As of last weekend, I finished an introductory novella in the new Unusual Crimes Squad series! I am super excited for you to meet Detective Inspector Jack Finkel, as he works through a most unusual crime 😉🕵️ This was written as a response to the prompt of colours as a central theme in Purple Toga’s […]
Article
History and Use of Roman Numerals
While digging around my hard-drive, I found this old meme someone sent me ages ago. Naturally, I wanted to share the chuckles with you, my loyal Felix fans! But with my son learning about Roman numerals and me editing In Victrix (and making sure chapter numbers are correct), I thought it a great opportunity to […]
The Who, the How, and the Why of Literary Murder
While I was rereading my own novels as a prelude to finishing In Victrix, I was reminded of an old adage about genres: Mystery is solving a crime, while thriller is racing to prevent the crime. Horror is watching the crime happen (If anyone knows the origins of this quote, please tell me!) We are […]
Re-reading one’s own works
As mentioned in a previous post (the one with cats), in an effort to restart my writing habit and complete In Victrix I have re-read all my previous works. The idea is to get back into the world, and ensure a smooth continuations (culmination?) of the series. Below are some observations, for the benefit of […]
Life and Sudden Death
There’s a meme that’s been going around for a few years, about the cast of a man who died in Pompeii at the 79CE eruption of Mt Vesuvius. Pundits are quick to point at the posture, with a “haha, he died with a bang!” and other jokes about his own eruption. The reality is that […]
Life of an Author — in Cat GIFs
The good news is that I’ve started reviewing my work on In Victrix (after a three and a half years hiatus), and I aim to finish editing it and publish it. Bad news, is that it will take well into 2024 until you can get your hands on it. Sorry — but it’s definitely coming! […]
Writing and Polymathy
I’ve recently read Learn Like a Polymath: How to Teach Yourself Anything, Develop Multidisciplinary Expertise, and Become Irreplaceable, by Peter Hollins, and thought it had quite an interesting overlap to do with writing. It’s a short book, covering what polymathy is (and isn’t), the core idea of skill transfer, and how to break knowledge down […]
In a surprising twist, Felix has converted to Judaism 🫢
OK, maybe it’s a tad of click-bait 😉 But in working with ChatGPT (still based on GPT-3), I did the equivalent of Googling myself: I find the mental image of Felix dressed as a Hassidic Jew absolutely hilarious 😂 I did try to search (Google…) for “Accidental Detective”, but it only comes up with a […]
How much “intelligence” fits in AI Arts?
A while ago I had a post about playing with AI generated paintings. This is a fast-moving field, and between the recent release of ChatGPT and working with machine learning for natural language processing tools in my day-job, I thought I’d share some more insights. First, can you even tell the difference? Staying with pictures […]
Hard-boiled detectives: Then and Now (a philosophical review of The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler)
It’s been a while since I read the classic hard-boiled detectives, and felt like revisiting the pillars of the genre. The Big Sleep is one of those genre-defining works, but a lot has changed in the 80+ years since its publication. Following is a review of the novel, with a summary that is waxing philosophical […]
FELIX THE FOX MYSTERIES 