Caldryn Parliament

Category: Random Thoughts

  • Nurturing AI

    a toddler feeding a robot

    Do we have a responsibility to feed the current generation of AIs so that they’re formed by more than troll-farm slop?

    Everything I write on my website or publish on my Facebook page is available for scraping. Yes, I own the copyright to that work, but I’m okay with AI ventures feeding that data to their monsters. If we want AI to be less monstrous we have to shape it. These incipient AIs are a very clear demonstration of what’s always been true; namely, that what we communicate (in words, music, painting, dancing, etc.) shapes our society.

    If we want “nice” AIs we have to feed them decency.

    And yes, I know it’s more complicated than that. AI ethicists are clear that the rules written into AIs must adhere to our social values. What’s under dispute are the nature of those values and how to resolve conflict between them. What is protected under freedom of speech? What should be forever silenced?

    Maybe as the current adults in a world where a new sapience may emerge we should all communicate our best thoughts and hopes and be the people we hope the AIs will respect and imitate.

    I’ve been binge-reading The Legend of the Arch Magus series by Michael Sisa. If you like overpowered heroes and can tolerate some violence in your fantasy novels, it’s good. I preferred the earlier books with the town building and discovering the world, but I’ll keep reading. Thankfully it’s in Kindle Unlimited so my book budget can survive the hit. The series is 14 books so far.

  • Recommended!

    a painting of a fairy holding a golden heart

    Despite all the algorithmic nonsense that rules our online lives, the best marketing tool remains word-of-mouth recommendations.

    I’ve been thinking about this a lot because my books aren’t in bricks and mortar bookstores or libraries. Yes, I want to get paperback editions out, but that’s a 2026 goal and, even then, there’s a heap of hurdles before my paperbacks appear in-person (so to speak).

    You see, in bookstores and libraries the booksellers and librarians advocate for books. They stock them and they promote them.

    But when you’re online, your advocate is an uncaring bunch of algorithms and—vitally—real people.

    Reviews from real people (as opposed to those from Scammer-McScammer-Mucky-Faces) teach the algorithms and make them unbelievably more effective at putting an author’s books in front of the right readers. Consequently, reviews are angel feathers from heaven for authors, especially for indie authors.

    But even better than reviews are recommendations. When someone mentions my books to a new reader I swear, an angel gets their wings!

    Looking at what I’ve recommended recently—not just books—reveals something fascinating. It took a bit of digging and self-reflection, but I persisted with the question of why I recommend so few things.

    Recommendations require you to share part of yourself. A recommendation reveals what you value. If something left you happier, healthier, braver, or whatever the experience was, recommending it to someone permits them a peek into your life and soul. You’re inviting them to know you.

    For some people being known is a thrill. Chasing intimacy is a joy in their life. However, for others of us, being known is scary. The truth is, though, that being known is the only way to build genuine, enduring connections. So, take a leap occasionally and share something you value with someone you value. A recommendation is a gift.

  • A Space of Our Own

    Last week I mentioned Patricia C Wrede, her fantasy novels, and their brilliant world-building. If you’re an author, let me recommend her advice on writing and world-building.

    But I also want to talk about world-building from a different perspective. In creating Caldryn Parliament and its Realm I deliberately set about building a safe space. There is danger in it, as well as heartbreak and grief. Nonetheless, it is a space removed from real life; one where I can guarantee a happy ever after.

    The intriguing aspect of a created safe space is that it becomes a place where we can play. Novels are where we safely explore and test ideas. In reading we become different people in different worlds making courageous decisions and surviving (at least in my books) to go on to new adventures.

    Underpinning this concept of a safe space is Foucault’s notion of heterotopia, of “other spaces”.

    Writing this post I took a deep breath, and then, opted for the sensible decision of providing you with a link to his thoughts on heterotopia rather than trying and failing to summarise them. This isn’t just intellectual inability or laziness on my part. The article I’m linking to gives so many jumping off points for understanding how the setting we choose for a novel frames the otherness of the story and contributes to what we explore.

    So, thank you to MIT for sharing the article. It is a pdf and will probably download automatically, so please be aware of this before clicking the link: https://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/foucault1.pdf