Desire

Desire is the basis of consciousness. Desire to feel pleasure, desire to avoid pain. Without these, a creature is but an automaton, responding mindlessly to stimuli.

The desire to be, however, would go hand in hand with self-consciousness (self-awareness), the recognition of an organism that it exists as an entity.

Could an AI ever be truly conscious? Could it ever desire anything in the sense we do? Could it hurt?

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This is a note I made to myself for use in a story, one of the Jack Mack sci-fi novels I write as Oliver Davis Pike. I would be likely to word it somewhat differently in a work of fiction.

Present Tense

I readily admit to disliking present tense fiction, primarily because it is illogical. If a story exists, someone wrote it down in the past. It is not happening now and to pretend it is makes it less believable. Nor does it serve any purpose, as far as I ever been able to tell.

I will also admit one tends to not notice it after a while. So, again, it serves no actual purpose.

Now don’t get me started on second person storytelling. That’s a far more heinous writing crime.

Crusades

A primary cause of the Crusades was too many restless, impoverished knights and noblemen in Europe, who jumped at the chance for loot and lands in the East. That they could tell themselves they were doing it for God was an added bonus, but I doubt many would have gone just for that reason.

History is economics, and all our beliefs and ideals are only along for the ride. Individual motives align themselves, one way or another, with the actual underlying causes.

Redo

As one or another of you (or maybe both!) might have noticed, I did a redo on the design of this blog. That dark theme was just too hard on the eyes and I couldn't figure out how to change the dark blue links in the sidebar (aside from getting into the html), so I lightened things up.

Alas, that also changed all the fonts and the colors of my text. So I had to go through the entirety of Eggshell Boats and fix every post. They should display properly now (or, I should say, the way I want them to). The things I do for you, my loyal readers!

Wishing all a Happy Whatever at this time of year. My choice is to celebrate all the holidays that cluster around the solstice, including the ones I've invented for my fiction.

Tamarind

Tamarind is a fictional Florida town that serves as the main setting for my novel ‘Asanas’ (available from Arachis Press in print or as free ebook). This is not the same Florida as that which Ted ‘Shaper’ Carrol inhabits, the Florida of the three Cully Beach novels and ‘The Middle of Nowhere,’ as well as a number of short stories. The two differ in too many respects for any sort of crossover between them. Nor is it the Florida that pops up in the Wilk adventures nor in the Women in the Sun novels I have written under the name Sienna Santerre.

So where is this Tamarind? It is situated near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, somewhere north of Punta Gorda and south of Sarasota. I have disguised the area a bit, flipping some of the geography north and south, to create a place that can not be found on any map. But I did draw up a map of Tamarind for my own use. One should be able to find ones way around with it, although I think the description in the book is actually adequate.

One sees there is road out to Leawood and the beach. Leawood is, to some degree, patterned on both Englewood and Englewood Beach but also on other beach communities I have known, including Vanderbilt Beach just north of Naples and even Keaton Beach up in the Big Bend area (I stole ‘The Hot Dog Stand’ from there). This does not mean Tamarind is in any way based on Englewood. I created it from bits and pieces of Florida towns I have known.

Out west of town lies Consonante Springs. This also is completely fictitious but I did base the spa there, to some degree, on the one in Bonita Springs Florida—a place where I myself taught yoga, long, long ago. And beyond the Springs one finds the US Highway 41 and Interstate 75. Those I didn’t need to invent. Nor did I invent any other of the towns mentioned, up and down the coast. I did, however, make up Singer Lake, up in the lake district of Florida.

I do intend to revisit Tamarind. There are many other projects vying for my attention but I do have a good idea of where the sequel should go. We shall see if I get to it.

Stories

A quick announcement: we have put up an archive of all* the short stories of Stephen Brooke, both published and unpublished, realistic and fantasy. Feel free to browse through them at https://storiesofstephenbrooke.blogspot.com/ Remember that some are gathered in collections available at Arachis Press.

*not including a couple 'adult' pieces, that may be found at Arachis Press.

A Winter Poem

The kitchen becomes my world on these cold days,
  revolving around a book and a cup of tea.
Let the north wind call at window and door;
  let her voice lose itself among the trees.
These days come and go, clad in their darkness,
  and I remain until I may seek spring.

Stephen Brooke ©2024

not exactly a sijo but in the shape of one