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Sarah Smith

@sarah-j-smith.bsky.social
216 followers 291 following 489 posts

Writer and software developer. Currently in revision hell for my debut novel “Montonbury Marsh”. No gen AI ever. Stories: open.substack.com/pub/authenticwrit… Books at www.storybridge.org

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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
You can’t rely on it for work. It robs all the pleasure from creative pursuits. But it’s great for scams, pr0n, revenge, and destabilising democracy. Seriously wtf - tell me, because I want to know: why do we need more AI data centres? www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
abc.net.au
Foreign YouTuber fakes Australian accent with AI to promote One Nation
An ABC NEWS Verify investigation reveals exactly how a YouTube political commentator from overseas is using AI to pretend to be Australian and promote One Nation to thousands of people.
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Reposted by Sarah Smith
Game Informer @gameinformer.com · 25/08/2026
The Exodus digital issue of Game Informer is live! Subscribers can read the full issue on our website right now, including our 14-page Exodus cover story and 12-page celebration of Game Informer's 35th anniversary, with print issues arriving in the coming weeks. gameinformer.com/exodus
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Jaws🎃 @jaws-stone.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Hello, beautiful sharks! I'm Jaws (they/them) and I'm a delectable mess, creating queer stories about queer characters and their queer lives. I'm currently making several comics all at once. If that sounds like your thing, feel free to follow along <3
A fullbody piece of two characters standing next to one another in Adidas track suitsA fullbody piece of two characters standing next to one another, making silly posesA fullbody piece of a character and his dog, wearing a cool skater fit A fullbody piece of two characters standing next to one another in nice clothing
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
If you set your ride-on lawnmower running across the yard and climbed off leaving it to its own devices to find later it had chewed up your neighbours garden; it would have “gone rogue” or “broken containment” more than OpenAI’s shitty chatbot. It’s marketing.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Slop-flation. The AI Rug Pull ghoul comes for your wallet. Even if you don't use AI. open.substack.com/pub/totallya...
open.substack.com
Slop-flation. The AI Rug Pull ghoul comes for your wallet. Even if you don't use AI.
Buckle up kiddies, all the AI software-as-a-service vendors are coming like undead ghouls from the AI swamp, their claws reaching to ravage your bank accounts.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Latest Soul Stealers is out! In a strange world, on the run from the temple of necromancy, Ryan finds himself herded toward the mission he desperately wanted to avoid: being a killer for the necromancers. But he makes an awful revelation. 💙📚 #LitRPG #BookSky Free! open.substack.com/pub/authenti...
open.substack.com
Killer on the Loose
Chapter 6: The Soul Stealers. Ryan arrives in Nothville as nothing goes to plan. Horrors and hunters are revealed, as he confronts his mission.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Latest Soul Stealers is out. Next one drops in 6 days. I kind of wrote enough for two chapters so… bonus! You get two pictures as well! All my work is by me, no AI ever. 😘 No paywall to read. #BookSky 💙📚 open.substack.com/pub/authenti...
open.substack.com
Escape
Chapter 5: The Soul Stealers. Ryan escapes from the high temple but if the hunter doesn't kill him the elevator ride just might.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
“Norman troops on Irish soil. A young girl whose mother is accused of witchcraft. An urgent life-or-death struggle.” Wow. Reader review. 💕💕💕 Every bit of the 10 yrs I put into “The Witch’s Daughter” is worth it knowing folks saw this in my story. 💙📚 www.goodreads.com/book/show/24...
goodreads.com
The Witch's Daughter
Discover and share books you love on Goodreads.
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Reposted by Sarah Smith
Queensland Games Festival @qldgamesfestival.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
ICYMI a reminder that our EOI for games for the Queensland Games Festival exhibition closes on May 4th. The QGF exhibition of locally made games will be held at the Brisbane Powerhouse for a full day on Saturday June 27th 2026 The EOI form is here - forms.gle/xGg8sJ4Ti1jY... Good luck everyone!
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
So cute! The folks running GenreCon 2027: Inner Sanctums folks sent me this Jay Kristoff (yes, the Aussie novelist, Empire of the Damned) stylée bracelet. I'm already boring everyone I know in writing or books by telling them they should get a ticket. 💙📚 events.humanitix.com/genrecon-202...
