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I like to keep in touch with my readers. I get a bare minimum of statistics from my newsletter — how many bounced, maybe how many were opened. There are guides full of how to get better stats from mailings, but I respect your privacy, so I don't do that. So drop me a line instead and tell me whatever you like. What part of the world do you live in? What's the best SciFi or Fantasy you've read lately? What parts of the newsletter do you like (or not like)?

Ramblings

I just watched the SciFi series Killjoys. I didn't take notice of it when it first came out, but when I heard it mentioned on a podcast, I watched the series. It's fast-paced, full of quirky characters, and has an engaging story line and character development. It follows three bounty hunters as they gradually uncover a far-reaching plot against their planetary system. It's rather light on the science part of science fiction, though. It seems to exist in the Hollywood pocket universe where space is crowded with asteroids and any place is minutes away from any other place. Still, it's fun to watch. The storyline is filled with both treachery and second chances, as characters are given a chance at redemption. As long as they survive, they may eventually find themselves working together, even if they were previously adversaries. An alien threat brings together unlikely allies from former foes. It's an optimistic message.

I've been playing with ChatGPT, the AI chatbot, to see what it can do. I fed it some prompts such as "Tell me the plot of Storm Front by Jim Butcher." "Rewrite it as a review." "Make it shorter." The system produced decent summaries and reviews, though what's below is 100% mine (and I think better than what the chatbot can do). Another series I tried was "What is Kendo?" "Describe a Kendo match." "Narrate that match as if you were a participant." "Rewrite that match assuming your opponent is going to cheat." It was up to all of those, including the last, which impressed me. Nothing I would use in a story directly, but it's an interesting way to generate ideas.

Until next time.