This is the thing people never seem to understand! LLMs are mimicking the language patterns, from enormous amounts of data, that we have given it. This sounds exactly like a movie script because it's been trained on things we would write to sound like this!
Of course, they didn't tell us there were only two exhibits -- both on things we're not interested in -- until we'd paid for the tickets. I think we spent a total of 10 minutes there.
In NYC recently, partner and I came across the Paley Center for Media, paid $20 each to go to their "museum," and it was probably the worst money we ever spent on a museum. Two exhibits, both incredibly half-assed and cheap, basically just info from wikipedia and some game cabinets to play Pac Man.
Reboots are such a funny example of cruel optimism, because everyone knows they're bad, but the second something you personally like gets a reboot, you think "well, maybe...?" And the answer is always, still, NO!
The answer to any and all reboots is "no." Just don't. Things were what they were, as they were.
The answer in the case of Firefly is "no!"
The willing adoption of so-called AI technology at every level of academia, by people actively demonstrating their lack of interest in what academia is and is good for, and in less than 3 years, is one of the strangest, dumbest, and most devastating things to happen to higher education in decades.
Yeah, when this is their research process to find a publisher, that seems like a pretty strong assumption to make.
I figured, though, why waste too much time on people who are so unserious about this process that they asked a Ouija board how to do what is very clearly explained, in no uncertain terms, on our website -- something that no one who has ever read our website has ever gotten wrong?
I really considered something like that, but my response boiled down to something more like "per our actual website..." and "weird that CoPilot gave you the wrong information. Best of luck!" So, more smart ass but plausible deniability. After an hour of rewriting it different ways.
💀💀💀
Publishing WTF moment:
I get a pitch for a book that's pro-AI pedagogy, asking me which proposal guidelines to use, as we have 2 files on our website.
We only have 1 file on our website.
The second file is 8 years old and not publicly available.
I ask where they got it. /1
It's absolutely essential that authors understand that editors are often working on a hundred or more different projects at every stage.
We cannot remember or keep track of everything, even when we have great organizational strategies.
how* not who
And what's worse is they want to publish a book teaching students who to do this! Even if they looked at our website, and so did supposed due diligence by "fact checking" the AI, they took the AI answer as an equal fact and as reason to question the actual, publicly available information!
I *genuinely* do not understand why someone would do this, why someone would not simply look at a website. I can't fathom that approach. Especially when you're trying to publish a book! You should know, from first-hand evidence, what a publisher wants.
I'm flabbergasted.
They said they asked AI how to submit a proposal to us, and what our guidelines were. The AI system gave them two documents, somehow pulling a file that is not longer available.
They did this instead of LOOKING AT OUR WEBSITE which says in very clear terms "use this document" for your proposal. /2
Publishing WTF moment:
I get a pitch for a book that's pro-AI pedagogy, asking me which proposal guidelines to use, as we have 2 files on our website.
We only have 1 file on our website.
The second file is 8 years old and not publicly available.
I ask where they got it. /1
It'll be like 3-4 years in my reading before I get there (I only do one BAF essay a month b/c I want to have a life and read other things), but I'll get there!
* because the essay is all about the "good" stylists and she explicitly uses Kurtz as an example of "what's wrong with fantasy today" and I think it's funny, instructive, and I'm definitely going to argue with her.
Loved it! I'm biding my time on a deeper discussion about style. I wrote about it briefly in my essay on The Worm Ouroboros, but I'm thinking I'll wait until I get to Kurtz's Deryni in the BAF series, since it's the best excuse* to dig into Le Guin's ornery essay on style and "Poughkeepsie fantasy."
IDK who this is because either I blocked them or they blocked me lol
Today marks the first anniversary of beginning my journey, recently completed, to read all of Thomas Burnett Swann's mythistorical fantasy novels. And I began, luckily, with one of his best novels, LADY OF THE BEES (1976), a retelling of the founding of Rome as a tragedy:
Both. All of our books are in print, too, except a few "videographic" ones. You can check out (and order a physical copy of) the first book in the series here:
Coming to the Internet near you in 2027:
Today marks the first anniversary of beginning my journey, recently completed, to read all of Thomas Burnett Swann's mythistorical fantasy novels. And I began, luckily, with one of his best novels, LADY OF THE BEES (1976), a retelling of the founding of Rome as a tragedy:
WoW Midnight dropped this week. Can't they just make a little guild and do that instead. Maybe play Alliance on Moonguard or something and leave the rest of the world alone?
Hegseth gives big "got my understanding of warfighting from Halo and COD" energy.
Unfortunately, a publisher will want more than one reader, but at least they're all free online until I die! I thought about writing a book about Swann, but I don't think I have anything more to say at this point. Maybe someday later? Who knows!
But for now you can find the essays here:
I don't think anyone would read it, plus they're rather uneven essays -- some are really in-depth, others a bit short and to the point, and they're written with a sense of me reading each novel one by one, which would not work for a book, I think. Plus I can't think of anyone who would publish it!
