Recommendations

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,

Continue reading →

Why You Should Read … The Pinch

Max Books! , , , , , , ,

Yes, it’s time for another one of these posts. Why You Should Read …, if you’re not familiar with them, are posts where I talk about books other than my own that I have perused, enjoyed for one reason or another, and now recommend to all of you for (probably) those same reasons.

I’m a big proponent of reading—well, not just reading, but thinking and comprehending. Thinking critically. Questioning. Gathering information and then using it to look at the world through a new lens. Comparing lenses and asking why one may work better than another.

I’m also a big proponent of seeking out knowledge. I don’t hold at all with the idea that “what I’ve got is good enough, and I refuse to learn more” (sadly a common concept, I feel, in modern culture). We should, I believe, always be striving to learn new things, new knowledge and new concepts. Again, there’s a way to do that intelligently and with patience, but seeking out and learning new things is one of the blessings of modern society. Well, at least, the capability to do so is. A lot of people, sadly, don’t take advantage of this, then still want to play in the grand sandbox, pitting their toy soldiers of ideas against actual tanks (and often not understanding in the slightest why their plastic memes failed to make a dent in a well-armored, carefully researched opponent).

Basically, Why You Should Read … posts are the occasional recommendation of books that I find worthy of being added to someone’s read shelf, for one reason or another. Some are fiction (because you absolutely can learn a lot from fiction, as many scientific studies are discovering) and some are non-fiction (because understanding the building blocks of the world around us along with its cause and effect is pretty important). Today I’m recommending one of the latter: The Pinch by David Willets. Or, to use it’s less common full title, The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Took Their Children’s Future — And Why They Should Give it Back.

Yeah. It’s a mouthful. And the longer title isn’t especially popular with some people, as you may guess. After all, it straight up points out an issue and assigns blame right there, and against a particular generation that doesn’t much like being blamed for anything save the good. Which, you might suspect, could be part of the problem.

But David Willets is not intimidated. In fact, he’s a member of that generation (the Boomers). He’s also a British lord and chair of the British Science Association as well as a member of the British Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. In other words, he’s not some random individual. Willets is someone who was tasked with studying the economic impact of the largest generation ever, along with a whole wing of the British government and independent research groups. And after a several-decade study, comparing data going all the way back to the late 1800s (and in some cases even earlier), and yes, involving the United States, Willets wrote a book about their findings to try and widen their audience because, well, it’s vitally important that people know what they found out.

And I’m saying that you should read it. Hit the jump.

Continue reading →

Why You Should Play … Subnautica

Max Gaming , , ,

So, before I get started on today’s post, I have something to say regarding WordPress, the company that I pay to provide hosting and my site’s toolset for writing.

The new block editor is not good. No, it’s worse than that. No intelligent company should have forced this on their users. Block editor follows the “recent” trend of “take functional tools for a user and destroy them in favor of the one user who thinks they’re too complicated or not pretty enough.” Then they hand you something colored in pretty colors and designed for someone who wants to take pictures for instagram rather than use it.

It’s not a good alternative. It’s slower to load, lacks basic functionality, and is all around terrible. Oh, and as a cherry on top, when I accidentally contacted customer support to complain about being unable to go back to the old version as a default, they shoved some “trademarked” level canned responses at me and then closed the channel.

And to top it all off, you can set the old editor as a default with a plugin that has—already—over 5 million downloads. However, you can’t use this plugin unless you pay WordPress for the exclusive ability to use plugins. Which is $300 a year. EDIT: And just clicking the button to see what that premium thing was added it to my cart and put me one click away from accidentally billing myself. That’d be alike any Amazon product adding itself to your cart because you looked at it. Not cool.

Which seems like a case of deliberately hobbling the product people are already paying you for in order to try and “coerce” them into giving up more money.

I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising to me that several of these new “blocks” in the block editor are dedicated to money.

