The Artificial Writer

Dear Readers,

It is January 2023 and here I am again, inspired to inspire.

Artificial "Intelligence"

I want to start by sharing my wonder for science. This time in the form of Artificial Intelligence, also referred to as AI. 

I am sorry to disappoint you but AI is in fact far from intelligent. It consists in feeding a program with what is called the "training dataset" and then test if it is capable of making decisions based on that data. A training set for  recognizing crosswalks looks like this:

With the hope of making the program correctly recognize crosswalks here:

Unfortunately we know that AI has still problems recognizing images, and for example will not recognize a red traffic light if a bird is partially covering it. A test humans would never fail. So, no, self-driving cars are not safe.

Artificial "Writer"

But it's 2023 and science keeps advancing. You can now become a tester of a program with an amazing potential: ChatGTP. As always there is a potential for doing good or bad, that is not part of the new advance itself. 

This open AI project doesn't recognize images, 

no dear readers: IT WRITES

And it writes sentences well enough to sentence to death the written assignments at any self respecting educational institution. 

But we can still have fun and hope that the program will be used for good at some point. 

Artificial Barbara Cartland

After a couple of tries I understood how specific muy request had to be and was blown away by the result:

My request: 

"Write a romance scene in the style of the writer Barbara Cartland"

and the result:

"Lady Alexandra sat on the edge of the rose garden, her heart heavy with sorrow. She had just received news that her beloved Lord Henry had been killed in battle, and she couldn't imagine life without him.
As she gazed out at the rolling hills and fields that stretched out before her, she was lost in thought, wondering if she would ever find happiness again.

Suddenly, she heard a soft voice behind her. "Lady Alexandra, might I have a word with you?"

She turned to see a tall, handsome stranger standing before her, his piercing blue eyes seeming to look right into her soul.

"Who are you?" she asked, feeling a strange flutter in her heart.

"I am Sir William, a knight in the service of your father," he replied, bowing low. "I came to offer my condolences on the loss of your betrothed. He was a brave man, and he will be greatly missed."

Lady Alexandra felt a tear slip down her cheek at the mention of Lord Henry. "Thank you, Sir William," she said softly.

"Please, do not cry," he said, reaching out to wipe away her tear. "I know it is difficult, but I assure you that time will heal your wounds. And who knows, perhaps in time you will find someone who can bring joy back into your life."

Lady Alexandra looked into his eyes and saw a kindness and compassion that she had never known before. She felt a spark of hope flicker to life within her, and she knew that, with Sir William by her side, she would one day find happiness again"

Cover of "The temptation of Torilla" by
the queen of Romance Barbara Cartland

Although I don't think knights are common in Barbara Cartland's Novels, this is really impressive. 

I gave my feedback to help the developers and the program generated a different scene:  

Lady Isabella sat in the drawing room, staring out the window at the gardens below. She was lost in thought, her mind consumed by the handsome and dashing Duke of Huntington.
She had met him at a ball a few weeks ago, and from the moment their eyes had locked, she had known that he was the one for her. But alas, he was betrothed to another, and Isabella knew that she could never compete with the beautiful and wealthy Lady Elizabeth.
With a sigh, she stood and began to pace the room. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was meant to be with the Duke, and she knew that she had to find a way to win his heart.
Just then, the door to the drawing room opened, and in walked the Duke himself. Isabella's heart skipped a beat as she gazed upon his chiseled jaw and piercing blue eyes.
"Lady Isabella," he said, bowing low. "I hope I am not intruding."
"Not at all, Your Grace," Isabella replied, trying to steady her voice. "Please, come in."
The Duke took a few steps into the room, his eyes locked on Isabella's. "I have come to speak with you, Lady Isabella," he said, his voice low and intense. "I cannot stop thinking about you. I know I am betrothed to another, but I cannot marry her. It is you that I love."
Isabella's heart swelled with joy as the Duke took her hand and dropped to one knee. "Will you be my bride, Lady Isabella?" he asked, his eyes full of hope and adoration.
"Yes, Your Grace," Isabella whispered, tears of happiness streaming down her face. "I will be your bride."
As the Duke stood and took her in his arms, Isabella knew that she had finally found the love that she had always dreamed of. And in that moment, as they shared their first kiss, she knew that they would be together forever.

Cover of "The Goddess and the Gaiety Girl" by
the queen of "clean" Romance Barbara Cartland

maybe in the near future I could complete this dramatic and enchanting paragraph with an artificially generated image. 

