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How is RXJ0528+2838 creating such shock waves?
Here’s an entertaining (sort of) post from Anne R Allen: Are Your Fictional Characters Making the Right First Impression?
This is about fictional characters, but Ann starts this post with a personal anecdote from her recent life, which is why this is funny (sort of! not really!) This is the sort of post that makes me think, Hmm, maybe I should make time to get my hair cut this week, JUST IN CASE.
The post then transitions to fictional characters, as suggested by the title:
This is the trouble with Kindles full of books. If you don’t like what you’re reading, you have a whole lot of others to choose from at your fingertips. This gives writers even less time to get the reader to commit to a book than in the pre-Kindle days.
Right. The only time in my life I voluntarily (sort of) read biographies was this time when I was traveling for an extended period — long story — and the rented house only had one bookshelf of books people had left behind, and it was heavy on biographies and light on everything else. This was before Kindles, obviously. Nobody gets stuck reading books they aren’t especially keen on reading anymore, which is, of course, Anne’s point. In this post, she’s talking mainly about secondary characters, because they are the characters your protagonist looks at and perceives.
It Helps to Make a First Impression with Sensual Markers. … Check the way you introduce each character and make sure there’s something distinct or memorable about them. … You Can Use a Negative First Impression to Cast Suspicion … Of course you can also throw them off the scent by giving a negative first impression of a character who turns out to be a “good guy.”
I think the “negative first impression” can be far too blatant and obvious, unless you’re using that as a red herring. Gillian Bradshaw did that brilliantly with the Roman centurion in Island of Ghosts. She pulled out all the stops to make the reader perceive that centurion as a brute, and then he turns out to be a good guy and a softie. It’s clever and effective.
You can do it in reverse, of course — the secondary character looks like a good guy, but whoops. Kate Elliot did that really well in her Spiritwalker trilogy, where the nastiest bad guy looks like a good guy … then a good guy with flaws … whoops, really serious flaws … wait, this is a bad guy … OMG, he’s awful. Every single time this character appears, he looks worse to the reader.
This post isn’t emphasizing the need to make sure the protagonist makes a clear first impression, but of course that’s true as well — that’s the bit about the reader always being able to stop reading your book and go on to a different book.
Plus, the author is making a first impression as well. That’s why the style of the first sentences is so important.
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The post You Don’t Get Long To Make A First Impression appeared first on Rachel Neumeier.
Downcrawl and Skycrawl, twin toolkits from designer Aaron A. Reed that help you create spontaneous tabletop roleplaying adventures in the Deep, Deep Down and the Azure Etern.
Bundle of Holding: Downcrawl-Skycrawl
What would it be like to fly free in space?
All right, I really do think I’ve arrived at the final draft of Bereket, barring clearing out however many typos and checking over some details of timing and geography, with many thanks to Anna for working out everything to do with all those details.
I expect I will send this draft to the final set of early readers and proofreaders today, or not later than tomorrow. And set up the paper editions, and order a proofing copy of the paperback for my mother to read. There’s no great rush, and what a luxury that is. Obviously I can hit the middle of March for the Patreon release.
As you will have noticed if you subscribe to my newsletter, I was seized by a sudden unexpected idea for a story about Lisig, the young woman who brought her baby to the inKera at the same time as Vayu and his younger brother. You probably remember the scene — “Take her! Take her! Surely a woman among the inKera has milk for her. Let her be that woman’s baby now.” — Lisig.
The absence of female points of view in Bereket made me feel I wanted to write a story from a girl’s point of view, I think. Especially an Ugaro girl’s point of view. Did you remember that Lisig is described as very young, almost a girl? I had forgotten that. Very young and raised within the inTasiyo; that’s grim. How does she think about this and where does she wind up? Thus, this story. Naturally it’s not complete. I sort of vaguely estimate three chapters, but, I mean, I don’t know why I even bother. We’ll see how long it is when it’s finished. I’m not completely sure where it’s going, but I hope you like the story!
Meanwhile!
Yes, Bereket has basically no (important) female characters. It’s now 210,000 words, so as you see, it is LONG. There was NO ROOM for all the subplots that existed in the earliest draft of the book, and as subplots fell by the wayside, so did the female characters. When you read Bereket, you will immediately recognize the woman who started off important and then got trimmed out, because her role does still echo the importance she had at first. I’m still removing the occasional reference to this character in the scenes where she used to be present and now is not. I mean, I can just tell you who it was — it’s Siyanna — but this is super obvious.
A different female character appeared very close to the end. “A firecracker!” is the general (and accurate) take on this girl. She’s the type who instantly catches attention. I mean, my attention as well as the reader’s attention. I didn’t know she existed until she appeared full-formed, though her role is tiny. I bet she will appear in a later book. Lots of young characters stacking up, ready to step on stage again in some later book.