Anyway, sorry to interrupt what would have started off as simply a post on Subnautica, but upon loading my site today, I discovered that I no longer had a choice between the functional “classic” editor and this new garbage the company is determined to shove down everyone’s throats because why would any of their customers know what they wanted or needed to do? They’re just semi-ambulatory money sources, right? It’s not like they use the tools or anything? Right?

Look, I get that there may have been improvements on the backend or new tools that someone wanted to introduce, but right now, in order to do something that used to be a single click of the mouse, I have to click a “block editor” (or whatever it’s called) open, then do a seach, an actual text-based search, for the same thing, find it in the search results, and then click it. That’s four steps instead of the old one step.

Or as people with intelligence call it: steps back.

Now, my rant on this new editor will now be put on hold until the next post, at which point I shall mock and ridicule WordPress once more (because this is seriously bad). Because I want to talk about Subnautica, and why you should play it.

Continue reading →

Why You Should Read … The War on Normal People

Max Books! , , , , , ,

Yes, I realize this is somewhat of a weird post. After all, Jungle came out just two weeks ago. If anything, I should be pushing you to read that.

And, well, I still am. Today’s post doesn’t really take away from that. The title I’m recommending today, for instance, is non-fiction. As opposed to Jungle, which is fiction. It does, however, discuss some issues that Jungle explores and even addresses, elements that were underlying themes even in Colony.

But before we get too into that, what is Why You Should Read …? Pretty simple, actually. It’s a recommendation post. Something I’ve always been a big proponent of, both on this site and in person, is that people should read more. Read as much as possible. It’s a vital part of being a good writer yourself, exposing yourself to other ideas and approaches. Even outside of writing, it’s good for the mind to introduce yourself to new concepts, ideas, or perspectives that you may not have thought about.

So, with offering that mindset I also have to live it, and one thing I enjoy doing a lot of when I’m not working is reading. Usually Sci-Fi or Fantasy (you can learn from those too) or the occasional non-fiction book when I get curious about something. Occasionally, I’ll come across a book that I think is worth recommending for one reason or another, and so I’ll bring it up and do one of these posts on it.

Now, before we move on, I want to make something clear: I get nothing out of recommending this book. No compensation, no ad revenue, no under-the-table wads of dollar bills or public/private recognition. I found this book, read it, and decided there was something in it worth gaining that made it worth recommending. I don’t get any compensation from talking about this book.

The only exception being if you, as a wanderer of the web, wend your way over to my books page and buy one of my own titles. But that’s one of my own books, and not in any way affiliated with the title I’ll be discussing today. If you grab one of those, you’re just grabbing one of those. If you go out of your way to pick up a copy of The War on Normal people, I don’t see a penny, because that’s not the point of these posts. There’s no compensation anywhere for me talking about why you should read it.

That said, I’ve talked enough about what this post is. How about we dive right in and talk about why I believe you should read The War on Normal People, by Andrew Yang.

Oh, and no worries about spoilers. This isn’t the type of book to have a spoiler warning.

Continue reading →

Why You Should Read … The Robots of Gotham

Max Books! , , ,

Been a while since we’ve seen one of these posts! In fact, this is only the second one.

Okay, what is Why You Should Read …? Well, it’s a rare recommendation post. One of the things that I’ve constantly espoused on this site is the idea that writers should read. It’s a vital, important part of being a good writer. You expose yourself to other styles, other authors’ solutions or approaches. It broadens your writing horizons and gives you new insights into all aspects of the craft. Reading the writing of others (aside from being relaxing and fun) is a great way to see new tricks or at the very least identify approaches other authors have taken to similar events, stories, or ideas.

Since I do take my own advice here and try to do a lot of reading, occasionally I’ll find something that I believe is worth sharing for one reason or another. And, as before, don’t worry, I divide these by spoiler free and spoiler-filled, so you’ll be able to see which is which.

