The Library of Dresan – Page 2 – Words, Art & Science by Anthony Francis

Transitional Updates

Published November 2, 2021 by centaur

Out with October, in with November, and with it, a bunch of updates. Dragon*Con came and went and was a success. Our Kickstarter for Beyond Boots 'n' Bars was funded; thanks to everyone who participated! But most importantly, the move from California to the East Coast is mostly done.

That last I blame for my lack of posting (and drawing - sheesh, I am ~80+ drawings behind) but, ultimately, that was the most important thing that I and my wife needed to be working on for quite a while. Now, she's got a functioning art studio again, and my library is ... getting there.

But, now it's time to get back to it. I'll be doing Nanowrimo again - JEREMIAH WILLSTONE AND THE FLYING GARDENS OF VENUS, something-like-book 2.75 on my original outline. Since Nano has been so great to me, I'm sponsoring it this year, which in turn, means you can find FROST MOON there!

Welp, back to it. Onward, fellow adventurers!

-the Centaur

Support the Kickstarter for our Clubfoot Journal

Published October 9, 2021 by centaur

Hail, fellow adventurers! Our small press, Thinking Ink, is running a Kickstarter to launch a journal for parents of children with clubfoot. Written by Betsy Miller, one of Thinking Ink Press's founders and an active contributor to the clubfoot community, this journal will enable parents to track the progress of their children's treatment, as well as providing exercises and notes to help them process their experiences.

The Kickstarter is live now! Please spread the word, as we love getting specialty books like this into the hands of people who truly need them!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thinkinginkpress/beyond-boots-n-bars-a-journal-for-clubfoot-parents

-the Centaur

A Long Day

Published September 9, 2021 by centaur

a long day. but a good one. more tomorrow.

-the centaur

Update on Site Maintenance

Published September 8, 2021 by taidoka

Well, it looks like the way WordPress is going to pull the Classic Editor out of my cold, dead hands is to screw up the formatting of any post published with the Classic Editor. The only way it seems to get posts to appear correctly in the blog roll is to use the new Gutenberg garbage. I will be updating posts a few at a time to try to overcome this. The problem is only "new" Classic Editor posts ... the older content in the blog doesn't appear to be affected, so hopefully it won't take too long if I update a few a day.

-the Centaur

Featured

Who is the Centaur and What is his Library?

Published September 8, 2021 by centaur

centaur at dragoncon 2021

Hi, I'm Anthony Francis, and I teach robots to learn, particularly deep reinforcement learning for robot navigation as well as the intersection of memory, emotion, and planning for contextual control.

I write urban fantasy about a woman who can bring her tattoos to life and steampunk about women scientists and adventurers, as well as space opera featuring a young centauress explorer. I also draw a webcomic about a girl who can travel to any possible story.

On this site, I also have resources on how to become a better writer, on how to overcome writer's block, on the science of airships, my thoughts on how religion intersects with artificial intelligence, and even a collection of recipes and thoughts on food.

If you're looking for a good place to get started, my first novel, FROST MOON, won an EPIC Ebook award, and my team's work on PRM-RL won the ICRA 2018 Best Paper Award. Otherwise, I hope while you are here in the Library that you find something informative, interesting or at least entertaining!

-the Centaur

P.S. This is a "sticky" post designed to introduce the blog; keep scrolling down for more recent content, or check out the site menu, tags or categories to explore more.

Departure Angle on Viewer

Published September 8, 2021 by centaur

Well, Dragon Con 2021 was a resounding success. I have a page full of notes to transcribe here, but just wanted to put a stake in the ground, now that the move and the con are over, so I can get back to blogging and drawing and posting drawings every day.

-the Centaur

Pictured: The bus stop, after all the busses stopped.

Back to Dragon Con!

Published September 3, 2021 by centaur

Well, we're back at a con at last! And as usual, I'm posting my schedule at the last minute. At least I got the chance to see some people I haven't seen in person for two full years!

And here is my schedule:

Title: Star Trek Essays
Description: There are thousands of worlds within Star Trek, & thousands of topics to talk about. Where do we start? Join a panel of published writers & producers to discuss what's worth discussing in Trek essays, articles, & videos.
Time: Fri 11:30 am Location: Galleria 2-3 - Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Kyle Mackenzie Sullivan, R Alan Siler, Anthony Francis)
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Title: Teaching Robots to Learn
Description: When you tell a machine to learn, all bets are off on what it will learn to do. In this panel, we'll discuss techniques used today to teach robots to recognize objects, to grasp them, to navigate autonomously around people, & even to imagine the future.
Time: Fri 04:00 pm Location: Atlanta - Sheraton (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Anthony Francis)
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Title: To Series or to Stand-Alone?
Description: Fantasy readers fall in love with the characters & worlds we build. How do you sustain the interest in a series--or would this idea work better as a stand-alone?
Time: Sat 10:00 am Location: Embassy EF - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Anthony Francis, Moderator: Nancy Knight, A. J. Hartley, J. Gregory Keyes, Seressia Glass, Dakota Krout)
-------------------
Title: Author Signings:
Time: Sun 01:00 pm Location: International Hall South 1-3 - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Clay Gilbert, Patricia L. Briggs, Anthony Francis)

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Title: Dead at the Keyboard
Description: Panelists discuss strategies to combat writers' block, stress, fatigue, boredom, insecurity, & deadline anxiety.
Time: Mon 11:30 am Location: Embassy EF - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists:Moderator: Nancy Knight, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Anthony Francis, Peter David, Trisha J. Wooldridge)
-------------------
Title: My Favorite Author, Book, Series, Character...
Description: Authors discuss their favorites among their own works & offer insights into their favorites in other authors' writing.
Time: Mon 01:00 pm Location: Embassy EF - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Anthony Francis, Moderator: Bill Fawcett, Trisha J. Wooldridge, James R. Tuck)

Hope to see you there!

-the Centaur

P.S. I have been drawing more or less every day, but I have also been moving, so you get a drawing another time.

Days 206-209

Published August 8, 2021 by centaur

Day 206, a sketch of Montgomery Scott from Star Trek: scotty headshot

How ddid I do? Still can't seem to draw a correctly tilted head, and face to hair proportions continue to be off: scotty comparison

Day 207, Nyota Uhura: uhura sketch

Umn, well, it is the same person, sort of, but she's looking down, and the original, up: uhura headshot

So, no real way to make these line up, but it isn't totally terrible: uhura comparison

Day 208, Hikaru Sulu: sulu sketch

Again, more or less the same person, but I made him look down, and what happened to his chin? sulu headshot

Overall comparison cannot be made to line up: sulu comparison

Day 209, Pavel Chekhov. I don't have the original reference on this computer, but I'm sure a comparison would be equally terrible to all the others, if not worsee. chekhov headshot

Drawing every day, posting when i get to it. -the Centaur