Fraudulent Literary Slop

I guess I'm never writing a book.

AI slop is wrecking many things, including the book publishing industry. I first noticed this a year or so ago, and after watching this video from Jared Henderson, I’m pretty sure I’m NOT going to follow through on writing a book of my own.

Why, specifically, is this a show stopper for me?

First, there are half a million words of mine on this Substack. There are about a quarter million words of mine on the Neal Rauhauser Wordpress. I’ve never counted my total on DailyKos, but the serialized draft of my road novel in 2008 was 224,000 words all by itself. So there are at least a million Neal words within easy reach. My writing style is fully on display.

Second, at least 75% of what would make up a book is already out there. There are some secrets I might share, now that years have elapsed, but the value I would bring in writing a book would be a coherent timeline, screening out the noise, and providing the insights I got from the review itself.

Third, part of the reason I created Parabeagle was to further harden myself against frivolous litigation. Having prevailed in four frivolous suits in the last fifteen years, including setting a 1st Amendment precedent in Texas, I think I’m now seen as an unappetizing target. While that perception has headed off trouble, my work as Brand Defense Strategist for Cicada 3301 is also contributing, and I’m not done in this area.

Fourth, I’m not sure that a publication has all that much value in an atomized market full of folks with diminished spans of attention.. Simply getting Shall We Play A Game? moving will do far more than any linear recitation of happenings in the curious hobby spook niche I inhabited.

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So there you have it. I’ll keep serializing, because if I stop writing for too long I start twitching, but any grand production along those lines? Books are histories, but a collective chaos fiction framework like Shall We Play A Game? That, constant reader, is the future.