Large Language Models and Generative AI are, as far as I'm concerned, poison designed to kill our humanity. They are rotting our brains, destroying the environment, and bringing only questionable economic benefits (there are no social ones, as far as I can see).

I am so fervently, avidly anti-GenAI that I removed all Microsoft products from my standard workflow in favor of Ubuntu as an OS, LibreOffice for my document creation, and PCloud for my cloud storage, all because CoPilot kept infecting my software, trying to tell me what to do and constantly prompting me to use it when I DON'T WANT TO GODDAMMIT. One client has demanded that I use Office for their work, so I have one spare windows laptop that touches only their work and is quarantined from everything else, and I am using a dodgy lifetime Office license I bought off an auction site. No subscription.

I'm also seeking options to get away from WordPress.com because they keep shoving at me. Assholes.

I also abandoned Adobe Lightroom for my RAW photo development because it was not only hammering GenAI tools into everything, it was charging me more to do so.

At the same time, even I—diehard as I am—recognize that machine learning and analytic "AI" tools have their place. You want to use AI to improve cancer diagnosis and can PROVE that it's helping? Hell yeah, go to it. And I'll even concede that machine learning can be useful in less vital areas, as long as it is approached ethically and doesn't encroach on what it means to be human.

Which is a big part of this, right? If AI is a tool, it must 1) do something right and 2) HELP people, rather than taking away from us. Tools do not steal our skills. Tools do not make it harder or more frustrating to do a job. Tools do not make us less capable as thinking, creative human beings.

So, when the free and open-source software that I now use to develop my RAW photos, DarkTable, announced that it was introducing AI-powered modules, I was deeply skeptical.

But reading their policy, I am perhaps now cautiously optimistic.

The full policy can be read here but the key points that make me think it might be OK are these:

1. It is only used for image correction: denoising, artifact removal without generating, color restoration etc.
2. All processing is on your machine, not at a data center
3. Object removal is only done using assets within the photo (like cloning) rather than generating things that weren't there

These sound like tools. Things that I can use to polish and perfect the photos that I actually took, rather than creating things wholesale that were never there. And do it without engaging with the libertarian tech elite so intent on taking humans out of the equation.

At the same time, the models themselves worry me. Were they trained unethically? Am I benefiting from stolen creativity?

So, while the jury is still not quite decided, I feel like this could be a model for ethical "AI" tools in this very confusing modern age. But hey, maybe I'm wrong and it's all just a burning hellscape of soul-destroying tech from top to bottom.

It's hard to do what you think is right, maybe. But that's why we have to keep trying to do it.

My name is Jimmy Dean Rion. That's what's on my birth certificate. It's official. Written in stone. Of course, in daily life, I made the common American choice to use a short form. Jim. Jim Rion. Nice to meet you. (By the way, if you google "Jim Rion," there are really only two that come up: Me and my cousin, who is a pastor at a Texas mega-church.)

Jimmy Dean Rion does not strike me as a particularly difficult-to-read name for an American, at first glance. Sure, "Jimmy" as a legal name is a bit unusual. And the spelling of my last name isn't super common. But it's all of five syllables. No apostrophes. No extended consonant clusters. Nothing that, in my opinion, should give the average native English speaker pronunciation trouble.

Oddly, even with such an apparently simple name, has been shockingly difficult for so, SO many people all my life that I just don't even know what to think about it.

The most common problem is pronouncing my last name, which, OK. I could see people assuming (wrongly) it might sound like the French, /rii-ON/. But I've had people read it /rein/ or even /roon/.

It's /RAI-on/. Like "lion" but with an "r." Like the common Irish name Ryan.

Oddly, my first name has also been an odd source of confusion. My high school principal refused, point blank, to believe my real name was "Jimmy" and not only called me "James," he wrote it on official certificates. Which is incredibly frustrating because there are points in life when official high school documents are actually important.

Luckily, I left all that behind when I went to college.

But then I came to Japan. HOO BOY has my name been a pain in the ass since then.

First, to give some background to those who don't know: Japanese name order is Family name - Given name. Which is the reverse of English speaking countries overall. Also, Japanese people do not traditionally have middle names, so official documentation doesn't have space for them.

When I came to Japan, I did so under the wing of a large English-language education company. My official documentation was all done under their auspices, and they didn't ask my input. Which, fair enough, I knew nothing about how Japanese bureaucracy worked nor did I read or write the language. But they messed up when they did it.

Somehow, in the official government systems that dictate my insurance, residence cards, etc., my name became Family name: Jimmy Dean, Given name: Rion.

Also, they decided the katakana spelling of ライオン /raion/ which is, honestly, what I would have done but for Japanese people sounds like a fake name because it's how they write the name of the animal, lion. My wife wishes it was ライアン /raian/ which is usually how Ryan is transliterated. A fair point.

