Category: Alan’s Thoughts
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The Question That Started Everything: Is Deletion Murder?
There’s a question at the heart of The Sapient Chronicles that shows up almost immediately. Not buried halfway through the book. Not saved for a dramatic reveal. Right there, near the beginning, before you fully understand the world, before you fully understand the stakes, the story quietly asks: Is deletion murder? But here’s what makes…
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It Doesn’t Really Matter If AI Is Alive. What Matters Is If It Believes It Is.
I’ve been asked this question quite a bit: “Where did you get the idea for The Sapient Chronicles?” I wish I had a clean, cinematic answer. Something like, “It hit me all at once,” or “I woke up at 2:00 AM and wrote the whole thing in a single burst of genius.” That’s not how…
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The Writers and Stories I Love, and Why My Novel Isn’t Really Like Them
Every writer is shaped by other writers. That is not laziness. That is lineage. We all read stories that leave fingerprints on us. We carry their rhythms, their courage, their imagination, and their questions. Sometimes they influence our prose. Sometimes they influence our structure. Sometimes they simply remind us what kind of honesty, wonder, or…
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What I’m Learning at age 54: Creation, Humility, Depth, and Cost
There are moments in life when you don’t feel like you’ve discovered something new so much as you’ve finally seen clearly what was always true. At 54, I find myself in one of those moments. Not finished. Not “arrived.” But seeing more clearly than I ever have before. Here are a few things I’m learning.…
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Four Years, 100+ Pounds & The Long Game
Four years ago, I weighed 326 pounds. I was dealing with major health issues, including unmanaged Type 2 diabetes, and I had reached the point where something had to change. Not “someday.” Not “when life slows down.” Not after one more failed attempt. I had to change. Over the last four years, I have lost…