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AI Threatens Publishers & Writers

AI in Book PublishingArtificial Intelligence (AI) already affects writers and the publishing industry. However, the recent release of ChatGPT threatens authors’ livelihoods on a whole new level.  In a Publisher’s Weekly opinion piece, electronics publisher Thad McElroy calls the recent innovations in AI a “game changer.” He believes “every function in trade book publishing today can be automated with the help of generative AI.” And if this assertion is true, “the trade book publishing industry as we know it will soon be obsolete. We will need to move on.”

Death knells for the publishing industry have sounded before. Remember word processors, automated printing, and “Print Is Dead”?  McElroy does, and other writer/publishers seem to agree with him. For example, Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur gmailed that the cost for Amazon’s print-on-demand service is schedeuled  to increase on June 20th. This decision affects writers and publishers alike. If the industry’s need to move  on is real, the question becomes “To What?”

Alternatives

To thwart the apocalypse before it happens, McElroy offers a nuanced analysis of the problem with a pragmatic solution. Since AI promises to take over all the production aspects of publishing, it’s best for everyone involved to accept that fact and discover the opportunities ChatGPT and its kindred programs provide. In terms of the book-production process, for example, McElroy equates the current situation to 1988 when publishers linked the MacIntosh computer to the Linotype printer.  Dramatic increases in output resulted in exchange for increased editorial errors and mediocre page design. But readers accepted this “good enough” product quality in exchange for easier access and wider availability of resources.

Acceptable Quid Pro Quo?

Whether this exchange was equitable remains debatable. For his part, McElroy Definition of Quid Pro Quo itemizes the opportunities AI offers in terms of acquisitiion, production, and marketing. In his view, AI could depose Amazon, the over-charging, 800-pound gorilla in the publishing industry. While independent publishers like him might welcome the overthrow of their competition, individual entrepreneurs, writers, and artists could find themselves shoved further down down the publicity and marketing chain.  McElroy’s  analysis is astute, but relies heavily on his approach of book publishing being an information-dispensing industry.

Making a Choice

For authors, particularly fiction writers, the question boils down to what inspired them to become writers in the first place? Was their decision based on the promise of fame and fortune? Or because they needed to express themselves, to write something no one had ever said or thought before? Was their choice inspired by images carefully crafted on the page or by graphs and equations neatly presented on an I-pad?

George Bernard Shaw in 1911As individuals, people respond to differIent stimuli differently. George Bernard Shaw once claimed “It is the mark of the truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics.” Most of us, however, are not so swayed nor sympathetic to their impact. To impel action, people need the emotional stimulus that well-honed words on the page provide. Most of us, writers and readers included, remember a favorite book or story that stimulated our imaginations, one that prompted us to write something as good, as beautiful, as true.

A Personal Note

For me, that story was Walter Farley‘s The Black Stallion. In its honor I created a coverThe Black Stallion binder for my proposed work, Black Phantom. The binder remained empty for years, however, because I had no access to horses of any kind. Finally, when the chance to ride one did happen, I clung to the saddle horn for all I was worth while the horse galloped back to its stall for a fresh bucket of oats. However, the action, the adventure, the thrill of that incident stayed with me. Like Farley’s narrative of a boy’s enduring love for his horse, these qualities inspired the path I’ve chosen these many decades later.

This is not to say others of a more analytical bent cannot be inspired by facts and figures derived out of the multiverse of mental calculations. One of my favorite scientific authors, Carl Sagan, was at home in the professional realms of astrophysics and education. His respect for science and logical thinking came through in every book he wrote. But, his  passion did, too. In his most popular book, Cosmos, Sagan’s awe for the universe and its mysteries flies off every page, stimulating and resonating his audience with its own.

The Decision

Pros & Cons of a DecisionFor these individuals and the people inspired by them, “good enough” is not acceptable.  Publishing information remains limited to the quality and accuracy of its sources. The 1960s adage, “Garbage In, Garbage Out” (GIGO), still holds true. Currently, Chatbot writing, no matter how proficient or well-supported, cannot be as affective as human writing because it has no soul, no sense of self to be inspired by directed words on a page. To be certain, it can define the word “metaphor” and provide examples of one, but it can’t deliver one that moves human readers because it has no feelings of its own to be moved.