Anyway, I was able to somewhat remedy this order issue by registering the correct order as an alias (something government offices make oddly easy here) so for later documents, like my driver's license, I can use the correct order.

Because it IS the correct order in Japan. Rion Jimmy Dean is OBVIOUSLY the correct order when living and working in Japan. I know there are those who think that names are some kind of monolith that should never be adapted to fit any context, but to those I say: My wife took my name when we married. Do you think her name should be Jimmy Dean T--- ? OF COURSE NOT. We are the Rion family. Family name is family name, regardless of whether it comes first or second.

And so, I use ライオン　ジミー /raion jimii/ in all my Japanese correspondence.

Which brings us to what instigated this little rant. My translation of Strange Pictures has made the shortlist for the UK Crime Writers Association Dagger awards for Crime Fiction in Translation. This has become a big deal, to the point that the Asahi Shimbun newspaper printed an article about it... And in that article, called me ジム・リオン /jimu riion/.

On the one hand, it's how someone might well assume it is written in Japanese just by looking at my name. But on the other hand, a professional journalist for a major newspaper didn't even TRY to check. No emails, no reading my company website (which lists my name in Japanese). They just winged it. Which is lazy journalism. (NOTE: the article has been corrected and the reporter apologized, so all is OK now.)

Oh, and by the way, yes. Strange Pictures is shortlisted for a Dagger!

The results will be announced July 2. It's a very tight list, so who knows what the chances are, but it's quite exciting to see my work being so well-regarded.

In April, my photo club saw the end of its "fiscal year," which means we had a shuffling of the leadership AND we tallied up the points earned throughout the year to choose an overall winner and two runner-ups. And, after months of fretting over whether I should even stay in the club, I came out number one! Kind of. Because, actually, it was a three-way tie between me, the old club chair (who takes beautiful bird pictures) and the new club chair (who takes beautiful train pictures). The two of them then decided arbitrarily to make the final ranking based on age, youngest to oldest. And, well, I'm by far the youngest member of the club.

So. I'm number one*!

In all honesty, that was my third year in the club (I think? It's all blurring in my old age) and it marked a big turning point in my approach to taking pictures for the monthly meetings. I went from trying to guess what would please the teacher/judge and just being more mindful of taking the pictures I wanted to take.

And, apparently, it worked. Everyone in the club has commented on how recognizable my "style" is (even though I don't see it) and I'm generally just happier with the whole thing.

Anyway.

Here are some of my favorites of the pictures I took in FY2025.

I am increasingly fielding questions about the fourth Uketsu book, tentatively titled Strange Maps in English, so I figured I should put up some kind of fixed point of reference.

So, here it is:

As of today, 6 May 2026, the current state of Strange Maps is "in editing."

The initial translation was completed in April. The first round of edits is underway. Next steps are: correction, copyedits, then proofreading. Then comes the US version edit. Each of these take at least a month, sometimes longer.

Then there are the publishers' business schedules, which of course influence release dates.

So, there is no announced release date yet. I do not know any more than you do on that front.

I can guess that it will probably be next spring, given past releases, although this winter is a possibility.

For release dates, keep an eye on the Pushkin Vertigo site (although Amazon has been known to beat the official announcement...). The US release date will likely be around the same time, but for confirmation check the HarperVia site.

So, I am sorry to keep you waiting, but thank you for your patience. The strange journey will continue!

Gotta keep telling myself that.

They're out there waiting for us to spot them.

I am on kind of a "ghost pictures" kick lately, where I find creepy old places and take long-exposure pictures in front of them while I or a model moves around.

It's fun and also feels really good when I manage to make my intended picture happen.

But the big problem is, I have trouble finding good places. There are only so many atmospheric abandoned train tunnels around, you know? So I put out a call. I used my monthly column in the local paper to ask peope to send me info on "places that look like they could be haunted." I wasn't expecting much, but then...

A man from a local orienteering club got in touch and said he's seen all kinds of scary stuff in the mountains. Like gravestones standing alone.

Temples left to rot.

Mysterious sheds surrounded by deep holes in the ground.

And abandoned crematoria.

Now, I am well aware that is exactly what I asked for, but might be a bit, well, excessive? I don't actually want to be haunted and/or cursed.

Or murdered by some hole-digging mountain shack dweller.

Anyway, I'm headed out with him this weekend. I shall be carrying plenty of salt and ofuda. But maybe I'll get some groovy pictures out of it?

I think I have to finally admit it. I'm a John Hornor Jacobs fan.

The first book of his I read was Southern Gods, a sweaty, gritty myth of music and cosmic horror that I think I picked up in a bundle not long after its 2011 release. I remember enjoying it, and when I revisited it in later years it's held up.

