With the release of OpenAI making ChatGPT available to the public in 2022, the authors wondered how a soulless machine would interpret biblical verses. Would the results from a godless computer be derogatory or supportive of their Christian beliefs? Using some of the most beloved verses as well as several of the more disturbing passages from the Bible, Preston and Harriet Lewis began a faith journey through artificial intelligence that provided surprising results.
Devotionals from a Soulless Machine: A Journey of Faith through Artificial Intelligence takes the reader along as these two laypersons explore how A.I. interprets God’s message and the basic tenets of Christianity. The co-authors prompted ChatGPT to develop a devotional of 500 words or less along with a related prayer on more than a hundred biblical verses, including some of the most-recognized verses as well as some of the most obscure or vile passages never covered in Sunday school lessons.
The exercise presented fascinating and sensitive devotionals that lined up comfortably with Christian values and beliefs. On a few occasions ChatGPT even declined to produce a devotional, reporting that the selected passage contained language difficult to interpret in a positive light, violating its goal of promoting positivity, love, and understanding.
This couple’s journey of faith resulted in 82,000 words of devotionals and reflections. In the end the exercise provided the authors with some reassurances about how artificial intelligence can support religious growth as well as raising questions about the technology’s long-term implications for the religious experience. Devotionals from a Soulless Machine: A Journey of Faith through Artificial Intelligence provides an eye-opening look into the majesty of Christian convictions, even in the age of algorithms and chatbots.
Jokes from a Humorless Machine: A Comedic Romp through Artificial Intelligence explores whether AI, specifically ChatGPT, has enough of a sense of humor to create jokes that will tickle the funny bone of contemporary Americans. Through a series of prompts, the authors ask ChatGPT to develop jokes on classic themes as well as contemporary issues with surprising results, all demonstrating AI’s sense of humor as shaped by its algorithmic woke sensibilities.
Preston Lewis, an award-winning humorist, and Harriet Kocher Lewis, his award-winning editor, challenge ChatGPT to humor them with a series of prompts to develop jokes on classic themes like knock-knock, yo mama, three fellows enter a bar and the reason the chicken crossed the road.
Then the authors move on to more contemporary issues like politics, politicians and gender identify, challenging ChatGPT to find humor in modern culture. Finally, the authors seek from ChatGPT observations on contemporary culture in the style of several American humorists and more recent comedians.
In the process, the authors not only touch on the history of classic comedic memes but also discover biases in the resulting AI output. Are the jokes sensitive? Absolutely! Are they politically correct? Without a doubt! Are the jokes funny? The reader will decide.
Jokes from a Humorless Machine is the second book in the authors’ Magic Machine Series. Their surprising initial offering on artificial intelligence—Devotionals from a Soulless Machine—provided a sensitive look at ChatGPT’s take on the Bible.
Old West Feline Hiss-tory
In More Cat Tales of the Old West: Triumphs, Trials & Trivia of Frontier Felines, two-time Spur Award recipient Preston Lewis pulls together another amusing and eclectic collection of articles from western newspaper reports on frontier cats. In the sequel to his award-winning Cat Tales of the Old West: Poems, Puns & Perspectives on Frontier Felines, Lewis provides another engaging look at pioneer pussycats from the perspective of pioneering times.
In More Cat Tales of the Old West, Lewis examines cats as frontier fighters, homebodies, workers, miners, criminals, and actors with enough colorful period anecdotes to satisfy both the cat lover and the cat hater. With a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Chris Enss, More Cat Tales of the Old West provides an educational perspective on Old West history.
Lewis has been called the greatest living authority on cats in the Old West with articles on the subject in periodicals such as Wild West and Journal of the Wild West History Association. His first book on the topic, Cat Tales of the Old West received a Will Rogers Bronze Medallion Award for written western humor. The 32,000-word More Cat Tales of the Old West is catnip for feline fans and frontier aficionados interested in frontier history with a twist of the cat’s tail.
Wild west hijinks continue in the eighth installment of the hysterical and historical adventures of an unlikely hero.
H.H. Lomax once again finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time when, wrongfully accused of robbing a bank, he’s arrested and jailed in a town vying for a stop on the approaching Texas & Pacific Railroad.
When local officials can’t afford to pay for a trial, a harebrained scheme is concocted to get rid of Lomax without spending a red cent. But Lomax avoids the hairy situation, pulling off an escape with the aid of an unlikely accomplice and exacting a bit of revenge in the process.
His wandering spirit—and neck—intact, Lomax lands among the Mormons in Salt Lake City, where he encounters a long-lost relative in need of assistance and makes the acquaintance of none other than Irish poet and aesthete Oscar Wilde. And from there, it’s all downhill, folks!
Jumping from one bad situation to another in non-stop hilarious action, H.H. Lomax’s adventures will tickle your funny bone with genuine humor while satisfying your craving for western action adventure.
