Pursuit of a Decent Title: Missteps and Fails!

Normally I write an extended post that kind of explains the video so that you can get most of the value out of reading it.

This time, I'm just going to say that my incredulous reading of some of my ideas as I worked on a title for Pursuit of the Heliotrope is something mere writing would be unlikely to capture.

After I finished the book, I spent about two days fumbling over a title (despite all the thinking I had done while writing) and some of the goofy things I came up with are worth hearing about.

You can check out the book here, if you'd like:

on Amazon: https://a.co/d/csZVOO0

or elsewhere: https://books2read.com/u/bWaQQM

When Reality Is Crazier than Bizarre Fiction!

A little silliness for you today...

How many bizarre and unlikely coincidences does it take to connect a new song to a video game that is several years old, and takes place over thirty years ago? I count at least six.

Fun with All Men Are Brothers!

The Water Margin Story, a famous Chinese novel that goes by several different names here in the West, is so freakin' crazy.

Reading: More Money than Brains

Just me reading one of my short stories. This one is More Money than Brains, a story about Aric, Bill, and Lew on a little job with a real jerk of an employer. I tried to be funny but ended up being mostly sarcastic. Still, I think the story has a few good moments.

Thoughts on Continuity, Tone, and Beetlejuice

This video was inspired by an episode of The Wordy Pair Podcast where Justin told me about "Beetlejuice" and its sequel, "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice."

Now, I've never seen either of those movies, so Justin ends up explaining how the fun, playful tone of the first movie was completely absent from the second movie. It's honestly kind of fun when I ask a basic question or put forward a rudimentary suggestion and Justin is like, "They didn't do that."

Anyway, based on this, I made a video talking about the importance of continuity (including continuity of tone), as well as thinking up some circumstances where you can get away with paying less attention to previous works.

Fun and Funny Fantasy Goodness! The Thief of Time, by Terry Pratchett

My buddy Justin got me started reading Terry Pratchett's stuff. He let me borrow his copy of The Light Fantastic when we were in high school, and I've enjoyed quite a few Pratchett books since then.

Today's topic is The Thief of Time, a story written in that wonderful period when Pratchett had found a beautiful blend of fantasy and satire, writing stories that were highly creative, mostly standalone, and, above all else, fun.

The Flavorless Nostalgia Pap of Alien: Romulus

(also available on your favorite podcatcher)

Last week Justin went and saw Alien: Romulus so we could do a Half-Blind Review of it on The Wordy Pair!

Long story short, the movie hits a lot of nostalgia boxes but the characters are paper-thin and overall the story is pretty bland.

Definitely worth listening to if you're tracking the downward spiral of the once-great Alien movie franchise!

Our Most Recent Podcast Is a Hilarious Rant!

 

I gotta say, I'm really proud of the most recent episode of the Wordy Pair Podcast. It's hilarious and it breaks down this really awful post about context cues, of all things. Somebody took a really basic, grade-school English topic and turned it into a confusing mess.

Halfway through, we started thinking it might be an AI article, and by the end, we decided AI would probably be clearer and make fewer mistakes!

If you want something fun and funny about writing to listen to, check it out!

You can find the whole series here. Whether you're a reader or a writer or even a movie watcher, you'll find something fun!

How to Deal with Common Writing Hang-Ups

 

I always forget to mention this, but a friend of mine (who is also a writer) and I have a weekly podcast about writing, reading, and media. We're "The Wordy Pair!" (See, it's a pun off of the old Japanese sci-fi novels/TV show "The Dirty Pair")

The most recent episode had a bunch of really funny moments, as well as a really solid discussion of many of the really common things that slow down a writer.

Come for the comedy, stay for the advice.

More Money than Brains

 

Cover image adapted from a photo by Usman Haider, via Unsplash

“Lew, can you keep an eye on the reactor temperature while I ramp the voltage on these capacitors?” I had my hand on the knob and was looking into a mess of conduits and tubes that were untidily jammed into a service tunnel. Down at the bottom, through the mess, I could just see the capacitors and their connections. We would need to get them charged and the heat damage inside the service tunnel had me worried that the insulation might be torched.

It was several seconds before I heard Lew say, “Okay, Aric.” He must have nodded, and then noticed I wasn’t looking at him.

“Here we go,” I said, and turned the knob slowly clockwise, a few degrees at a time.

“It should be fine,” came a gruff voice from behind me. I sighed—quietly. We should have left him in cryo. “You can go faster than that,” he barked.

“Mr. Waller—”

“Captain Waller.”

I hoped he couldn’t see me roll my eyes. In all my years as a salvager, he was the third person to insist on that title, and the way he acted, he hadn’t affected my prejudices any. Short version: He was an ass.

Uncle Gluon's Sapient Plasma Pets!

 

Photo by Zoltan Tasi at Unsplash!

(Something random and funny I found on my old hard drive, never published before...)

Bored sick of the usual, organic pet products available on the market today? Too busy to feed one, too squeamish to clean up after its messes? Tired of silicon-based rock pets, too? Not interested in the merely clever genetically engineered ones? Then try one of Uncle Gluon's Sapient Plasma Pets!

Modern Improvements (about 1300 words)

 

"The Pixie" Image prompt from IronAge Media

This prompt was a nice change in tone, and made me think of a warm, light comedy.  Without further ado:

Thwack. Isabella was jarred awake by the ugly sound. She rose from her bed and flitted over to her door, her wings shaking loose a night's worth of scales. There was no one at the door, she confirmed as she peered through the little window.