BioDigital Novels by Bart Niedner | AI-RISE (AI Resources In Story Enhancement)

What?

BioDigital Novels

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

— Arthur C. Clark

Trilogy Overview

Immerse yourself in the captivating BioDigital Trilogy, a thrilling journey through time, digital space, and multiple realities. Set against a backdrop of post-apocalyptic landscapes and futuristic technology, this trilogy follows a cast of unforgettable characters as they navigate treacherous terrain, confront powerful enemies, and unravel the mysteries of their own existence. As the protagonists confront potent forces bent on their destruction, they must also grapple with the implications of their own actions and the fate of billions. The BioDigital Trilogy is a thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be human in an increasingly digital world and a testament to the power of hope in the face of adversity. Join author Bart Niedner as he masterfully weaves together three gripping novels, each exploring the depths of human resilience, the fragility of our digital creations, and the serendipitous chaos driving our future. The BioDigital Trilogy is a must-read for fans of thought-provoking science fiction with a heart.

Narrative Overviews

Narrative Overview

CATACLYSMS
A Reunification of Realities
BioDigital Book One by Bart Niedner
TechProg c. 2316 CE

Cultural Anthropologist Dr. Renee Habibi-Ren sees her world redefined when she takes a consulting job for the Ectostic Order, keepers of true vision. In a world devoid of color and visual detail, the Order’s mysterious artifacts cause Renee’s team to rethink the nature of their reality. While on the run from forces trying to silence them, the truth about the Visitor leads them to discover powerful new technology – technology the Ectostic Order would kill to possess.

Protopriest Mateo Fortuin faces the daunting challenge of leading post-apocalyptic Gaia, a fertile oasis in a land of ice. Plummeting temperatures are causing the periphery of Gaia to be swallowed by the permafrost, and decreased resources threaten the starvation of thousands. Mateo’s only hope is that baring his soul to Gaia’s strange alter will allow his prayers to be answered.

Bart Niedner invites you to join Renee and Mateo in this sci-fi thriller about two lives that intertwine through time, digital space, and the reunification of two realities.

Cover Image

Image Creation Remarks: I did the layout work for all three book covers in a single Photoshop document for consistency and shared layers, guides, etc.

Prompt using Midjourney: colorful glamour shot of a sexy beautiful 39-year-old middle eastern woman looking at the camera, gorgeous woman, white background, detailed, intelligent, modern, detailed materials, well kept

Postprocessing: Moderate postprocessing in Photoshop. I used the stained glass filter and layer masks over three layers for the effects of digitization. I also drew down the saturation slightly. Renee’s “GDS eyes” were lifted from an unrelated Midjourney image of a spherical circuit board I had produced. It was masked and blended to fit her bright, brown eyes. No, you were not necessarily meant to notice the eye detail until you read the story.

Open Full-Jacket

Narrative Overview

CONVERGENCE
Serendipitous Accords
BioDigital Book Two by Bart Niedner
TechProg c. 3041 CE

Elite, bio-engineered spy Caressa Lunaire, begins a high-risk infiltration mission searching for a mythic set of stones. Pursuing a sketchy rumor, Caressa lays a dangerous plan to infiltrate the Mysterium of the Maiden, a hostile seat of immense religious power. She is after information from a High Exarch. But to get past security, Caressa’s success requires compelling credentials within the Mysterium.

Within the ranks of Caressa’s enemy, fourteen-year-old Kios Leandros has his own agenda involving the Oracle. What the Hierophants celebrate as an honor was, in Kios’s eyes, an unbearable sacrifice. With the bravery of youthful innocence, he attempts a third try to access the Oracle. But this time, he has reason to hope he will be a welcome guest at the Mysterium of the Maiden... But, on a distant space station, an elite spy ferrets out what Kios is up to.

Bart Niedner invites you to join Caressa and Kios as these two would-be enemies change one another and find a significant reason to believe in a better reality - a reality they must protect before a familiar affliction consumes it.

Cover Image

Image Creation Remarks: I did the layout work for all three book covers in a single Photoshop document for consistency and shared layers, guides, etc.

Prompt using Midjourney: [link to original image] realistic detailed skin with lots of freckles and veins, alien skin, complete upper body and head in frame, beautiful semi-human alien female, middle-aged, wearing a thin intricate organic-lattice black bodysuit, ultra-detailed, full dark hair, full lips, beautiful bright blue eyes, sensuous features, hauntingly beautiful, a femme fatale, mischievous expression, misty white background, realistic, organic, natural, 8k, taken with a Hasselblad camera with a 100mm lens and CineStill 800T film, f 1.2 --ar 4:7 --v 5 --stylize 1000 --v 5 --s 750

Postprocessing: No postprocessing.