With that said, a minor disclaimer before we get started.I’m not receiving any sort of compensation for you reading this book, or for me talking about it. This is a title I found on my own, read on my own, and in turn decided to pass on. I get no compensation whatsoever for recommending this book.

Unless that is, you decide to head over to my books page and pick up one of my own works. But then that’s you buying one of my books, not this book. Whether or not you go hunt this book down, I get nothing from it. But buying one of my books, for obvious reasons, is very beneficial to me. Why would I say this?

Well, because of a certain something about today’s recommendation. So let’s get this underway and talk about why you should read The Robots of Gotham.

Continue reading →

The Non-Trad Christmas Gift Suggestion List (With Optional Trad)

Max Books! , ,

Right, so this is pretty spontaneous. This morning, I woke to news on my feed of John Scalzi putting up a “Non-Trad Published Gift List” on his website. Curious, I clicked over.

Unfortunately, it was a little disappointing. It wasn’t actually a Gift List. What I had expected, especially titled such, was that Scalzi had actually read some Non-Trad books and was promoting a few of his favorites. But it wasn’t. Instead what the post turned out to be was Scalzi saying “Hey, non-trad writers, please use my comments to plug your books today.”

Predictably, the result is basically a lot like the “Self-Published Satuday” grab-bags on Reddit. Hordes of books from all over the spectrum, presented with no rhyme or reason.

So I immediately thought “Why not try that for real? Rather than create a self-advertising space, why not throw out one of my favorite non-trad pub books I read this year, and encourage others to do the same? Something not by me, but by someone else?”

Which, in turn, is where this post popped up from. Why not? After all, it’s my site. Why not use it for some real Christmas promotion?

So here’s the challenge. Look back on books you’ve read in the last, oh, two years. Pick out at least one that must be non-trad pub. An indie of some kind. If you’ve got a second that’s a lesser-known trad, then it can go up second, but the first must be indie. EDIT: Oh, and please no erotica or extreme content. This is a friendly site, but not that kind of friendly.

Then post about it! Tell us why you liked it, who you think the book might be a good gift for, and where we can find it! Then, if you’ve got a lesser-known trad-pub book you’d like to talk about, throw that one up too!

I’ll start us off! Here’s my two picks!

Continue reading →

Why You Should Read … Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium

Max Books! , , ,

So I’m trying something new today here at Unusual Things. I’ve had the idea for a post series like this in the back of my head for a while now, and while it’s not going to be a regular series like Being a Better Writer is, I do hope it might be an occasional counterpart.

So first up, what is this post? Well, Why You Should Read … is a recommendation post. I’ve said before on this site (more than once actually) that writers need to read. It’s an important part of being a writer. Reading other’s works is an vital way to broaden your writing horizons in all aspects. And, in that vein, I do follow my own advice and do my best to read a decent number of books per year (usually around fifty, but be noted that I’m a fairly swift reader, so don’t feel like that’s some sort of milestone you need to reach). Various sources and genres, too.

In any case, Why You Should Read … is kind of the result. Because every so often I’ll pick up a book and read it that makes me think “Whoa. That was really good!” for one reason or another. This in turn makes me want to suggest it to you readers for one reason or another (and don’t worry, I’ll be dividing my recommendation by spoiler potential, so you’ll be able to stay clear of those if you so desire, though the recommendation may not be as grounded).

Now, minor disclaimers here before we get started. First, I’m not receiving any sort of compensation for this recommendation. This is a title I picked up and read of my own free will that I am in turn recommending for reader consideration for one reason or another (the rest of the post will get into that). I’ve not received any compensation whatsoever for recommending this book.

Second, as always, I’d recommend anyone looking for a few more good books to head over to my books page and start browsing! You can read samples, grab bonuses … I recommend each and every one of those!

Final disclaimer: What did you think of this post? Comment below, past the “End Spoilers” bar and let me know if you like the idea!

Right, with the pre-amble taken care of, let’s get this Why You Should Read … underway! Buckle up readers, because it’s time to meet Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium!

Continue reading →