The reading public already drowns at the firehose of information provided by the predecessors of artificial intelligence. Do they wish to be inundated by the information tsunami that ChatGPT threatens to unleash? Probably not. Yet, the answers to such questions remain to be answered. As participants in the publishing world, everyone must decide which choice will insure our survival. As with so many other issues in this uncertain world, make your best informed decision, then wait and see.

What do you think? Put your response in the Leave a Reply section below.

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Does Being A Melungeon Matter?

Melungeon familyMelungeon–a particular yet ominous-sounding word which happens to rhyme with dungeon in English. Sometimes spelled malungeon or melongeon, the term has several meanings. The broadest of these, according to Merriam-Webster, is “one of a group of people of uncertain ancestry in the southern Appalachians, especially of eastern Tennessee.” They are said to have particular identifying  physical characteristics and possess certain magical powers. Many people want to be melungeons; others fear the identification. And certain celebrities are accused of it. What is the truth? Why does it matter?

Origins

To begin with, the origin of the term is uncertain. It originally applied to a number of families of mixed ancestries, primarily European, Native American, and Sub-Saharan African, who practiced endogamy(mating within a specific social group, caste, religious denomination, or ethnic group). In the first half of the 19th century, some Caucasians used the term to denigrate anyone with certain physical characteristics that distinguished them from the rest of the white population. After the American Civil War, racial stratification became incorporated into America’s laws and mores. As a result, the term’s application broadened to include anyone with dark hair, brown eyes, and swarthy complexion.

History

Many people who had some or all of these alleged Melungeon characteristics consequently adopted  coping strategies to avoid the social, legal, and economic stigmas associated with the designation. Some claimed Portuguese descent; others claimed Native American ancestry, Cherokee being a favored tribal affiliation. By the mid-20th century, many had assimilated into their communities or moved, but terms such as “Black Dutch” and “Black Irish” still persisted.

Personal Context

Waylon Jennings performing in 1976The reason for my interest in the appelation is two-fold. First, my father’s side of the family perpetuated the notion that our dark complections and brown eyes stemmed from our Cherokee heritage. Second, my research into the background of country-western singer Waylon Jennings uncovered the fact that his family line descended from the Shipley line of eastern Tennessee with “a lot of Indian blood mixed in.” This included Cherokee and Commanche, which he accepted as part of his Black Dutch heritage.

Importance

Whether this slur contributed to Jennings’ outlaw persona remains open to question. Having grown up within yet apart from an endogamous community, it factors into my feelings of being an outsider. Such feelings may or may not matter depending on what you want our society to be. My post on Black History Month could be a good place to start your involvement.

Whatever your feelings about this topic, words do have impact.  In a world where a person’s features are scrutinized to determine which side of the cultural divide they’re on, an outmoded, exclusionary, yet stubbornly persistent designation should have no place in a free and truly liberated society.

What do you think? Let me know in the Comments box below.

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Discover Media You Can Trust

Discover Media You Can TrustIn your reading, did you discover media you can trust? Do they cite their sources and check their facts? Or do such constraints seem to get in the way of a good story, convincing opinion, or solid argument?

Reading Reservations

These reservations among others occurred to me while following the links in a story about Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems that appeared in the Science & Technology section of the news website 1440.  The snippet contained two articles which contained stories about artificial intelligence ChatGPT programs creating biased narratives about a conservative American professor and an Australian shire mayor. The programs falsely accused the former of sexually harassing his students and the latter of accepting bribes before he ran for office. Two tawdry instances among many others that show artificial intelligence programs cannot be trusted–right?

Following the reference trailDown the Rabbit Hole

Perhaps. But dig a little deeper and it turns out that the updated bersion of the bot story correctly identified the mayor as a whistle blower who “was not involved in the payment of bribes.” As for the professor’s implication that the reason why a ChatGPT made up a quote, cited a non-existent article, and referenced a false claim against him is because “the algorithms are no less biased and flawed than the people who program them.”  However, his claim that  “recent research has shown ChatGPT’s poltical bias” fails to stand up against even casual scrutiny. Following the link to his source reveals that quote comes from an article, “Danger in the Machine: The Perils of Political and Demographic Biases Embedded in AI Systems” which appears on the website for MI, an abbreviation for the Manhattan Institute.

