This week: The Longest Night Edited by: Annette  
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“The Winter Solstice is the time of ending and beginning, a powerful time — a time to contemplate your immortality. A time to forgive, to be forgiven, and to make a fresh start. A time to awaken.” — Frederick Lenz
“Ancient sun worshippers believed the sun died at the end of the winter solstice and then three days later it would be reborn at the start of its cycle – December 25.” — David Icke |
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The Longest Night
The Winter Solstice on December 21 is the end of something and the beginning of something else. In a way, it is the actual new year. More than January 1.
There is a reason why so many celebrations and rituals center around December 21 in the Northern Hemisphere. In cold-weather cultures such as Northern Europe, the Winter Solstice is not only dark, it is also very very cold. There is truly no reason to be anywhere else than inside, sitting next to a decorated evergreen tree and sipping hot beverages.
In an ideal world, instead of running around until the last minute to buy overpriced presents for people who complain about the wrong color, we would enjoy the time of the year for what it is. Nature slows down and so should we. It is the ideal time to turn thoughts inward and tap into the inner creativity that is pushed into the background during the rest of the busy year.
This Winter Solstice, take stock of your writing life. Did you write any short stories since the last Winter Solstice? When did you read them the last time? Isn't this the right time to slow down and edit, polish, and revise your short stories to include all the new things you learned this year?
What kind of stories do you come up with when the night is long and the day is cold? |
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Replies to my last Short Stories newsletter "by: Artificial Intelligence" that asked: Are you going to let a robot tell you how to think, love, and live?
brom21  wrote: Elon Musk warns the human race of this very thing which is ironic as he is most known for his semi self-driving electric vehicles. And take Sophia the robot made by Hanson Robotics. Some actually believe she is sentient!
A sentient robot. That's what horror stories are made of.
Aiva Raine  wrote: Thanks for including my short story in your newsletter! Made my day.
As far as your question about AI writing stories; I find it horrendous. I work in cyber security and we utilize AI all the time to create algorithms to help us proactively hunt for malicious content. But these algorithms must be constantly checked and fine-tuned to prevent errors as they simply don't think for themselves, regardless of how advanced we try and make them.
When it comes to stories and art, AI should not be involved. It will never have the heart and soul of real work and furthermore, I think it cheats readers and authors if companies start selling AI writings.
There's a place for AI and it's not in fiction or art.
You are so right that AI has its place for some applications. Art or fiction should not be AI's place.
Damon Nomad  wrote: Thanks for sharing my story Fiction Factory in your newsletter, I enjoyed your commentary on the subject of AI and short stories. It would be interesting to see what people think about this matter. Some might argue that AI is nothing more than a reflection of the creativity and ingenuity of the programmers. Making them authors of sorts I guess.
The only thing a human puts in are keywords or a phrase. I don't think that AI storygenerators should be called authors.
oldgreywolf on wheels  wrote: You can get an older, less "sanitized" version of the Brothers Grimm's tales, and other mythology, at gutenberg.com for free.
Or every good bookstore. Those stories have been preserved in all of their glory, gore, and also in their parts that shine a harsh light on the cultures where the fairy tales originated.
And Waltz Invictus  put this on the newsfeed: Given my track record at thinking, loving, and living, I don't see how a robot could possibly do worse.
Maybe in thinking, but never in drinking. Juice or water of course.
oldgreywolf on wheels wrote: Jack Williamson's "With Folded Hands" always bothers me. A possible good idea that grew better and grew better and somewhere along the growth path grew wrong with no effective antidote.
Now I am conflicted whether I should read it or not. If it annoyed you, it might annoy me.
Nabih Bulos (@nabihbulos on Twitter and Instagram) of the Los Angeles Times put these words into ChatGPT3: "Write a poem about a Satanic violinist who likes botany." and this is what happened:
The devil's violinist plays with fire,
His fingers dancing on the strings
As flames lick the air in desire,
A wicked melody it brings.
But when he's not playing his hellish tunes,
He can be found in the gardens green
Surrounded by blooming flowers in bloom,
His love for botany, ever keen.
He nurtures the plants with a deft hand,
And tends to their needs with care,
For in the soil, he finds a new band
To make music with the earth's flair.
But as the night falls and the moon shines,
The violinist picks up his bow
And plays a tune that wails and whines,
A symphony of sorrow and woe.
For the devil's violinist is two-faced,
A master of both light and dark,
A botanist and musician, displaced
In a world that's torn apart.
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Short Stories: December 21, 2022 Issue [#11700]
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