Music

Fancy Some Christmas Music?

Max Misc , , ,

Hey folks! I’m on my Christmas Vacation, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some content! So today I’m linking back to a fun post we did last year where I encouraged everyone to share Christmas tunes in the comments after sharing a few of my own favorites! And once again, like a Bernie advertisement, I’m asking for you to chip in! Save that I’m pointing you folks to the comments to share youtube links to your favorite Christmas carols, songs, etc! Let’s give everyone the gift of some more holiday music to enjoy! Here are a few of mine—fresh, not from last year’s—to get you all started!

Christmas Everyday by Gia Farrell
In Wonderment of Winter by Gareth Coker
Across the Frozen Expanse by Abadoss
Last Christmas by Jimmy Eat World
Let It Snow by Chris Isaak

That’s some of what’s in my Christmas playlist? How about you? Merry Christmas, readers!

Being a Better Writer: Music to Write To

Max Being a Better Writer , , , ,

Welcome back readers!

Yeah, I know. That introduction has been said hundreds of times with Being a Better Writer … but that doesn’t make it any less true. Besides, I don’t have much else to say. While I’m writing this at my desk it’s in advance, because when this post goes up I’ll be out and away, so even if there were news to be had, I wouldn’t be able to comment about it.

Anyway, while I’m out and about, this post can still go on. So enough with my ramblings! Let’s talk writing. Or more specifically, music and writing.

I’ll admit, this is kind of an odd post, though it’s been one of the more requested topics I used to get back in the day. I just … didn’t quite know what to make of it, and there were always more important, immediately applicable posts to talk about.

However … recently I was thinking back on some of those old, odder requests and thought “You know, I could cover that. It’d be a bit strange, but I think I know what I could do for it.”

So today, we’re going to talk about a very odd writing subject: Music. Not writing about it, but what to write to. Because like a lot of other things with writing, it’s not quite as straightforward as it at first appears.

And then? Well then, we’re going to have some fun. So hit the jump, and let’s talk music,

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A Tribute to the Greatest MP3 Player Alive

Max Misc , , , ,

Some of you might be wondering why I didn’t title this A Tribute to the Greatest MP3 Player that Ever Lived, but there’s a reason for that!

But first, really quick, and before I get into this small tribute, I do want to offer a quick update about yesterday’s post, as some of you might be wondering what point it served. Well, it’s pretty straightforward: I’ve noticed that if one searches “Axtara” or “Axtara – Banking and Finance” you get the store pages, and the news page on the site that announced its release … but you do not get any of the reviews or previews.

So I made that post designed specifically for web crawlers looking for search results. With a little luck and some work, in a few weeks it’ll be one of the top search results, so anyone looking for Axtara will find the store pages, and a free preview of the first three chapters to read, nice and easy.

Since we’re doing news, editing on Starforge is now in full swing, and in addition Patreon Supporters will have another chapter preview coming soon. But not yet, because they’ve got The Minstrel and the Marshal for the moment, and that’s plenty of story to keep them occupied.

All right, that’s it for news. Let’s move on to the post: A tribute to the greatest MP3 player ever made.

Yeah, I know this is going to ruffle some feathers. But hey, my site, my opinion. Are you ready to see the image of the greatest MP3 player ever made? Here it is:

That’s right. The best MP3 player ever made is the oft-mocked Zune.

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Let’s Share Some Christmas Music!

Max Misc , , ,

Hey folks! Max here!

So I’m not quite on my break yet, though as of posting, that might be a different story (got my COVID booster today and it’s expected to knock me back a bit). But it is the Christmas season, and I was thinking about that this week, and well … Though I can’t deliver an Axtara sequel out of thin air (sorry folks, but not even the magic of Christmas is as strong as the realities of writing), I can do some fun stuff.

And one thing that I undoubtedly like about the holiday season is its music. I love Christmas music, both the goofy fun stuff and the more solemn, thoughtful pieces. I’ve been listening to my Christmas-channel on Pandora for weeks now, enjoying every minute of it.

So hey, why not share a few of my favorite Christmas songs here? And ask all of you what yours are? At the worst, we get a few minutes of joyous Christmas music to listen to, right?

No beating around the bush here. Let’s dive right in!

Now, I don’t know if it’s just because I loved the movie as a kid or if because it captures—to me, at least—the feeling of Christmas night, but I love the song Carol of the Bells. For me, this is the song I built my Christmas Pandora playlist around. I love it. It’s a bit mysterious, but also joyous, with various versions over the years focusing on different aspects of it, but all of them good.

Compare these two versions, for example. Both are fantastic. Both great. Both the same song, but also their own takes.

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Why You Should Watch … Galavant

Max Misc , , , , ,

mv5bmjewndcymdk4of5bml5banbnxkftztgwndkymjm5mze40._v1_Today’s post doesn’t have much to do with reading. The title, admittedly, gives that away, but I’ve been around long enough to know that sometimes even I skim over a title in my haste to read the article (and surely, I can’t be the only one?) so … Yeah, today’s post isn’t about a book. Or a series of articles.

Today’s post is about a TV show.

Now look, I promise I won’t do this often. Mine is a site dedicated first and foremost to writing and fiction.

But … sands and storms did this show never get the credit it deserved. At all. Personally, I think it had somewhat to do with the medium. Premiering on a cable network that likely had no idea what to make of it, it seemed a hard sell on an audience that is shrinking by the year (cable TV). I suspect that had Galavant shown up on some other network, like Amazon or Netflix, right off of the bat, we might have seen three, four, or even five seasons rather than the meager two it ran on ABC.

