FLY SOUP

I live in Sydney these days and wanted to take a super-cool author photo, with the beach in the background, on a lovely sunny day. Unfortunately, life didn't play ball and so I just took a picture inside and loaded it into an AI generator to see if I could add the beach post-production. Original boring pic. What I discovered is that AI really, really, really wishes I was more stylish/handsome/interesting/and possibly Asian. Me if I lived in an AI-generated Utopia. I wish I did look like these pictures. Maybe I need to work on my *image* 😝

I've been working on a book of family-orientated children's stories, drawing on my experiences bringing up my kids as a single father.  I asked AI to interpret one of the stories in art and it came up with this image (after a couple of dismal failures). It's actually a fair representation of the story.   Now, to begin the daunting process of finding a publisher for this collection.

Readership has ticked up on the Tales: Choose your own story app, and since a bunch of folks have asked for more Darkendore, I've decided to give it to them. I really enjoy writing Darkendore and all its weird and wonderful characters.  Darkendore: Knight Defender will focus more on developing friendships and love interests, but you can still expect plenty of plot twists and turns, as you attempt to beat back the forces of evil threatening to overwhelm Castle Darkendore this time around. You can play Darkendore: Knight Defender here:  https://link.talescreator.com/qJRhANAwwBb or the original Darkendore game here:  https://link.talescreator.com/No4wDnkHfxb

Tales has chosen my branching narrative Darkendore as one of the first stories to upgrade to a new format that is so awesome it blows my mind. I've read a fair bit of branching fiction on my phone over the past few years and a lot of it is visually a bit samey, but this Tales graphical upgrade is next level.  I used to think my characters looked pretty cool (or at least okay) but I've done a side-by-side and, well there's really no comparison. The art is just...better, in every way. Sure, it doesn't change the story, or the outcomes, but in the same way a good close-up can be compelling in a movie, the extra detail in this character art really makes you fall in love with these characters all over again (at least for me).  You can check out Darkendore here...

The first four chapters of my latest branching narrative gamebook: Dreamwalkers  are out on Tales: Choose Your Own Story and looking good. I'm enjoying writing this story on commission for Tales and have great hopes of getting all ten chapters out by May 2023.  The story is about a group of teens who find a way to visit one another's dreams, but (you guessed it) when their dreams turn to nightmares, some of them wind up dead. I'd describe it as the Goonies meets (the original) Flatliners . Hit this link to download the app and read the story:  https://link.talescreator.com/Q2PRVqqgqsb Also, loving the cover art. It's so nice when publishers spend the time (and money) on artists who're able to capture the vibe of a project like this. I have no complaints about any of the covers or interior art they've created for my work so far.