Hey, friendly folks.

Players of the Game Book 4: The Breakers will be coming soon.  Still working on a few behind-the-scenes items with formatting and cover stuff.

But I got the back cover blurb description done.  And it was a voyage in the weird future of using AI tools.

I tried out ChatGPT with writing the back cover blurb.  It was a... process.

First, I typed up a summary of the book's plot, which comprised a page and half of madly typed text on my part.  Then gave it parameters of how to sound: an excited marketing professional speaking to an audience of sci-fi fantasy fans.

It spit out something that I'll describe as "neh".

Then I gave it a prompt of pretending to be a prompt engineer and give me 10 suggestions of what else I could ask it to keep working with the information I provided it.  It gave me ten questions.

And I typed up another two pages of context, plot, and character info.  And it spat out something less "neh", but a little better.

I tried having it try doing it like a movie trailer.  It, of course, gave me something starting with "In a world..."  Sigh.

But it did have some nuggets that I used to write something on my own.  I put it in and asked for 5 ways to improve it.  It gave me a few more concise sentences than what I typed.

Finally, I wanted to make this opening line shorter: "Hope got the tattooed goddess imprisoned in an unbreakable ice dungeon. It just might also get her out."

It refined it to this: "Hope once imprisoned the tattooed goddess, but now it may set her free."  I like it!

So, here is the version I'm currently planning on using, mostly from me, with a little AI feedback:

"Hope imprisoned the tattooed goddess for 1600 years, but now it may set her free.

Amid a world war spanning across a supercontinent, Ashe Stelfire and his allies embark on a quest to liberate her. But first they must battle the dark empire pounding on the door of a beleaguered frontier city with an arsenal of dark magic and bleeding-edge technology.

From the old soldier god’s forgotten lair, to the toxic red haze of a forest of madness, to the forgotten subterranean sea, to the icy depths of an extra-dimensional fortress, their journey treads on the precipice of disaster.

Knowing that their struggle is all part of Corsis’s Game, their only hope is to break its rules.

And to break out the tattooed goddess from her dungeon of unbreakable ice.

Prepare for an epic saga of redemption and courage. Join the fight against tyranny and dare to hope for better tomorrows in The Breakers.

Get it now."

So I typed pages upon pages to boil it down to 157 words.  Writing is indeed rewriting.  And AI tools are going to make that...

Just.  Weird.

And also, far more important.

I would rather write tens of thousands of words in a novel, than 200 words of marketing copy.

Neh.

Skred is not what he seems.

He looks like a Demon fused with a horrific form of ethereal cybernetics.  An ugly fighter who does ugly deeds.

He is a holographic alias used by Xax when he needs to mix in with rougher locales.  Something unlike his simplistic silver chassis.  But also similar.

Especially his smile.  Not ridiculously proportioned, but still most notable.

Even half-covered by a metal plate.

Find out how Xax uses his Skred disguise in The New Players.

Due to other goings on in my life, this Reader Group email is a bit later this month.

And my last batch of second draft chapters is also bigger as a result with the added week or so.  I finished The Game War's second draft with last remaining 22 chapters.  That's better than the 13 chapters from last month.

I'm expecting the third draft to go faster with a bunch of chronology checking and last coats of paint for the story.  We'll see how much I get in between now and my next update.

Scrivener did indeed make it much easier to split, move, and add scenes.  I expect to keep using it as a tool for editing and outlining.  I'm still leaning toward Word for first drafts. 

But we'll see how I feel when I have an actual first draft blinking its cursor at me.

Players of the Game Out of Context Quote of the Month:

Hekati: "They’re all calling it the Game War now.”

Corsis let out a silent chuckle. “It does have a ring to it.”

“Hush.” She flicked a finger against his knuckle in reprisal.

System Collapse by Martha Wells

Murderbot is back for more introverted awkward adventures.  It's still dealing with the fallout from its encounter with alien invasive organisms from the last novel.  Including a panic attack induced by its organic parts, which it redacts from its retelling of the first half of the novel.

It and its humans from a research and education enclave must engage in a PR struggle with a devious corporation as both try to win over an isolated community of colonists at the contested planet's pole.

And Murderbot's love of all things entertainment media will come into play.

As will copious amounts of violence.

It wouldn't be an installment of the Murderbot Diaries without it.

The Fall Guy

I dimly remember watching the old Lee Majors show as a kid with the "stunt man fighting crime" premise.  And of course the theme song.

This new movie with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt basically just takes the name Colt Sievers and makes a whole different character and story out of it.  But they keep the stunt man investigating and fighting crime aspect of it.

And it's pretty fun.

The stunts were great of course.  And the humor was really well done.  Especially a bit where Blunt and Gosling discuss their estrangement over megaphones in front of the whole crew subbing in the movie-in-movie characters for themselves.

It celebrates stunt people and all they do.

And its a fantastic date movie with both action and a compelling love plot between the two main characters.

Give it a watch.

That's all for this time.

Stay smart.  Stay safe.

Jim