Tag: writing
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The Fault Is Not in AI But in Ourselves
Why AI Because of All Its Faults Will Lead Us to a Better World Because I have worked in AI and I am familiar with its inner workings, I have written a number of essays on AI and its uses and abuses. I have always been ambivalent about the utility of AI, urging people to…
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Sailing Through the Desert
I wrote up my experiences at TusCon, but left out the things I saw along the way. And yes, there are things to see and contemplate on a 800 mile round trip through the desert. I only regret that I took no pictures, but navigating my cell phone to picture mode while driving 80 mph…
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TusCon 52 AAR
TusCon 52 After Action Report The ironically named TusCon (a trick on people who misspell Tucson) holds a warm place in my heart because TusCon 4 in 1976 was the first SF Con I attended outside my home town of San Diego. Since this is my blog, I’m going to indulge in about 10 paragraphs…
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What are My Principles?
An excerpt from A Geek’s Progress: When I was 11 years old and getting my hair cut, I had an interesting revelation. The barber shop was set up with large mirrors on opposite sides of the narrow room. Being bored, I noticed a reflection of the mirror behind me in the corner of the mirror…
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Book Selling & Mysterious AI
Although my wife and I have published ebooks before, after going to several SF Conventions the last 3 years, I decided I should also publish my first novel in paperback—maybe even hardback and audio eventually. When I did, mysterious things happened. I published Advance Guards on Amazon, the big boy in indie publishing because, well…
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The Riverside Monster
Image by Jimmy Lai/HIGHLANDER My alma mater, University of California, Riverside (UCR) emailed me yesterday (cuz’ I’m on their email list) with a request to fill out a survey. Despite my misgivings about the likelihood of anything this old geezer says being thought of as relevant, I decided to go ahead, mainly because I want…
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‘Advance Guards’: A Unique Family Saga in a Near-Future Setting
So I finally did it. I finished and published my first novel. It’s called Advance Guards, and if you want a sales pitch, go to the link and read the blurb. That link goes to the ebook, but there’s also a paperback version now. Yes, I’ve already published one book, A Geek’s Progress, but that’s…
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Is It Cheating if We Do It?
The current controversy over Texas’ redistricting of their congressional districts–to increase fairness, or to legislate Democrats out of existence–depending on your partisan political point of view, makes me nostalgic. You see, in the late 80’s I still harbored an ambition to attain a Master’s degree in Geography to go with my Bachelor’s degree in History.…
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Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
I was able to attend San Diego’s famous Comic-Con this year, and at one of the mixers for creatives, someone asked, “Where do you get your ideas?” I didn’t have long enough to launch into a full explanation, but I’ll leave you this essay where Sharon explains it more thoroughly. Once my wife Sharon was…
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Son of SilverCon III
SoS three was just as much fun as the first two. It was a small gathering of smart, well-read folks who loved to swap their experiences and their dearly-earned wisdom. Maxwell Drake was a very gracious guest of honor and gave us portions of his writing courses that he teaches at Starving Writer Studio in…
Musings of a Restless Mind 