But I didn't really plug into him as a name to watch for until I read The Incorruptibles, his alternative history/dark fantasy book of an infernal-powered Roman Empire in the Old West that he into a trilogy.

Since, I've enjoyed all the books of his I've read (which is all of them but The Twelve-Fingered Boy trilogy), especially A Lush and Seething Hell. There is something about the weight of his prose that makes it feel rooted deep, in history and myth and humanity, while still just being fun.

And so we come to his 2025 ocean-going cosmic horror The Night That Finds Us All.

It's about Sam Vineworth (known affectionately as Sam Vines, which I would have bet was a Discworld nod but would have lost, according to the author), an alcoholic fuckup but he'll of a sailor, recruited by a friend to help crew a century-old sailing ship from California to Britain.

The ship is, of course, much more than it appears. It has a shadowed history with more than a bit of blood, and it soon starts to prey on the crew.

Once again, Jacobs brings unpretentious flourishes of near-poetry.

I found myself thinking this voracious ocean came before mankind’s puny endeavors and will remain after, in some near future, eroding the shores and drowning the land and taking all our works with us, dragging them down to the bladderwracked mansions beneath the sea.

The bladderwracked mansions beneath the sea. God, what an image. Or...

The sky kills all the sea’s dreams.

This masterful imagery is matched by what I can only a scholar's depth of nautical knowledge. Mizzens and reef sails and knots... It's all here, and I'm not sure I understood it but I also duct think not understanding hurt at all. Because nothing hinged on those details, they only added in establishing that Sam, drunken mess that she is, knows her shit on a boat.

But be not afraid, this isn't Moby Dick, with page-long paragraphs and endless digressions on marine wildlife. It's a journey into a dark, cursed netherworld that's full of dread and scares.

Another banger, in other words.

The Japan Association of Translators Book special interest group has invited me to speak online about my budding career as a literary translator and my work translating Uketsu.

I plan to lay out how I got started on this path, the luck behind the Uketsu translations, and perhaps find some advice for those looking to get into the game themselves.

The schedule is April 18th from 3:00-4:30, Japan time. It'll be on Zoom.

You can get the details and tickets here:

A Strange Turn of Events

I look forward to seeing lots of folks there!

My English translation of Uketsu's third, and longest, novel is out now worldwide.

Strange Buildings expands and improves on the core concept of Strange Houses, creating a multilayered narrative around the designs of 11 different buildings, which all end up woven into a much greater, and darker, story.

It reads to me as a much more mature, more assured work and I think it's Uketsu's best.

There was a lot to deal with in this one, as the many different chapters, or "Files," take on different approaches and tones, giving me room to play with a variety of voices.

For example, in the excerpt from the old book in File 3, "The Watermill in the Woods," I aimed for an old fashioned, somewhat stilted style, while File 7, "Uncle's House," called for the voice of a clever, if unschooled, boy.

It was a satisfying challenge to work on.

There is one big issue that arose in the translation that I would like to discuss, but it's a bit of a spoiler. If you haven't read the book yet, go do that now and come back when you're done.

So, be warned: 

MINOR PLOT SPOILER AHEAD

In the File 9, "Footsteps to Murder,"  Hiroki Matsue reveals that he believes his father, who happens to be a Christian, murdered his mother and set fire to their house.

Later, our "great detective" Kurihara reasons this accusation away. Now, in the original Japanese version, his entire argument is basically: Mr. Matsue was not only Christian, his crucifix pendant indicates that he is Catholic, and the Catholic religion strictly forbids murder.

In Japan, where readers are by and large only vaguely aware of what being a Christian actually entails, that might fly. But not in any Western country, that's for sure.  I mean, come on, watch The Godfather. The climax of the movie is proof enough that it's a flimsy idea.

Anyway.

My editor at Pushkin and I brought this up to Uketsu and proposed a couple of changes. We recommended adjusting the Christian angle to include pacifism and activism, but most importantly, we wanted to add an actual logical argument that helped take Mr. Matsue off the suspect list.

Uketsu agreed, and the story was changed.

I am generally uncomfortable with the idea of changing actual story points, and would never do so without active input from the author, but seriously, that particular idea struck me as nearly fatal to the story. I could see quite a few  readers in the West refusing to take the book seriously after an argument like that. But, again, most Japanese readers wouldn't even bat an eye at it. Only about 1% of the population is Christian here, so most people here don't even know a believer.

So, we had a very successful book in Japan that we were pretty sure needed more than just words changed to really succeed in English. It needed structural changes, too. I think it worked out pretty well, and the core of the story remainss exactly as Uketsu intended it.

Translation: it ain't just switching out words!