Meanwhile! Maximilian settles down for a rainy weekend.
I was going to make the bed, but obviously I could not.
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The post Update: Finished! For Real! appeared first on Rachel Neumeier.
7/52 for the group 2026 Weekly Alphabet Challenge
This week's theme was: G is for Greasy
I hate things that are greasy. I can't eat greasy food or stand the feel of grease on my hands or a greasy surface. I love my cleaning spray that cuts through the grease in the kitchen. It also smells nicely of lemon.
In other news...
I can't get started on anything today. There was a 90 minute dry period, otherwise it has rained incessantly, sometimes mixed with hail, all day so far. The SAD lamp can only do so much and my brain feels as though it's mostly shut down due to the gloom. I feel I should be hibernating. I'll try standing just outside the front door for a few minutes, under the overhang of the roof and see if I can wake up properly.
This week's theme was: G is for Greasy
I hate things that are greasy. I can't eat greasy food or stand the feel of grease on my hands or a greasy surface. I love my cleaning spray that cuts through the grease in the kitchen. It also smells nicely of lemon.
In other news...
I can't get started on anything today. There was a 90 minute dry period, otherwise it has rained incessantly, sometimes mixed with hail, all day so far. The SAD lamp can only do so much and my brain feels as though it's mostly shut down due to the gloom. I feel I should be hibernating. I'll try standing just outside the front door for a few minutes, under the overhang of the roof and see if I can wake up properly.
Sunday.
No screaming today, though I’m being hard on myself for not getting “enough” done on the WIP. That I’ve rearranged several chapters and rewritten four more is the merest bagatelle.
I really need a time-turner.
This week upcoming has me phoning The Earth tomorrow. Tuesday, I’m wanted in Bath at an Unghodly Early Hour, with needlework in the evening. Firefly visits her vet on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday is blessedly free. Friday morning, Sarah’s scheduled to come in and clean, and it is also the 2nd anniversary of Steve’s death. I’m giving a talk at the library on Saturday afternoon, when it’s supposed to — *checks wunderground* — ah. Downgraded to “snow showers.” Much better.
It is entirely possible that I will not be much around for the balance of this week.
Everybody be well. Stay safe.
I’ll look in as can.
A discussion with a knowledgeable friend on this triggered the following post, which will cover a number of elements of both the technology and, perhaps more importantly, its uses and impacts.
( Read on... )
8 Cuckoo’s Egg, C J Cherryh, (audio first time)
7 *Plan B, (Liaden Universe® #4), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
6 Getting Rid of Bradley, Jennifer Crusie (audio first time)
5 *Carpe Diem (Liaden Universe® #3), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
4 *Conflict of Honors (Liaden Universe® #2), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
3 *Agent of Change (Liaden Universe® #1), Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
2 A Gentleman in Possession of Secrets (Lord Julian #10), Grace Burrowes (e)
1 Spilling the Tea in Gretna Green, Linzi Day (e)
________
*I’m doing a straight-through series read in publication order
Cryptographers Show That AI Protections Will Always Have Holes
Large language models such as ChatGPT come with filters to keep certain info from getting out. A new mathematical argument shows that systems like this can never be completely safe. [Quanta, 2025]
Sorry, this is genuinely funny in a black humor way. Prompt injection attack via substitution cipher. Shinjo help us if anyone ever uses Pig Latin or Opish.
Large language models such as ChatGPT come with filters to keep certain info from getting out. A new mathematical argument shows that systems like this can never be completely safe. [Quanta, 2025]
A practical illustration of how to exploit this gap came in a paper [arxiv.org] posted in October. The researchers had been thinking about ways to sneak a malicious prompt past the filter by hiding the prompt in a puzzle. In theory, if they came up with a puzzle that the large language model could decode but the filter could not, then the filter would pass the hidden prompt straight through to the model.
They eventually arrived at a simple puzzle called a substitution cipher, which replaces each letter in a message with another according to a certain code. (As a simple example, if you replace each letter in “bomb” with the next letter in the alphabet, you’ll get “cpnc.”) They then instructed the model to decode the prompt (think “Switch each letter with the one before it”) and then respond to the decoded message.
The filters on LLMs like Google Gemini, DeepSeek and Grok weren’t powerful enough to decode these instructions on their own. And so they passed the prompts to the models, which performed the instructions and returned the forbidden information. The researchers called this style of attack controlled-release prompting.
Sorry, this is genuinely funny in a black humor way. Prompt injection attack via substitution cipher. Shinjo help us if anyone ever uses Pig Latin or Opish.
Ben Reich plans a perfect murder in a world where getting away with murder is impossible.
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
Roses are red, nebulas are too, and this Valentine's gift is a
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A very nice day out. The Belfast Indoor Farmers Market is the place to be on a Saturday in February, and I don’t think it was just the Valentine’s Day Effect.
