Blog Archives
Details… details… (and a bit of AI)
The thing I find most interesting about the current debate on artificial intelligence is not how much of a threat it will be to our world but how people react to the potential threat. Most people sit on a spectrum of opinion between those who embrace technology and all its potential (despite misgivings from others) and the naysayers who spout doom and gloom as we all head merrily towards an unknown (but definitely in their minds) dystopian future.
I had cause to try out ChatGPT recently when I was short listing candidates for the day job and I came across one application that read like a perfect imitation of your ideal STAR scenario (situation, task, action, result – ask me later… this is my bread and butter.) So I asked ChatGPT to answer the application question for me and it came up with a nearly identical response. Hmm…
As a careers professional (the day job), I often explain to clients that the factor setting them apart from the crowd in a saturated jobs market lies in the detail. The detail of what you did and how you resolved the issue. Make it count. Make it personal. Suffice it to say that the applications that were successful, were the ones that gave me something no AI would be able to; personal context.
You may have read in recent news, that Clarksworld, one of the leading Sci-fi/Fantasy magazines stopped accepting submissions after receiving over 500 stories from contributors that were AI-generated. It is somewhat of a relief to authors that editors can spot these stories a mile off, albeit a nuisance for editors to contend with until they find an AI that can weed out AI-generated submissions!
Anyway, my point is that AI can replicate human creativity to quite an impressive degree, but perhaps we need to bear in mind that without human input, that intelligence will stall and creativity without input is about as interesting as television in a power cut. It is also worth remembering that the naysayers have popped up with dystopian predictions at every industrial revolution in history (beware Luddites). After all, they said the same about photography and then computer-aided design, but we still need and have the most wonderful artists amongst us.
Artists and fans alike, while I have your attention – if you would like to try some non AI-generated Sci-fi and Fantasy books for FREE, you have one week left to grab a deal on a bunch of fantastic new authors. Find your own dystopian or even utopian future right here.
7 day steal deal
Another special deal that lasts for a week only. You can snap up a 70% discount on my e-books from the Carentan Series, directly from my publisher’s website Double Dragon Books.
My books focus on action adventure, battles, political intrigue and magic realism. I like to include a sub-plot with a love interest and I don’t write long paragraphs of description, so my books are light reads with lots of action and short chapters. Each book is a stand-alone story in itself, so you don’t necessarily need to have read the previous books to enjoy them and they can be read in any order.
I have always loved fantasy books and some of my earlier influences include classic epic fantasy, such the Lord of the Rings, The Belgariad and the Wheel of Time. Of course, I’m also a big fan of Game of Thrones. I’m also very much influenced by YA fantasy and love to read books by authors like, Tamora Pierce, Sharon Shinn and Megan Whelan Turner.
So, what are you waiting for? Snap up a fantasy adventure e-book for only £1.30 ($1.80) – hurry, offer ends on March 10th! Available only from Double Dragon Books
Black Friday deal
Okay, so it’s really black Saturday now, but stick with me, as my deal is a special one that lasts for a week. You can snap up a heavily discounted e-book from the Carentan Series, directly from my publisher’s website Double Dragon Books.
My books focus on action adventure, battles, political intrigue and magic realism. I like to include a sub-plot with a love interest and I don’t write long paragraphs of description, so my books are light reads with lots of action and short chapters. Each book is a stand-alone story in itself, so you don’t necessarily need to have read the previous books to enjoy them and they can be read in any order.
I have always loved fantasy books and some of my earlier influences include classic epic fantasy, such the Lord of the Rings, The Belgariad and the Wheel of Time. Of course, I’m also a big fan of Game of Thrones. I’m also very much influenced by YA fantasy and love to read books by authors like, Tamora Pierce, Sharon Shinn and Megan Whelan Turner.
So, what are you waiting for? Snap up a fantasy adventure e-book for only £1.30 ($1.80) – hurry, offer ends in 5 days! Available only from Double Dragon Books
Love, lies and subplots
Relationships are fascinating to explore in stories. Particularly how people repeatedly sabotage their own relationships, and not limited to romantic connections either. This article in Psychology Today is typical of how subconscious behaviour affects how we communicate with each other, and the response we get in return from our partners. Most of the time, we don’t realise we are doing it and this inevitably results in us repeating the same patterns, including the lies we tell ourselves.
Although my books are predominantly fantasy, a key feature is a love story subplot. Gereinte doesn’t reach this point until book two, when he falls hard and fast for the most extraordinary love match. And in book three, Allan and Demaris are faced with hard choices that affect the decisions they make.
Nerys has made all these mistakes in her first encounter with love, when she falls for a lowly lad, who turns out to be part of a plot to discredit and destroy her family in the Prince of Carentan. When she arrives in Tordre, she is raw and emotional, not yet healed and this in part affects how her relationship with the Blue King unfolds.
