Words, Art & Science by Anthony Francis
Several times in the past few days, I’ve finally gotten up to speed on Camp Nanowrimo. Only problem is, because I got so far behind, I need to go 50% faster than I’m already doing … and to catch up this weekend, even if such a thing was possible, I’d have to write eight times as much as I’ve already written today. Aaaa!
Still, onward!
-the Centaur
… to how I made so little progress yesterday: halfway through yesterday’s writing session, I started entering yesterday’s wordcount into today’s row of the spreadsheet, effectively cutting my apparent wordcount for the day in half.
That would do it.
No excerpts; I just experimented with a new chapter 1 and I want to try it on for size before I share it. But it seems to dovetail nicely with what I’ve already written … and it was 800 free words, springing fully formed from my pen, uh, keyboard.
Onward!
-the Centaur
Gaah! How do I spend an hour writing a new long scene and only get 500 words out of it? 17% done, 30% behind. Aaa! Still, I got this. Just … need … to … write … faster ...
-the Centaur
A real conversation from my life. Love my life.
-the Centaur
Is the novel back on track? NO. But I am reaching the point where I have enough traction in the story that I’m starting to make real progress. I’m 14,000+ words behind, I need to write over 2,500 words a day to finish my 50,000 words in the month … but at least I’m making real progress now. An excerpt:
The looming tower of Brendelbane Manor leered down at me, its three irregular windows looking even more like a skull. Yes, it was the same room, the nook at the front of Alissa van Kreveld’s room—but was there now flickering light within?
And … was the thing we’d seen Alissa van Kreveld? The phantom hadn’t looked like a Scottish refugee or a woman of Dutch descent; its hair and face had looked distinctly Asian, like a concept drawing for a mash-up of The Grudge and Memoirs of a Geisha.
So if it wasn’t her … who was it? What was it?
In horror movies, it seemed like you had a fifty-fifty chance of a ghost being a human ghost or a real demon. My personal experience told me next to nothing about ghosts, but any kind of phantom had a seventy percent chance of being a projectia, and a ninety percent chance of it turning out to be something hostile.
I stopped for a moment. No. That was my bad attitude talking. Chris Valentine’s projectia, the Streetscribe’s projectia, Cosgreave’s specter: all hostile. My Dragon, Arcturus’s vines, Avenix’s tentacle monster: all benign. The odds were closer to fifty-fifty. Even if this ghost had chased us out of the property with phantom fire, it might not be a hostile.
Still … my girlfriend was inside, and this thing spat phantom fracking fire.
Screwing up my courage, I drew my sword, ascended the steps … and went inside.
Onward!
-the Centaur
Is the novel back on track? NO.
For an idea of why I push so hard on this, though, take a look at this graph of how popular my books have been over time (a graph compiled by myself looking at data from various sources). It may not be readily apparent, but every time a new book is released, all my books spike in popularity, then slowly decline. The graph starts at the release of BLOOD ROCK, and the big gap between that and LIQUID FIRE - working on stories for anthologies - really caused things to fade away. If I want to write all the time, I need people to buy my books, so I need to produce books, to get back on track with novels coming out on a regular basis.
So … back to PHANTOM SILVER.
-the Centaur
Well, shoot. Camp Nano not going well so far. Blast ye, taxes. Is the date right? Should I make Dakota worry about her taxes too, just to be mean? Checking The Grid … no, dangit, her taxes wouldn’t be due until the next book. Sigh.
Back to work.
-the Centaur
I blogged this before, but now the formal description of Sandi’s art show “Beautiful Garbage” is up:
http://www.kaleidgallery.com/2016/03/beautiful-garbage-by-sandi-billingsley/KALEID Gallery presents Beautiful Garbage a new feature exhibition for the month of April by Sandi Billingsley.
The goal of this body of work is to continue awareness of the need to recycle. Working in various states, in many homes and living with clients for months at a time, I am witness to the fact that it is still rare to recycle. In fact almost every home uses disposable cookware, cups, plates and utensils for every meal. Not only is this a questionable use of gas to transport the goods, and power to make the disposable goods but it all ends up in a landfill. I would like to encourage a change in mindset from a disposable to sustainable by creating beauty out of garbage.
Exhibition dates: April 1 – April 25, 2016
88 South Fourth Street (@ San Fernando), San Jose, CA 95112
Tuesday – Saturday, noon -7pm
Free admission
It will be showing through most of April, so go check it out!
-the Centaur
Thank you for The Martian. That is all.
Oh, while I’m here I should also extend my thanks to Michael Peña, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and the rest of the fine cast and crew that made it possible. But that which pops most to my mind is Matt Damon directed by Ridley Scott to say Andy Weir’s lines, with Harry Gregson-Williams’ music in the background. Thank you.
Back to the novel (and the book launch, and the deep learning, and the taxes). That is all.