And since my last test ended in failure, most romance writers have nothing to fear...for now.

Sincerely,

Miranda

A Temple for Books in the Middle of New York City: The Morgan Part I

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

During a recent visit to New York City, a book printer recommended us to visit The Morgan Library and Museum. It was a revelation dear reader, a real treat for book lovers. And I had never even heard about it in all the years I lived in the city. 

Entrance to The Morgan Libary and Museum on a winter morning.
225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016

It was the personal library of the banker JP Morgan, who at the end of his life commissioned Charles F. McKim to build a classically inspired library behind his own house on Madison Avenue at 36th Street. The building looks like a temple, with marble columns and frescoes. It contains invaluable paintings and books, including one of the very few complete Bibles printed by Gutenberg in his revolutionary printing press. 

The front of the Morgan library and museum is now being renovated. The Lyons symbolizing the origin of writing in Mesopotamia are covered. The visitors enter through the back door that connected JP Morgan's house to his library.

I was the only one who signed up for the highlights tour at 12:30 PM and to my delight, I had the lovely lady guide to give me a private tour of the old library. We started with the atrium, a recently finished modern building that connects the old library, what remains of JP Morgan's house and his son's house. The new addition by the Italian architect Renzo Piano includes five stories of underground construction and houses everything a modern library needs including restoration rooms. Not to be missed is the museum shop and while you enter have a look at the very chic dining room to the right. 

The old library room.

I learned that unlike Astor or Rockefeller who came from modest backgrounds, JP Morgan came from a very rich family of bankers and had a privileged education. His love for art and refinement is evident in every detail of the old library and in his study. 

JP Morgan's studio. I took this picture standing behind his desk chair. This would have been his view from the room. Over the mantlepiece a painting of him in a sober black suit. Dramatic red velvet and silk and priceless medieval and renascence art on the walls. There is also a fireproof safe where he kept his most valuable positions.

The study remains frozen in time and I couldn't help imagining that all those studies where scenes of my favorite romance novels happen would look like this one. 

We also have a heroine who reigned over the library: Belle da Costa Green. An intelligent, sophisticated and sensual woman from a highly educated black family. She had to claim Portuguese ancestry to overcome the problems of segregation. JP Morgan in a rare progressive moment hired her has his librarian. He could have hired anybody, most likely a man, but he chose her. Belle leads a fascinating life and became one of the most powerful women in the art world while purchasing invaluable pieces for the Morgan library. One of her famous quotes was "Just because I am a librarian, doesn't mean I have to dress like one". Belle was asked if she was JP Morgan's mistress and she said: "we tried". Certainly, there is untapped potential for a novel here. Don't miss her office while you visit the library.

The librarian's office entrance flanked by two lapis lazuli columns. This was Belle da Costa's sanctuary.

The Morgan has also modern collections and you can choose to admire several small exhibits of amazing art and books during your visit. While I was there I had the luck to see an exhibit about Tolkien: his life, his writings, and his beautiful illustrations. 
See more about this exhibit in "The Morgan: Part II" coming soon.

________________________________

Thanks for reading,
Miranda


further reading about Belle da Costa: 
1)amazing art deco divas blog
2)Belle_da_Costa_Greene Wikipedia

My Barbara Cartland Addiction

Dear Ladies

I am not sure I should call it an addiction, but here I am, in bed recovering from severe back pain. At my side "The best of Barbara Cartland" a used book I bought long ago. It even has this number sticker proclaiming that I saved it from the book pond. I have read it before so it is a good thing that my memory of this plots is shortlived. Even remembering vaguely what will happen sometimes, I still enjoy to re-read them.

My well-read copy of "The best of Barbara Cartland" including "the Proud Princess" (in the cover), "the Magnificent marriage", "The Bored Bridegroom", "Kiss the Moonlight and "The Devil in love"

And I try to explain why is that. I consider myself, as well as my readers, intelligent, up to date,  tolerant. I believe that men and women have the same mental capacity and that we can achieve big things against great odds without the need to be rescued. I don't believe that the English are a superior race or that nobility (as in being from the nobility) has any physical manifestation. I don't think a woman has to be small, beautiful and innocent to deserve to be happy. I don't believe that we can transmit love and much less commands through some sort mental waves. I could keep going about all that is wrong in Cartlad's Universe. Especially her racist remarks. And don't forget the ridiculous names of many of her heroines (Lady Dorinda comes to mind, "Dorina" beeing a margarine brand in my home country) 

"The Bored Bridegroom", by Barbara Cartland. A story that takes a lot from "The Scarlet Pimpernel" and sees Lucretia follow her beloved Marquis while pursued by French soldiers.

