Quantum Worlds: Short Story Singles

By Joe Vasicek

Will AI herald the death of human creativity, or its startling rebirth?

"Quantum Worlds" is a science fiction story about Robert, the editor-in-chief of a struggling science fiction magazine. In a last ditch effort to save the magazine, he and his wife come up with the idea of using AI to help with the submissions. The idea proves to be a game changer. 

As the magazine becomes successful again, Robert and his wife face challenges from the science fiction community, forcing them to make difficult choices. Their daughter also has ideas of her own about how to use AI in storytelling, in ways that the rest of the science fiction community sees as unethical.

As Robert and his family struggle to balance their careers, their daughter's ambitions, and the expectations of their industry, they must confront the tension between tradition and innovation, and the ethical considerations of using AI in creative endeavors. 

This story was co-written with ChatGPT!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joe Vasicek
• Release date: Nov 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223035060

Joe Vasicek

Joe Vasicek fell in love with science fiction and fantasy when he read The Neverending Story as a child. He is the author of more than twenty books, including Genesis Earth, Gunslinger to the Stars, The Sword Keeper, and the Sons of the Starfarers series. As a young man, he studied Arabic at Brigham Young University and traveled across the Middle East and the Caucasus Mountains. He lives in Utah with his wife, daughter, and two apple trees.

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Quantum Worlds

Joe Vasicek

Copyright © 2023 Joseph Vasicek.

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual persons, organizations, or events is purely coincidental.

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Quantum Worlds

Robert Chang sat at his desk, staring at the computer screen in front of him. It was 3 AM, and he had been working for hours, but he still had a massive pile of unread submissions waiting for him. He sighed and rubbed his tired eyes.

Quantum Worlds was struggling. The economy was in a downturn, and he couldn’t afford to pay his writers, his staff, and keep the magazine running for much longer. Lately, the slush pile had been swamped with thousands of poorly written submissions that were created using artificial intelligence chatbots like ChatGPT, which had dramatically increased the workload of his staff and had nearly forced him to close submissions. 

Robert felt defeated. He had always dreamed of running a science fiction magazine, but now it seemed like that dream was slipping away. He glanced at the family photo on his desk, with his wife and daughter smiling back at him. He couldn’t bear the thought of letting them down.

He took a deep breath and opened the first submission. It was the usual drivel he had come to expect from AI-generated content, full of cliches and poor grammar. He sighed and closed it, feeling a sense of despair wash over him. Despite his best efforts, the stories coming across his desk were uninspired, derivative, and downright boring.

His wife, Sarah, poked her head into the room. "Robert, we