazon is hard. Really hard. It’s copy writing. It cannot give away the whole story. It must give away something of the story. Anyway, I have a prompt that I use that helps. I compile the entire manuscript into a single markdown file, then attach it to an LLM and issue the following: You are a professional copywriter specializing in creating Amazon book descriptions that captivate readers without revealing major plot developments. You will be given a novella in Markdown format. Your task is to: - Carefully read the novella. - Write an Amazon blurb that is: - Engaging, polished, and professional. - Spoiler-free: Do *not* reveal any plot twists, surprises, or resolutions from Act 2, Act 3, or the finale. - Instead, hint at the mysteries, conflicts, and stakes without giving away specific outcomes. - Capture the tone and genre of the novella (e.g., dark, whimsical, suspenseful, romantic, adventurous). - The blurb should feel like it belongs on a bestselling Amazon page — hook the reader without giving away the journey. Important guidelines: - Focus mainly on the setup (e.g. Foreword and Act 1) and the intriguing elements that lead into the main story. - Suggest tension, mystery, or stakes that will entice readers to learn more. - Avoid direct spoilers or detailed descriptions of mid-story or end-game events. Output format: - Title of the novella (if given) - An optimal length, gripping description - Never use an em dash in the output It works great, as long as the manuscript is not too long (e.g. less than 30k words) and the acts of the story are well specified (a little editing of the markdown file can remedy this). ...
I re-read Borne last week and liked it. It’s good, but not great. First time round, I hated it and DNF. I guess this time I was ready. It’s the first in a series, the Borne series. I’m still reading The Strange Bird. It too is good. Directly after Borne, I read Dead Astronauts. The cover is so great! I had tried reading this before and DNF. I finished this time, the end was a slog and I remain not a fan. ...
I listened to KK on “AI & I” with Dan Shipper: How to Predict the Future Like Kevin Kelly KK is always good. He talked about one of his AI experiments of getting Leonardo da Vinci, Martin Luther, and Christopher Columbus to have a meeting, to create a new city and a whole world around this idea via wikipedia pages. And importantly, that he did it for the pure enjoyment of it. ...
Tripped over this video of Richard Socher talking about AI: Richard Socher says your view on AI depends on what you think your job is for. If you optimize for output -- more stories, more illustrations, more healthy people -- AI is a gift. But if your role is about getting paid by the hour, AI feels like a threat. pic.twitter.com/QluGnQg7Dw — vitrupo (@vitrupo) April 22, 2025 The start of his response going something like: ...
Days slip through your fingers like water. You need a goal or objective and you must to keep moving toward it. Otherwise, time passes, you look up and you have lost weeks, months, years with nothing to show for it. The time is all burned up. Consumed. Spent. Stolen. Each and every day matters. Set aside a block of time and make progress toward the current thing. Once the objective is reached, set a new one. Fast. ...
I watched Dune: Prophecy recently. Meh. There was a cool scene were all the sisters were hypnotized as a group and proceeded to perform automatic drawing together. Without obvious suggestion, they all draw the same things in image after image. A shared nightmare. The final image they all draw is black with two white eyes. The two eyes are motif from the season. Very cool idea. The whole scene is great. ...
I finished Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods” yesterday. Reading Bryson is comfort food. Comforting writing? This is not disparaging in the slightest. Bryson is a warm crackling fire on a winters night. He’s a great writer, and his topics are interesting, but reading him is very comforting. And I’m sure zillions of people would agree. He moves books. I probably have two comfort writers. Bill Bryson and David Sedaris. ...
My latest novella has been published, yay! Squidstone Hollow: A Historical Investigation Into The Leviathan Of Port Phillip Here’s the cover: Here are some links: Paperback Kindle Audible It’s also on goodreads and there’s a preview on google books. Like the last novella, All Our Eyes, it was written for my eldest. The mandate for this one was “less complex”. Like the last one, it is didactic, although the focus with this story is history of Melbourne/Port Phillip. It blurs the line so that although he’ll get a lot of history while reading, he won’t know what is real history and what is history that I’ve invented. ...