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Narrative Overview

CONTAINMENT
A Verdant Hope
BioDigital Book Three by Bart Niedner
TechProg c. 1450 CE

Alcander Kalivas leads his small team 8,000 kilometers across barren glacial ice, unpredictable permafrost, and storm-tossed icy seas to save 18 billion souls. It is an endeavor founded on the hope Earth-saving technology exists in a European server room – on computers that may not have survived the climate calamity.

The expedition exposes Alcander’s cohort to the dangers of extreme climate, human aggression, and an eccentric city, Friolzheim. And along the way, something Alcander thought lost forever finds him - love.

In the toxic underbelly of Friolzheim, Alcander’s team encounters an impossibly attractive woman, Caressa, and her teenage companion, Kios, who hold the keys to Alcander’s mission. But Caressa reveals that a new existential threat is becoming increasingly probable.

Bart Niedner invites you to join Alcander, Caressa, and Kios as they search for solutions to save two realities and preserve a critical third... And learn which one does not make it.

Cover Image

Image Creation Remarks: My original cover for Alcander’s story used stock art I purchased. When I decided to move towards using AI for all of my art, I began the Midjourney prompt for Alcander by referencing the original stock art. I did the layout work for all three book covers in a single Photoshop document for consistency and shared layers, guides, etc.

Prompt using Midjourney: [link to original stock photo] upper body and head of a ruggedly handsome 45-year-old man, white background, realistic, natural skin, detailed skin, diffuse lighting, taken with a Hasselblad camera with a 100mm lens and CineStill 800T film, f 1.2, atmospheric lighting, facing the camera --ar 3:4 --v 5

Postprocessing: Snow and winter effects were added in Photoshop by leveraging Medialoot products. The slight green mist was also added in Photoshop. No, you were not supposed to notice it before reading about it in the story.

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Why write a Novel?

“I am a 'curious creative.' I have made a living using my imagination and technical skills to create original manifestations of many things: artwork, architecture, software, graduate-level curriculum, and even a local government. My motivation is not to be listed next to Zaha Hadid or Nelson Mandela in the history books. My neurosis is much simpler - I selfishly enjoy the creative act. I hunger for the back-and-forth of making - the dialogue between the emerging unknown and the pursuit of some outcome. I love how the chaos of possibilities speaks to what it wants to become - how it changes my original intent and how it changes me. The creative act is the most intimate experience I have known. And it is the most meaningful.

“Each time I have broadened my media, the value of my experience has folded: dreamily losing myself in an acrylic monoprint; celebrating architecture through a deconstructionist detail; mitigating an unseen business risk with the magic of agile software methodologies; creating and inspiring a coalition of diverse organizations to focus extraordinary resources benefiting tens of thousands of souls. I enjoy the fray - the grit of the creative struggle. I am drawn to the brilliant light of its energy.

“With the BioDigital Novels project, I am burying my creative fingers into the chaos by making a book. The motive is solipsistic. It is about my pleasure from the act. I aspire to do it well. But I still need to become an accomplished writer for the satisfaction of that feather. This creative chaos may be making more than a novel. It may be creating a novelist. But my motivation is in the making.

“I am now a curious student of the struggle to create a novel. Using the emergence of new AI tools as my entry point, the ground has been remarkably fertile thus far. The beautiful chaos is coming from all directions, and I am blessed to be caught up in the mix.

“With the greatest of sincerity, I invite you to participate in this adventure. If you have knowledge or opinions relevant to the topics being discussed, please drop me an email or comment on the blog. I hope to connect with thoughtful and constructive people along this adventure, so don’t be shy! Share your wisdom. If I can be helpful to you, let me know. And help me along this journey with a critique - let me know where I may be succeeding, failing, or missing a significant opportunity to dig deeper. Our friends maintain our balance as we climb onto the shoulders of giants!”

— Bart Niedner

Why?

AI-RISE

“Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those languages, or we remain mute.”

— J. G. Ballard

Image Creation Remarks: I tried dropping the section's draft text in as a prompt... Wild, huh?!

Prompt using Midjourney: optimistic image, no text on image, “AI Resources In Story Enhancement” (AI-RISE) is a companion project to BioDigital Novels. As Bart Niedner writes BioDigital Novels, he explores, engages, and discusses artificial intelligence from the context of storytelling and novel creation. AI-RISE is both the exploration of emerging AI tools and the broader discussion surrounding the use of AI in creating fictional work. Niedner is primarily concerned with the tools themselves and how a novelist might leverage them to create meaningful works of fiction. What are the tools? How might they best be used to achieve desirable results? How are these tools evolving? Should we view these tools similarly to the way we see Word, Grammarly, and Photoshop? Or are AI tools something more? How are tools like Photoshop, Google Search, and ProWritingAid changing due to AI? And what are the more significant questions and answers? AI is undoubtedly a disruptor of the norm. As has been the case with every major technological leap, from the printing press to desktop publishing, AI will cause transitional pain (and sometimes existential pain) for sections of society, various professions, employment, education, communications, and more. How should we be thinking about AI? What should we be doing now to alleviate the pain it might herald? The AI-RISE Blog is the “home” of the AI-RISE project. Please join in this critical conversation! --q 2 --v 5 --s 250

Postprocessing: No postprocessing.

