We use an innovative LLM named HeadOffice to manage inquiries about our new book, the action, and it’s characters. It’s been trained on all 64,000 words and does a really nice job of engaging readers and media inquiries for us. But what I find fun is the randomness of the questions we get. Here’s an example from this week;

What is the significance of the Paris Peace Conference in the book… and what is that cryptic note pad at the end?

In the book “A Line in the Sand,” the Paris Peace Conference serves as a pivotal moment where the geopolitical lines of the modern Middle East are drawn, heavily influenced by the actions and insights of T.E. Lawrence. The conference is depicted as a stage where the conflicting interests of imperial powers and national aspirations collide, highlighting the complexities and the often-overlooked nuances of the agreements that shaped the region. The cryptic notepad found towards the end of the book contains a map and annotations that contradict the official Sykes-Picot Agreement lines, suggesting alternative boundaries based on religious and tribal areas. This notepad, a relic of historical significance, symbolizes the hidden agendas and the overlooked voices in the official narratives of history. This discovery underscores the theme of the book: the quest for truth and understanding in a region long manipulated by external powers and internal strife.

Well, I could have not said it any better.

Then this week, I came across this seating chart in the WWI Museum Archives recently, and was fascinated… not so much that France, Britain and the US were at the head of the table, but that Feisal and the “Hejaz” (todays Saudi West Coast) were relegated further down table than Siam, Panama, Liberia and Poland. No wonder they were pissed off!