More Sleuthing

Detective workOK. At this point, case closed. Or is it? One instance appears on the BBC News web page, the other on the web page of a “leading free market think tank.” Both sources for these links appear reliable, but consider the context in which these articles appear. The BBC is government-owned entity renowned for being “the world’s oldest newscaster” according to Wikipedia;  MI or the Manhattan Institute, formerly the Manhattan Iinstitute for Policy Research, formerly the International Center for Economic Policy Studies, is a conservative think tank originally founded in support of supply-side economics and privitization of government services during president Reagan’s administration. Two less-in-common resources would seem likely to be paired in the same article.

The Conundrum

Does this mean both viewpoints are equally valid? Or do both contain biases of their own that mitigate anyMBFC logo objective evaluation of the issue? My procedure: when in doubt in the 21st century, conduct a Google search. The first result of a “media bias” search turned up Media Bias Fact Check (MBFC) whose first menu item contains a list of nine bias categories in a continuum ranging from Least Biased to Left Biased to Right Biased to Conspiraacy-Pseudoscience.  Each of these categories identifies media outlets, newspapers, websites, and social platforms in alphabetical order from around the world. Each entry is measured and evaluated against a system of standards designed to measure the source’s objectivity, honesty, and reliability.

Site Evaluations

How did the two web sites measure up? About as expected. The BBC ranked slightly left of center on the bias scale, their credibility  marred only by their occasional use of emotion-laden headlines and some questionable. left-leaning sources.  The Manhattan Institute received a Right bias rating that almost reached Extreme due to their lack of transparency about their funding, their use of poor sources, and one failed fact check. The overall result showed the BBC wavered very slightly to the left of the center point denoting complete objectivity on the MBFC continuum while MI landed on the Extreme right of the MBFC continuum because of its blatant promotion of right-leaning philosophies and causes.

Take-aways

What does this investigation show?

  1. Tracking down the credibility of content and its sources can be a time-consuming rabbit-hole of a search.
  2. Even the most reliable sources can fall victim to sensationalized claims and headlines.
  3. Some news outlets (Radio Free Europe and Al-Jazeera come to mind) are not the biased sources their detractors claim them to be.
  4. Many impostor sites, both human and AI-written, dispense false information under such banal titles such as the Southwest Minnesota Herald (Metric Media alone drives over a thousand of such impostor web sites that look like legitimate local news sources).
  5. Though alphabetical, MBFC’s listings tend to cluster around T and A because initial articles are included as part of the title.

Note of Warning

Chatbot logoMBFC is only one of several sites devoted to information objectivity and bias-identification. Many media experts regard Snopes as the gold standard in this area. MBFC has its flaws to be sure, e.g. its founder admits that its grading scale is by no means rigorous or scienfific. Still, it does identify and evaluate unexpected and unknown sources which contextualizes the information you and I read and base our opinions/decisions. If an article or website tells a good story or promotes a strong opinion, MSFC is one place you can consult to evaluate the quality and reliabity of the content these media sources use in telling it.

What do you think? Tell us in the Leave a Reply section below.

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Writing Tips: Rule Of Three

Last month we identified the five best love poems to honor St. Patrick’s Day. This month, we examine the Rule of Three in celebration of good writing.

Rule of ThreeWhat Is the Rule of Three?

The Rule of Three is a writer’s guideline for conveying the most information in the briefest amount of space in the most effective way possible.  The rule applies to characters in a story, words in a title, or adjectives in front of an idea. Advertisers use it for its brevity, poets for its rhythm, and comedians for their wit. Growing out of the oral tradition of story-telling, the Rule of Three possesses something of a mythic quality by enabling audiences to comprehend and remember concepts in a train of thought.

Examples

The Rule of Three appears everywhere:

  • In folklore: The Three Little pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Three Billy Goats Gruff
  • In literature: The Three Musketeers, the three ghosts which visit Scrooge in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol,  the Three Witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
  • In religion: the Three Wise Men who visited Jesus after his birth, the three gods (Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma) of the Hindu religion,  the three aspects of god in the Christian trinity.
  • Expressions and Catchphrases: Tom, Dick, & Harry–a phrase used to describe anyone or people of little consequence; “Turn on, tune in, drop out” phrase of the 1960s counter-culture movement; “Veni, vidi, Vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)” attributed to Julius Caesar.

