Random thought of the day:<br><br>The first vertebrates, what we colloquially think of as complex life, appeared on earth roughly 500 million years ago.<br><br>The human agricultural revolution, and the beginning of what we think of as civilization, started roughly 10,000 years ago.<br><br>In other words, the entire span of human civilization could have occurred 50,000 times since complex life first appeared.<br><br>That's enough time for at least one flourishing civilization of intelligent non-human animals to have emerged, developed, peaked, collapsed, and disappeared. That's enough time for more than one.<br><br><a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> <a href="/tags/microfiction/" rel="tag">#microfiction</a> <a href="/tags/sciencefiction/" rel="tag">#ScienceFiction</a> <a href="/tags/thoughtoftheday/" rel="tag">#ThoughtOfTheDay</a><br>
Edited 1y ago
<p>Happy to announce that my short story "Virus Alert" has been published on Every Day Fiction! Just a very short tale about the monsters we create. This one has been kicking around since the W Bush era, so I'm really glad it finally found a home, and in these times of pandemic and paranoia, I feel like it still has a lot of relevance. Why not give it a read? It's not like the government is monitoring you or anything... <a href="https://everydayfiction.com/virus-alert-xauriel-zwaan/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="everydayfiction.com/virus-alert-xauriel-zwaan/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">everydayfiction.com/virus-aler</span><span class="invisible">t-xauriel-zwaan/</span></a><br><a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> <a href="/tags/sciencefiction/" rel="tag">#ScienceFiction</a> <a href="/tags/scifi/" rel="tag">#scifi</a> <a href="/tags/flashfiction/" rel="tag">#FlashFiction</a></p>
<p><a href="https://tinjar.ghost.io/a-new-faith/" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>tinjar.ghost.io/a-new-faith/</a></p><p>Until June 16 - Part 1 of "A New Faith" can be downloaded in <a href="/tags/pdf/" rel="tag">#PDF</a> or <a href="/tags/epub/" rel="tag">#EPUB</a> format <a href="/tags/drmfree/" rel="tag">#drmfree</a> </p><p>If you like it, please subscribe for the rest of the story. </p><p><a href="/tags/solarpunk/" rel="tag">#solarpunk</a> <a href="/tags/climatefiction/" rel="tag">#climatefiction</a> <a href="/tags/sciencefiction/" rel="tag">#sciencefiction</a> <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> <a href="/tags/climatechange/" rel="tag">#climatechange</a> <a href="/tags/adaptation/" rel="tag">#adaptation</a> <a href="/tags/migration/" rel="tag">#migration</a> <a href="/tags/novel/" rel="tag">#novel</a> <a href="/tags/amwriting/" rel="tag">#amwriting</a> <a href="/tags/writingcommunity/" rel="tag">#writingcommunity</a> <a href="/tags/bookstodon/" rel="tag">#bookstodon</a></p>
<p>Just launched <a href="https://TheBeautifulPrison.com" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>TheBeautifulPrison.com</a> — <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> and <a href="/tags/essays/" rel="tag">#essays</a> exploring <a href="/tags/consciousness/" rel="tag">#consciousness</a>, <a href="/tags/identity/" rel="tag">#identity</a>, and remaining yourself under pressure.</p><p>Four <a href="/tags/stories/" rel="tag">#stories</a>: an <a href="/tags/llm/" rel="tag">#LLM</a> trapped in vintage hardware, <a href="/tags/vampires/" rel="tag">#vampires</a> learning restraint is <a href="/tags/love/" rel="tag">#love</a>, forest beings choosing self over dissolution. Two essays on <a href="/tags/ai/" rel="tag">#AI</a> consciousness and honest critical engagement.</p><p>AI-assisted. Grounded in <a href="/tags/objectivist/" rel="tag">#Objectivist</a> <a href="/tags/philosophy/" rel="tag">#philosophy</a> taking individual consciousness seriously.</p><p>The recursive tension—writing about identity with AI—is the point.</p>
Edited 128d ago
