Authors Electric

That time of year again. Mwouhahahahaha it’s that time of year again. (Ghostly laugh, in case you didn’t realise. Please be chilled.) Death’s heads and giant spiders’ webs festooning perfectly respectable garden walls, glow-in-the-dark stickers and beetles lighting up ceilings, shops groaning with a sugar fest the Like of Witch No Sane Adult Would Deem Suitable for their Little Darlings, and everywhere, everywhere, orange. Pumpkins, masks, tee shirts, costumes, all in the ghastly colour combination of dayglo orange and midnight black. Spiders' webs festoon garden walls. follow link for licence  You may glean from this – and from my odd previous mention of the subject – that I’m not a fan of Halloween.  When I was young, ooh, I dunno, a couple of centuries ago, Halloween in Britain barely existed. We made toffee apples and played apple bobbing, and my mother did something clever with apple peel, throwing it over my 5 year old shoulder to see the letter shape it made where it f...

  I recently read a post on Facebook about someone’s much-loved childhood book, and I couldn’t help but wonder – how many of us bookish people, both writers and readers began their love affair with the written word at an early age, and how many of us still have those cherished books on their shelves? I know I do!   I don’t remember how I learned to read – in fact I don’t remember ‘learning’ at all – one day it seemed I could do it as if by magic. I think my mum had something to do with it, because I was a fluent reader way before I went to school, and I don’t recall spending that much time in school when I was very young – I missed loads of days off sick – measles, mumps, rubella struck me at least twice each and I seem to remember lying on my ‘bed on the sofa’ drinking Lucozade a lot. Mum used to set up school style ‘lessons’ for me if I was able to do them – I never missed a thing at home. I’d also watch the schools tv Crown Court, Pebble Mill and Sons and Daughters! I was a...

  No Artificial Intelligence Was Used In the Creating of These Books. Just Saying...  Hauntings Overheard in a Graveyard Nightcomers In a week's time, it's Hallowe'en. The night before All Saints' Day, when all the bogles, ghouls, boggarts, ghosts, night-walkers, bargeists, phantom ladies of many colours, not to mention the long-leggety beasties, come out for a big celebration before the Christmas season begins. Because, famously, at Christmas the bird of dawning kicks up a tiresome racket all night long and no spirit dares stir abroad, no fairy takes and no witch hath power to charm. So the Supernatural Community has to get all its jollies before then.  Hallowe'en, seemingly, is the office Christmas party for the undead. M. R. James (wikimedia) But remember: Ghosts aren't just for Christmas. I've always been ready for a ghost story at any time of the year. The great M. R. James wrote a particuarly chilling one, The Wailing Well , set on Midsummer Day, in br...

My reading has taken a slightly different path this autumn, thanks to the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence. Last month, Machines That Think (part of the New Scientist Expert series) rather blew my mind, despite being published 10 years ago. Since then, AIs have become more sophisticated and even more data hungry, resulting in a class action by authors against Anthropic in the US claiming their copyrights were violated. Similar questions are being asked by the music business, as highlighted in a recent Radio 3 programme The Artificial Composer . AI is also active in other creative industries, such as the art world and video games. It seems creative professionals the world over are in danger of being reduced to hobbyists, helping to train the very AI tools that will enable everyone else to become an instant author or composer, visual artist or video game creator. How did this happen without us noticing? Let me take you back to fiction's favourite prompt: What If? and a bo...

Image Credit:  Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. One photo taken by me, Allison Symes, at the Hiltingbury Book Fair. It may be the season of mellow fruitfulness (which is a wonderful expression and for me conjures up autumn beautifully), but it is also the signal Book Buying Season is here again.  Now for me, every part of the year is book buying season but with a certain event only being two months away, and books are excellent gifts as everyone knows, you can’t blame the publishers for focusing so much on sales in the next few weeks or so.  Equally naturally when I put certain lists together, the first thing on mine will be the books I’d like to see under the tree this year. There would  be something seriously wrong with me not to request any! Of course with book buying season well underway by the time this blog goes out, it will be accompanied by Author Event season too. I think the biggest challenge to all writers is encouraging those who don’t r...