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Tuesday, June 4, 2024

FROM MID-CENTURY MODERN TO PODCASTS TO AI, OH MY!

Today marks the release of Sorry, Knot Sorry, the thirteenth book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series. Lucky number thirteen for my author, not so lucky number thirteen for me because once again, author Lois Winston has wreaked havoc in my life with yet another dead body. This one, gunned down in front of my house. Right after the guy left my house! So, it’s not like I can shrug my shoulders and say there was no connection between the two of us.

Lois is a news junkie who likes to draw on current and newsworthy events when developing the plots for the books in the series about me. In Sorry, Knot Sorry she weaves together such disparate topics as podcasts, artificial intelligence, and the current trend for all things mid-century modern, including a nod to tie-dye and macramé. After all, this is a crafting cozy series.

 

Speaking of artificial intelligence, did you hear about my author’s experiment, using me as a guinea pig? When AI hit the news full force several months ago, worry began to mount among authors. Would they all become obsolete in the not-too-distant future? Lois decided to ask Chat GPT to create a novel for the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. She wanted to test just how intelligent this artificial intelligence is to see if her days as an author really were numbered.

 

Now keep in mind that you can find information about me, as well as the stories Lois has created about me, all over the Internet. A short synopsis of each book, along with the first chapter, are not only available on her website, but also on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iTunes, Books-a-Million, Audible, and countless other e-tailers. You’d think with all that available information, Chat GPT would scan the Internet cosmos and come up with something that bore some resemblance to me, my family, and the world Lois has created for us.

 

Think again! The results were so off base that they were laughable. The not-so-intelligent artificial intelligence transformed Ralph, my African Grey parrot into my uncle. My mother’s Persian cat, Catherine the Great, morphed into my employee. Instead of working as the crafts editor at a women’s magazine, AI made me the owner of a knitting shop. Worst of all? There was absolutely nothing funny in any of the pages that AI had generated. Lois writes humorous amateur sleuth mysteries. I get through all she dumps on me by relying on my sense of humor. But apparently, this new technology lacks a funny bone and is both incapable of seeing humor or generating it.

 

This has turned out to be a good news/bad news situation. Good news for Lois because she now feels she can rest easier, knowing her career won’t be usurped by a bunch of algorithms anytime soon. Bad news for me, though, because Lois is already plotting how she can wreak more havoc in the life of this reluctant amateur sleuth for Book Fourteen. And you can be sure, there will be more dead bodies.

 

Sorry, Knot Sorry

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 13

 

Magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack may finally be able to pay off the remaining debt she found herself saddled with when her duplicitous first husband dropped dead in a Las Vegas casino. But as Anastasia has discovered, nothing in her life is ever straightforward. Strings are always attached. Thanks to the success of an unauthorized true crime podcast, a television production company wants to option her life—warts and all—as a reluctant amateur sleuth. 

 

Is such exposure worth a clean financial slate? Anastasia isn’t sure, but at the same time, rumors are flying about layoffs at the office. Whether she wants national exposure or not, Anastasia may be forced to sign on the dotted line to keep from standing in the unemployment line. But the dead bodies keep coming, and they’re not in the script.

 

Craft tips included.

 

Buy Links

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4 comments:

Judy Alter said...

Love the idea of testing an AI novel, and how reassuring that it won't replace you any time soon. You set a high bar for the rest of us as we deal with the ever-changing world of publishing.

ANASTASIA POLLACK said...

Thanks so much, Judy! Glad you enjoyed the post.

Gay Yellen said...

Thank goodness humans can claim humor as an important hallmark of non-artificial intelligence! Loved the book, an excellent addition to the series.

ANASTASIA POLLACK said...

Thanks, Gay! Love that you loved the book!