-the Centaur
Can’t blog! Noveliing! Also, taxing, Q2 OKR planning, book publishing, and general panic. Enjoy pictures of a nice restaurant and its delicious food!
-the Centaur
Back at work on Dakota Frost #5, PHANTOM SILVER, for Camp Nanowrimo. I’m at 50,000+ words already and hope to get it to 100,000 words the month of April, then finish the book off in Camp Nanowrimo in July. My summary from the Camp Nano page:
Dakota Frost --- Skindancer, magical tattooist, chair of the Magical Security Council, and harried mother of a teen weretiger and a teen half-elf --- still has to pay the bills. Fortunately that involves something awesome, being a headliner on the supernatural debunking show The Exposers billed as the Skeptical Witch.
Too bad their latest adventure turns up a very real ghost, which latches onto Dakota to help dispel its ancient family curse. Add to that a reawakened fae curse, an invasion from the land of the dead - and an annoying older brother - and you have a recipe for disaster.
and an excerpt of yesterday’s writing:
“Alright, your turn,” I said.
“Mo—uh, my Lady Frost, I do not think—” Benjamin began.
“What did you say?” the sphinx said, claws scraping against granite.
“You asked me a riddle, now I ask you a riddle back, correct?” I said.
“You wish to duel me?” the sphinx said. “I accept!”
“Wait,” I said, befuddled, “weren’t we dueling already?”
“It was a riddle challenge,” Benjamin said. “Trolls ask one, sphinxes three—”
“The riddle game is from The Hobbit, Mom,” Cinnamon said, tugging at my arm.
“The riddle game is an ancient and honorable mode of dueling and I accept,” the sphinx roared, stamping one paw, so that all three of us cringed back. “I accept! We must answer three riddles each before we pass by; at the first slip … the winner takes the loser as the prize.”
Oh dear! Sounds like Dakota and her brood are in trouble!
Now to brew up more of it. Back to work.
-the Centaur
P. S. Planning it out, it looks like the next three Dakota Frost books will dovetail nicely with the first three Cinnamon Frost books, so I have a loose hexalogy on my hands. I had to look that one up, God help me. (And I pray He does.)
So Sandi’s art show was a great success! I didn’t take pictures once people really started showing up since I was talking to people nonstop until after 11pm, but we had a big crowd at Kaleid Gallery last night!
Many of Sandi’s pieces incorporated a spiral design which is a long-running theme in her art, but the real focus of the show was sustainability - all the pieces in the show were recycled, that is, made from materials rescued from the garbage.
Everything’s made from styrofoam, paper, and other rescued materials - even the large trompe l’oeil piece in the middle, which looks like a stone gateway looking out onto a pond, is actually made from lightweight paper.
Sandi also had five sculptures in the show (technically seven, but two of them were hangars for other art) including Petrified Coral 1 on the far right above, which was priced at $48,000 because it was owned by a private collector - me. I enjoyed the doubletakes made by people as they saw that price and then looked for that piece - but I was quite serious about the price.
Sandi needed the piece to fill out the show - its colorspace and spiral motif really brought things together, and it fit perfectly on the wall - but it was an anniversary gift to me, the painting was originally priced at $2400, I wouldn’t let it go for ten times that - and Kaleid Gallery would get half. So I don’t want to see it go - but if you want to cough up ~$50K for it, I’m happy to buy Kaleid Gallery some new lights and Sandi a new truck with the proceeds (after Uncle Sam takes his cut).
Many, many people came by, and we all stayed so late the gallery eventually had to kick us out (that’s a slight lie; the last four of us chatted with the docent for half an hour after he closed the outer door). I’d call that a big success.
She’ll be showing through the end of the month. Go check it out!
-the Centaur
At Kaleid Gallery tomorrow at First Friday in downtown San Jose, my wife Sandi will be having an art show featuring a wonderful new series of petrified coral pieces, atmospheric shapes, and enigmatic masks!
Please drop in and see this fascinating show … and while you’re there, support your local artist and buy something!
-the Centaur
Briefly getting some edits in on SPECTRAL IRON before diving back into PHANTOM SILVER in April. That is all
-the Centaur
Between a crash course in learning deep learning and full court press on THE CLOCKWORK TIME MACHINE, I'm far behind on far too many questions. So even though my good buddy Jim Davies just hit me with a comment on a post which I want to riff on in at least five blog posts, I'm afraid for the next few days I need to focus on getting caught up on THIRTY DAYS LATER.
Back to work.
-the Centaur 
Also on the note of resurrections, the latest version of JEREMIAH WILLSTONE AND THE CLOCKWORK TIME MACHINE is winging its way back to the publisher. Apropos, that I sent this back at Easter: this book has been through so many drafts that I’m starting to feel dizzy. I expect there will be at least one more, though, so I’m prepared.
