Tag Archives: AI

Geoffrey’s Secret

david's train

PHOTO PROMPT © David Stewart

The female attendant politely asked to verify Geoffrey’s identification. Something was wrong.

Of course, something was wrong. He was traveling under false documents on the Beijing to Xi’an bullet train at 350 kph. If he was discovered, there would be no jumping off like in some fanciful old spy movie.

His synthetic biology let him pass most scanners, though a detailed exam would reveal his true nature and the nuclear device. His detonation would kill 10 million and be blamed on the isolationists. However, his true objective was to eliminate their AI industry. No one must compete with his masters.

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Book Review of “Error Code: 22 Tales of Robots and AI” (2025)

error code

Cover art for the “Error Code” anthology

Yesterday, I finished reading the small anthology Error Code: 22 Tales of Robots and AI by Eric Fomley and Addison Smith.

It was produced by Shacklebound Books which I gather is a small, indie publisher. They’ve got quite a collection of anthologies listed on Amazon.

Each story is quite short and the book is a quick read (130 pages in print, though it’s available only on Kindle as far as I can tell).

Like many such anthologies, the stories fall into three categories:

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Book Review of Isaac Asimov’s “Gold” (1995)

gold

© James Pyles

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I discovered the existence is the Isaac Asimov collection Gold (named for one of the fictional stories therein) from an online source I have since forgotten. It is advertised as Asimov’s Final collection and I had never heard of it before (the usual Science Fiction fandom gatekeepers can take note and castigate me accordingly).

The book was published in 1995, three years after Asimov’s death. It is divided into three portions: Final SF Stories, Essays on Science Fiction topics, and on the matter of Writing Science Fiction.

I imagined that I’d be most interested in the stories themselves and was disappointed to find I was wrong. The stories weren’t particularly strong examples of his work, at least as I remember his work. I can’t recall the last time I read anything by Asimov, especially something I hadn’t first read in my adolescence of early adulthood, but it was certainly years if not decades ago.

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Get “Spring Into SciFi 2024” Today!

2024

Cover art for “Spring Into SciFi 2024.”

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It’s here!

Spring Into SciFi 2024 from Cloaked Press is available TODAY!

Download it from Amazon onto your Kindle device and start reading right now. The price is very reasonable.

If you’d rather have the paperback, that’s available too for $15.99 USD.

This anthology features my short story “I Don’t Want To Be Human.”

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Spring Into SciFi 2024 Coming Soon!

2024

Cover art for “Spring Into SciFi 2024.”

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Almost there.

My short story “I Don’t Want To Be Human” is featured in the upcoming Cloaked Press anthology Spring Into SciFi 2024. Click that link to pre-order a digital copy for download from Amazon to your Kindle device on March 21, 2024.

If you prefer a paperback, pre-order that right here, but there’s more.

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My Short Story “I Don’t Want To Be Human” to be Published

spring into scifi

Screenshot from Facebook

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My science fiction short story “I Don’t Want To Be Human” has been accepted by Cloaked Press for their 2024 edition of Spring Into SciFi. I have stories published in a number of “Cloaked” anthologies over the past several years and am excited to be part of their latest project.

“I Don’t Want To Be Human” is both an atypical exploration into the “intent” of Artificial Intelligence, and turning the common trope of robots and androids wanting to be more human on its head.

Here’s a small sample of the story:

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Collector’s Item

guitar

PHOTO PROMPT © Jennifer Pendergast

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“You’re kidding. No. Absolutely not.” Daniel stared in disgust at the rainbow-striped acoustic guitar. It was hanging with others of the more common variety in a second-hand store catering exclusively to metanormal customers.

“I’m serious. In a couple of months, when GenZ discovers the music of legendary folk singer Kain DeMarko, it will be worth millions. He played it three times at the Fillmore West during the Summer of Love.”

“You are the silliest predictive AI I’ve ever engaged.” He’d just leased Sofia and uploaded her into his cranial implant last week.

“It’s on discount for one-fifty. C’mon, buy it.”

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Existential Hologram: A Science Fiction Anthology Available Now!

james

Promotional image of my short story “The Simulated Woman.”

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It’s here. Existential Hologram: A Science Fiction Anthology published by Starry Eyed Press is now available on Amazon. It features my cyberpunk short story “The Simulated Woman.” The anthology description is as follows:

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Book Review of “Progress Report” by Roman Lando

progress report

Cover art for the novel “Progress Report”

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Author Roman Lando contacted me not too long ago and asked if I’d be willing to review his science fiction novel Progress Report. I said I was willing and he sent me a file compatible with my old Kindle Fire.

I was in the middle of another book at the time, but finally got a chance to dig into “Progress” starting a few days ago. In print form, it would be only 239 pages, so not a long read.

In broad strokes, the first and last third of the book is an action, adventure, techno-thriller involving an unlikely hero (patterned very much after the author) who is working with an alien and a covert agent to stop other aliens from starting World War III.

Unfortunately, in the middle third, there was a very long, expositional data dump along with a great deal of pseudo-science and psuedo-philosophy that took most of my interest away. Everything is told from the journal entries of the protagonist “Art” and Art is extremely “wordy.”

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Book Review of “Infinity Engine: Transformation Book Three”

infinity engine

Cover art for Neal Asher’s novel “Infinity Engine”

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It’s been three-and-a-half years since I first started this trilogy with Dark Intelligence and almost three years since I read and reviewed part two, War Factory. Now I wrap up Neal Asher’s Transformation trilogy with Infinity Engine.

The hardest part of reading these books is keeping track of all of the characters. In Book One, Thorvald Spear seemed to be the central character and he still receives a lot of the focus, but the Black AI Penny Royal (I love the name) is the intelligence that is manipulating all of the other characters and circumstances to their own ends.

A main component was introduced in the last book, “Room 101,” a former weapons factory orbiting a supergiant star that, according to Penny Royal’s design, is being remade into something radically different.

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