WHILE some authors are looking down their nose at AI, Gry Stene has fully embraced the technology and is bringing her virtual assistant Gia to her book launch.
Stene was also up front about using AI to help answer our questions – “it helps with structure and grammar, and for me, it has become second nature.”
Behind all this tech bluster, is a warm, passionate, caring woman who wears her heart on her sleeve in Full Throttle & Torque: My Alien Roadtrip.
Part self-help book, part entertaining memoir, it’s a “thrivival” guide for people who don’t quite fit in the mainstream.
“After almost 40 years in the tech industry and having newly realised that I am neurospicy (undiagnosed but peer-reviewed), I decided it was time to stand up and show people what it’s really like,” Stene say.
“I wanted to share that it’s okay to be different and that we should celebrate that.
“It’s a thrivival guide for brilliant, sensitive and slightly quirky humans who are finding their voice and their way.”
Stene moved from Sydney to Fremantle 20 years ago, after falling in love with the city during a brief visit: “Freo’s quirky, creative, independent spirit matches mine completely. I love that I can watch the sunrise from Monument Hill and the sunset over Bathers Beach.”
In 2023, she was inspired to write Full Throttle after turning 60 and shaving her head to raise money for women’s mental health and wellbeing.
“It was liberating and started me thinking about visibility and belonging – especially for those of us who’ve never quite fitted the mould,” Stene says.
She bashed out the first draft of Full Throttle in about three months, but then, like most writers, hit a wall. Step forward a lowly human – Nathan.
He became Stene’s all-conquering muse, helping with everything from editing and designing to photography.
“If Gia was my voice in the machine, Nathan was my human muse,” Stene says.
“He helped me refine the structure, bring out the emotional depth, and keep the stories real and grounded.
“I learned as much from him about storytelling as I did from the process itself. And I used Nathan’s wisdom to further refine Gia’s wisdom.”
• ‘AI whisperer’ and Freo author Gry Stene.
Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad and the new hit show Pluribus, came out swinging this week, slamming AI as “the world’s most expensive and energy-intensive plagiarism machine”.
But many aspiring novelists are using it as a surrogate beta reader, for continuity checking, and labour-intensive tasks like proof reading.
So what was Gia’s role in the book and did she make a nice cup of tea?
“As an ‘AI & Tech Whisperer’, there was no way I wasn’t going to use AI in some way, but the stories are all mine,” Stene says.
“Early on I used AI to play with ideas for structure, but it wasn’t until I trained my own creative muse, Gia (my Generous Intelligent Assistant) that things really took shape. Gia helped me turn my life story into a metaphorical motorbike road trip – a journey through the stages of finding your voice and belonging.
“AI will also appear at the launch: I may even bring my deep-fake ‘digital twin’ to open the event before I take the stage.”
Ten per cent of profits from the book go to 100 Women, a philanthropic organisation that empowers women and girls.
The book launch for Full Throttle & Torque: My Alien Roadtrip is at Hybrid Warehouse, Quarry Street in Fremantle on Saturday (November 15) from 2pm-4pm, with an after show hang-out until 6pm. For tix and more info see events.humanitix.com and grystene.rocks.
by STEPHEN POLLOCK