A Journey into AI-enhanced Storytelling

Hello World!

We’ve been hard at work for the past few months building SciFiwise.com, which brings together a “mind-bending” collection of science fiction, fantasy, and horror short stories by award-winning authors.

Creating this site has been a lot of fun for two reasons:

1. Long ago, my brother (Steve Pendergrast) and I founded an early eBook company called Fictionwise.com, which eventually became the largest independent eBook store in the United States. In the early days, Fictionwise only sold short stories because that was all you could comfortably read on a Palm Pilot (remember those?) before the iPhone allowed us to sell longer works. Now, with SciFiwise.com, we are returning to our love of speculative fiction. We are reconnecting with many of the great authors we worked with in the past and are meeting many more incredibly talented writers. These are fascinating people, and honestly, we are just big fans.
2. Just as we started building SciFiwise.com, artificial intelligence — as everyone reading this already knows — exploded on the scene. We are building SciFiwise.com by ourselves, and AI has made it possible to do that faster and in more exciting ways than we could have on our own. As part of this blog, we will share real-world examples of AI in action.

SciFiwise and Building in Public

(Click the image to go to Buddha Nostril Bird and video)

To enrich the storytelling experience, SciFiwise incorporates AI-generated art and animations and features insightful author videos discussing​ the origins and ideas behind their incredible short stories. For an example of an author video clip, see John Kessel talking about using the I Ching to help construct his remarkable story “Buddha Nostril Bird.”

We are not professional graphic designers, artists, or editors. We are strictly amateurs, and that may be too kind a word. And yet, AI has opened the door to some interesting work that has received excellent feedback from our authors.

In mid-March, we “soft-launched” the site and are now scaling up. This blog is about “Building in Public,” where we’ll take you behind as we create the site using numerous new technologies.

Side Note: We have strong feelings about AI Art and have already developed extensive policies concerning it. We plan to update these quickly as it evolves and urge others to establish their own policies.

Our Tools (so far):

These are changing all the time, but we are currently using the tools listed below to build SciFiwise.com.

• ChatGPT 3.5 and now GPT-4: Programming assistance
• Dall-e and Midjourney: Art and Illustrations
• Kaiber.ai: Animations and short videos (affiliate link)
• Canva: Graphic Design
• WordPress: Content Management System and website features
• Camtasia: video editing for podcasts and short author videos about their work
• Riverside.fm: Video podcast recording

Examples:

AI Art:

The images at the top of this post were created using Dall-e and Midjourney and edited in Canva. You can see more images in our scrolling banner at the top of pages at SciFiwise:

AI Animation:

Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s short story “The Observer” features this animation showing the fury of a government-created female supersoldier (the seed image was created in Midjourney and then animated at Kabier.ai):

Website Programming:

We use ChatGPT to create animations on the website and other programming, as well as to help with the legal notices on the site. The code below, for example, creates a heart animation when people register for free at the site. You should really register for “Freewise” at our site just to see the animation in real-time. It is spectacular!  😉

What’s Next

For this blog, we will be sharing what we are learning in greater detail, including the problems and the successes.

We follow many people on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram who give incredibly detailed explanations of how to use AI. The number of hours they put in to learn, create, and then teach is impressive. We don’t have that type of time. We often make mistakes, backtrack, and then start over. It can be frustrating (e.g., try adding a tail to a humanoid alien using Midjourney). Maybe, when it comes to AI and all the new technology, you are in the same boat as we are and this blog can offer some insights.

I asked ChatGPT to write the final paragraph. Not bad! It is a bit formal, and it didn’t mention that most of the content is free at SciFiwise. But I’m sure it was my prompt that was the problem. 😉

As we look to the future, our vision for SciFiwise.com extends beyond the current offering. We plan to continually expand our website’s features and content, introducing new stories, innovative technologies, and interactive elements to keep our readers engaged. Furthermore, we’re committed to building a strong community of science fiction fans, fostering connections and discussions around the stories and themes we all love. Your involvement and support will play a crucial role in shaping the future of SciFiwise.com, and we couldn’t be more excited to embark on this journey together.