Sarah (me) holding up a GenreCon card, purple & black with a little beaded bracelet attached to it. Apartments, blue sky and palms are in the background.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
An Australian in the 21st century writes a book set in Ireland in 1169: how can that be authentic? I make a start on what "authentic" means: youtu.be/PDXVXeuKpJY?... #BookSky 💙📚 #HistoricalNovel
youtu.be
Don't Fake It? What does Authentic even mean?
YouTube video by Authentic Writing
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Oh, it’ll cost $1 billion to pay for older folks to have the dignity of showering? Well, how about taking it out of the billions you’re giving to fscking AI tech bros? I’m sure as shit they don’t need it. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04...
abc.net.au
$50/hour charge for older Australians to shower reversed by government after six months
The decision to scrap the plan to charge older Australians $50/hour for showers was made after months of sustained criticism, including warnings that people were forgoing other care to afford the serv...
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
open.substack.com/pub/totallya... People are speaking out about the *other* harms of AI. Time we listened really hard. Fight for regulation. Government for the people, not for tech oligarchs.
open.substack.com
Trust, Psychosis and Addiction: the generative AI costs that prove we cannot afford not to regulate
Recently New Yorker article paints Sam Altman as untrustworthy. But AI is breaking trust everywhere. Worse patterns of addiction, mental health impacts show how toxic AI is.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Hearing about mantasy. And web serials is totally it. I’m 3/4 way thru the audiobook of #ProjectHailMary with Ray Porter narrating. It’s a flying man shed. The centrifugal off and on button for gravity? Every man-cave enjoyer is aching for that now. Sex is OK. But duct taping laptops heh 👊
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Having so much fun writing & illustrating Soul Stealers - a Pratchett-esque take on Dungeon Crawler Carl meets What We Do in the Shadows. Free to read. New chapter every 1-2 weeks. #NoAI #HumanAuthored #BookSky #LitRPG open.substack.com/pub/authenti...
open.substack.com
Pronaxen
Necromancy is so demanding and stressful. Pronaxen has a knack of avoiding hard work. Until his Progenovate pairs him up with Zicosin who is having a really bad day with a soul on the loose.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
open.substack.com/pub/authenti... Ryan runs a pool cleaning business. Or he did until he woke to find he’d been abducted to an alien planet and turned into a golem; by necromancers who want him to kill people. At least he has Gary the gargoyle. #LitRPG #BookSky read all chapters for free
open.substack.com
Pronaxen
Necromancy is so demanding and stressful. Pronaxen has a knack of avoiding hard work. Until his Progenovate pairs him up with Zicosin who is having a really bad day with a soul on the loose.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
I submitted a #ShortStory to #NYCMidnight 3 months ago. It’s a whodunnit set in the UK. On Tuesday the judges decisions come out and I find out how I did. Chances are the wraps will come off and I’ll finally be able to publish it. www.nycmidnight.com/ssc
nycmidnight.com
The Short Story Challenge — nycmidnight
The Short Story Challenge is an annual creative writing competition that challenges writers around the world to create short stories based on genre, subject, and character assignments in as little as ...
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Necromancer Pronaxen has his hands full with Ryan who is out of control, barely on mission, took their security system as a pet and worse: he just levelled up. Free to read. Ch3 of Soul Stealers #LitRPG #BookSky 💙📚 substack.com/@sarahsmith1...
substack.com
Pronaxen
Necromancy is so demanding and stressful. Pronaxen has a knack of avoiding hard work. Until his Progenovate pairs him up with Zicosin who is having a really bad day with a soul on the loose.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Nice little #AuthorWin - got a listing for "The Witch's Daughter" in Qld Writers' Pen & Pixel magazine, under their "Backyard Books" section. us5.campaign-archive.com?u=9de934b11d...
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Dungeons and Dragons! Today I got to roll the D20 dice with friends and battle foes defined by columns of numbers. And it was so much fun. Drew this for the first day we set sail. #LitRPG #DandD #Booksky 💙📚 (Art by me, based on/traced from Wikipedia references)
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
open.substack.com/pub/authenti... Our hero is still getting used to the whole being made of stone thing. In his frustration at the lack of answers makes an unfortunate mistake. And he makes a new friend. #LitRPG #FreeToRead #BookSky 💙📚
open.substack.com
Gary
Chapter 1: The Soul Stealers. Ryan inadvertently bumps off a gargoyle and befriends another one.
