I was originally reticent to employ AI in my cover design — it just felt dishonest. However, after trying a few online tools, I found myself in awe of the ability of these algorithms to interpret my original composition in a way that so perfectly represents what I always wanted. The process was not easy — I sifted through exactly 1,773 generations over the course of seven days until I found one I was happy with. I felt that the curation effort gave me such a degree of authorship over the selected image that I am happy to call it my own creation.

All seriousness aside, the process was tremendously fun. It is truly impressive what these tools can create, especially when re-imagining the novel’s featured locations and scenes in such an expressive, otherworldly manner.

The anime filter was fantastic. Who could have envisioned Lund and Calvin as characters from a Studio Ghibli feature? Or Las Palmas’ Port Bay as a Japanese fishing village?

It is also possible to recreate scenes from the novel as they would appear in a Disney movie. The one where Lund meets Nilsson for the first time is as eerie as it is funny — the AI seems to have replaced Farhad Nilsson with his daughter while retaining the man’s massive moon face shape.

The degree to which the pictures depict the novel’s actions depends on how much free rein is given to the AI tool. What if I use a more creative generation? Would you be able to guess which key scene from the novel is hidden in these three princesses?

Solution