Special Instances

The last set of examples above exemplifies the use of the tricolon in good writing. They achieve a symmetry  of expression through the parallelism in their number of words or syllables and in the likeness of their concepts. Those progressions whose concepts increase in weight or magnitude are called ascending tricolons; those expressions that do the opposite are called descending tricolons. Bicolon (two) and Tetracolon (four) are other forms of this type of parallel expression.

Words of Warning

Enjoyable and succinct as these forms of expression are, an author should be careful in employing them in his/her writing. So many of this type of expression, the bicolon in particular, have crept into common usage that using them in an original text is considered lazy or unimaginative writing. Describing a story as “cloak and dagger” or a character as “tall, dark, and handsome” is as much a writing faux pas as opening a story with Snoopy’s sendup of Edward Bulwer Lytton‘s “It was a dark and stormy night.” And reversing the order of a common binomial expression like “law and order” or “bride and groom” is a particularly egregious errror unless intended for comedic effect.

What It All Comes Down To

Writing should be fun. For me as for most writers, nothing is so satisfying as stating our themes and ideas in a way that was “ne’er so well-expressed,”  to borrow from the poet Alexander Pope. If you can compress a theme or idea into a rhythmic paralielism like the examples above–great. If knowing the concepts behind such constructions aids your writing so much the better. The measure of a writer is in doing so wisely and well. Not every Tom, Dick, or Harry can do it.

Are you up for that challenge? Tell us why or why not in the Leave a Reply section below.

 

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Top Five Poems for Valentine’s Day

Paper heart decoration for Valentine’s. Original public domain image from Wikimedia Commons

It’s that time of the year again (Valentine’s Day) when awkward swains and self-conscious partners must express their devotion to a chosen one. If any of you heeded my suggestion in an earlier blog post to read to each other every week, you’ll have found plenty of material for voicing your feelings. If not, poets.org, interestingliterature.com, reedsy.com, and The Norton Guide of English Literature helped me winnow my top five love poems out of many for you.

#5 Vivien’s Song–Alfred Lord Tennyson

Tennyson wrote a great deal of romantic poetry laden with overt and repressed feelings for his friends, countrymen, and nation–Idylls of the King being one example–but few love poems. This sonnet, which begins  “In love, if love be L ove, if Love be ours . . .” moves from tentative uncertainty to an all-or-nothing roll of the dice hope in seeking fulfillment.

#4 How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)–Elizabeth Barrett Browning

This may be the most direct expression of love in the English language. Ms. Browning’s poem ranges over space, time, and creation in the expansiveness of the poet’s feelings. She and Robert Browning may be the Victorian poster children of star-crossed lovers, but she leaves no doubt regarding the breadth and depth of her feelings for her husband.

#3 Love Sonnet XI–Pablo Neruda

If Browning’s sonnet describes the intellectual depth of feeling for one’s lover, Neruda’s poem provides its earthy opposite. Seldom has the passion of love in the lusty dynamism of a prowling puma been described more viscerally than in this poem.

#2 The Good Morrow–John Donne

This poem, written before the author became a clergyman, depicts his amazement at the void in his life before he met his loved one. Love is so transformative that it makes their “one little room an everywhere” and so complete that he is forced to make the ultimate affirmation “If our two loves be one, or thou and I Love so alike that none do slacken, none can die.”

Runners-up

Before introducing my top choice of this count-down, let me add that restricting my choices to five short poems (sonnets) eliminated several poems that might would have cracked this top-ten listing. Sir Philip Sydney, Rainer Maria Rilke, Maya Angelou, Rumi, and Lord Byron (among others) could have made this list. But rather than broach the brink of uncertainty and second-guessing, I  limited the list to a manageable, worthy handful.

#1 Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? (Sonnet 18)–William Shakespeare

Who else but the Bard? Several other of his sonnets are almost as fine, but his extended metaphor in this one plays out in a way that’s sensuous, direct, and cerebral all at the same time. And this during a period right after the Gunpowder Plot which shook England to its core. No surprise the Brits voted this their greatest poem.  And after taking the Discovery page’s five-question personality quiz whose algorhythm matched my personality to the Bard’s masterpiece. who am I to doubt that kismet guided my selection?

Wrapping It Up

I hope this list proves helpful. If you choose any of the five, your chosen one should be pleased when reading your choice. Links to my sources are included in the text which allow you examine my omissions and make your own decisions. If none of these prove suitable, their inadequqcy may inspire you to write your own declaration of love. After all, the 21st century needs its moments of loving self -expression, too. We all do.

