We Are Not Yours has just started shipping.
Alex Morton
The high price of daylight
In winter Nova Scotia,
The long space, the silence
The quickening, the storm toss,
The waves of cold weather
The frost on the inside of the window
The sound of wind-shaken old buildings
The loss of the warmth of the sun âŚ
As the icicles lengthen, I pass again
The thought of the panther in the snowdrifts
Seeking no shelter at all.
Jeff Rose ... if you're here let me know.
Eugenio Cappuccio Two knocks for yes, one for no, dear spirit.
E. Writer Alex, if you search for him by last name in the search box at the top, you can message him. Or post on his page. He'll get a notification when he logs in.
Roy Scarbrough I gave an invite to aphorism group where he might enjoy talking about Marshall McLuhan
Alex Morton He might be being shy. I'll send him an email.
Because there are so many writers on this site, I thought this article I found on Literary Hub would be of real interest. I was about to translate one of my books to Greek using AI, so that some friends could read it, but had the sudden realization that once you put it out on AI it becomes part of that gigantic database that can be used for many purposes. Here's the article:
Harlequin France, which is owned by HarperCollins, has just confirmed that theyâre shifting away from human translators with an eye to robot replacements.
As The Bookseller reported this morning, this change has been in the works for several weeks. According to a letter published by the French Literary Translators Association and the collective En Chair et en Os (In Flesh and Bone: For Human Translation), âdozens of translators who regularly work with Harlequin [France]â have been informed that their contracts are ending, ASAP.
The human translators were told that their work will be now done via Fluent Planet, a communications agency that uses machine translation software. âFreelance proofreadersââLord help themâwill sculpt the results.
A Fluent Planet spokesperson told The Bookseller that the companyâs distinct hybrid model combines âin-house language assistance tools with systematic human translation carried out by professional literary translators.â Their offerings are not intended as a replacement for human expertise or editorial judgment, but a âsupport tool.â
HarperCollins France also made milky defense of whatâs clearly a bottom line decision. A spokesperson there told Publishers Weekly that âno Harlequin collection has been translated solely using machine translation generated by artificial intelligence.â But the âyetâ feels implied.
This move follows similar announcements made by other publishing imprints, including the U.K.-based Taylor & Francis. Translators are irate about the writing on the wall.
The FLTA condemned this latest move from a mega-house as âunacceptable,â and chided the âmentality that robs book workers of their expertise and creativity, and deprives readers of access to vibrant and humane literature.â
Romance writers (though really, all of us) are reminded to push for No AI clauses in their contracts, whenever possible. Up with writers! Down with algorithms!
E. Writer Big Tech CEOs have been warning that 90% of jobs will be erased due to AI taking those jobs. So I am not surprised. I will say that most of the conversations you have with AI in those private chats are not stored. They are temporary files that disappear so Gemini, for example, doesn't retain any data and none is collected for their database. I am unsure about Chat GPT, and others however. They may be using the data to train users. But isn't that so scary how we don't have any privacy whatsoever?
SJ Blues DOWN WITH THE ALGO!
E. Writer Is that the trending catchphrase?
Just curious ... anyone else here play a musical instrument?
Alex Morton Look out about movies about music. If you ever saw the film, Round Midnite,' you might become a jazz saxaphonist drug addict in Paris. (Great movie, by the way. The star of the film was one of the jazz greats, Dexter Gordon.
Alex Morton I used to play bassoon and a couple of other woodwinds. Then I picked up guitar and banjo and played those for years. I now have little arthritis in my hands and it's hard to play guitar, but I've been teaching myself piano for the last year.
SJ Blues Any movie recommendations about piano players?
Alex Morton Yep. Ray ... about Ray Charles. But even if I blind myself I'll never play like Ray. It's amazing how many great musicians had something major to overcome. Django Reinhart, one of the most extraordinary guitar players who ever lived, was missing three fingers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQTh3e1B2n8&t=91s
Alex Morton So, if you played baritone, you must have played in a band. It's not like a guitar, nobody sits around a campfire and sings when you play a baritone. What did you think of playing in a band?
Steven Terry if you show up here I'll help guide you to our safe harbor.
Former Zoe members, there's a down arrow on the upper right. Select it and a list of groups will pop up. Select Zoe Orphans. Ask to join and I will open the gates for you.