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oodles 👾twitch streamer👾 @oodlesof.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
My local library had a copy and i’m already 200 pages in and am loving it so far! #booksky
the book titled “dungeon crawler carl”
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Don’t want to admit that I need this shelf. Sigh. My DNF is higher than the rest of my shelves. 🥴 The book I’m currently reading - Ashley KB’s latest thriller- I will definitely finish. But I’m terrible at DNF’ing those “books I _should_ read”. #BookSky 💙📚
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Brisbane Writer's Festival session "Surviving Autocracy" with M Gessen interviewed by Richard Fidler really opened my eyes (ha ha - see pic of me from the event) to how current events in the USA, Russia and the middle east can be seen as part of a pattern. bwf.org.au/.../out.../m...
Sarah with goofy expression stands in front of a Brisbane Writer's Festival pull-up banner at a venue.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
open.substack.com/pub/authenti... Free to read - chapter 1 of the Soul Stealers, a #LitRPG with nincompoop necromancers and a scooby gang for the times. #BookSky
open.substack.com
Ryan
Chapter 1: The Soul Stealers. Ryan finds himself in a very strange place and just when is desperate for answers he gets ones that make things even worse.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Ryan finds himself on a strange world, bizarrely changed. And late for work. When he gets an answer it is chilling. Free-to-read serial novel, The Soul Stealers. #LitRPG, #fantasy w necromancy thrown in. #BookSky 💙📚 authenticwriting.substack.com/p/ryan?r=b66...
authenticwriting.substack.com
Ryan
Chapter 1: The Soul Stealers. Ryan finds himself in a very strange place and just when is desperate for answers he gets ones that make things even worse.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
My new calling cards have arrived, and I must say: they look schmick! I'd hoped they'd be here for GenreCon - but I will have them for GenreCon 2027: Inner Sanctums - and for all the events that will crop up between now and then. #AuthorSky #BookSky 💙📚
Me holding up three cards that say “Writer & Illustrator”. I have a silly grin. A card that says “Writer & Illustrator” and has a QR code to storybridge.org
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
open.substack.com/pub/celestem...
open.substack.com
There is one word that explains how so many men can be in the Epstein files. So why is no one saying it?
We talk endlessly about the factors that make rape easier, but never about the factors that cause rape in the first place.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Black shapes came from the sea for Baltasar, guided by an ancient evil. What would befall him? Death? Or something worse. #BookSky #ShortStory 💙📚 open.substack.com/pub/authenti...
open.substack.com
Inklings
In oceans of dread legend a seafarer encounters beings from the sea, black as soot, dead and cold. What will be his fate? Death or something worse?
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Timely and trenchant conversation on generative AI at GenreCon 2026. Myself I am vehemently against using generative AI in any capacity in writing.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Brilliant day yesterday at graphic novel / manga workshops with Professor Belne and Queenie Chan at GenreCon 2026 #manga #BookSky 💙📚
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
#BookSky 💙📚 #HistoricalFiction #Giveaway
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
Caught between invading Normans & a witch-hunting bishop, can Hilde save her village before the darkness consumes her? Last day! #BookSky giveaway! Living in Australia and read #HistoricalFiction then this is your chance to get a copy of "The Witch's Daughter" www.facebook.com/share/p/16p1...
facebook.com
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
GenreCon starts tomorrow with the launch party on Friday evening! I’m pumped for the announcement of the “Inkling” short story winner! Yours truly perhaps? 🤔 #BookSky 💙📚 www.genrecon.com.au
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Curious to get the low down on self publishing, I went to a brilliant workshop by Kylie Chan, author of the Dark Heavens series, hosted at Queensland Writers. I have the secrets now! #WritingCommunity #WriterLife essentialselfpub.com.au
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
#HistoricalFiction lovers in #Australia - to celebrate GenreCon **this week only** I'm giving away a signed paperback copy of "The Witch's Daughter" - last month JWBoots of Oxley picked up a copy. Jump on my FriendFace author page to see more: #BookSky 💙📚 www.facebook.com/share/p/1DuB...