If you do decide to take the plunge, let me know, and we’ll present your love-sonnet in our March posting. Good luck to all of you on February 14th!

 

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How to Make Father Christmas into Santa Claus

Father & Mrs. Xmas

Like other cultural icons, Santa Claus wasn’t always the personification of Christmas familiar to most Americans. His genesis as a gift-giving philanthropist evolved out of the political wars that involved his British cultural predecessor, Father Christmas, and documented in their literature.

Medieval Times

During the English High Middle Ages, people combined the celebration of Christ’s birth with their pre-Christian midwinter traditions. What these traditions might have been “we have no details at all” accoring to historian Ronald Hutton. The  symbol of the traditions came later and reflected the changing social and political turmoil of the times.

First Embodiment

In the 15th and 16th centuries the concept of Christmas became associated with merry-making and drinking. In a carol written by Richard Smart, Rector of Plymtree, a line refers to “Sir Christmas” who announces Christ’s birth and encourages parishioners to :”Make good cheer and be right merry, / And sing with us now joyfully: Nowell, nowell.”

Around the same time a gentleman named John Goodman helped the populace of Norwich celebrate the holiday by riding a horse wrapped in tin faoil in a pageant as Father Christmas.

Development

From the humble beginnings cited above, certain aspects of this Christmas personification began to take shape, particularly his chaotic association with the Lord of Misrule. Much like the Merry Pranksters of the 1960s, this association fostered his confrontations with the social and polifical establishment. Some highlights from the literature of the period reflect this, such as:

  • In Thomas Nashe‘s play, Summer’s Last Will and Testament, a miserly Christmas character refuses to maintain his traditional role of keeping the feast.
  • Playwright Ben Jonson in his Christmas, A Masque depicts a sartorially outdated “Old Christmas” who protests the attempts to exclude him from the holiday celebrations in the Protestant church
  • The Puritans abolishment of the celebration of Christmas and other festivals for eight years prompted supporters of the royalists cause to celebrate Father Christmas as a symbol of “the good old days’ of feasting and good cheer.,”
  • The reestablishment of the monarchy prompted diearist Samuel Pepys to celebrate the return of Father Christmas in his ballad “Old Christmas Returnd.”

Deemphasis and Revival

Interest in the character dwindled after the restoration of the monarch for over a century until Scots poets, Sir Walter Scott, revived it in his poem “Marmarion” by tying the figure to his phrase “merry England” as part of Englans’s golden age from years past. Thomas Hervey embellished this association and Charles Dickens cemented Father Christmas’ stature in his book A Christmas Carol.

As Gift-Giver

As peoples’ roles within the family and society solidified during the Victorian era, Father Christmas’ role changed, too.  Cross-fertilization from American magazines helped transform Father Christmas from boozy celebrant to children’s gift-giver. With his role change his costume changed as well. A red stocking cap and trimmed, snow-white beard replaced the dingy green and unkempt party animal of yesteryear.

Total Transformation

The Coco-Cola Company’s Christmas advertising campaign completed Father Christamas’ morphing into Santa Claus. He became a jolly entrepreneur whose marketing strategy involved an isolated and secret monopolization of gift-giving magically accomplished during one frigid night in December.  Although Father Christmas remains a name more associated with British than American celebrations of the event, the British name is considered to have a socially superior cachet and therefore is preferred by certain advertisers.

What name do you prefer: Father Christmas or Santa Claus? Let us know in the Leave a Reply section below.

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Beware of Readers Who Want Only Free Books

Bounty of the Harvest

Thanksgiving is a time for celebrating the harvest. The resulting bounty in my case has been small since the publication of my new novel, Mission: Soul Sacrifice, occurred at mid-year. Consequently, opportunities to sell copies of it at art festivals and book fairs have been minimal (blame Covid-19 and price inflattion) or nonexistetn other than as free books.

Print Is Not Dead

For many years such downticks in the economic and social well-being of the country didn’t matter. Non-fiction books and novels still remained solid present choices and reliable stocking-stuffers for the holidays. And the demise of printed communication Marshall McLuhan predicted didn’t happen. Sixty years later, the number of books published each year continues to skyrocket. Their mutant forms–audio, digital, e-reader, etc.–underscore this assertion.

