Welcome to the next edition of My (Mostly) Monthly Author Newsletter. It’s definitely time to hit the beach – or at least the nearest A/C vent – with a good summer read. Next week, we will be heading to Cape Breton for a long overdue family vacation, after enough staycations.
Book signing at Violet’s Vault
It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year-and-a-half since Bane of All Things published. Between my health issues and the pandemic, I never did have a proper book launch/signing event where I was born and raised. That would be South Dundas, south of Ottawa on the shores of the mighty St. Lawrence.
On Sunday, Aug. 13, this will be rectified. I will have an afternoon book signing event at a new local sweet spot – Violet’s Vault in the town of Iroquois.
Part restaurant/cafe, part candy shop, part arcade, Violet’s Vault is housed in the former bank where I had my very first bank account. And the vault is still there! Check out this recent news story about Violet’s Vault.
For all of you in the Morrisburg/Iroquois/Winchester/Cardinal areas (and beyond) who supported me on the long road to becoming a published author, you can finally get your copy of Bane of All Things signed and say “hi” in person. And I will have some fresh copies on hand for sale, too.
Oh, those bots that think they can write
Well, the issue isn’t the bots, because they can’t think, but the people who believe anything goes in the name of “progress.”
I wrote a couple of issues ago about the can of worms we now face with generative AI. This includes artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT. These AIs can produce new content, chat responses, designs and art, synthetic data, or even deep fakes that fool you into believing it’s your own mum.
As I said then, anyone can potentially use a generative AI to write entire new works of fiction in literal minutes, with a few well-chosen prompt questions.
If that sounds like cheating to you, I agree it’s a slippery slope. The only reason these AIs can do this is because they have been taught using existing creative works made by actual people.
Now, two authors have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. They claim OpenAI breached copyright law by “training” its model on novels without the permission of authors. It’s going to be quite interesting, and precedent setting, to see how this plays out.
The onus is going to be on the plaintiffs to prove financial loss. The court must also determine whether such a use of copyrighted material by the OpenAIs of the world fits the definition of “fair use” under copyright law. Fair use permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder.
Meanwhile, here is a recent incident that demonstrates just how far AI has to go before we flesh-and-blood writers (and editors) need fear it much: “Gizmodo’s io9 Published an AI-Generated Star Wars Article That Was Filled With Errors”
Pre-order The Crucible Tree today!
If you already have, thank you very much.
If not, it’s been two weeks since I launched the pre-order campaign for my next novel, The Crucible Tree. We got off to a solid start. Then, not surprisingly, the combination of Canada Day and Independence Day took the wind from my sails.
But you can help get this ship back on course. Kindly check out The Crucible Tree on my publisher’s website and consider placing a pre-order. This works like a Kickstarter – we need to achieve a critical mass of pre-orders for The Crucible Tree to go into production. If we don’t, all backers get refunded, no strings attached.
That’s all for now. As always, stay safe and keep reading!
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