Quick introduction

Read the previous post where I did the same thing if you’re lost or want to know how these stories were written.

Reading Key

bold text = I wrote it

normal text = GPT-2 wrote it

Story #5: A Spoon

Alice pointed the gun at Bob’s face, “Tell me where the Covenant is, and I’ll make this quick.”

Bob stared down at the muzzle. “You… you’re a goddamn fool!” he shouted in terror.

Alice took another long drag on the cigarette, and then, to Bob’s relief, she put the gun down.

She turned around and rummaged through her knapsack, “Look’s like we’ll have to do this the long way.”

She turned back to Bob, holding a spoon. Bob gulped, “I’m going to kill you.”

Alice rolled her eyes. “Oh, you can kill us any time. Tell me, where is the Covenant, and I will make it quick.”

Bob shook his head.

Alice sighed and aimed the spoon at Bob’s genitals, “I think this is going to be fun.”

Bob looked up at her, wide-eyed. “Wait, I thought you were trying to feed me truth serum or something.”

Alice smiled and took a long drag from her cigarette, “I’m pretty sure you can make the same effect with this spoon.”

She pushed the spoon down onto Bob’s chest, and he was immediately paralyzed with fear.

He stared at Alice, his jaw twitching and his muscles contracting, before he finally managed a feeble attempt at breathing.

The spoon continued to sink into his chest, and his screams grew in volume as it continued to work its way into his body.

Story #6: Made for a Snail

Bob and Alice stood at the edge of the cliff, watching the waves crash against the jagged rocks below and turn into white froth.

The sky was dark with clouds, and the stars a faint pinkish light, were streaking across the sky, dancing and dancing in and out of focus.

There was a deathly silence.

Alice broke it first, “thine towers have crumbled down—And the flowers gasping under rubble.”

“Mistress, thy Covenant will find us if we stay here any longer. We must leave with due haste” Bob said.

Alice nodded, but her gaze remained fixed on the dark clouds. “I wish, Bob, that I could return to my mother’s garden for a day. This place is a maze of stone and masonry.”

They returned to the carriage and set off into the night. The wind was howling in the distance, and Alice felt herself slipping deeper into the mist, further and further away from her friends.

The last light of the moon was beginning to fade behind them, and she glanced down to the road. The path was narrow, so narrow that it seemed to be made for a snail.¹

They arrived at the village of Townton at dawn. The village was empty, save for a few sheep running around among the ruins of the houses.

Alice walked through the streets, looking around for any sign of her friends or companions, but there was nothing.

“It’s no good, Alice,” Bob said quietly.

Story #7: White Gay Black Man

Political activist and gay Black man² Dean Browning had much to say on the riots in our exclusive interview, which was conducted in the parking lot of a plaza nested between two IHOPs.

ME: Mr. Browning, are you ready to conduct the interview?

BROWNING: I am.

ME: Mr. Browning, what is your opinion of the rioters who stormed the US Capitol last month?

BROWNING: I think they were very irresponsible in their conduct, very destructive, very damaging to our democracy, and I think there’s an ethical and moral obligation to hold them accountable.

ME: Mr. Browning, as a Republican, what is your opinion of members of the GOP who spread the conspiracy theories that enabled extremist groups to show up at the capitol last month?

BROWNING: These were men and women who were in full support of the party. They were acting with honor, and they were acting with the dignity that comes with being an elected official.

ME: Just to be clear, you mean the members of the GOP?

BROWNING: The GOP has a long history of supporting these kinds of groups and, I’m glad to see the party come out in support of the right to assemble peacefully.

ME: Mr. Browning, could you explain what you meant when you described yourself as being a, “gay black man” on Twitter?

BROWNING: No, I didn’t make that claim. I didn’t mean that in a racial or sexual way, but rather a statement of what I believe.

ME: So you didn’t mean what you said.

BROWNING: No, I meant it as an indictment of the left. There is no question that there are elements of the left that want to divide America, that want to destroy our culture, destroy our institutions, destroy our way of life, and want to marginalize and vilify groups like us.

ME: *Shuffling papers* Is it true that you were called a “gay black man”?

BROWNING: I was called a white gay black man by a liberal in my state on my way to a gay bar when the liberal was talking about how much he liked gay rights and how much he was concerned about gay equality. He then accused me of being “hateful.”

ME: As a gay black man, what is your opinion of politicians LARPing on social media as racial and sexual minorities to push their own agenda?

BROWNING: I have no problem with them. It’s their right as free Americans to do what they want and to express themselves however they want and be however they want and to call whatever they want and believe whatever they want and say whatever they want and believe whatever they want and do whatever they want and be whatever they want and have whatever they want and be whatever they want and be whatever they want and not be scared or ashamed to do anything that they want to do and say whatever they want and believe whatever they want and not be afraid of being hated by other people. They are free Americans. They have every right to do what they want to do and to express themselves however they want and not fear or feel intimidated by others or judged by the people around them.

ME: That’s a lot of talk for a single question—what are your thoughts on the new “Ghostbusters” reboot? Do you think it’s a good reboot?

BROWNING: I think it’s a very interesting project, and it’s something that I think a lot of people have asked me about.

ME: Do you think that you’ll be the best female cast member to play the ghost?

BROWNING: I think that people are really going to come to their own conclusions about the casting.

ME: Well, it’s been an experience. Thank you for doing this interview. And thank you for being my guest today on the podcast.

BROWNING: My pleasure. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Story #8: The Covenant

Apples in the orchard glistening with morning dew.

Vines creeping along the concrete.

A Rolls-Royce tucked away in a corner of the garage.

The view of the park from the street.

A small sign over the front door reads “We Will Keep You Warm.”

A photo of a family on the beach.

City lights on the horizon.

A Rolls-Royce speeds down the road, kicking up gravel.

An apple on the way to the city.

A café, with an outdoor terrace and tables with umbrellas on top.

Another photo of the café, taken with the camera attached to the back of a motorcycle.

Somebody is at the window looking at the sunset.

… and the back door is unlocked.

The swing of a chair.

A cracking of leaves and a rustling of grass.

Crimson flowing out of the garden and onto the sidewalk.

The Covenant, a small, red and black convertible, sitting on the curb.

Raindrops splashing against a potted plant.

A spoon in a man’s chest.

Another spoon in a woman’s chest.

Conclusion

I don’t really know what to make of this.

Did you have fun? I did, but again, every word took like a minute for GPT-2 to generate; and I had to do a ton of back-and-forth coaxing, especially to get it to finally learn the interview format.

I also liked the gag of having GPT-2 determine the canon for what the Covenant is.

It was also fun to give GPT-2 odd structure for it to adapt to in Story 8, it writes like a “gifted” middle schooler who is just a middle schooler who is marginally better than their peers.³

But that’s all the GPT-2 stuff I’m going to be doing for now.

See you in [insert number here] months!

Thanks

• GPT-2 GitHub Repo
• Max Woolf’s great blog post on using GPT-2
• (Not used for this post) An article about retraining GPT-2
• Wrapper for GPT-2