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The Cosmic CodexExploring our science fiction universe Author: Brian Scott Pauls
Living in a science fiction universe... www.thecosmiccodex.com Language: en Genres: Arts, Books, Fiction, Science Fiction Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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"Probability Amplitudes" has a new cover
Thursday, 25 April, 2024
My novelette, An Illicit Mercy, is part of a new promotion in April and May, Free Sci-Fi and Fantasy.Check out nearly 75 books available for free.My latest novelette, “Long Night On the Endless City,” appears in Boundary Shock Quarterly 26: Tomorrow’s Crimes:On the vast ring habitat Ouroboros, Jel and her synthetic companion Marcus search for Arja, the third member of their triad. This quest leads them to a cryptic technology cult with questionable motives. When they suffer a vicious attack, Marcus and Jel join forces with one of Ouroboros’most renowned computer and robotics experts to get to the bottom of the mystery.This thought-provoking sf tale explores artificial intelligence, religion, and the ties that bind families together in a fast-paced story full of action, intrigue, and heart.Get your FREE copy of The Great Asteroid TheftA Star Lawyers Series PrequelThe Great Asteroid Theft – Murder, conspiracy, clash of rival star nations over vast wealth from mining asteroids. And sizzling romance on the frontier world of Olathe-5.Alien claim-jumpers are robbing asteroid miners of their hard-won discoveries in the vast, four-belted Olathe System. These pirates are carting off high value ores while officials of the Terran Commonwealth take bribes to look the other way.Meet young attorneys Tyler and J.B. Matthews long before they launched Star Lawyers Corporation. You’ll also encounter the spicy East Indian Lieutenant Varuna Singh, attorney with the Energy Consortium who teams up with the Matthews brothers to stop the Great Asteroid Theft.The Star Lawyers series starts at Olathe-5. Be there when Tyler and J.B. launch their careers in this 32nd century, crime and punishment legal thriller.I’m a visual thinker. Pictorial representations of my work serve as both an inspiration and a motivation to write.In previous posts about my upcoming collection, Probability Amplitudes, I’ve used the following image of the cover:I purchased this image in 2021, when I first began working on my first collection in earnest. I saw it available online and grabbed it before someone else did. I also wanted to see what my as-yet-nonexistent book would look like. Seeing it helped me believe I could do it.Thanks for reading The Cosmic Codex! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Since then, the length of Probability Amplitudes has increased, both in overall word count and the number of stories. This calls for a change in the subtitle. As any modification requires me to go back to the cover creator and pay a change fee, I’ve been holding off until I’m certain how many stories the book will contain.In the meantime, three years have passed. Tastes change. Even when I bought this cover, the image may have been on the outer edge of what the market preferred. Now I’m concerned it may be completely out-of-date.While I’ve been working on my stories, I’ve also been experimenting with artificial intelligence tools. These include Midjourney, which I use to create digital illustrations for The Cosmic Codex.Thank you for reading The Cosmic Codex. This post is public so feel free to share it.I realized with Midjourney and an affordable BookBrush subscription, I could make custom book covers using BookBrush’s cover creation tool. I tried it, and was more impressed with the fonts available from BookBrush than I had been with those on the cover I bought. I also felt Midjourney did a respectable job producing a background image, allowing me to specify elements I liked about the purchased cover. And if I change my mind, I can create new mock-ups myself, whenever I want.See the result below:When I shared both covers with a few prospective readers, asking which they preferred, sentiment was overwhelmingly in favor of the new cover. I plan to use it for the book when I’m ready to publish.As far as that goes, I’ve made a little progress chipping away at the amount of new material required. It’s down to 46% (from 47%) of the anticipated 160,000 words. But I noticed I had mis-categorized some material as “Final Draft” which was really “First Draft.” I’ve corrected this in the following chart:I still have long way to go, but I’m encouraged by what I’ve accomplished so far. The end is in sight.See below for links to three short stories (and the excerpt of another) which I plan to include in Probability Amplitudes.Short Stories* “The Play of Light In the Present Moment”* ”Critical Impact Vulnerabilities”* ”Chthonic Echoes”Excerpt* Long Night On the Endless CityQuestions or comments? Please share your thoughts! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thecosmiccodex.com
