A short introduction as to why so many countries in the future are monarchal in nature. Is it that I hate democracy or republicanism? No. I am just honest enough to understand that those forms of government do not scale up past the level of a city or county.
And that it is best for a government to look to its children and grandchildren, not the next election.
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A more technical discussion this time, directed at new or aspiring writers, to one, not think you will be a millionaire one year from now, and two, that if you do want that chance, your book better look as best it can on the outside and inside. That means spending money on cover artists and copyeditors.
As I say at the closing, if anyone has questions or comments or wants more information about what I’ve mentioned, please let me know in the Comments.
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My current and recommended copyeditor: Stephen Zimmer.
My current and recommended cover artist: Labelschmiede.
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Wednesday night was the weekly podcast of the Star Chamber Show, where I had been a guest back in early February. This week’s show was an “Open Lines” format. Not one to miss a chance to promote my stories, I show up around the 34:45 mark and finally shut up and leave about 1:19:00.
If you’re interested in Ricardo Montalban, the proper way to serve river otters and squirrels, as well as book formatting and what might be ahead in Machine Civilization, I invite you to pour a drink and have a listen. Cheers!
Building on last week’s post about a machine or tribe of them made in China, I thought to address the nation-states of my future history. I break them out as “Failed,” “Floundering,” “Polar Alliance,” and “Other.” This is one of my longest yet, eighteen minutes, as I have to circle to globe to get everyone in.
As I say at the closing, if anyone has questions or comments or wants more information about what I’ve mentioned, please let me know in the Comments.
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A listener posited the question: what if one or a tribe of the machines had been coded in China; communist China. As a DayJob colleague pointed out “you cannot order a bubble tea in China without it going onto your social credit score.”
What would that imply for an AI? I pursue that question. I think it would end poorly.
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A whole thirty minutes! And this is just the barest overview! We begin with Lily & Callie, broaden to their parents and families, then off to the surviving city-states of the former US, and finally a quick look at the rest of humans on Earth.
Very ambitious, but also a good start. I could spend thirty minutes on each main character, so was pleased to keep things under control as well as I did. Machine or human, any story is about people. For reference, a stemma, or family tree, is just below.
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My shortest installment to date as I didn’t want to wander into the weeds again over what I know about the other two tribes, the androids, and synths. Details such as that, I believe, will be dealt with when I turn my attention to talking about the books and stories themselves.
Even so, I cover a lot of ground in little time. Next week will see us turn to the human sides of Machine Civilization, specifically the human families of the Barretts and the Hartmanns. See everyone then!
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This was clearly a case of my reach exceeding my grasp… or the other way round. I’d the same short outline I did for the first podcast and thought “well, it should be about twenty or twenty-five minutes.” No. Once I got into the weeds, the details, of tribe Tohsaka, the first machine family, I knew this would spill over into two if not three ‘casts.
As you will hear me explain, with a future history called Machine Civilization, it is rather incumbent on me to present them, first. There are three classes of AI’s: pure code, androids, and synths. Within just the pure code group are three families, named for their corporations. I’ve managed to talk a bit about one today and will see what I can cover next Friday.
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Been meaning to begin this for some time, so better never than later. Many of my regular readers will know much of this backstory, but attention must be paid to beginnings. This will be a weekly feature wherein I talk about existing works, current projects, and blue-sky ideas. I hope everyone enjoys!
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Listen to “Machine Civilization” on Spreaker.
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machciv 