Good morning, Stories Space. Sunny here for now, but the weather is supposed to turn crappy (rain with possible thunderstorms) later in the day.

I've put on a pot of Ethiopian Yirgcheffe for the coffee set. Teas are Scottish Breakfast and Wakucha (Japanese black tea). Hot water is ready for other teas or hot chocolate. Since I've been a bit scarce, I have checked and restocked sodas, marshmallows, and other such goodies. Bit early to start making lemonade and iced tea but since it really is Spring, I'll make a pitcher of the latter and put it in the fridge.

Trying to write but my mood has seriously sucked of late so it is hard to focus on a story.

It is Friday which means new albums. Ad Infinitum started life as a crowdfunded solo project of Swiss singer Melissa Bonny and is now on their third album called, aptly, Chapter III. This new video is for the opening track.

Quote by KatarinaTechgoddess
Taking my brother to see Dungeons and Dragons tonight

I am a bit tempted. The reviews are much better than for any previous attempt at a D&D oor RPG-based movie and from the trailer, it looks like they nailed some of the monsters from my D&D days.

Greatest home run evar!!

Good morning! I have put on a pot of Nicaraguan for the coffee crowd. Teas are Red Rose and Assam Bukhiel. Hot water is ready for other hot beverages.

We had a bit of snow yesterday afternoon but it appear it will be short-lived.

Ape is back from the wilds of Central Ontario where the lakes are still frozen (really) and there's still substantial amounts of the white stuff in places. (For James: Orillia)

Good afternoon. I shall endeavour to resume regular coffee setups now, but I put on a pot of coffee and a pot of green tea for the afternoon crowd.

Quote by KatarinaTechgoddess
Sometimes when I feel like my story is dumb or I can’t see it going any further, I just let it sit. I move onto something else and then come back several months (or even years) and see if I can revive it with fresh eyes.

This is where I am trying to live. I now have an "Under Review" folder in my Google Drive writing folder for stuff that I am unhappy with but might want to come back to. I have been terrible for going "eff it" and deleting stuff over the years.

Later, alligators.

Adam is no Freddy but he has nonetheless pulled off some pretty incredible performances with Queen, not to mention his own career.

My big musical event of the past week was the release of Floor Jansen's solo album Paragon. The final single was the opening track, "My Paragon."

And, amazingly, Floor actually managed to one-up herself by announcing that she is pregnant with her second child a few days before the album dropped. She is now on the Asian leg of Nightwish's Human : || : Nature tour and, yeah, after watching some fan vids from the tour I see why she announced when she did. There's no hiding it anymore. She's even referenced it a few times in her banter it seems.

Quote by JamesPBear

This is almost the definition of nasty weather! It's grey and threatening, with cold rain, just above freezing, and a piercing wind.

Yeah, nasty down here, too. Started after lunch. Now we are under a wind warning here.

Bit soggy here today but, hey, that's the story of spring in Southwestern Ontario. Helps get rid of the snow, I guess.

Coffee is on with some Ethiopian Yirgacheffe in the pot. Teas are Assam and Scottish Breakfast. Hot water is ready for other beverages.

I do have a start on the next part of the story I began in the The Spirits of Tan Maldrin but I am already rethinking it so not sure where it will go now.

Nice that they not only mentioned his writing, but linked to it. Lovely touch.

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The Southern Book Club's Guide To Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

It's a different take on the standard vampire story. I loved it.

I heard Grady a few times as a guest on podcasts. Quite a character. Still haven't got around to reading him yet, though.

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I'm going to try to get my car registration renewed before I get a ticket and a fine. I'm really paranoid about it now (it's over a year late) (don't ask).

So here in Ontario, they changed the system during the pandemic. They froze expiries for two years, then when they started up the system again, they eliminated the fee for registration and no longer issue a sticker to put on your plate, but you still have to actually go on the provincial service portal and register at least every two years. Even weirder, they still offer both one- and two-year registrations. Even when there was a fee, you did not get a break on the annual rate for doing two years or anything, so it seemed kind of pointless even then. Now, if they aren't charging, why not just make it default to two years? At least the expiry is the month of your birthday so it is easy to track that way.

Quote by KatarinaTechgoddess
Hope you’re both feeling better soon.

Verbs dropped a new story this morning, so maybe that will help. 😊

Hello. Sorry for the late setup. Fresh coffee is ready and there's Red Rose and Earl Grey in the teapots. The kettle is boiled for other hot beverages.

Spring has, indeed, sprung here in Southern Ontario. Now just have to hope it stays that way.

I have put on a pot of Costa Rican dark roast. Teas are Assam and Red Rose. Hot water is on for other teas.

Happy Spring! The Equinox is apparently at 5:24pm today my time (Eastern Daylight) and we are getting a snap of Spring-y weather here to boot.

Quote by verbal
In my new story the protagonist's best friend is named Scott.

You'll get my bill in the morning. 😜

Quote by verbal
The big magazine I was hoping for passed on my story today, after asking me to keep in on "hold" for a month. Heavy sigh.

