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The Hobcast Book Show
195: The melody of great writing - with Nigel Stewart
It's been an odd week here at The Hobcast Book Show. Rebecca and I have been watching the BBC's new smash-hit cosy crime series, Ludwig, starring David Mitchell. Nothing unusual in that you might say, but each episode has multiple aerial shots of the centre of Cambridge, where the stories are set. Each time they pop up, I exclaim, "there's my church!". I'm referring to Great St Mary's, where I was head chorister back in the early 80s. It reminds me of one of the happiest periods of my life. So why am I mentioning it now? Well, our guest this week, Nigel Stewart was also a chorister in the rather grander setting of Hereford Cathedral. Unlike me, he carried on with his passion for making and writing music. He's also a novelist, with five books released to date, including Colouring In, The Road Home, and Justinian's Daughters. How much do music and writing overlap? Listen to this fascinating interview to find out.
Also this week, Adrian and Rebecca react to the claim by Sir Ian Rankin that crime novels are becoming too long, and should be capped at 300 pages. Is that realistic?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Colouring-Nigel-Stewart/dp/1912677067
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Home-Nigel-Stewart/dp/1739501217
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Justinians-Daughters-Nigel-Stewart/dp/173916525X
https://www.thetimes.com/article/2a5a03a7-af9d-4b2f-ba4a-b6c29bc8eb84?shareToken=1c45daea137b5399b42bd662d66c1fe4
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204: Crossing Genres - with Claire Sheldon
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01:17:43|Regular listeners to The Hobcast Book Show might be forgiven for thinking that we're obsessed with AI. There's barely a week when we don't discuss the latest encroachment of AI into the publishing world, whether it be machine generated text and covers, or AI mimicking the work of audiobook narrators. Above all, we're concerned about how the big tech companies have ingested copyrighted works into their systems without any recompense for their creators. Our guest this week, Tom Albrighton, has just released a book examining these issues and assessing the scale and impact of AI systems on human creativity, particularly writing. How much of a threat do AI systems pose? In AI Can't Write, But You Can: Why human writing matters in the age of ChatGPT, Tom argues that AI systems are essentially highly-developed predictive text machines. They're good at synthesising what's expected in a certain type of writing, but they remain soulless and prone to mistakes. Tom says that humans should lean in to what makes them unique as authors, and make the most of what AI's lack - emotion. This is a provocative and timely interview.Also this week, have Penguin Random House found a way to beat the AI companies? And why are hardback sales down year-on-year?https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cant-Write-But-You-Can-ebook/dp/B0DFJ3RXRB(25) Tom Albrighton | LinkedIn