Supply and Demand

That is a major part of the sales problem, however. There is too much product. Even before digital and audio books made inroads into the paperback share of the book market, independent and traditionally-published authors gave away the sweat and blood of their labors. At my last major book fair, for example, readers strolled up and down the aisles toting a shopping bag (sometimes, two) filled to the brim with free copies.

Similar to the citizens of Venezuala who luxuriated in the unearned cash bestowed by the country’s vast oil reserves, American readers are used to free handouts at book fairs and writers conferences. Why pay the nominal asking price when a Kindle Prime subscription offers free copies from many notable and less-known authors? Meanwhile, the books of authors who don’t participate in the Kindle program are readily available (for free) at the next local book fair or writers conference.

Pump-Priming

What to do? For many authors the solution appears to follow recent political trends. Double down. Prime the pump. By aping the deficit-spending philosophies of the Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan presidencies, authors hope to stimulate reader purchases by advertising through reading program promoters such as Goodreads and BookBub. By giving away a small number of their books, writers hope to attract a percentage among those who didn’t win the chance of satisfying their desire by purchasing their books instead.

Free Books and Marketing

Will such ploys work? The jury’s still out. Past giveaways prompt anywhere from two to ten per cent of overall participants to purchase copies of the titles in which they had entered. In some instances, that led to hundreds of purchases by readers otherwise disinclined to do so. One caveat remains, however. The success of previous presidentail pump-priming efforts occurred during a depression and a recession. These are instances where not enough goods enter the marketplace. Book publishing, on the other hand, currently experiences a surfeit of product. Too many books chase smaller, fractionated readerships. As a result, readers can be very selective in their choices which perpetuates and institutionalizes giveaways in the marketing cycle.

What Happens Next?

On a personal level, the reading public’s opinion regarding the bounty of my writing labors comes to a head after Thanksgiving. On December 1st, the winners of my Goodreads giveaway will be chosen and announced. After sending out their copies, the names and addresses of those who purchased the book will be sent to my email address and I’ll fulfill whatever orders are sent my way. Whether that’s one, a couple, a dozen, or hundreds, I’ll let you know in my blog posts and upcoming issues of my newsletter.

What do you think will happen? Let me know in the Leave a Reply section below.

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Powerful Black Cats: Foes and Familiars Found in Fiction

Black cats have a dubious reputation associated with Halloween. They have been regarded as evil omens of sorcery for centuries, particularly as familiars and shape-shifting embodiments of witches.

Popular Fiction

Holding such a dubious distinction, it’s no wonder black cats have inspired and/or been the center of popular fiction during that time. We’re all familiar with the cartoon treachery of Sylvester or the magic adventures of Felix the Cat. Some of us may even recall Krazy Kat‘s unrequited comic book love for Ignatz, the brick-throwing mouse as well (Tom & Jerry fans take note).

Children and Young Adult Fiction

Black Cat Literature

But black cats appear in literary fiction, too. The covers shown alongside depict nine feline characters from children’s or young adult fiction chosen by Arapahoe Libraries. Dr. Seuss/Theordore Geisel‘s Cat in the Hat and the black cat in Coraline are perhaps the most famous, but Thackery Binx who appears in Hocus Pocus, and Salem Saberhagen, a former warlock who appears in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch have their followers, too.

Literary Fiction

Selene & Friend

On the adult side, Wikipedia identifies no less than six black cats which serve as “notable feline characters from notable literary works of fiction.” These include:

Alonzo — T. S. Eliot — Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats;

Behemoth — Mikhail Bulgakov — The Master and the Margharita;

Black Tom — H.P. Lovecraft — The Rats in the Walls;

Kitsa — Lynn Reed Banks — The Indian in the Cupboard;

Kitty — Nick Bruel — Bad Kitty; Pluto — Edgar Allan Poe

Pluto — Edgar Allan Poe — The Black Cat

A not-insignificant list.

Sylvester

So, this Halloween (or your next Read to Each Other night) while you’re waiting for the next band of the trick-or-treaters to knock on your door, try reading one of these stories to pass the time. Who knows? One of these shape-shifting felines might just creep into your imagination and stay there!

Do you have any other stories or suggestions to add? Let me know in the Leave a Reply section below.