Why? Well, personally, I’m not sure execs knew what to make of Galavant. Or the general television audience. It’s … not a normal show. It’s a show that would stand out perfectly on Netflix or Amazon as a show that’s made for an audience that’s always looking forward. But for a more traditional, status-quo seeking cable network audience? It’s kind of a hard sell.

Okay, enough beating around the bush. What is Galavant? Well … are you ready? Galavant, as I would describe, is:

*Inhales* A musical, meta, fourth-wall aware, fantasy comedy. And yes, I mean musical in the sense that everyone breaks out into song and dance with astonishing regularity. Several times per episode, actually. And they’re aware they do it (see the “meta” tag). Sometimes they’re even aware that there’s been a commercial break, or that most viewers only Tivo the show for later and aren’t watching it live (fourth-wall what?).

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Op-Ed: The Indie Hypocrisy

Max Misc , , , , , , , ,

Yup, an opinion piece. Kind of an odd one, too. But why not? After all, I finished the first draft of Jungle yesterday. I’m in a good mood. It’s been a while since the last one. And this topic has been on my mind for a good week or so; seems as good a time as any to bring it up.

Last week I had an interesting encounter. I was on a forum devoted to discussing video games (bear with me, this gets back to books fairly quickly) when something unexpected happened. In a thread discussing indie games and how great they were (games that are built and published without the oversight of a game publisher, just as indie books are written and published without the oversight of a book publisher), a group of posters started going off against indie books.

It was the usual argument. How could any book be good if it hadn’t been “approved” by some publisher. Publishers “only approved” good stories so anyone who wasn’t publishing through them was clearly not good enough to bother looking at. Publishers had all the editors, so an indie book would be rife with errors. You know, the usual junk that gets spouted off.

But what really made this whole chain jarring was the fact that this was in a thread devoted to discussing how great indie games were, games that did the exact same thing indie authors did—eschew a publisher in favor of their own efforts to bring a game to the world. So what it had boiled down to was “Indie games are great, indie books are horrible” and the same reasons for one being great were being espoused as reasons for the other being terrible.

This got me thinking about indie books and indie markets in general. It’s not hard to find someone slamming indie books on the internet. In fact, it’s just about the standard reaction. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that, at least from what I’ve seen, indie books are the only place that this happens. Everywhere else, indie is embraced by the majority.

And that doesn’t add up.

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Music to Write to – Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst

Max Misc , ,

So my music collection consists of about 500 albums. Not pirated. No joke. I own a lot of music, most of it instrumental. Why? Well, I’m an author, and I need to listen to something while I work. Rather than burn out an album or two, I find its better to have a huge variety. A couple of readers have asked me about favorites from my collection, and the topic has been the subject of a BaBW post once before.

Anyway, this post is sort of in the vein of that one, except now I’m throwing out a suggestion.

Earlier today, on a whim, I picked up a new soundtrack. Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, to be specific. I loved the soundtrack to the first Mirror’s Edge. Solar Fields did a fantastic job putting together an album that you could just lose yourself in, something that was perfect for just throwing on while you worked. Busy and pumping without ever losing its smooth, ambient quality, the first Mirror’s Edge soundtrack was a delight, and I still enjoy listening to it.

Today I thought I’d check out the sequel: Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst. So I loaded it up on the Amazon Music Store and took a quick look. Five-star reviews, still the same artist, 32 songs … Good, good, good …

Then I saw the album length: Five hours, twelve minutes.

I kid you not. I looked back up at the tracks to make sure it wasn’t mistaken. It wasn’t. Some of these tracks are almost twenty-five minutes long. And they’re not just playing the same tune for that whole length, either. No, these are electric suites that smoothly flow from one melody to another.

For five hours.

This soundtrack costs $9.49.

I have no idea how this one slipped into this price category. Catalyst is published by EA, who before have had the wonderful (sarcasm) habit of taking a soundtrack and splitting it into at least three or four overpriced albums with a couple of songs apiece. I have no idea who was responsible to taking what by their previous standard was about twenty albums worth of content and selling it for the price of one.

But I bought it, and it’s fantastic.

And now I draw your attention to it. If you’ve heard Mirror’s Edge before and enjoyed it, definitely consider picking this one up. It’s a steal, and I almost don’t expect it to stay at such a low price.

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If you’re a fan of Solar Fields, consider picking this one up. Maybe listen to it while you read a book.

Being a Better Writer: Opening Pandora’s Music Box

Max Being a Better Writer , ,

This is a post I didn’t actually think I’d ever write.

Hyperbole? Not really, actually. As you may have gathered from the title, today I’m going to be talking about music, which is a common enough topic that I’ve been asked about by many a young writer. They want to know if someone can listen to music while writing, what I listen to, etc.

And for the longest time, I’ve just said “Yes” and left it at that. I listen to music when I write, you can too.

But the other day, as I was working while listening to some new music, I started thinking about how many had asked me this question, and the nature of my response. And I started to wonder if there perhaps wasn’t more to say than a simple affirmation that I did. Because, while true that I do listen to music while I write—constantly, in fact—there’s a bit more to it than simply turning on the radio and diving right into whatever I’m working on. Because if it were that simple for everyone … well, the question wouldn’t be coming up, would it? Would be writers would simply turn something on and go, no need to ask anyone else at all.

So today, I’m going to talk a little bit more about listening to music while writing. Because the more I thought about it, the more I realized that over the years I’ve developed a code of rules that determine quite a bit of my writing process. Or perhaps “guidelines” is a better phrase. Irregardless, the point is, I just don’t sit down and hit “play” before I start working. Not normally. There are restrictions I follow, little self-learned requirements I keep to. And now, I’m going to share them with you.

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