Open Full-Sized Image

AI Resources In Story Enhancement

AI-RISE (AI Resources In Story Enhancement) is a companion project to BioDigital Novels. As Bart Niedner writes and illustrates his books, he explores artificial intelligence from the context of storytelling and novel creation. The AI-RISE Blog is both the exploration of emerging AI tools and the broader discussion surrounding the use of AI in creating fictional work.

What are the relevant AI tools? Are there “best practices” when using these tools? How are these tools evolving? Should we view ChatGPT and DALL-E as refined versions of Google and Photoshop, or are AI tools a more impactful technology class? How are traditional fiction writing tools changing due to AI?

And what are the more significant questions and answers concerning these new AI tools? AI is undoubtedly a disruptor of the norm. As has been the case with every major technological leap, from the printing press to desktop publishing, AI will cause transitional pain (and sometimes existential pain) for sections of society, various professions, employment, education, communications, and more. How should we be thinking about these impacts? What should we be doing to alleviate the pain it might bring?

The AI-RISE Blog is the "heart" of the AI-RISE project. Bart welcomes you to join in this interesting conversation!

Product & Process

For most people, the creative product is where engagement ends. However, we additionally benefit by examining the creative process. Creative works are necessarily temporal; thus, a creative object may only be fully appreciated when first seen in its own time. It is by considering the contextual process of its making that a creative object’s full beauty is exposed.

As a working definition, “beauty” is that which brings pleasure to the senses or exalts the mind. We must consider an object's crafting to see a creative product’s beauty. This consideration necessarily includes the technical realities of the object’s assumed origin. Furthermore, its ability to exalt the mind is most fully experienced by evaluating how it broadens the human experience within our ever-changing social context – beginning with the work’s inception.

As an example, when an acclaimed Vermeer painting was removed from the National Gallery in London after ninety-three years because it was discovered to be a forgery, the artwork itself – the product – was no longer the same object critically. The forged work is still enjoyable in many, even new ways, but it is a different creative product because we have a new understanding of its creative process.

A Renaissance oil painter had to source azurite, madder root, and cochineal insects before crushing them into egg yolk for his paint pigments. Today Amazon will consistently deliver a tube of “Gamblin Artist's Oil Colors Venetian Red” to your doorstep within twenty-four hours for less than ten dollars. And today, it might be for her oil painting.

Creative products must be considered inclusive of their creative process. From technical achievement to social meaning, the beauty of creative objects is necessarily temporal.

Who?

Bart Niedner

An architect, programmer, artist, professor, product manager, author, and a mayor walk into a bar.

The barkeep says, “What’ll ya have, Bart?"

Bart's Bio

"Mudpuddles are for stompin' in!"

BioDigital Novels is Bart Niedner's maiden effort at creating a novel. He is excited to share much of the experience through the AI-RISE blog. Bart has a life-long interest in fantasy and science fiction genres and is particularly fond of the mechanics behind the story constructs. With the makings of a unique plot in his mind since he was a boy, creating fiction in the sci-fi genre has been on Bart’s bucket list for a very long time.

Bart grew up hunting, camping, and Jeepin’ on his family’s farms in Missouri. His love of art led him to study architectural design theory from coast to coast at Kansas State University, Radford University in Virginia, Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles, and returning to Washington University College of Architecture in Saint Louis for graduate work. Drawn to academics, Bart transitioned from his position at Wiedemier Architects into teaching positions at Ranken Technical College and then Washington University in St. Louis. A love of Missouri’s forested rolling hills compelled Bart and his wife, Michelle, to move their family of six to rural Northeast Missouri. From there, Bart operated two successful Internet companies, Resource Forge LLC and Smart Trakker LLC.

Bart values public service and has held many community leadership positions, including Rotary Club President, Chamber of Commerce President, Visitors & Convention Bureau member, Historic Preservation Commission Chairman, City Councilperson, and Mayor.

Bart’s academic interest in the creative act is focused the exploration of the mechanics behind storytelling and meaning. He illuminates critical outcomes by bridging the gap between art and technology - excelling as an artist and a craftsman. He successfully brought this intersection of art and craft to his pursuit of art, architecture, curriculum design, community leadership, and software development. Bart now merges artistic and technical skills to achieve meaningful creative results in his BioDigital Novels.

Contact

"Trying to get more learning out of the present system is like trying to get the Pony Express to compete with the telegraph by breeding faster ponies."

— Edward Fiske

Email Bart Niedner

bart.niedner@gmail.com

BioDigital Novels

Cataclysms | Convergence | Containment