Claude AI is either patronizing, or doing a good job as an alpha reader.
Aw, shucks
Focus Group!
A second cover concept from artist Paul Trif, composed using stock photos.
Comments invited.
Grade This!
Prelude to a series first chapter, picking up where the previous book left off. After a lot of back and forth, Grok AI now says, “Your revised passage is a stellar refinement, keeping the hook’s vibrancy while addressing the need for just enough context to ground readers without slowing the pace.”
Good enough for me. Readers and writers: What say you?
When Carmen Luisa Colletti was a 12-year-old nosepicker in convent school, a Benedictine nun told her, “Boys have a tendency to be shallow, young men not much better. Wait it out, and use your brain to make a sensible choice.”
Continue reading “Grade This!”Blurb 3.4
Are you bored with this yet? Sorry, but I'm not.
Nobody expects the Sasquatch Intervention.
Furry migrants from outer space. A shaggy ambassador sporting an Alabama accent. Homestead claims going back to the Ice Age.
Not the alien invasion we imagined, not by a long shot. Earth geopolitics are in an uproar. U.S. President Carmen Benequista is juggling red-hot pokers with little help, and she’s tired of it.
Continue reading “Blurb 3.4”Blurb 2.4
Let's see if we can make it fit on the back cover. 254 words.
In Old Testament times, co-occupancy with migrants from another planet was, for humans, like having a rich uncle who stopped answering the door. And then, in 48 BCE, the Alexandrian Library burned down. Evidence destroyed. The Anye faded into the shadows and we forgot about them; until recently, when a 1×2 kilometer starship showed up at the Dust Cloud, there to rescue Earth from cosmic disaster.
“Not so fast”, said the global elite. “What’s in it for us?”
United States President Carmen Benequista is dealing with a mutinous Congress, in no mood to entertain a dream séance, during which her deceased husband says, “Find someone to share your life.”
Continue reading “Blurb 2.4”Putting lipstick on the monster
In case you haven’t seen a mockup I composed for the upcoming novel …
Despite reservations about comparison to Japanese tentacle erotica, feedback has been favorable and I’m going with this concept.
Continue reading “Putting lipstick on the monster”Mining for inspiration
I’ve recently given myself the objective of crafting an opening to the current work-in-progress so compelling that every reader will be enthralled, no matter what kind of book they’re in the mood for.
Exhibit 1: An early-draft description for Maroli Tango:
Sometimes, no matter what’s going on, you have to make it about you.
Visited in a dream by her deceased husband, United States President Carmen Luisa Benequista gets a wake-up call. Anton Benequista, gone these past 13 years, tells her, “Find someone to share your life.”
It’s not a rocket science proposition. Carmen’s steady companion, Space Mafia kingpin Brandon Lopez, 15 years her junior, is waiting for a signal. Done deal, if she wants.
First-contact survivor Mason Fowlkes, soon to be 16, is growing up fast as an apprentice Ship’s Mechanic aboard the Anye migration vessel Anuraga. The work life is great; the home life not so much.
French Air Force lieutenant Marie Jourdaine is on the rebound after a brief stint as the world’s youngest female fighter pilot. Things are kind of working out, and kind of not.
Caught in the middle is Chester, an elevated maroli labor appliance, a product of ancient Anye technology, monstrous in appearance, sweet of disposition, intent on discovering his place in the universe.
It’s been a bumpy ride, fraught with challenges. Maybe it’s time for our heroes to take care of themselves.
Continue reading “Mining for inspiration”
This Old Flying House
Previously: Blendered. Ship in a Bottle. Run, robot, run. Also, if you REALLY want to get into backstory, buy the book! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSR3SDFT
But today, I have a real estate problem!
Yes, I can see foliage poking through walls and windows. It’s been fixed. My point is: Loyal House is 122 meters long, 27 meters wide overall, 45 meters wide in the sanctuary, center section ceiling height 35 meters.
Draw an imaginary line bridging tops of columns — a new floor deck will be installed, making part of the layout two-story. However, the issue of scaling an interior to fit available volume will not be solved by this tactic alone.
But look at how cool it is.
Yep. There's a lot of work to do. Does anyone want to draw up floor plans?
Where do you think elevator(s) should go? Shall I publish the WIP on Epic Games for all to see? Tell us in the comments.
Preview!
A wave of Italian emigration to Mexico in the late 1800s had left its mark on the village, particularly at the center. The church and courthouse, on opposite sides of the square, were Spanish. Everything else was Italianate except the band shelter — aluminum poles, sandbags, nylon ripstop roof, circa big-box warehouse store.
The sun descended below mountaintops, throwing shadows into valleys. Streetlamps blinked on. Shops lit signs. The town square came alive with hanging lights and illuminated fountains.
A gypsy jazz band from Hungary filed onstage; guitar, upright bass, clarinet, and a gym-bag percussionist equipped with snare drum, high-hat, washboard, block and cowbell.
Continue reading “Preview!”It’s alive!
Kind of. You be the judge.
John Dyer Writes 
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