Bowen Greenwood | Updates

I think I got replaced by AI

Bowen Greenwood — Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I used to get some contract freelance work that generated all the profit of my writing business. I subsidized my beloved novels by writing non-fiction for other people.

They never said anything. The only feedback I ever got was that end clients loved what I produced. I hadn't raised my prices in years, so I was probably the cheapest option of human writers.

But they began to call less often, then less often still, until I haven't heard from them in months.

I don't actually know I was replaced by AI, but it sure looks like it.

I'm not an AI absolutist. I like it for research. I've used it to make fun graphics to post here (never book covers). I don't hate AI.

It does have a cost, though. I used to pay two editors; now I pay one. I used to buy luxurious $500 covers; now I get them for $90 (And I love the work they do for me at GetCovers). I used to be able to afford audiobooks.

Personally, I'm doing fine. I have an awesome real life job, writing is only my passion project. But AI (presumably) taking my writing also took profits out of the hands of those other members of the indie community.

AI has a real cost.

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Is the King James the only Bible?

Bowen Greenwood — Sun, 4 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Some believe that--that every other translation has introduced errors into our understanding of the word of God.

Others believe the opposite: that because the language is so outdated, it's no good for reaching the lost anymore.

I believe the King James Bible is beautiful.

It reaches heights of splendor unmatched in the modern world. I believe its artistry becomes ever more apparent in the hands of a great orator.

For those with an X account, check out my friend Armond Bodreaux. Listen to his southern readings of the King James, and Shakespeare, and others. And enjoy the harmony of God's word and human words recited by a man who loves them.

https://x.com/armondboudreaux/status/2106717029499883764?s=20

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Writing Changes The World!

Bowen Greenwood — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The more the world sucks, the more we should write.

Tales of heroes give us aspirations. Noble, virtuous people making good choices and doing good deeds live on in our heads long after the last page.

Inevitably, someone somewhere always chooses between war and peace, right and wrong, life and death. If you never stop writing, if your stories never give in to nihilism, then someday that person may have read them, and may remember them.

Someday, your hero hazarding his own life for the good of others may shape the memories--and thus the acts--of the great men and women on history's stage.

Write on, my noble author friends! Tell the stories that make the world a better place.

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Christians and horror

Bowen Greenwood — Fri, 2 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I'm not a horror fan. I can enjoy some: when it first came out Predator, one of my favorite movies, was considered horror. Zombie apocalypse can be fun. But as a general rule I don't choose this genre.

I do, however, know several Christians who do.

I'm suspicious of it. Fear is not the spirit God gave us, and horror seems built around fear. The garden variety horror that the rest of the world watches is built around serial killers, evil deeds, and of course demons.

But if you take the demons seriously, if you go into it with full understanding of what they really mean, and if you're crystal clear that they're the bad guys, I think it's it's possible to use them in a God-honoring work.

It's not a simple effort. We all know the famous Friedrich Nietzsche quote: "If you gaze too long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." We must take care, when we write this kind of thing, not to dance too close to the flame.

I have about a thousand words written right now on a thriller that's going to verge on horror, about confronting a serial killer who's dealing with a demon.

May I do it well, to show the true horrors of darkness, and not gaze too long into the abyss.

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Of Voice and Place

Bowen Greenwood — Thu, 1 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

My best writing arises from my home..

The Sherman Iron Mysteries take place entirely in Montana. So does The Last Senator. The space to roam, true winter as an implacable foe, mountains sweeping toward heaven in the distance, the Big Sky.

A Bowen Greenwood book would not be a Bowen Greenwood book without Montana.

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Kick ass, or correct?

Bowen Greenwood — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I'm working on The Last President this morning, rewriting (for the third time) some handwavery about the weapon that could kill the aliens and win the war, if only the heroes can build it in time. (Spoiler alert, the good guys win).

Nobody wants a textbook on masers (Microwave lasers) from me. I don't have the knowledge.

What they want to know is, at their darkest hour, the heroes finally figure out one last desperate chance.

But they also want to feel in their gut that this could really work, that we might save the world. And to give them that, we need just the right dusting of facts. Striking the balance is the hard part. Enough real world stuff to make it believable, but not so much as to make it boring.

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