Lots more work to do. For now, though, back to SPECTRAL IRON.
-the Centaur
Ah, Lent has come to an end once again, with the happy season of Easter: the celebration of Jesus coming back from the dead - the transformation, as Father Ken, the priest at Saint Stephens in-the-Field said in his sermon today, of the cross as a political symbol of Roman terror to a religious symbol of Christian hope.
You don't have to be religious to appreciate the need for symbols of hope to lift us up in the darkest times, but if you are religious, you can see how that symbol could have special power - and if you are Christian, you can feel how that person's special power makes him worthy of being a symbol of the life we want to live
This is the reason that Episcopal crosses tend to be empty - they're not symbols of Jesus' crucifixion and death, they're symbols of his overcoming death, returning to life, and remaining with us in Spirit - as Father Ken said, Holy Spirit, with a capital S.
Happy Easter, everyone.
-the Centaur
Pictured: the children of St. Stephens in-the-Field, running towards the St. Stephens TARDIS before it departs for the annual field trip back to the first Easter day. (Axually, it's an Easter egg hunt). 
So recently I posted an article about the ongoing debate on AI - something of very great interest to me - and my very good friend Jim Davies posted the following comment (getting it down to the gist):
So we have an interesting problem of customers wanting the ethical decisions [made by AI] to be a more public, open discussion, perhaps done by ethics experts, and the reality is that the programmers are doing the deciding behind closed doors. Is it satisfying for the rest of us to say merely that we’re confident that the engineers are thinking and talking about it all the time, deep in Google’s labs where nobody can hear them?
There are some interesting things to unpack - for example, whether there really are such things as ethics experts, and whether ethical decisions should be made by the public or by individuals.
Personally, as an ex-Catholic who once thought of going into the priesthood, and as an AI researcher who thinks about ethics quite carefully, I believe most so-called ethical experts are actually not (and for sake of argument, I’ll put myself in that same bin). For example, philosopher Peter Singer is often cited as an ethical expert, but several of his more prominent positions - e.g., opposing the killing of animals while condoning the killing of infants - undermine the sanctity of human life, a position he admits; so the suggestion that ethics experts should be making these decisions seems extraordinarily hazardous to me. Which experts?
Similarly, I don’t think ethical decisions in engineered systems should not be made by the public, but I do think safety standards should be set consistent with our democratic, constitutional process - by which I mean, ethical standards should reflect the will of the people being governed, consistent with constitutional safeguards for the rights of the minority. Car safety and airplane safety are good examples of this policy; as I understand the law, the government is not (in general) making actual decisions about how car makers and airplane makers need to meet safety standards - that is, not making decisions about which metals or strut designs keep a vehicle safe - but are instead creating a safety framework within which a variety of approaches could be implemented.
There’s a lot to discuss there.
But one thing that still bugs me about this is the idea that engineers are talking about this deep in corporate labs where no-one can hear them. I mean, they are having those conversations. But some of those same engineers are saying things publicly - Peter Norvig, a Director of Research at Google, has an article in the recent What to Think About Machines that Think, and some other Googler is writing this very blog post.
But my experience is that software engineers and artificial intelligence researchers are talking about this all the time - to each other, in hallways at GDC, over dinner, with friends - as far back as I can remember.
So I guess what’s really bothering me is, if we’re talking about it all the time, why does nobody seem to be listening? And why do people keep on saying that we’re not talking about it, or that we’re not thinking about it, or that we’re clearly not talking about it or thinking about it to the degree that the talking and thinking we’re not doing should be taken away from us?
-the Centaur
What was supposed to be a quick exercise to help me visualize a reinforcement learning problem has turned into a much larger project, one which I'm reluctantly calling a temporary halt to: a visualization of all the states of Tic-Tac-Toe.
What I found is that it's surprisingly hard to make this work: all the states want to pile on top of each other, and there are a few subtleties to representing it correctly. To make it work, I had to separately represent board positions - the typical X'es and Oh's used in play - from game states, such as Start, X Wins, O Wins, and Stalemate.
The Mathematica for this is gnarly and a total hack; it probably could be made more efficient to process all 17,000+ transitions of the game, and I definitely need to think of a way to make each state appear in its own, non-overlapping position. But that will require more thought than my crude jitter function above, the time it takes to run each render is way too long to quickly iterate, and I have a novel to finish. I don't want to get stuck in a grind against a game known for its stalemate.
Ugh. You can see the jumble there; it's hard to see which transitions lead to X's or O's victory and which lead to stalemate. I have ideas on how to fix this, but I want my novel done more and first, dag nab it. So let me give you all the transitions of Tic-Tac-Toe in their full glory (22.8mb). I could say more about this problem - or I can say what I have, call it victory, and move on.
On to the novel. It's going well.
-the Centaur 
And a million other things. More news in a bit …
-the Centaur
