David Walton's Blog

April Flowers Bring May Dinosaurs

It’s Spring! The sun is shining, flowers are getting ready to bloom, and all the dinosaurs that flew south for the winter will be winging their way back to your houses and yards. Orioles, hummingbirds, warblers, and… six foot theropod maniraptors? That’s right! Your favorite dinosaurs are coming back to town on May 2 in a new book called DEADLY MEMORY, sequel to last year’s LIVING MEMORY.

You can preorder DEADLY MEMORY right now from Amazon (print) or Amazon (ebook) or Barnes and Noble or support a local bookstore through Bookshop. The audiobook will be available soon from Audible and iTunes. Happy reading!

AI-Generated Art

Last night, I asked an AI to create some illustrations for my novel LIVING MEMORY. (I used the open source Stable Diffusion model, just released last month.) The results are amazing–a little odd sometimes, and hard to control, but visually stunning nonetheless. It does well with single-subject portraits and landscapes, but not too well with scenes. If there are too many elements, it tends to muddle them all up.

There’s been a lot of controversy about this technology–is it stealing from artists? Will it render human artists obsolete? What it certainly does is grant an incredible amount of artistic power to anyone, even someone like me who has no artistic training or expertise.

One side of the argument compares this technology to photography: people thought photography would destroy art, since any idiot with a camera could create realistic images, but it turned out that the real artistic part still needed a human. You still need expertise and talent to choose composition, color, a compelling subject, and most of all, to communicate something of value to other humans. On the other hand, AI might turn out to be a very different sort of technology, since it may have the power to accomplish some of those artistic goals we previously thought only humans could accomplish. (Though only on the strength of the millions of human-created artworks it uses to train its engines.)

Time will tell whether this is good for artists, in granting them another powerful medium, or bad for artists, since why would I buy a David Walton painting if I could ask an AI to generate a painting of anything I want, but in David Walton’s style? (Not that I have a style.) Despite the headlines about fine art contest wins, commercial art will likely be impacted first, since that is more practical and financially driven. Commercial customers are unlikely to care who created the art, as long as it works to sell product.

And book covers? I can easily see publishers using AI-generated art for their covers in future, which would deprive talented artists of revenue. Technology marches on, and the world changes yet again.

Release Day!

Today is Release Day for LIVING MEMORY! You can get the book from Amazon or Audible  or Barnes and Noble or IndieBound or, you know, anywhere! I’ve got an awesome book trailer to give you a taste of what the book is like, plus an interview with yours truly. Enjoy!

Dinosaurs are coming!

It’s been a long hiatus and a global pandemic since my last book, but at long last, I can announce not just one, but three books coming soon. The Living Memory trilogy (Living Memory, Deadly Memory, and Memory Reborn) will be published in October 2022, May 2023, and October 2023. Only the first book is written, so I’d better get cracking!

When paleontologists Samira and Kit uncover dinosaur skeletons in northern Thailand, they also find the remains of an ancient genetic technology that nations will kill to control. Catapulted into a web of murder and intrigue involving the Chinese Ministry of State Security, a powerful Asian crime syndicate, the CIA, and a beautiful Thai princess, Samira and Kit don’t know who they can trust. Torn apart by competing factions and stranded on opposite sides of the world, they race to discover the truth before the world goes to war. Can they bring the past to life before it kills them all?

WSJ Best of 2019!

I pleased to announce that the Wall Street Journal named Three Laws Lethal first in their Best Science Fiction of 2019!  The WSJ has always reviewed my books quite favorably, ever since Superposition, and it’s a real honor for my latest novel to be called out this way.

Supersimetri!

A few years ago, my novel Superposition was published in Turkey, where it became a runaway bestseller (that Turkish translator must have written a great book!). This month, the sequel, Supersymmetry, hits the bookstores of Istanbul and Ankara, to a hopefully enthusiastic reception!  Here’s the cover art for the new book, which I think is fantastic.

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On the Ben Shapiro Show

Ben Shapiro is a conservative political commentator with a very popular podcast. Today he told his millions of listeners that they should read THREE LAWS LETHAL, which he called a “fascinating book that raises serious questions about AI.” This is huge exposure for the book, which I’m really thrilled about!

You can hear what he said from this link, starting at 49:33.

https://www.podcastone.com/the-ben-shapiro-show

 

 

Release day!

Today, at long last, THREE LAWS LETHAL is released into the world! It’s available in any format, wherever you like to buy books. It’s about self-driving cars, about artificial intelligence, about corporate espionage and legal battles and friendship and heartbreak and revenge.  I’ve been waiting a long time to get this one into your hands, and I’m excited you will all now have a chance to read it!

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | BAM | IndieBound | Audible

“If Asimov had lived for another fifty years, his worldview might have evolved enough to write something like Three Laws Lethal, but he couldn’t have done it better than David Walton did. Recommended for those who like character-driven science fiction, hard science fiction, fans of Asimov’s Robot series, and anyone who has ever used a car sharing app.”

—Future SF Magazine

“David Walton’s Three Laws Lethal gives the reader exciting insights into the threats and the promises that are coming our way.” 

—Vernor Vinge, multiple Hugo award-winning author of A Deepness in the Sky

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | BAM | IndieBound | Audible

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How My Daughter Reacted When I Made Her A Character

I appear on Civilian Reader today to tell you how my daughter reacted when I made her a main character in my new book, THREE LAWS LETHAL.

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Quantum physics on the cheap

My quantum physics murder mystery SUPERPOSITION is on sale today for only $1.99! The sale only goes until Thursday, so if you haven’t given it a try yet, now’s a great opportunity. You’ve got to read something while you wait for THREE LAWS LETHAL, right?