Books Worth Reading
My AI image prompting strategy is often guided by a willingness to let the machine do its thing.
In this case, I gave ChatGPT a reference image, a chapter from the novel, and told it to make a comic book cover with Devanagari titles.
The headline title is Urdu (Hindi). It says, “The secret history of Dori Fila.”
Pretty cool, huh?
Here’s the reference image, cover art from The Illusion of Gravity.
From the novel Silken Thread.
In 1966 Manila, an American teenager courts a CIA recruit several years his senior. It’s a mismatch, a scandal. When she ships out, it’s over. Maybe.
Buy the book at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SQPYY1F
The clip is out of a pre-release version of UtopAI, on a freebie beta test invitation — and if I were motivated, I could have made better use of the opportunity, or at least different use.
However, what I did was upload Maroli Tango Chapter 1 straight out of the manuscript, plus seven reference images.
This is not what a moviemaker does to prepare for a shoot — not even close.
I spent two-and-a-half hours. Two hundred hours would have been more appropriate.
The outcome is a lot better than anyone should expect.
Read the book at https://marolitango.substack.com/s/read-the-book
ChatGPT is an amazing image development tool.
And a lot of effort to use, particularly if the concept is original.
In this and other projects, I’ve had to draw, photo-edit, juggle reference images, refine page after page of prompts, try and try again, ad infinitum.
And learn what the reasoning engine can do, what it cannot do, what it will not do, and when to give up.
The robot did the above illustration on the basis of months of training, using a description straight out of a chapter.
This usually works. The robot KNOWS what my characters are supposed to look like.
But look at Francine’s hands.
The featured image didn’t happen until I scrapped a whole day’s worth of neck strain, and came at it from a different angle.
Read the chapter at https://marolitango.substack.com/p/160-day-trip
Don't say I didn't do this. I did.
I have been using ChatGPT almost exclusively for chapter illustrations. The machine almost always gets it right within two tries, but sometimes it doesn’t.
See the featured image. What a great composition, with the wrong actors.
Getting that straightened out consumed half of yesterday and most of this morning.
Finally, I asked for a style sheet.
The male figure has a tail. This is not canonical.
Not to complain. The chapter illustrations look great. See for yourself at https://marolitango.substack.com/s/read-the-book
Let us create a series of canonical images for a space yacht, inspired by the first image.
Ranger is 19 meters long, 6 meters wide, 6 meters tall, with 2 internal decks. The pilothouse is a cylindrical elevator, 7 meters tall, 4 meters diameter, glass wrapped, with opaque caps top and bottom, 0.5 meters each, with a 0.5 meter structural band separating 2 levels. The top deck is a pilot station. The bottom deck is a vista lounge. In spaceflight, the elevator pilothouse is centered flush with the hull, top and bottom. In atmospheric flight, the pilothouse may be raised as seen in the concept art, so the pilot can see where he is going through glass instead of display screens, or lowered below the bottom hull surface, exposing the vista lounge, for sightseeing.
So far, four AI engines have choked on it. Any ideas? Comments welcome.
That’s me in the background, with the goatee.
I know. Crazy, right?
Read the chapter at https://marolitango.substack.com/p/134-at-the-chatterbox-cafe
Maroli Tango is about ordinary people confronted with remarkable circumstances.
Literary Science Fiction Action-Adventure Intrigue Family Drama Space Opera.
LSFAAIFDSO
Or, if you prefer, it’s a morality play.
Read the book at https://marolitango.substack.com/s/read-the-book
The Secretary of the Treasury lived in an exclusive gated community. If one were to consult the HOA charter, front-yard spacecraft landings would fall under the same category as helicopter traffic — requiring prior approval by the board of governance.
Carmen Benequista did not ask permission. Instead, she dropped a Fatboy troop shuttle right on top of her victim’s mailbox.
Her companion, an elevated size-two fighting maroli named Incredible, asked, “What’d this guy do to piss you off?”
She replied, “He disobeyed a lawful order to default on United States debt held by foreign actors.”
Incredible let himself out a cargo hatch. “Why do you want to default on debt?”
Continue reading “Busking at the Intersection of Merit and Mayhem”
John Dyer Writes 
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