And here am I reading "The Bored Bridegroom", the third on this compilation book. And I was crying at the heroin's suffering. I couldn't wait for the end of the dramatic adventure and for the sexual tension between Lucretia and Max finally get resolved into a cast kiss and some insinuation like "....he took her to the heaven reserved only for true love" or something along that lines. We, readers, know she means they went to bed. Finally!  

Everything they feel will be meticulously explained at end of the book when they open their hearts to each other. As expected. 

"the Magnificent marriage" by Barbara Cartland where our ugly-dickling, Lady Dorinda, flourishes on a trip to Indonesia. She can't tell the magnificent Max Kirby that she loves him because he will marry her beautiful sister.

So what is it? at least for me, I think it is all that she conveys without saying. The feelings, the emotions, which despite Cartland's failings as a writer spring out of the pages real and honest. There is also this nostalgia for fairy tails where good deeds are rewarded and happiness is attainable.

Cartland herself was also a historian and a fighter for the rights she considered important. Her books have a lot of history in them and some sparks of women's revindication too. The scenarios tend to repeat themselves, but I think this reflects the small world where the English aristocracy lived. A while ago I found this neat little books at my local library. It contained a treasure trove of aquarelle drawings depicting the Edwardian era London with many of the scenes so present in Cartland's story. Here I share it with you.

"The season" by John S Goodall

enjoy,

Miranda

PS: You may want to join my Barabara Cartland fan site on G+

Barbara Cartland (Author's fan site)

Suzanne Enoch and her Scandalous Highlanders

I was just re-reading this series from Suzanne Enoch and thinking it was a good thing that all these romance novels are so forgettable. Don't read me wrong. This is my guilty pleasure after all.

I do enjoy reading them and buy lots (mostly eBooks these days).  
When I start a new one it is really difficult for me to put it down. That is why sometimes, on a snowy day I just re-read the old ones. I get less glued to the pages and still have a good time even knowing what will happen. You mostly know what will happen anyway. Right? and since most are variations of the same, I expect my brain has troubles making the required connections for long-term memory.  

I have "Seven minutes in heaven" by Eloisa James just out of the press ready on my Kindle, but I want to savor it another day. I thought to take the time to start writing some reviews, mostly to have a record for myself about what I read. I will show and comment on the covers too!

I liked the covers and the modern nod titles. Very suggestive, beautiful models, nice colors, showing both the hero and heroine. And lost of plaid, even the "MacLawry plaid" is shown.

Let's get back to our Scandalous Highlanders.

This is the story of the MacLawry family. The head of the family is Ran MacLawry a Scottish marquis in Regency England. He is the most powerful lord in the Highland. Feared and hated by most of the other Scottish Lords. 
But this is romance! so we see him first, and then his brothers and sister fall in love. And we see the struggle between loyalty to the clan and family and the new loyalty to the one they start to love. This is especially true for Ran, who book after book has to confront this hard choice for him and then is younger siblings. 

The characters have enough complexity and the heroines in each book are very different from each other. The characters are all handsome/beautiful, smart, noble and rich (I am not complaining). The stories are compelling and fast-paced. And not least, there is a lot of explicit sex written with just the amount of detail I find nice to read. Tasteful for the genre. 

I just finished reading "some like it Scot" the story of The "Bear" MacLawry and "Cat" McColl. She is a bit over the top at the beginning, but also very unique among heroines of romance novels. I would definitely recommend the series (see notes at the end)


And these are the covers to enjoy: exactly what ye expect in a hot historical romance cover and naught else:

Scandalous Highlanders is a series of four novels and a Christmas mini-novella: In order

1. The Devil Wears Kilts: Ranulf (Ran) MacLawry, Marquis of Glengask and Lady Charlotte Hanover 
2. One Hot Scot: A Scandalous Highlanders Holiday Story: Duncan Lenox and Julia Prentiss 
3. Rogue with a Brogue Lord Arran MacLawry and Lady Mary Campbell
4. Mad, Bad, and Dangerous in Plaid: Lord Lachlan MacTier and Lady Rowena "Winnie" MacLawry
5. Some Like It Scot: Lord Munro "Bear" MacLawry and Lady Catriona "Cat" MacColl

Note: I tend to notice mistakes (and make them too!), especially the second time I read a book. two things kept me adding notes:

1. All that handshaking: I had the feeling that wasn't something done then. I found that in times of Jane Austen only true friends greeted each other handshaking. New acquaintances would curtsey or bowed.