E. Writer WOW, Alex, Andrew Morgan mentioned that he couldn't' find your instructions for the sign up so I searched for your name in the group and it's not there at all. FB actually deleted your postings in your group. Your name is no longer a clickable link where I tagged you in previous postings and the "like" button where you have liked my postings show a like but doesn't show your name. I cannot find it anywhere. None of your postings show up. So I think you were right about why FB suspended you. But a suspension doesn't make your account disappear. It usually just means you can't post. So yeah, the powers that be at big tech is nervous about this platform. Otherwise, it's possible someone reported your post because you recommended here. Someone who secretly may not have wanted the group to move here. It's odd to me because me and my husband post about Neighbahood all the time on FB and never had a problem. I even ran ads about it. But if someone posted it, that may have drawn the wrong attention. Also, the instructions were there earlier today but I can't find them now.
Eugenio Cappuccio Well, here i am,,.greetings & salutationsâŚ
Eugenio Cappuccio But it seems i canât start a postâŚDonât see the right windowâŚ
E. Writer In the zoe group? I think Alex has to approve you for the group, yet.
With eighteen hours of travel just ahead of me, I've downloaded a copy of the new Thomas Pynchon book, Shadow Ticket. He's one of the most important modern American authors ... Vineland, The Crying of Lot 49, V, Gravity's Rainbow ... and this is his first in twelve years.
E. Writer Great idea to bring a book to such a long flight. I will have to check him out.
Alex Morton I always read on flights. Rarely do I find a movie that I want to see or haven't yet seen. The year before last I read the entire new, Emily Wilson, translation of The Odyssey on the way home. It's incredibly well done and reads almost like a novel. Far better than the Rieu one, which was the standard prose translation until now.
E. Writer I'll have to check that one out, too. Thanks for the recommendation. And welcome back!
The world is a puzzle
Each day is a rhyme
All we have is the rhythm
And the fortunes of time
Sitting here in Ikaria, with the windows all open to let the house breathe after so long away. The journey here is never as expected but I suppose Iâd be disappointed if it were any other way. Itâs too far away from Vancouver to be easy, too rugged a trail, too many hours entombed in airplanes and the purgatory of terminals.
When you travel across cultures, time zones and geographies, there should be big bumps to keep you conscious of what is happening. It isnât all magic and technology.
In Amsterdam, we are driven in an electric cart from our arrivals gate to the one that will finally get us to Greece. Along the way, the driver gets word that our flight has been cancelled.
He stops the cart and has a long conversation with his superior, and then tells us that he is going to be taking us to Transfers to get us booked on the next flight to Athens. As we rush through the terminal, he introduces himself, Roland, and we go through a hilarious exercise of trying to name famous Rolands. When I come up with the great jazz musician, Roland Kirk, we get into a discussion of music.
When, in the course of conversation, he asks what I do, and I tell him Iâm a writer, he immediately finds my book, Somewhere Else, on Amazon and wants to know what itâs about. When I tell him that itâs about how my wife and I restored an old family farm on the Greek island of Ikaria, and that itâs funny as hell, Roland buys a copy on the spot.
He parks the cart near the Transfer desk, where at least fifty people are qued up, and somehow gets us to the front of the line, where he helps us score the last two tickets that night to Athens.
Roland drops us at a restaurant that looks as if it has comfortable seats, and then like the other angels Iâve met in my life, disappears. Just like that.
E. Writer To travel, to meet with family or friends, or just visit a second home is a luxury that few Americans see. Most are working their 40+ hours, paying of massive amounts of debt, and planning a two week vacation if their job allows it. Your perspective harkens back to a time fifty or more years ago when people visited each other, traveled across states, or took ships across to the other side of world just to sit with a friend for a week or two, or to experience a bit of culture. It amazes me how times have changed and how the focus is on surviving and paying the toll to thrive. I will say that, I am surprised at your trip. Are you staying for the rest of the year? I would imagine you'd travel to Ikaria in the winter to get some relief from Canadian winters :)
Alex Morton The little farm in Ikaria is my wife's ancestral home, where her grandparents died of starvation when the Germans invaded the island in WWII and took all the food. My relatives were murdered in concentration camps. We stand on their shoulders determined to have the lives they never had. One of the reasons we left the US and moved to Canada was because of the economic inequity in your country. We started from scratch and built this life for ourselves through education and hard work. Far easier in Canada where healthcare is free and university affordable.
E. Writer If only the mindset existed here. 😔
Alex Morton In 1973, the Greek people overthrew an authoritarian government by virtue of their spirit alone ... with a bit of help from their artists, musicians and writers. We Are Not Yours is a novel of that time, What could be more relevant, now, when democracy is under such threat?
E. Writer Such a good book!