I have no prompt and I must scream

Harlan Ellison stories as illustrated by Midjourney

So I’ve been experimenting with the AI image generator Midjourney, putting in the evocative but confusing titles used by various science fiction authors as prompts to see what I get. This week, it’s Harlan Ellison’s turn. These top two pics are what I got for “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman." As you can see, Midjourney got the harlequin right. And it threw in some clocks as well. But no Ticktockman.

Now let’s try “I have no mouth, and I must scream.”

Well, that’s a great picture (it’s supposed to be in the style of Hieronymous Bosch). But you have no doubt noticed that all these screamers have mouths.

I tried the prompt a number of times in different artistic styles but kept getting people with mouths.

This one doesn’t have a mouth. But it also doesn’t have a head, which seems like overkill.

Finally, I got one that basically works. If she’s got a mouth, we can’t see it.

Ironically, I got the best one from a different prompt. The pic below would make a great “I have no mouth” illustration, but it’s actually supposed to be a “Repent harlequin.”

This is also a good representation of me at a Blue Man Group show, desperately hoping that they don’t pull me in for one of their audience participation bits. I hate the Blue Man Group.

Here are several for Ellison’s story, “The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World.” They’re not always shouting, but I think Midjourney did a pretty good job with the beasts.

I tried “Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes,” and Midjourney had no trouble with “pretty Maggie” or eyes in general, but there was no reference to money in any of the pics.

And this was what I got for “Again Dangerous Visions,” done in the style of Margaret Keane. Plenty of vision in this one—just look at all those big eyes—but not a lot of danger.