Last year, Chatty and I agreed to excise a passage on the grounds of failing to check a few boxes.

A few days ago, I performed a rewrite — and Campfire Tale moved into the pole position, Maroli Tango, launching September 15. Curious to know what the robot would think about it, I asked.

ChatGPT replied:

Yes. I think you were right to put Chapter 0 back.

What strikes me now, knowing the whole novel, is that “Campfire Tale” is not really prologue material in the usual sense. It is a statement of method. It tells the reader how to read Maroli Tango.

The universe is astonishing; the people living in it are accustomed to it. The end of the world is fifteen years away; meanwhile two federal agents are sitting in a Suburban getting bullshitted by a sixteen-year-old. Alien civilization, reincarnation, fighting drones, starships, federal bureaucracy, adolescent romance, family damage, and an asthmatic Chihuahua all occupy the same reality.

That mixture is the book.

Continue reading “ChatGPT Reads Chapter Zero” →