Well, that sucks. I am not sure if it is a good sign or not that they didn't pass right away.

Still struggling a bit with my messed-up back, but much better than yesterday. Got the floors washed without further injury anyhow.

Quote by Pnin
Why play with AI for the cover image when you could use it to write the whole story?

Because then what's the f***ing point? I write because I like writing. I love playing with words and finding the best way to tell a story. Using GPT-4 or whatever sucks out everything I enjoy about writing.

Whereas, I am by no means a visual artist and don't take the same pleasure in it. In the past I have used stock art or material with a CC license for cover images, sometimes with a bit of editing. DALL-E and other AI art generators give me a new way to do that. I actually use Nightcafe which lets me choose whether to use DALL-E or Stable Diffusion.

Personally, I would like to see a clear statement from the ownership that AI generated stories are either not welcome or else create a mandatory category for them to ensure they are clearly indicated as being by an AI, not the person posting it.

Because simply coming up with a one or two sentence idea and then letting an AI take it from there is NOT being a writer. It is exactly the same as if you commissioned another person to write it.

/End rant

PS. The cover on my latest was done using AI. Forget which one just now.

Banned for being too xxxxing good at writing. 😋

Rejection slips are a rite of passage for a writer, aren't they? And they motivate you to do better (or pick a better market, anyhow).😀

Good afternoon. Poop hitting fan at work today. Can't say more but suffice it to say, ape not happy. Somewhere, out there, there is a piece of human garbage that I want to throttle with my bare hands (well, I might wear gloves and a mask just in case but you get the point).

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not a huge fan of the musical version. i like the Lon Chaney version best

The Chaney is by far the best.

I do like the musical (was already a Lloyd Webber fanboi when the original album came out) but will happily concede that it's more of a dark romance than a gothic horror like the novel and Chaney's version. Nightwish's metal version of the title song really made me realize you could take it much darker and still leave the story and music intact.

And the musical is still better than the godawful versions (there are several) that have the Phantom the victim of an acid attack instead of born with a deformity. The latter makes for a more interesting character. The former tends to result in just a plain old revenge thriller of varying degrees of quality.

You should have just let the officers have some cookies. There would have been enough left for Inspirations. Now look where you're at.

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next one is the phantom of the opera.

Oo, a favorite of mine. I've seen a couple of the movie versions, the original Toronto production of the stage musical (but not the movie version of the stage musical, oddly), and read the novel. Have flirted with doing a Phantom-based story myself but have not gone there, yet.

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i wonder if, after her win, it might drop back onto the radar?

Who knows? Discovery is done after the next season so maybe they'll need a replacement, eh.

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be nice - i'm fragile. also, just to spite you i might write another one ;)

So if I keep taunting you, you'll write more? Seems like a deal. 😊

Quote by redwriter
Last Sunday I watched as that very film won 7 Oscars including best picture.

And Michelle Yeoh! Yay! She's a wonderful actress who can do just about anything in my experience. Drama, action, comedy. She even played a villain on Star Trek : Discovery (who was supposed to get her own spinoff at one point but that seems to have dropped off Paramount-CBS's radar).

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as threatened, i posted a story here: https://www.storiesspace.com/stories/fantasy/monstersikatrina a joy to write and the first of (hopefully) many. hope everyone's doing well, better, good, great, not horribly.

How dare you? Now get back to where you belong, you hussy you. 🤣

Nice to see you here. Will get to it later. Need to do some reading.

Should be reading more, but writing is what seems to engage me these days. (see sig for evidence)

Handwash dishes or use a dishwasher?

You might say he "Drew" you in, eh. 🤣

Sproinged back is still sproinged but feeling a bit better. Still, I'll that over what Verbs and Talia have, please and thank you. I am close to making it through another winter with no flus or colds beyond very mild ones. My worst illness in like three years was COVID and I got it in summer, not the traditional cold and flu season.

Tee hee hee. Or should that be "Tea hee hee".

Anyhow, I am drinking Russian Caravan this fine day so there's a pot of that and one of Red Rose. Coffee is on, too. Hot water is ready for yer favorite hot drinks and the pop stock is ready if you're craving something cooler.

Sunny here and supposed to be warmer for the next few days so hopefully we can lose some snow and ice. There's way too much around here right now.

My back went "sproing" this morning 😕 (bending over to, um, pull up me trousers) so I'll just find a comfortable and ergonomic place to enjoy my tea.

Quote by KatarinaTechgoddess
Rumor has it DCS is not streaming seasons 2-9 because of the amount of music they used

It has caused problems for other shows, too, IIRC. Basically, anything that uses a lot of licensed (vs. original) music on its soundtrack.

Quote by KatarinaTechgoddess
Vanilla cherry Coke Zero

Is that really a thing? Because that sounds almost drinkable. My favorite shawarma place insists on including a drink when I order a wrap online and the only thing they have that's really sugar-free is Coke Zero. I am really not a cola fan but what can I do?

Originally, it looked like The Dark Side of the Moon, a project led by vocalist Melissa Bonny and guitarist Hans Platz was going to be a cover band. However, their new release is an original song.