Swords Against Smog: SWORDS IN THE MIST by Fritz Leiber

Posted on March 5, 2023 by JE

In summary: This late-60s collection includes what many consider to be the two best stories about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, as well as the earliest complete story about the Mighty Twain. As such it’s essential reading for the sword-and-sorcery enthusiast. And for once it’s a Leiber book without a convoluted publication history, because—just kidding! It’s fairly complicated, at least as regards the last, longest, and earliest-written story in the book. But more of that below. Anyway, it’s not strictly relevant to the entertainment-value of the book, which is high.

A barbarian, bending backward with effort, catches a meteor (?) on his short curved blade. Mist and human bones in the foreground; a castle in the background.
Jeffrey Catherine Jones’ classic cover to the 1st Ace edition (1968).
The cover has nothing to do with the story, but… who cares?
Continue reading →
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Turn Up This Cruched Way

Posted on March 4, 2023 by JE

Typo of the day is cruch (where I intended to type crush).

I figure cruching is like crushing, only with more crunch. And maybe you need a crutch afterwards.

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“Brain and Brain! What Is Brain?”

Posted on March 3, 2023 by JE

Some great demonstrations here of how chatbots don’t think. I especially like the bot’s explanation of why a pound of feathers weighs the same as two pounds of bricks. An entity that could think would recognize the issue there. The chatbot just generates text based on probability—like any lazy writer trying to baffle you with bullshit because they can’t dazzle you with brilliance. The “college essays” that so awed the gullible last winter were cut from the same threadbare cloth.

I don’t think actual artificial intelligence is impossible, but this stuff is like putting human clothes on a chair and saying, “We’re pretty close to creating an actual person! All we need to do is figure out how clothes generate people!” Since they don’t, the wait is going to be longer than Musk et al. expect. If it ever happens, it’ll be through some completely different approach, e.g.: an artificial brain that rivals a human brain in its complexity and function.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23622120/elon-musk-solve-ai-chatgpt-wrong

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More Morlock

Posted on March 2, 2023 by JE

I made a couple of sales in February: “The Venomous Sands of Amas Lamaar” to Tales from the Magician’s Skull (slated for issue 13) and “Evil Honey” to Old Moon Quarterly (slated for issue 3).

Left: TftMS 1 (art by Jim Pavelec). Right: OMQ 2 (art by Christopher Maxwell)

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Human vs. Parrot

Posted on March 1, 2023 by JE

A great piece by Elizabeth Weil about Emily Bender, who is waging a war of ideas against stochastic parrots.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-chatbots-emily-m-bender.html

Emily Bender sitting on a stool, looking at a parrot sitting on her shoulder.

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Sticker Shock

Posted on February 27, 2023 by JE

Um. Geeze. I guess I won’t be pursuing my interest in collecting Shel Silverstein’s cartoons any time soon.

Two listings from ABE Books: Silverstein's 1960 collection "Now Here's My Plan", priced at US$350.00, and "Playboy's Silverstein Around the World" priced at US$250.00.
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Diana in the News!

Posted on February 26, 2023 by JE

My partner in crime is interviewed in this piece on improv and therapy in the Toledo Blade. Some people say she’s great; some people say she’s amazing; others aren’t sure, but think ”Maybe both!”.

https://www.toledoblade.com/health-well-being/2023/02/26/laughter-best-medicine-some-doctors-say-it-can-t-hurt/stories/20230221075

Diana DePasquale standing in front of the “Glass City Improv” banner in the Valentine Theater’s Studio A. glasscityimprov.com
uncredited photo of D accompanying the Blade piece,
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The Tedium of Infinity

Posted on February 24, 2023 by JE

Maybe the suits at Marvel should have read Niven’s “All the Myriad Ways” before going all-in on the Multiverse. It’s not as if you can’t make a good movie with the concept (e.g. INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE), but it does have its depressing aspects.

Dean Ellis’ cover for the first edition
of Niven’s collection.
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Romance and Murder: DOROTHY L. SAYERS, HER LIFE & SOUL by Barbara Reynolds

Posted on February 21, 2023 by JE

In summary: This is the best biography of Sayers that I have read, or am likely to read.

cover of the 1st US edition, featuring a photo of Sayers as a young woman
The 1st American edition of Reynolds’ biography
Continue reading →
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Invasion of the Stochastic Parrots

Posted on February 20, 2023 by JE

Apparently enough fatheads were taken in by the chatbot hype this winter to flood electronic submission portals with chatbot-written fiction.

At last there’s an option for the person who’s too dumb or lazy to read but who thinks they can write. They’re living in their own personal heaven, i.e. our hell.

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