I asked fellow The Rabbit Hole 8: AI and Other Weirdness anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here over the next few week.
Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to The Rabbit Hole 8: AI and Other Weirdness (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).
About the anthology from Tom Wolosz, Editor
We wonder what AI is. LLM — Large Language Model. — another word for Black Box. What’s in it? Who knows, not even the programmers. Is it a dumb servant that just answers questions at faster than light speed, or is it an artificial mind, a being trapped in cyberspace? And if the latter, is it a loving servant, a future companion, or something sinister which secretly hates its inferior creator? Twenty-four writers give you their diverse takes on this mysterious entity now joining us. And, of course, we can’t overlook the normal weirdness which haunts our dreams. So twelve writers contribute their visions of normal(?), everyday weirdness. Making for thirty-six unique trips down The Rabbit Hole.
Stories by Christopher Graves, Justin Case, Phil Baringer, Helen Speirs, A. J. Litchfield, Fendy Satria Tulodo, Anthony Regolino, Doug Stoiber, Sean MacKendrick, Eric J. Juneau, James Rumpel, Mbekezeli Wishes Moyo, J Benjamin Sanders Jr., Fariel Shafee, H. Donovan Lyón, Annie Percik, Bret Nelson, Soramimi Hanarejima, Ken Foxe, John Kaniecki, Kevin Lee Smith, Joseph Carrabis, Dave Hangman, GD Deckard, Ashley Taylor, Gina Easton, Andria Kennedy, Catherine Durkin Robinson, E. J. LeRoy, Maryanne Chappell, Eric Juneau, Jeremy A Wall, Eric Juneau, David Newkirk, and Tom Wolosz
And now, Eric Juneau’s Cog:
Four people away from me on the conveyor belt, Wilkins screams. One of the robots behind us marches toward him, taking its time. Wilkins is clutching his wrist — not his hand, because there’s no longer a hand there. Blood is spurting in rhythmic squirts, like a broken water main, coating all the mechanical equipment.
How the story came about:
Honestly, this story came about the way most bad decisions do — a mix of repression, misplaced faith, and a Spotify algorithm that thought Hillsong and internalised guilt made a good combo. Growing up a gay white kid in a Hillsong postcode, I learned early that “turning the other cheek” mostly meant pretending not to have one. Eventually, I realised I could either keep praying the gay away or write it into something useful. Bieber would call that growth; I call it damage control.
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Eric Juneau is a software engineer and novelist on his lunch breaks. He lives in, was born in, and refuses to leave, Minnesota. You can find him talking about movies, video games, and MCU villains at http://ericjuneaubooks.com where he details his journey to become a capital A Author. |
See all The Rabbit Hole 8: AI and Other Weirdness stories here.
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