2. The nobility titles keep changing through books and pages. Some examples:

The Devil Wears Kilts: Ran's mother was the daughter of a Baron, but his uncle (his mother's brother), who must have inherited their father's title  is a Viscount

Rogue with a Brogue: Mary's father is an earl but his wife is a marchioness in a sentence.

Some Like It Scot: The heroine father and his wife are first mentioned as viscount and viscountess and then suddenly his daughters are ladies and the uncle who has inherited the title is an Earl.

There is a great discussion of English titles for romance novel writers by the late Jo Beverly here: ENGLISH TITLES IN THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES

I thank ye fer reading (and looking at the covers)

Miranda

The Fake Romance cover

 Dear Ladies and gentlemen;

It is still summer, let's have some innocent (or not so much) fun. After a friend posted an amazing romance novel cover I started a board on pinterest "the most outrageous romance novel covers" cover- pined looking for "material" for my board I started to find some covers that made me suspicious: was this for real? 

Tender is the Storm by Johanna Lindsey. From the book cover: 

"For Lucas's beautiful, unsuspecting pawn was not supposed to be so irresistible alluring. And freedom-loving Sharisse never dreamed she could ever desire one man so much! "

After a few I had decided that the FAKE ROMANCE COVER was a new child of the photoshop era, an easy victim of the times. While "Tender is the storm" is a real book "A bit lower, lassy" couldn't possibly be. Don't you agree. So where there others?

And what about this brave Scotsman fallen in the hand of an evil hairdresser of a rival clan: 

Here a few more inventive examples

What a temptation! Could I make my own contribution to the genre? This is my first try using the late Jo Beverley's cover for "tempting fortune" my least favorite of the series featuring the family of the Marquess of Rothgar. I don't like the cover either but it reflects the character of the heroine quite well. 

I am not convinced this is funny. Maybe it is easier if I start with a funny cover in its own right? let's see. This is an illustration without text. A blank slate. An exercise That maybe some of my readers would want to try?

Maybe I am improving, but this isn't as easy as I though, I am mainly making fun of the cover picture itself. I think the masterstroke is the author's name. So here I go again, I found a cover that can be "enhanced" with little effort (you can find the original in my pinterest link above) 

With my last effort I am afraid I have descended to potty jokes, but I just had had to take one of Favio's cover pictures! 

The truth is covers are not like this any longer for a reason. Even without the mischievous text on top, the picture in itself is the biggest joke. Nowadays covers leave most to the imagination. The most common covers show only the heroine in a sweeping long dress. If some still imagine that the hero looks like Favio, that is between her and the virtual pages of the ebook. 

enjoy the rest of your summer,

Miranda

Outlander coloring pages: The Outlander Un-Official coloring book 2015 Holiday Edition

Dear Outlander fellow fans, 

Regarding the Outlander Coloring book you probably are in some of these categories:

a) The  Outlander official coloring book prominently features in your letter to Santa
b) You started coloring it (did you have problems with Frank's car?, mine looks terrible)
c) You finished coloring it (for real? I am not nearly there)
d) What is The  Outlander official coloring book?
e) Other (In case I forgot an obvious or totally improbable option)

There is no correct answer because I have a present for all of you. I learned some new tricks and converted the beautiful images that "Starz" has shared with us (as a Canadian anchor put it: Outlander is on something called Starz). It is a shame the coloring book has no right to use the  TV series material. Not that I have any, but I hope I am being fair by giving Starz its credit and stating this is just fan art.

I fully disclose here that I am not a professional and that someone else might do a much better job. At least I can say that the idea was entirely mine and the results are good enough to make me want to share them. Note: click once on the color image to enlarge. For the coloring pages, you will find a download link at the end of the post.



What do you think? This is Diana Gabaldon. Author of the Outlander series as the character she plays in Starz Outlander TV series episode "The Gathering" as Iona MacTavish, a wealthy merchant's wife.


Bonus: 
If you have KIDS you might have noticed that your coloring book sparks the little ones enthusiasm to annoying degrees and you end up producing some form of coloring book for them. Well, these pages can be printed (and reprinted, no need for tantrums after a mistake) and you are free to color. Maybe you still will have to get them some crayons if you don't want to share the "good" coloring pencils.