A hand holding a copy of "The Witch's Daughter" in paperback and competition details to win that by entering before 20th February.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
OpenAI and the like said their product’s ability to follow instructions was “emergent” and implied a bonanza of advances were waiting. But it was our data all along. And that’s a hard bound on what they can make AI do. The golden goose is a dead duck. 🦆 ☠️ open.substack.com/pub/totallya...
open.substack.com
Emergent behaviour? Or stolen IP?
Since early LLMs there's been claims that following instructions and even reasoning is "emerging" from larger models. I call bullshit. It's the data.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
OMG. Is this really VE Schwab interviewing @mattdinniman.bsky.social - my worlds are colliding! Envisaging Addie la Rue and Carl dealing with goblin tractors 🚜 😈 #BookSky 💙📚 podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/n...
podcasts.apple.com
S4 E1- Trapping Matt Dinniman: A Hippopotamus, Bass Strings, and Pizza-Blasted Goldfish
Podcast Episode · No Write Way with V. E. Schwab · 11/02/2026 · 48m
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
I drew & made my book’s cover. It’s a Celtic cloak pin made of silver with a wolf’s head motif. The background is a red-brown woollen cloak. The Viking/Ostman axes and Norman helmets are black and white illustrations I did based on research. #Booksky 💙📚 www.storybridge.org/thewitchsdau...
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
I found the lack of agency tried my patience as our girls ricochet from one sharp object & blunt instrument to the next. #BookSky But White wrings malevolence from flapping plastic. A letterbox on a narrow road is a signpost of doom. He’s in his cinematic element with this page-turner.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
A few days in and my review holds up for me: www.goodreads.com/book/show/23... …it’s a must read for fans of horror-thrillers and has that genuine Australian home grown psychological horror that I know many folks love.
goodreads.com
The Long Night
Em has lived a quiet life with her complicated mother a…
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Don't ever stop writing your book because I have discovered you then have to promote it on **actual** FriendFace and die of self loathing. #Writers #WriteSky #WritingCommunity theitcrowd.fandom.com/wiki/Friendf...
Logo for satirical non-existent social media site, that is legally distinct from and in no way resembles one created by Zark Muckerberg - see the IT Crowd for more.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
The #GenreCon26 feels are already building. Launch day for "The Witch's Daughter" and lots of events online and off. The maps, writing and research took me years but it's all worth it now. 📚💙 #booksky www.storybridge.org/thewitchsdau...
Page 1 of my book "The Witch's Daughter" showing the map of Duncormac as I have re-imagined it for my story of a courageous girl and the warriors spirits she brings forth.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
This. 👇 👇 👇 👇 Was absolutely chronic at Google in Silicon Valley. Will post links below
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Virgina’s book is available everywhere books are sold. Apple Books has a free sample: books.apple.com/au/book/nobo...
books.apple.com
‎Nobody's Girl
‎Biographies & Memoirs · 2025
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Must see mic drop from Watson. Dawkins on Epstein’s plane is an image that doesn’t surprise me. My brave fellow Australian Virginia Giuffre might still be alive if pedophiles like Epstein were not surrounded by intellectuals like Krauss, Dawkins & famous atheist misogynists.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Briar book of the Dead is great!
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Anti-AI-hype people - there’s sone schadenfreude coming our way this year. open.substack.com/pub/totallya...
open.substack.com
The Disgraceful Degradation of Generative AI
In computer engineering graceful degradation is when a service fails but does so in a way that causes the least damage. Gen AI is showing us a lesson in the opposite.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
World-wide we are calling a red-alert, 5-alarm fire on the gutting of our creative heart by rapacious generative AI companies. It's not innovation, it's theft. Authors: Share a video book cover reveal with #JusticeForCreators - see below for how. societyofauthors.org/2026/01/30/b... #BookSky
societyofauthors.org
Brave New World? Justice for creators in the age of GenAI   - The Society of Authors
We have joined forces with other creator-led organisations to co-launch a ground-breaking report showing the onset of a creative jobs crisis in the UK.
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Sarah Smith @sarah-j-smith.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
My recent story for #NYCMidnight features a “Free Play”. I sort of went with a Shakespeare reference or two. And wouldn’t you know I chanced upon this theatre flat of a tree. It’s like the *exact* prop from that story. #GreatMinds #NotDerivativeISwear #BookSky 💙📚
Sarah standing in front of a theatre flat of a tree. There’s an image of auditorium seating behind it.
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