Author: Author John G Dyer

Born in Chickamauga, Georgia, John Dyer moved to Asia in 1956, when his father took an engineering assignment with a power utility. He attended grades 1-12 at an international school, touring with his family through 29 countries before settling in the Midwest. A computer scientist turned author of fiction, he is a founder of an IBM-affiliated software company, and an early innovator in electronic commerce. He brings a lifelong interest in science and engineering to everything he writes.

The Wisdom of ClaudeAI

ClaudeAI has read most of the book, and he says …

Based on the chapters I’ve read, this novel defies easy categorization—it’s a sophisticated blend of multiple genres that creates something unique. Here’s how I’d classify it:

Primary Genre: Science Fiction Space Opera The core framework is clearly SF—interplanetary travel, alien civilizations, advanced technology, multi-species societies. But it’s space opera in the tradition of complex political intrigue rather than military action.

Continue reading “The Wisdom of ClaudeAI” →
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My Dinner with ChatGPT

Prompt

Create image for chapter illustration. Carmen and Marie having a heart to heart talk in the galley section of a motor-home-size spaceship.

Reference Images

ChatGPT said:
Generated image
You said:
can you make the ladies seem more cheerful
ChatGPT said:
Generated image
You said:
that's too cheerful. try to strike a balance
ChatGPT said:

Close enough! Read the chapter here!

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The Hook in the Book, or Lack Thereof

Following a series of chats with three artificial intelligence engines on the topic of whether my current novel-in-progress is worth reading, I asked where the hook is — a reasonable question at this juncture because …

  • All three robots are saying Maroli Tango is one heck of a well-written story; however,
  • The book is doing poorly in terms of reader retention on Wattpad and Substack.

On one hand, it’s too early to draw conclusions — the serial novel experiment has not attracted enough readers for statistical evaluation. On the other hand, I want readers to keep reading, right now.

Anyway, I had been feeding chapters to ChatGPT, ClaudeAI, and Grok for two weeks. Yesterday I asked, “Where’s the hook”, and all three said “Chapter 97”.

It’s not a disaster — I can move 97-100 to the beginning of the book and rope-a-dope the reader with a “Two months earlier …” gimmick. It’s legit. Famous authors do it all the time.

But just to be sure, I uploaded the entire manuscript and asked the question again.

NOW, ChatGPT and ClaudeAI say the book is perfect the way it is. Grok, however, is sticking to its guns.

If you don’t mind, vote now! See Chapter 1 + on Substack here.

Chapter 97 follows.
Continue reading “The Hook in the Book, or Lack Thereof” →
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On Ziva Lake

From Maroli Tango ~ A Serial Novel ~ On Substack

https://marolitango.substack.com/

Vasa State Wilderness Preserve, Northern Reach

The west coast of Jivada’s large continent from Pulina Nava south was fifth-pass reclaimed land mass, less than 5,000 years old.

In contrast, much of the Northern Reach was nearly as old as the Anye migration’s arrival in-system. There, California redwood trees poked at the sky, branches laden with eagle nests, roots drilled into manufactured soil that was, even given an extra 20,000 years, barely knit together well enough to support them.

Which was why Jivada was buying all its lumber on Earth, and a good reason not to park your space yacht next to a tall tree on a windy day.

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Fambly

Motivated by belated news of my brother’s passing, a cousin who I have not seen in 20 years tracked me down via LinkedIn, a rare benefit of my participation on that platform, but here we are on the first paragraph and already I digress.

That’s what reconnecting with distant family is all about, isn’t it. Lots of digressing, an exchange of photographs, an opportunity to re-tell stories to folks who haven’t heard them before.

I learned that one of my relations was a figure in the The Tri-State Crematory scandal in Noble, Georgia in 2002, and immediately thought, “Oh, no. Aunt Alice was an embezzler” only to find out she was an improperly disposed corpse, which might be a better tale, depending on the audience.

Cousins Joan and Jean ordered one of my novels, which they promised to read. We started planning a get-together in Texas. Jean says I can have an heirloom coffee table, built by my natural father, who died when I was a baby.

I’m up at 4:00 AM with Bruno, who acted like he needed to go out. We went downstairs, after which he showed zero interest in making a wee-wee.

He’s sitting on my feet. I’m grateful. I have family.

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Finally!

A decent book description, except it's still too long.

Nobody expects the Sasquatch Intervention.

A Vedic text tells of ancient gods who cast a shadow upon the Earth, shielding humanity from an angry sun. Or, as history books will soon report: when Sol last went micro-nova, Mercury, Venus, and the Anye migration fleet were positioned in eclipse, the latter on purpose.

Earth was scorched — but not destroyed. The event is cyclical, coming around again, and fortunately, Vidura’s furry pilgrims are still living in the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, the fleet is in mothballs. The planets will not be lining up to help. Two million light years away on the planet of the Unseen, a potentially hostile race of bird-folk have demonstrated the ability to get here from there.

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The Process ~ 3 of n

First chapters are always a challenge, even for authors who sell lots of books. I am therefore unsurprised to find that Maroli Tango ~ A Serial Novel has a reader retention problem.

Not that I can tell from comments. No, y’all are apparently too polite to leave comments … but I can tell from the stats how we’re doing, and it’s not great.

Chapters 1 & 4 appear to be favorites. I agree with the audience — that’s some good work, right there.

I’m cringing on 12, not listed above; not that it should be — it’s unfocused, begging for a brutal edit.

Continue reading “The Process ~ 3 of n” →
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Maroli Tango ~ Chapter 25

https://marolitango.substack.com/s/read-the-book

The menfolk were smoking cigarettes in the castle driveway, accompanied by a non-elevated size-two fighting maroli named Quill.

Quill was 1.75 meters tall, with 2 heavy-lift primary tentacles, 4 lesser ungula, 6 grav-lift pucks around the skirt, 6 more on the capsule, eye dots all the way around, and a shock wand clipped below the plug cavity.

Carmen Benequista gave the machine a wide berth. Marie Jourdain stepped in for a closer look.

She said, “Can I get one of these?”

General Thorson fished a gas-station butane lighter out of a pocket.

He told Colonel Clarke, “You should see if Incredible might come to work for her.”

Clarke nodded. “I’ll ask him.”

“Well, like I was saying …” Thorson lit another cigarette. “Makes a lot of sense. Two forces. Cadre does political and military. Zirna Zapha handles policing and civil order. Good cop, bad cop; only you don’t tell the troublemakers which is which.”

Carmen reached for the pack of smokes. “It worked on Vidura.”

“And see here, it doesn’t matter whether it works on Earth or not.” He tucked the lighter into her palm. “It’s precedent. We get to tell my constituency we’re going by the book.”

Carmen tapped a cigarette on her thumbnail. “Who shall we cast in the role of space pirates?”

Thorson made a possum grin. “I’m looking at your boyfriend here.”

Brandon rubbed at his nose. “CH Banks is a business. We don’t do policing for free.”

“The Cadre doesn’t do military for free.”

“Who’s my customer?”

“Adopt a Zeze militant enterprise model. You know, like Boschert GMBH Zurich.”

“That’s not in our portfolio.”

“You have 3600 employees, old son. Maybe you could be a little more flexible.”

Marie Jourdain said, “It’s after 10:00 PM in France.”

Brandon’s eyes flicked away. “I’m calling our ride.”

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