Wes Bracken is a rancher caught in the crossfire of the Lincoln County War, a bloody feud that pitted rival factions of merchants and cattle barons against each other in 1870s New Mexico. His life is threatened by his brother-in-law, who blames him for his sister’s death, a powerful businessman who wants to crush his competition, and Jesse Evans, a notorious outlaw who raped Bracken’s wife.
Bracken has two promises that make his survival even harder: he swore to his wife not to kill her brother, and he agreed to help William H. Bonney—better known as Billy the Kid—obtain a pardon from the governor for his crimes. To keep his word and his dream of a peaceful future, Bracken must face a corrupt legal system, a treacherous governor, a ruthless political ring, and the evil Jesse Evans.
Content 2
FAME AND FORTUNE IN THE WILD WEST ARE WHAT LOMAX SEEKS… BUT POOR DECISIONS AND A TOUCH OF BAD LUCK ALWAYS STAND IN THE WAY.
Accused of cheating at cards on a Southern Pacific passenger train in far West Texas, H.H. Lomax is kicked off the train and finds himself at the mercy of the unpredictable justice of Judge Roy Bean, who calls himself “Law West of the Pecos.” After being fined of all his money, married, and divorced by the judge in a matter of minutes, Lomax discovers an unlikely connection to him.
Against a backdrop of a pending world heavyweight championship bout, Lomax heads to El Paso to interest someone in writing and publishing Bean’s biography. He winds up in an El Paso boarding house across the hall from Texas killer John Wesley Hardin. They despise each other, but Hardin fears Lomax’s straight-arrow Texas Ranger brother and treads lightly around Lomax. Because of Hardin’s crooked connections in El Paso, Lomax gets caught between him and corrupt constable John Selman.
El Paso is becoming the focal point of efforts to host a championship prizefight that everyone from the Presidents of the United States and Mexico to the governors of Texas, New Mexico Territory and Chihuahua have vowed to stop. Calling on his connections to his Ranger brother, Andy, El Paso officials and the promoter of the boxing match, Lomax uses his Judge Roy Bean friendship to pull off the oddest prizefight in heavyweight history.
Outlaw West of the Pecos stands as an entertaining mix of historical and hysterical fiction.
Travel back in time with these fourteen new stories that explore the individual courage and strength the tumultuous American frontier required. Fortitude, edited by Hazel Rumney, features engaging stories that will delight readers. These stories capture the spirit of freedom and individualism in the evolving nineteenth-century American frontier. These epic narratives of courage and survival are organized by timeframe to offer readers a panoramic view of pioneers who faced life-changing challenges in settings that are in stark contrast to civilized society.
Content 2
The Cat-astrophic Old West
No animal in the Old West was more revered nor more reviled than the domestic cat. Sought for their rodent control, but despised for their nocturnal noisemaking, cats lived a schizophrenic existence on the American frontier. In Cat Tales of the Old West Spur Award-winning author Preston Lewis brings frontier felines into the light of the 21st century with a collection of amusing and eclectic excerpts from dozens of 19th century frontier newspapers reporting on pussycats west of the Mississippi River.
Through a selection of poems, puns and articles from period news journals, Cat Tales of the Old West provides an entertaining, enlightening and sometimes alarming take on kitties, both feral and domestic, in the American West. The 24,000-word Cat Tales highlights cats as noisemakers, victims of violence, value lessons for children, sources of fable and history, and topics of humor. Cat Tales of the Old West is both engaging and educational for lovers of cats and Old West history.
Wes Bracken is a man caught in the crossfire of a bloody war. In Rio Bonito, the second book in Preston Lewis’s award-winning Three Rivers Trilogy, he faces enemies on both sides of the law in the wild New Mexico Territory. He refuses to join either of the feuding factions that are tearing Lincoln County apart, but that only makes him a target for both.
Bracken tries to do what’s right, but he is branded a vigilante, a rustler, and a killer by those who want him dead. He must fight to protect his family and friends from the outlaws who roam the land, leaving death and destruction in their wake. Justice is not only blind in Lincoln County; it’s buried under a pile of corpses.
As he struggles to survive, Bracken also has to deal with his friendship with Billy the Kid, the notorious outlaw who casts a long shadow over his life. Will Bracken be able to stay true to himself and his principles in this violent and lawless land?
Content 2
WEALTH AND FAME IN THE WILD WEST ARE WHAT LOMAX SEEKS…HIS OWN BAD LUCK IS WHAT STANDS IN HIS WAY.
Swindled out of a mining fortune in Colorado and blamed for an ensuing murder, H.H. Lomax must finally face up to his past two decades in Skagway, Alaska. Along the way, he encounters legendary madam Mattie Silks, suffragist Susan B. Anthony, novelist Jack London, and a talking dog.
To survive his previous missteps and avoid a prison sentence for theft, Lomax must outshoot infamous Western conman Soapy Smith and outwit an unrelenting Wells Fargo investigator and Shotgun Jake Townsend, the greatest frontier assassin who never was.
Lewis does a tremendous job of leading us along the trail with humor, adventure and just a bit of cowboy heartache.
Content 2