Links: Artificial Intelligence, Georgette Heyer, & More!

Workspace with computer, journal, books, coffee, and glasses.It’s Links time! Here we show some cool stuff that’s been going around the internet and social media. We think it’s a nice Hump Day distraction when you need a bit of a work break.

The Ripped Bodice has started a Patreon for any romance readers who want to support the store, but can’t quite make it out to Culver City just yet. Reward perks include book recommendations and a video from Fitz!

Attention fantasy lovers! N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season has been picked up by TNT for a TV series:

N.K. Jemisin’s Hugo Award-winning sci-fi fantasy novel The Fifth Season is getting the drama series treatment at TNT. The project is in early development at the cable network with Leigh Dana Jackson (24: Legacy, Sleepy Hollow) set to pen the adaptation and Imperative Entertainment’s (All the Money in the World) Dan Friedkin, Tim Kring and Justin Levy serving as executive producers.

No release date as of yet, but I’m sure we’ll all have plenty of time to read (or re-read) the book before the show comes out!

One of my favorite things from Twitter is the birth of Janet the superhero.

The twig is used to “smack jerks down.” And there’s been an awesome collection of Janet fanart circulating.


USB Wall Outlet Adaptors!

What do we want? More USB ports! Where do we want them? EVERYWHERE!


Georgette Heyer’s Sylvester has been adapted into a play by the Lifeline Theater in Chicago:

Sylvester, Duke of Salford, was born with wealth and good looks, but a life of privilege has rendered him unfeeling towards others. Phoebe Marlow was graced with a sparkling wit and independent spirit, but languishes under the thumb of her domineering stepmother. When this mismatched couple is thrust together by their meddling families, both rebel and their tidy little worlds spin into chaos. Midnight flights, desperate sea voyages, and scathing society hijinks ensue as these unlikely lovers labor to avoid their fate. Grab the reins and charge headlong into a topsy-turvy tale of madcap romance in this world premiere comedy based on the 1957 novel by Georgette Heyer. The production runs approximately two hours with one intermission. The novel will be on sale in the lobby.

Anyone in the Chicago area plan on seeing it?

….

Lastly, big thanks to all the readers who sent this article my way: Romance Novels, Generated by Artificial Intelligence:

I’ve always been fascinated with romance novels — the kind they sell at the drugstore for a couple of dollars, usually with some attractive, soft-lit couples on the cover. So when I started futzing around with text-generating neural networks a few weeks ago, I developed an urgent curiosity to discover what artificial intelligence could contribute to the ever-popular genre. Maybe one day there will be entire books written by computers. For now, let’s start with titles.</p?

I gathered over 20,000 Harlequin Romance novel titles and gave them to a neural network, a type of artificial intelligence that learns the structure of text. It’s powerful enough to string together words in a way that seems almost human. 90% human. The other 10% is all wackiness.

It’s hard to pick a favorite title. Sex BellsPregnant for the Rage, and Midwife Cowpoke are some top contenders.

Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!

Comments are Closed

  1. Herberta says:

    I would 100% read Pregnant for the Rage. Also Lady Convenience Wife and Inheritance Sex.

  2. cleo says:

    OMG – so many awesome titles.

    His Pregnant Prince probably exists in the shadowy world of mpreg m/m

    The Sheikh’s Marriage Sheriff!

    The Prince’s Virgin’s Virgin!

    Virgin Viking
    Prince Dad Sheikh?
    Butterfly Earl
    The Sheikh’s Convenient Desires

  3. Qualisign says:

    Crassion!

    =Crazy+passion? Romance in an abandoned asylum?
    =Crass+passion? A class-crossing dilemma?
    =Crash+shun? A problematic Amish romance?

    Oh, so much potential. A book just waiting for its author.

  4. SusanH says:

    Those title are hilarious!

    I’ve often thought that Georgette Heyer wrote dialogue as if it were going to be performed on stage. I bet her novels translate wonderfully to the theater. I wish there was interest in filming them.

  5. Emily says:

    I think “Secret Secret Baby” needs a shout-out here. Maybe the extra “secret” has something to do with amnesia..? However my favorite’s “Never Happened”

  6. Maite says:

    The titles, oh my virgins, the titles. There are quite a few that accurately described stuff I’ve read/watched (Pregnant for the Rage is so totally a storyline in TV show Grimm), a few I honestly see how would work (The Sheik’s Convenient Desires is waaaay too easy)…
    and then there’s “Secret secret baby”. As @Emily said, how does that happen? Are we talking about a heroine who never knew she was pregnant, and isn’t aware she gave birth?

  7. RevMelinda says:

    As it happens I have a Chicago visit planned next month…buying tickets to Sylvester now!

  8. Diane says:

    The Secret Secret Baby is obviously on Double Secret Probation (tm Dean Wormer).

  9. greennily says:

    Janet the superhero art is amazing!!! Thanks for the link! Totally would watch a movie about her.

  10. Zyva says:

    @Maite, the double secret baby happens in The Mommy Miracle by Lilian Darcy. The mom was in a car accident and spent nearly her whole pregnancy in a coma.

  11. Trix says:

    I fell in love with the movie CHINESE ODYSSEY 2002 last night, and highly recommend it for a future SBTB movie matinee! It’s this madcap but completely appealing mashup of Chinese period drama, Shakespearean gender-bending and sibling plotlines, brilliantly choreographed martial-arts action, goofy humor, and swoon-inducing romance. (Honestly, I didn’t know who I wanted more: absolutely adorable Chang Chen as the secret Emperor who’s a frustrated actor at heart, or the ever-debonair Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as the vagabond gangster with the soul of a poet.) Faye Wong is a total badass, the conclusion is very feminist and cool, and there are songs! Sigh. (I found it streaming on Kanopy, but I’m sure there are other options…it looks like Wong Kar-Wai produced it, so there must have been decent distribution.)

  12. LF says:

    I love these titles. Some of these sound like they could be written by Dr. Chuck Tingle, and some are so dramatic, it makes me interested what the book would be like if it was actually written.

    Cattle Lover
    His Pregnant Prince
    The Baby Barbarian

    A Perfect Giantess
    The Savage Bride
    Pregnant for the Rage

    Christmas with her Blackmail
    Dangerously! Seduction
    The Blood!

  13. Hazel says:

    I acknowledge a bias against adaptations of novels. I rarely expect them to live up to or surpass the original. (One exception was A Game of Thrones, of which I thought HBO would make a nice visual experience.) But, Jemisin’s work is so complex, nuanced and multi-layered, can a TNT adaptation of The Fifth Season be anything but disastrous?

    I can imagine a Syfy-level treatment.

    Shudder…..

  14. Jill-Marie says:

    You had me at “Midnight Cowpoke.” But honestly, who wouldn’t want to read “Falling for Her Doorstep” (our clumsy, lovable hero makes grand entrances!) or, more importantly, “Nookan’s Buttymance”??

  15. Jill-Marie says:

    Gah! “Midwife Cowpoke”! How does one edit comments?

  16. Louise says:

    @SusanH:
    I wish there was interest in filming them.
    Unfortunately, back in 1950 someone at Two Cities Films did have such an interest. The result was The Reluctant Widow (scroll down to the review), which I will unequivocally say is worse than nothing.

  17. kb_run says:

    I would totally read Naked Hot Ranger .

  18. JenC says:

    Thank you for mentioning Sylvester! I happened to be in Chicago this weekend and saw one of the preview shows on Friday. It was a lot of fun, and I thought the adaptation worked well.

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