Entertaining and educating

For André Fűzfa, writing is not the result of a quest for notoriety; it's a necessity to share ideas that are deeply close to his heart. Indeed, fiction enables him to tackle complex - or delicate - themes through the action and choices of characters. The imaginary thus enables us to reflect on current issues in our society, such as the antagonism between the exploration and exploitation of space. Beyond mere entertainment, his novels also aim to educate and offer food for thought about our world. André Fűzfa chose science fiction for its escapist power, but also for its ability to tackle complex scientific subjects - such as interstellar travel - in an accessible and entertaining way.

AI as story support

Retetrouver Ganymède is part of the same universe as André Fűzfa's first novel, "À l'appel des étoiles ", yet can be read independently. Given the imaginative richness of his fiction, the author has chosen to integrate graphic evocations into the novel. The originality? These images were generated with the help of AI, skilfully piloted by Fabrice Rasir.

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The Venus Shield ©Retrouver Ganymede

Fabrice Rasir, an alumnus of the University of Namur (with a degree in mathematics obtained in 1996), is an IT consultant for a major Belgian company by day. But by night, he's an AI-rtist pushing the limits of these new tools everyone's talking about. The incredible productions of Fabrice aka Bibheist serve as a benchmark in this emerging milieu.

The desire to co-create meant that Fabrice Rasir was fully involved in the fiction creation process. Indeed, illustration here becomes much more than a simple supplement: it's an integral part of the story, with images created in interaction with the story. Some descriptions in the text have even been adjusted to suit the images, creating an enriching dialogue between the written word and the illustration. "By proceeding in this way, we realize that we have influenced the reader's imagination, but on the other hand we accentuate immersion because some of the images are really striking."

André Fűzfa adds, "These are not illustrations, they are evocations. You shouldn't take the illustrations as an iconographic 'canon' but as a vision. It gives certain elements to the readership and allows them to take a break from reading and escape into artistic co-creation."

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L'Allée des Grandes ©Retrouver Ganymède

In fact, the images in this book are an integral part of the reading experience. This is not an attempt to skew the reader's vision, but on the contrary to enrich it. Illustration can offer a medium that stimulates the imagination, that opens up possibilities.

Creating with AI

"We selected a dozen themes from the novel to explore visually. Then, each illustration is worked on separately. Fabrice contributes graphic explorations and then generates several dozen images. We choose together. Then there's all the complex post-processing work during which Fabrice refines the illustration." André Fűzfa explains.

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Kyūshigai Shinnosuke ©Retrouver Ganymèd

For the authors, the process of creating the images was both a challenge and a fascinating experience. Indeed, the illustration work involved not just creating images, but producing a graphic exploration of characters, settings and moods.

One of the main obstacles encountered when using AI lies in its difficulty in accurately rendering specific elements, such as certain physical features of characters or symbolic ornaments. Indeed, the technology doesn't allow for the detail offered by a draughtsman's line. The clothes and finery produced by AI are often remarkably original, but only if they remain in the same style, which the AI can identify.

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Aspera Holdfény, the novel's heroine ©Retrouver Ganymède

By placing artificial intelligence at the service of readers' imaginations, André Fűzfa and Fabrice Rasir have signed a work that offers readers a modern and novel narrative experience.

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Finding Ganymede - the pitch

Two Ganymedes clash. The first is a utopia forged by exiles fleeing Earth and its patriarchal domination, an egalitarian society dreaming of a new world - before disappearing, drowned in the ice that formed Anat's Palimpsest. The second, the She-Wolf's Ganymede, perverted this legacy to establish a reign of cruelty and oppression.

Aspera, orphan of the debacle turned indomitable warrior, will go beyond her revenge to bring down tyranny and free her own kind. Meanwhile, Sarah and her family, refugees on a moribund Earth after an interstellar shipwreck, are once again forced to flee for their survival, and that of humanity.

But the greatest threat is not this approaching interplanetary war. It only prepares the way for the advent of the Void Gangrene, a cataclysm that the Universe has been undergoing since the birth of the Shadows...

Between dream and ruin, what has become of Ganymede's utopia?

And you, how far would you go to find it?

Novel series website
Fabrice Rasir website