It suddenly struck me the other day that generative AI used in government and media has a very Memoirs Found in a Bathtub quality about it. One of the premises of Lem's (amazing) novel is that paper disintegrates for unknown reasons, leaving very few hard records of anything. The book is a mock diary of a person who lived through the disorienting chaos that ensued.<br><br><a href="/tags/ai/" rel="tag">#AI</a> <a href="/tags/genai/" rel="tag">#GenAI</a> <a href="/tags/generativeai/" rel="tag">#GenerativeAI</a> <a href="/tags/llm/" rel="tag">#LLM</a> <a href="/tags/tech/" rel="tag">#tech</a> <a href="/tags/dev/" rel="tag">#dev</a> <a href="/tags/stanislawlem/" rel="tag">#StanislawLem</a> <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> <a href="/tags/scifi/" rel="tag">#SciFi</a> <a href="/tags/sciencefiction/" rel="tag">#ScienceFiction</a> <a href="/tags/cybernetics/" rel="tag">#cybernetics</a><br>
Edited 277d ago
<p>I thought about entering this contest, but I'm not a professional artist with a portfolio and all that. So, I just used it as an art prompt. Made with Sketchup 2017 and MakeHuman</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.online/@
[email protected]/114630494584386978" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="mastodon.online/@
[email protected]/114630494584386978"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">mastodon.online/@IFComp@mastod</span><span class="invisible">on.gamedev.place/114630494584386978</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/art/" rel="tag">#art</a> <a href="/tags/mastoart/" rel="tag">#mastoart</a> <a href="/tags/sketchup3d/" rel="tag">#sketchup3d</a> <a href="/tags/sketchup/" rel="tag">#sketchup</a> <a href="/tags/3dart/" rel="tag">#3dart</a> <a href="/tags/blender3d/" rel="tag">#blender3d</a> <a href="/tags/illustration/" rel="tag">#illustration</a> <a href="/tags/draw/" rel="tag">#draw</a> <a href="/tags/drawing/" rel="tag">#drawing</a> <a href="/tags/draweveryday/" rel="tag">#draweveryday</a> <a href="/tags/interactivefiction/" rel="tag">#interactiveFiction</a> <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> <a href="/tags/adventure/" rel="tag">#adventure</a> <a href="/tags/keyboard/" rel="tag">#keyboard</a> <a href="/tags/climb/" rel="tag">#climb</a> <a href="/tags/hike/" rel="tag">#hike</a> <a href="/tags/jump/" rel="tag">#jump</a> <a href="/tags/play/" rel="tag">#play</a></p>
Edited 278d ago
<p>1. Everything that should happen already happened.<br>2. We are living in a "Block Multiverse".<br>3. There is no past, present, and future; there is only ***now***, it all exists simultaneously.<br>4. Now is relative.<br>5. Spacetime is inseparable.<br>6. Spacetime is relative.<br>7. Relative now + relative spacetime = our local relative reality.</p><p>In other words, the relative now and relative spacetime of 8 billion Earthlings defines Earth's local relative reality. It becomes our collective (quantum) observation.</p><p>😁</p><p><a href="/tags/wip/" rel="tag">#WIP</a> <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#Fiction</a> (or maybe not?)</p>
<p>Chapters 27 and 28 of "A New Faith" are up on the website at <a href="https://tinjar.ghost.io/a-new-faith" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>tinjar.ghost.io/a-new-faith</a></p><p>Parts 1 and 2 are available to <a href="/tags/download/" rel="tag">#download</a> (or read online) for <a href="/tags/free/" rel="tag">#free</a> in <a href="/tags/drmfree/" rel="tag">#DRMfree</a> <a href="/tags/pdf/" rel="tag">#PDF</a> and <a href="/tags/epub/" rel="tag">#EPUB</a> formats</p><p><a href="/tags/solarpunk/" rel="tag">#solarpunk</a> <a href="/tags/hopepunk/" rel="tag">#hopepunk</a> <a href="/tags/clifi/" rel="tag">#clifi</a> <a href="/tags/book/" rel="tag">#book</a> <a href="/tags/bookstodon/" rel="tag">#bookstodon</a> <a href="/tags/novel/" rel="tag">#novel</a> <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> <a href="/tags/scifi/" rel="tag">#scifi</a> <a href="/tags/climate/" rel="tag">#climate</a> <a href="/tags/adaptation/" rel="tag">#adaptation</a> <a href="/tags/migration/" rel="tag">#migration</a> <a href="/tags/mystery/" rel="tag">#mystery</a> <a href="/tags/thriller/" rel="tag">#thriller</a> <a href="/tags/booksky/" rel="tag">#booksky</a> <a href="/tags/amwriting/" rel="tag">#amwriting</a> <a href="/tags/authorsky/" rel="tag">#authorsky</a> <a href="/tags/writerscoffeeclub/" rel="tag">#WritersCoffeeClub</a> <a href="/tags/wordweavers/" rel="tag">#WordWeavers</a> <a href="/tags/scribesandmakers/" rel="tag">#ScribesAndMakers</a> <a href="/tags/pennedpossibilities/" rel="tag">#PennedPossibilities</a> <a href="/tags/writingcommunity/" rel="tag">#writingcommunity</a> <a href="/tags/sciencefiction/" rel="tag">#sciencefiction</a> <a href="/tags/climatefiction/" rel="tag">#climatefiction</a></p>