1. Bouton: Claire's Dog in Paris (Outlander season 2) let's start with something easy to sharpen your pencils.





2. The wedding: Jamie and Claire entering the Kirk.  (Outlander season 1)




3. The wedding night: Jamie and Claire  (Outlander season 1)




4. Claire and Jenny at Lallybroch: I love this domestic scene! (Outlander season 1)

5. Claire and Murtagh: looking for Jamie (Who doesn't like to color horses?) (Outlander season 1)



6. Frank Randall and Black Jack Randall: For his fans, I know there is a cave full of them according to one insider.  They are a fun loving bunch not easily shocked. Who else would be a fan of Black Jack. (Outlander season 1).

6.  Jamie and Claire at a party in France (Outlander Season 2): This and the next are my first attempt at converting the images: The lines are harder. 





7.  Claire awaiting in a room. (Outlander Season 2). I like the composition, although Claire looks about to start crying.




8. Jamie&Murtagh: The Parisian can-can (Outlander Season 2)



9. Claire's princess dress. Again the shadows make my task difficult.






Instructions: 
If you want to color these images follow the link to download the PDFs. 
1. If you are not asked where to download it will probably be in your "download" folder. 
2. Make sure to adjust the image to the size of your page before printing: 

Folder PDFs coloring pages click on this link


I hope you enjoy your coloring experience, and I hope I will have material for a new edition or volume II. I accept all kind of suggestions!

Miranda


note: I thank a fellow blogger for her tutorial on how to add PDFs to my blog How to attach PDFs

The dawn of the adult coloring book: The new therapy

Dear ladies (and gentlemen?),

When I was a child my mother would read bedtime stories to my brother and me. It was a time of the day I would cherish.  She chose among her own childhood books and as we grew older she would read increasingly complex stories. One of the books I remember was the epic story The Winter Queen. It had wonderful drawings of Eastern European snowy landscapes. The characters were depicted wearing traditional costumes with rich embroidery. Most were black and white but my own mother had carefully coloured them when she was a teenager. My mother was born in 1940, she must have been coloring the book in 1953-55. 

This illustration is from the book "The Hat" by Jan Brett. When I next visit my home country I will update this pictured with one from my late mother's book if I can find it. But the clothes of the girls are in the stile of the book I was describing.

And here I am in 2015, sixty years later, longing to start my first historical fiction "adult" coloring book. I pre-ordered it about a month ago and I just received an email that reads: “We now have delivery date(s) for the order you placed on September 07, 2015  Gabaldon, Diana -The Official Outlander Coloring Book-…”. Mrs Gabaldon, being the great story teller she is gives her own description:  

"Well… adult coloring books. Evidently this is now a "thing," with so-called adult coloring books being touted widely as aids to meditation, as well as entertainment. I can kind of see that, and certainly I’ve seen several very beautiful books that look like they’d be interesting to color, if one was so inclined. (NB: The "adult" designation apparently merely means they’re marketed to adults, not that they contain R-rated illustrations. (Frankly, I think they’d be more interesting if they did, but probably not a good marketing strategy for a wide audience)” You can continue reading here Diana's page

And it seems we are in the midst of a literary (if it might be so described) boom. In Montreal, were I live, I have already found two stores, one a hardware store that also has nice presents and decoration and one home décor store Zone were adult coloring books were in prominent display, in the later including a tempting array of crayons and pencils. I took some pics to share:  

These are the pics from the store Zone in Montreal. the "Secret Garden"  is by Johanna Basford who is the author of marvellously detailed coloring books. See the detail of her book "Secret Ocean"

You can see pins of her book in my board pins including the Game of Thrones coloring book (yes there is one!) and an adult take on the classics "Grimm Fairy Tales Adult Coloring Book by  Jamie Tyndallet et al.









To my delight I found this big maps of two of my favourite cities: The New York City and the Paris  giant coloring roll. Also available from amazon Amazon_NEW-YORK. I picture myself taking over the dinner table for a me -time project while it snows outside. My beautiful box of color (or colour) pencils and maybe a cup of tea (cartful not to spill a drop!)

It certainly makes a very nice present for all budgets (starting at just a few dollars). You can add a nice box of pencils and voilà, guaranteed to glitter. In fact, last Christmas, unaware of the "it" factor in-the-making I gave a mandala coloring book to my Yoga-enthusiast aunt and she was delighted. She does therapy for teens and she thought it would be a nice addition to her desk's "toolbox" . In addition, it was easy to send across continents. What's not to like?.

Wishing you a relaxing coloring experience!
Miranda