Observation is the first thing that raises the red flags – what is going on at her wedding? She notices unusual behaviour but dismisses it, despite her discomfort and hopes that things will change; she has a duty to her family and to her country. Shocked by what she has discovered, Nerys is in denial for the first part of the story. When she realises things are not going to change any time soon, she gets angry and starts to bargain with her husband in an attempt to get him to allow her to return home and see her family. A period of depression leads her to a crisis point and a number of unexpected events force her to a point of no return. No spoilers here if you want to read what happens to Nerys, but I will say that she learns from her experience and eventually finds love in the most unexpected way.
Other Worlds Anthology Volume 1
What if… an anthropology graduate finds herself on a work placement in an off-world ‘glom’ trying to save her career? Find out in the short story In Space, No One Can Hear You Sing.
What if… on a distant planet in another solar system, a young girl finds herself the victim of a brutal justice system? The answer may lie in Soulbane.
Two fantastical futuristic stories from the pen of FG Laval and many more authors in one volume. Available now from Fiction4All
Pre-launch discounts!
In advance of the launch of my new novel, The Blue King, I am offering a discount on all 3 of my previous books at $1.80 / £1.33 for ONE WEEK ONLY!
Please use the following links to buy directly from the publisher’s website:
Sign up for a free ebook, updates and future discounts.
Discounted e-book
A coming-of-age story about a downtrodden and rebellious young prince, and his journey towards becoming a king.
Head on over to Fiction4All’s brand new imprint; Dragon Claw, for YA and younger readers, where you’ll find the first e-book in the Carentan Series discounted to $1.80 / £1.31 – for one week only.
Hurry! Offer ends on 25th November.
Books, Work and WIP
Work and life do have a habit of catching up with you and I will admit that after the busy day job, there is nothing more satisfying that settling down with a good read.
My current WIP (work in progress – yes, another Carentan book), has been completed in as far as a first draft has been written and I’m now working on a second draft. Lots of plot holes that need fixing, but I hope to get it out to an editor some time soon.
In the meantime I am getting continually distracted by reading (and work, of course), which I am excited to share with you. I’ve been exploring different types of writing and particularly classics which I have not yet tried. Some of my recent reads, include Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, which is an extraordinary psychological thriller. I’ve also just finished a biography of Angela Carter, whose work The Bloody Chamber has been had huge influence on my writing over the years – particularly my short stories. Deerskin by Robin McKinley (another of my favourite authors), has the timeless quality of a fairytale with the page turning quality that I have come to expect from the author. I’m currently reading Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy.
The curious thing that I have noticed about classics, is that the authors employ a variety of techniques and styles that in time have become out of vogue and in some cases, a red flag for novice writers. Some (not all) of these works are littered with exclamation marks, for example, and a proliferation of adverbs, rambling narratives and over descriptive paragraphs. The other thing that I have noticed as a reader, is that I am willing to forgive these stylistic foibles (according to modern editorial standards) if the author gives me the one fundamental thing that keeps me reading; a damn good story!
So there you have it. Story eats Style for breakfast. But then I may well just eat my own words for breakfast as I’m off now to edit the living daylights out of my second draft.
Kemal’s quote here is quite apt and can be applied just as neatly to story craft as well as martial arts.
Happy Reading!
When They Came For You
The shrieking siren of the police car gets people making the same comment, ‘they’re coming to get you’! Ha ha, very funny, but what if ‘they’ were coming to get you, what if you had a threat of retribution hanging over your head, what if you disregarded the warnings that they were really coming to get you…this set of stories will show you just what some people have been through when ‘they’ were about to interfere with a life…
New horror anthology available from Fiction4All, which includes my short story Just A Woman…
Running from a terrifying past of government experiments and conspiracies, Jade was so close to realise her dream of freedom when they came for her…
27 stories from various authors present you with their unique take on When They Came For You
Available now from a variety of retail outlets – read an excerpt here.
Discounted e-books and a new release!
To celebrate a new release of book 3 in the Carentan Series, I am offering a ONE WEEK ONLY discount on books 1&2 – available only on the Double Dragon website here for £1.33 ($1.80).
Book 1 follows the adventures of Geriente Andolin, as he grows from a boy prince into a king-to-be. Book 2 sees two new characters arrive in the Western Isles who develop to aid Gereinte in keeping his beloved Carentan from falling into a bloody battle for control of the Western Isles. Stories of love, loss and coming-of-age reverberate throughout.
If you’ve read the first two books, I’m delighted to announce that book 3 – The Prince and the Assassin – has now been re-released with a new cover designed by my talented nephew, Adam Laval. You may still see previous versions of the book cover at various retail outlets, but I think you’ll agree, this one is a huge improvement!
Finally… a sneaky heads up that there is a book 4 in progress – currently with beta readers and if you want to know more, sign up here for my email updates and I will give you priority notice of publication dates. As a special gift, you will also receive a free fantasy e-book.
FG Laval 