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Brevity: Not In The Soul of Writing Algorithms

Algorithm definition

“Brevity is the soul of wit” according to William Shakespeare, a famous quote whose expression matches its content. The context for the line, however, comes from his play, Hamlet. In Act I, the king’s counselor, Polonius, embeds and embellishes the meaning of his statement within a lengthy and fulsome preamble whose style subtly undercuts the essence of his obseration.

Search Engine Optimization

One would think the many automated writing assistants available today strive to adhere to Shakespeare’s dictum, but such is not the case. Perhaps it’s the influence of the media or the constraints of writing a blog post which seeks to optimize reader discovery through online search engines (SEOs). Whatever the case, the algorithms driving the writing software which evaluate the quality of posts such as this one encourage neither brevity of expression nor sincerity of soul.

Take, for example, the content within this post’s headline. Nine words long, it started out with six, which met the optimum length requirements. Nonetheless, the SEO software scored it fifty out of one hundred points, a good first effort. Subsequent attempts bumped up the score ten points, good but well short of the 75 needed to merit a satisfactory rating. In playing off the Bard’s quote, “writer algorithms” became a replacement for “wit,” a lengthier, non-rhyming noun more appropriate to the post’s subject matter. Despite these improvements, the software rewarded my attempts with a score in the mid-60s; better but still short of the goal.

Style vs. Substance

Only when the nondescript preposition “in” was inserted between “brevity” and “the soul” in the headline did the writing software bless my efforts with success. The semantic difference between being the essence of something or operating as just another attribute of that something didn’t matter. The important point appeared to be that adding “in the” to the title improved the emotional content of the headline despite the fact doing so added to the length of the title.

Implications

What should we make of this result? Artificially intelligent writing software encourages emotionally charged and/or misleading headlines to attract the attention of search engines on the Internet. Given the volume of prose spewedonto the Internet every day, such attempts would seem a minor deception in order for a writer’s copy to receive a glance, much less a full reading. But extend that approach to the full length of each and every article compounds the deception, skewing readers’ emotional reactions in the process. Is it any wonder our cultural life is so polarized when the content of our reading material is emotionally charged straight from its initial headline?

What do you think?

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Revive an Old Entertainment Custom: Read to Each Other

Tired of the old TV shows? Exasperated by the new ones? Do reality programs, video-streaming, and subscription access leave you cold? Indifferent? Outraged? (All three?)

My wife and I feel that way, too. Aside from news about the latest headline-grabbing politician or an occasional PBS documentary, there’s little on evening television that keeps a mature couple amused and/or entertained between weekends. Cultural critic Neil Postman‘s 1984 prediction of television sacrificing the quality of information for the sake of advertising and corporate profit has become an all-too-established (and boring) reality.

What to do? We examined many differing forms of evening entertainment. Athletics and/or exercising seemed mistimed: it elevates our blood pressure right before bedtime. Movies are a more expensive form of television–action heroes fighting animatronics in front of green screens. And performance art of all kinds is reserved mostly for weekends which compounds our weekday problem.

Our solution? We went retro. How? By entertaining ourselves. Though both of us like music, neither of us is musically gifted. But we both like to read. So we decided to read selections fromour favorites to each other. Novel, short story, poetry: it doesn’t matter so long as it holds significance for one of us. Or both.

My wife says she has two selections in mind for our first session? As for my choice, since the date of our wedding anniversary happened earlier this month, I decided to resurrect a poem by John Ciardi I read for our marriage vows nearly a half-century ago. “Men Marry What They Need” appears below:

Men marry what they need. I marry you,
morning by morning, day by day, night by night,
and every marriage makes this marriage new.

In the broken name of heaven, in the light
that shatters granite, by the spitting shore,
in air that leaps and wobbles like a kite,

I marry you from time and a great door
is shut and stays shut against wind, sea, stone,
sunburst, and heavenfall. And home once more

inside our walls of skin and struts of bone,
man-woman, woman-man, and each the other,
I marry you by all dark and all dawn

and have my laugh at death.
Why should I bother the flies about me? Let them
buzz and do.
Men marry their queen, their daughter, or their mother

by hidden names, but that thin buzz whines through:
where reasons are no reason, cause is true.
Men marry what they need. I marry you.

Like it? Try dusting off an old poem or story you like and read it to your special one. You may not be Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning (we certainly aren’t), but who knows? Doing this could inspire me to write one myself for our next read-to-each-other evening.

I’ll keep you informed.