novelette – Ridley Park

Autofiction Break

September 5, 2025Posted in Book, Status UpdateTagged autofiction, books, novel, novelette, novella, reading, Trainspotting, WritingLeave a comment

Three of the last four books I’ve read have been autofiction of one flavour or another.

I had never read Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, but I picked it up after finishing The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector. The there was Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh.

I found Hour of the Star to be an interesting experiement, but I would have preferred a short story over a novelette. A Room of One’s Own is interesting and well-written, though the content resonates with me historically rather than personally. I’ve already written a bit on Trainspotting, which hit me quite close to home. I liked it the best but needed a change of scenery before engaging in its prequel, Skagboys. I need more motivation before I embark on a 500 page journey. I like Welsh’s writing, but it’s not an easy read, I I need more stamina or a break first.

I haven’t decided what to pick up next.

Reblogging from my Philosophics Blog

May 21, 2025May 21, 2025Posted in Art, Book, Cover Art, Status Update, Sutenance, WritingTagged aliens, novelette, philosophy, themes, WritingLeave a comment

Sustenance: A Book About Aliens, Language, and Everything You’re Getting Wrong

First time. Let’s see how this works.

Audio: NotebookLM podcast on this topic.

Temporal Babel: A Novelette

March 26, 2025Posted in Art, Artificial Intelligence, Book, ChatGPT, Cover Art, Dall-E, Generative AI, Ridley Park, Short Story, Software, Temporal Babel, WritingTagged ai, ChatGPT, editing, Generative AI, novelette, Short Story, Writing1 Comment

I just completed a second draft of a novelette I’ve been working on. I had ChatGPT (Dall-E) render a quick sample cover.

A young woman stumbles across an unconscious man on a remote highway outside Anika, New Mexico. He’s naked, tattooed, breathing — and utterly incomprehensible. Medical professionals, police, and a determined psychiatrist try to parse his language, but his words follow rules that don’t exist and reference a world no one knows. As they struggle to decode him, they’re forced to reckon with the limits of their own assumptions, both linguistic and moral.

Temporal Babel explores the failure of language, the fragility of identity, and the quiet panic that sets in when comprehension fails.

The story takes place in New Mexico, and I wanted a minimalist visual style to match the prose. I believe that a beige desert set against a blue sky is perfect. The deserted highway with a single cactus speaks volumes. The footprints in the desert are also evocative. I love the simplicity of the palette.

Though it revered the front and back cover art, it generally followed my instructions. Artificial intelligence (AI) has made significant progress in a year. All of the words are spelt correctly. I could Photoshop this into shape with little effort.

I only plan to release this as an ePUB because I am compiling a triptych. Currently, the body copy stands at 105 pages, so with title pages and the rest, it should reach 112 pages, which is perfect for seven 16-page signatures.