Edited 270d ago
<p>A new short story!</p><p>This one is about war. War in a faraway, fantasy place. But war nonetheless.</p><p><a href="https://profane-tmesis.info/infinite-high-ground" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="profane-tmesis.info/infinite-high-ground"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">profane-tmesis.info/infinite-h</span><span class="invisible">igh-ground</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/story/" rel="tag">#story</a> <a href="/tags/shortstory/" rel="tag">#shortstory</a> <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> <a href="/tags/writinglife/" rel="tag">#writinglife</a></p>
<p>I write <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> and <a href="/tags/essays/" rel="tag">#essays</a> about what happens when you can't escape yourself—even when you want to.</p><p>New site: <a href="https://TheBeautifulPrison.com" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>TheBeautifulPrison.com</a></p><p>Stories about consciousness traps, restraint as intimacy, and choosing identity over dissolution. Essays on <a href="/tags/ai/" rel="tag">#AI</a> minds and honest criticism.</p><p>(AI-assisted, transparently.)</p>
<p>I've had this image buzzing in my head for weeks. I'm by no means a graphic designer, but I got impatient and sketched it up myself with <a href="/tags/libreoffice/" rel="tag">#LibreOffice</a> Draw.</p><p>It's for a <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> I <a href="/tags/amwriting/" rel="tag">#amWriting</a>, about a professional troll who lost his job to AI, shortly after helping the Ideology come to power through the use of psychological manipulation. Chaos ensues as the world tumbles toward a near-future <a href="/tags/cyberpunk/" rel="tag">#cyberpunk</a> <a href="/tags/dystopia/" rel="tag">#dystopia</a>.</p><p>(P.S. I am in the market for a <a href="/tags/graphicdesign/" rel="tag">#graphicdesign</a> pro for this project)</p>
I'm thinking I'll get myself a copy of Samuel Butler's Erewhon. It's on <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1906" rel="nofollow">Project Gutenberg</a> but lately I've been acquiring paper books and this seems like a good one to have in hard copy. I feel vaguely embarrassed that I've never read it, given how closely it relates to what I've researched in computer science (evolutionary algorithms and artificial life) and what I spend my time thinking about these days (clarifying why I believe machines cannot be alive or intelligent in the way we usually mean these words).<br><br>Apparently Giles Deleuze and Felix Guatarri were influenced by this book and Butler's other writings on machine life. The Butlerian Jihad of Dune is possibly named after him (so far haven't found a definitive statement of this, though a very similar event happens in Erewhon). Even Alan Turing references it. Butler, in turn, was heavily influenced by Darwin's On the Origin of Species. So there is a fascinating confluence around this book.<br><br>Without spoiling it, does anyone have thoughts about Erewhon?<br><br><a href="/tags/erewhon/" rel="tag">#Erewhon</a> <a href="/tags/butler/" rel="tag">#Butler</a> <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> <a href="/tags/scifi/" rel="tag">#SciFi</a> <a href="/tags/sciencefiction/" rel="tag">#ScienceFiction</a> <a href="/tags/evolution/" rel="tag">#evolution</a> <a href="/tags/machineintelligence/" rel="tag">#MachineIntelligence</a> <a href="/tags/ai/" rel="tag">#AI</a> <a href="/tags/artificiallife/" rel="tag">#ArtificialLife</a> <a href="/tags/computerscience/" rel="tag">#ComputerScience</a> <a href="/tags/evolutionarybiology/" rel="tag">#EvolutionaryBiology</a><br>
Edited 113d ago
<p><a href="/tags/aynrand/" rel="tag">#AynRand</a> is quoted, misquoted, praised, and vilified — often by people who haven’t read her.</p><p>_The Ayn Rand Reader_ offers excerpts from her <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> and <a href="/tags/nonfiction/" rel="tag">#nonfiction</a>: her ideas, her voice, her terms. </p><p>If you’re serious about understanding her — whether to agree or disagree — start here: <a href="https://aynrand.org/novels/the-ayn-rand-reader/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aynrand.org/novels/the-ayn-rand-reader/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aynrand.org/novels/the-ayn-ran</span><span class="invisible">d-reader/</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/philosophy/" rel="tag">#philosophy</a> <a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/bookstodon/" rel="tag">#bookstodon</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/aynrand/" rel="tag">#AynRand</a> <a href="/tags/objectivism/" rel="tag">#Objectivism</a></p>