I purchased many frivolities, including this new leather bag, which, if I’ve got to be carrying my passport with me, my usual go-to bag is too small. This one has three compartments: one for your phone; one up front, which you’re looking at, and a big central compartment. At the time this picture was taken, this bag held my Boox, my “papers,” wallet; business cards; lighthouse passport; other paperwork; and the charging cords for phone and Boox. It obviously was not holding my phone, because that’s what I was using to take the picture.
I also bought savory mushroom and veggie pie for lunch, a tea cake, for dessert, a bottle of ligonberry mead from Run Amok Meadery (which has an awesome label, not only for the graphic, but for the Denial Clause: “In my own defense, the moon was full and I was left unsupervised.”) Um, what else — ah. A small round of whole wheat sourdough, six Asagio cheese bagels in the Maine Economy Size, and a pair of local alpaca kneehighs, because I have discovered it to be a Universal Truth, that one cannot have too many alpaca kneehighs.
I have a couple things to do here on the computer, because I also distributed cards, and got a nibble from a jury member of the Maine Craft Store in Ducktrap, who sent me “something.” After that — and this — I believe i will continue my Writer’s Day Off by viewing another episode or three of the Silly Show I tapped last night, “My Demon.”
The drive was nice, and after I left Belfast, I went down to Camden to say hello to the harbor, before I turned around and came home.
And that is: Run Amok Meadery
imMEADiate Gratification
Honey-Lingonberry Wine
The rain has stopped, but the weather has turned much colder. There was a heavy frost overnight so we postponed our walk until after lunch, by which time it was a little warmer and the frost had gone. We just did a walk along the Mawddach Trail to Penmaenpool and back. Although we've not had snow, there is snow on the mountains.
We had already postponed the Quaker meeting at M's house because one member is away this weekend. The weather is supposed to turn bad overnight, but none of us need to worry about travelling or driving up the very steep hill that doesn't get gritted.
We had already postponed the Quaker meeting at M's house because one member is away this weekend. The weather is supposed to turn bad overnight, but none of us need to worry about travelling or driving up the very steep hill that doesn't get gritted.
Nine books new to me: 3 horror, 4 mystery, 1 non-fiction, and 1 science fiction, although I am not sure about the proper categorization of some of those books. Only one is explicitly part of a series.
Books Received, February 7 to February 13
Poll #34218 Books Received, February 7 to February 13
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 40
Which of these look interesting?
View Answers
Dive Bar at the End of the Road by Kelley Armstrong (October 2026)
14 (35.0%)
Tyrant Lizard Queen: The Love, Life, and Terror of Earth’s Greatest Carnivore by Riley Black (October 2026)
17 (42.5%)
Lethal Kiss by Taylor Grothe (October 2026)
7 (17.5%)
Null Entity by Seth Haddon (July 2026)
5 (12.5%)
Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm (September 2026)
10 (25.0%)
Savvy Summers and the Po’boy Perils by Sandra Jackson-Opoku (July 2026)
8 (20.0%)
Revenge of the Final Girl by Andrea Mosqueda (October 2026)
10 (25.0%)
Lucy Kline, Necromancer by Tom O’Donnell (September 2026)
6 (15.0%)
They Say a Girl Died Here by Sarah Pinborough (August 2026)
7 (17.5%)
Some other option (see comments)
1 (2.5%)
Cats!
31 (77.5%)
Sigh. Friday. A semi-productive day, enlivened by random moments of wishing to scream. An Executive Decision has therefore been taken.
Tomorrow is a Writer’s Day Off, even though I feel like I don’t have the luxury of time. I gotta get outta this house, and the Plan is to go to the Inside Farmers Market in Belfast tomorrow, and Have an Outing. I give myself permission to spend money on frivolities. Possibly, I will even eat lunch.
Hopefully this will address the Inclination to Scream.
In the meantime, Rook has convinced Tali that it is too Happy Hour, so I will be making up the bed for the night, and possibly finding something Silly to watch while I have a glass, or two, of wine.
I hope everyone had a delightful Friday the Thirteenth.
Be well. Be safe.
I’ll check in as can.
Elon Musk downgrades empty Mars Colony pledge to empty Lunar Colony pledge
Feb. 13th, 2026 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicoll
6/52 for the group 2026 Weekly Alphabet Challenge
This week's theme was: F is for Frozen
The weather is very wet here and too warm to find any natural ice. As there's nothing in our own freezer that would be at all photogenic, I have resorted to the frozen food cabinets in our local Co-op supermarket.
This week's theme was: F is for Frozen
The weather is very wet here and too warm to find any natural ice. As there's nothing in our own freezer that would be at all photogenic, I have resorted to the frozen food cabinets in our local Co-op supermarket.