I have fixed the various typos and errors found. The appropriate html files have been uploaded and the epub book on ZBS has been uploaded. Thanks to everyone who let me know.
The Bridge Club was the final story that svtln illustrated for me. His work was substantial, and if an inconsistency or two slipped through, blame me. In addition, he was training me in using different AI illustration programs and I was able to begin creating my own. Future stories will be illustrated by me, though I still ask him the occasional question and beg for assistance as needed.
The way AI illustration programs work can be maddening, and trying to create a consistent series of illustrations can be tricky. For instance, suppose you want a series of pictures of a man undressing a woman. It’s very easy to create any single picture. If you want the same two people in a series, you need to develop very complete descriptions of both people – height, weight, build, hair and eye color, and measurements. Then you need equally detailed descriptions of their clothes – colors, fabrics, cut and style. Just specifying you want a green plaid shirt won’t be enough, since there are all sorts of different green plaids! Some programs allow you to upload a color pattern, but not all. It sounds silly, but the first picture of a woman’s white panties might be silky smooth white, and the next one might be lacy sheer white and obviously different.
In addition, AI is powerful but not all-knowing. To create an illustration, you enter a prompt. “A man [enter description, this can be a paragraph or more] is kissing a woman [another paragraph of description]. They are in a bedroom [more description, size of bed, type of bedsheets and covers, description of windows and doors, etc.]” If you want a second picture, this time of her undressing, you start all over again. You can create the prompts ahead of time and cut and paste new ones together, but something always goes wrong and you have to start again with a fix. Some programs are easier to use, or you can edit an existing picture, but not every program is equally useful. The more powerful mainstream AI programs won’t do sex. Grok, for instance, will do topless and show breasts, but won’t do bottomless if it shows any genitalia (his or hers), and only show people in bed if everything fun is covered up. There are programs, such as Flatai, that will do the X-rated pictures, but they can be much more difficult to work with and less consistent.
I do have another story in the works, and I’ll begin posting it in another week or so. For those who complain that I am wasting my massive talents (questionable at best, just ask my wife) instead of writing new masterpieces, here’s my response. GET OVER IT! I got into this for fun long before I was able to sell things in a bookstore. I wanted to see if I could write something other than the schlock I saw out there. After thirty years, I think I have paid my dues and proved myself. Adding pictures to old stories and jazzing them up is just another intellectual challenge.
Thanks for your continued interest.