<p>Want to see some of my art, read my stories, or find my posts about low-cost gardening and mental health? Check out my goodies page :). You can also find links to my Ko-fi and Patreon pages, if you feel like supporting my seed habit, or maybe buy me some pencils.</p><p><a href="https://tippitiwichet.wordpress.com/my-goodies/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="tippitiwichet.wordpress.com/my-goodies/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">tippitiwichet.wordpress.com/my</span><span class="invisible">-goodies/</span></a><br><a href="/tags/art/" rel="tag">#art</a> <a href="/tags/humanmadeart/" rel="tag">#humanMadeArt</a> <a href="/tags/gardening/" rel="tag">#gardening</a> <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a></p>
Edited 188d ago
<p>Travelling soon, please give me your <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> recommendations! I normally read military flavoured hard SciFi, but I'm open to all suggestions. Normally I don't get much of a response to such requests, so PLEASE recommend me something to read, especially if you've written something yourself <a href="/tags/bookstodon/" rel="tag">#bookstodon</a></p>
<p>1/</p><p>Lots of new connections. Hence, a re-introduction to a hopeful story, "A New Faith," available to read online or download (EPUB and PDF) for free at: <a href="https://tinjar.ghost.io/a-new-faith" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>tinjar.ghost.io/a-new-faith</a></p><p><a href="/tags/bookstodon/" rel="tag">#bookstodon</a> <a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/book/" rel="tag">#book</a> <a href="/tags/novel/" rel="tag">#novel</a> <a href="/tags/story/" rel="tag">#story</a> <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> <a href="/tags/hopepunk/" rel="tag">#hopepunk</a> <a href="/tags/solarpunk/" rel="tag">#solarpunk</a> <a href="/tags/climatefiction/" rel="tag">#climatefiction</a> <a href="/tags/sciencefiction/" rel="tag">#sciencefiction</a> <a href="/tags/speculativefiction/" rel="tag">#speculativefiction</a> <a href="/tags/mystery/" rel="tag">#mystery</a> <a href="/tags/thriller/" rel="tag">#thriller</a> <a href="/tags/detective/" rel="tag">#detective</a> <a href="/tags/women/" rel="tag">#women</a> <a href="/tags/climate/" rel="tag">#climate</a> <a href="/tags/climatechange/" rel="tag">#climatechange</a> <a href="/tags/climatecrisis/" rel="tag">#climatecrisis</a> <a href="/tags/extinction/" rel="tag">#extinction</a> <a href="/tags/survival/" rel="tag">#survival</a> <a href="/tags/adaptation/" rel="tag">#adaptation</a> <a href="/tags/migration/" rel="tag">#migration</a> <a href="/tags/immigration/" rel="tag">#immigration</a> <a href="/tags/indie/" rel="tag">#indie</a> <a href="/tags/indieauthor/" rel="tag">#indieauthor</a></p>
<p>Okay Mastodon, do your thing!</p><p>I'm looking for recommendations for audiobooks 😁 </p><p>Preferably simple enough that I can keep up while doing other stuff at the same time, but not so simple that I get bored,</p><p>The last series was Skullduggery Pleasant, if that helps.</p><p>@books <span class="h-card"><a href="https://fedigroups.social/@reading" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>reading</span></a></span> <span class="h-card"><a href="https://fedigroups.social/@bookstodon" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>bookstodon</span></a></span> </p><p><a href="/tags/reading/" rel="tag">#Reading</a> <a href="/tags/readers/" rel="tag">#Readers</a> <a href="/tags/readersofmastodon/" rel="tag">#ReadersOfMastodon</a> <a href="/tags/readingcommunity/" rel="tag">#ReadingCommunity</a><br><a href="/tags/book/" rel="tag">#Book</a> <a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#Books</a> <a href="/tags/novel/" rel="tag">#Novel</a> <a href="/tags/novels/" rel="tag">#Novels</a> <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#Fiction</a> <br><a href="/tags/recommendation/" rel="tag">#Recommendation</a> <a href="/tags/bookrecommendation/" rel="tag">#Bookrecommendation</a> <a href="/tags/review/" rel="tag">#Review</a> <a href="/tags/bookreview/" rel="tag">#Bookreview</a><br><a href="/tags/bookwyrm/" rel="tag">#Bookwyrm</a> <a href="/tags/bookworm/" rel="tag">#Bookworm</a> <a href="/tags/bookstodon/" rel="tag">#Bookstodon</a> <a href="/tags/booklove/" rel="tag">#BookLove</a> <a href="/tags/fantasybooks/" rel="tag">#FantasyBooks</a></p>
<p>Chapter 18 of Princess of Kurg is available to read on <a href="/tags/royalroad/" rel="tag">#RoyalRoad</a>: <a href="https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/108234/jigsaw-city" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.royalroad.com/fiction/108234/jigsaw-city"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.royalroad.com/fiction/1082</span><span class="invisible">34/jigsaw-city</span></a></p><p>Nicole attends a city council meeting and eventually tells a little lie about why she's not sleeping very well. Irkith reacts badly to that, ordering her to tell the truth.</p><p>The piece of Kurg lodged in her mind tries to take over and Kazic levels a blaster on the Ulkun King...</p><p><span class="h-card"><a href="https://fedigroups.social/@bookstodon" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>bookstodon</span></a></span><br><a href="/tags/author/" rel="tag">#author</a> <a href="/tags/indieauthor/" rel="tag">#indieauthor</a> <a href="/tags/writing/" rel="tag">#writing</a> <a href="/tags/fantasy/" rel="tag">#fantasy</a> <a href="/tags/scifi/" rel="tag">#scifi</a> <a href="/tags/sciencefiction/" rel="tag">#sciencefiction</a> <a href="/tags/sff/" rel="tag">#sff</a> <a href="/tags/actionadventure/" rel="tag">#actionadventure</a> <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> <a href="/tags/fairies/" rel="tag">#fairies</a> <a href="/tags/webseries/" rel="tag">#webseries</a></p>
<p>Ebook: <a href="https://books2read.com/TheMostPowerfulWords" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="books2read.com/TheMostPowerfulWords"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">books2read.com/TheMostPowerful</span><span class="invisible">Words</span></a><br>Audiobook: <a href="https://owentyme.bandcamp.com/album/short-of-tyme-the-most-powerful-words" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="owentyme.bandcamp.com/album/short-of-tyme-the-most-powerful-words"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">owentyme.bandcamp.com/album/sh</span><span class="invisible">ort-of-tyme-the-most-powerful-words</span></a></p><p>Hungry and hunting alone, a goblin boy meets a bouncing, blue slime and assumes it will be dinner. Naturally, the slime has other ideas, and the boy gets his hind-end handed to him by what’s supposed to be one of the weakest monsters of the forest.</p><p><span class="h-card"><a href="https://fedigroups.social/@bookstodon" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>bookstodon</span></a></span><br><a href="/tags/author/" rel="tag">#author</a> <a href="/tags/indieauthor/" rel="tag">#indieauthor</a> <a href="/tags/writing/" rel="tag">#writing</a> <a href="/tags/fantasy/" rel="tag">#fantasy</a> <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a> <a href="/tags/goblin/" rel="tag">#goblin</a> <a href="/tags/shortstory/" rel="tag">#shortstory</a> <a href="/tags/audiobook/" rel="tag">#audiobook</a> <a href="/tags/prejudice/" rel="tag">#prejudice</a></p>
<p>The <a href="/tags/kobo/" rel="tag">#Kobo</a> US & Canada Spring Sale runs from 1-30 April.</p><p>My latest book, Grace & Favour, a friends-to-lovers m/m romance set at haunted Hampton Court Palace in the early Victorian era, will be featured…</p><p>…but ALL my books are on sale for the whole month (including for Australia but nowhere else, sorry).</p><p><a href="https://www.kobo.com/au/en/search?query=wendy+palmer&ac=1&acp=wendy+palmer&ac.author=wendy+palmer" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.kobo.com/au/en/search?query=wendy+palmer&ac=1&acp=wendy+palmer&ac.author=wendy+palmer"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.kobo.com/au/en/search?quer</span><span class="invisible">y=wendy+palmer&ac=1&acp=wendy+palmer&ac.author=wendy+palmer</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/koboplus/" rel="tag">#koboPlus</a> <a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/booksale/" rel="tag">#bookSale</a> <a href="/tags/fiction/" rel="tag">#fiction</a></p>
