The Sanity Project

Progress on Spells of War

This entry was posted in My writing Writing and tagged fantasy fiction Spells of War writing on by

This week, I’ve started rewriting the first draft of Spells of War. The first eight chapters went pretty quickly, without any huge changes. The biggest departure from the first draft, though, is that the action will now span 1556-1557, instead of all taking place in 1556. Things just got too crammed against the approach of winter and Ramadan. With the new timeline, the mages on each side will be able to develop more weapons and train the Landsknechte and Janissaries respectively in their use. This means adding material about what happens over the winter without letting the story drag.

A character who shows up late in the first draft will make his appearance earlier. This will let me build up his role in the story more effectively.

I’ll be putting out a call for beta readers before long, perhaps in early January.

Writers threatened with $300K fines

This entry was posted in Commentary News and tagged censorship liberty Russia on by

According to an article by Natylie Baldwin on antiwar.com, the United States Treasury Department has threatened writers with fines of more than $300,000 if they write for the Strategic Culture Foundation, a Russia-based online journal.

The writers, Daniel Lazare and Michael Averko, reportedly got letters from the Treasury Department, delivered by the FBI, claiming they were in violation of sanctions against SCF and could be subject to a “civil monetary penalty of up to the greater of $311,562 or twice the value of the underlying transaction.” They say that other writers have received similar letters.
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Book discussion: Enlightenment Now

This entry was posted in Book discussion and tagged books history on by

Is the world going to hell? Are we all doomed? Steven Pinker has consistently argued that not only is this view mistaken, the long-term trends of the world show steady improvement in human well-being. Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress provides many specifics in support of this position.

Englightenment Now coverAlarm and disasters sell in the news media. People want to appear serious by citing problems rather than progress. Organizations looking to raise money or get people involved focus on what needs fixing. Taken together, they can create the impression that only terrible things are happening and they’re getting worse.
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Book review: For Faith and Freedom: A Short History of Unitarianism in Europe

This entry was posted in Book discussion and tagged books history religion on by

Cover, For Faith and FreedomThe title of this blog post includes the subtitle, because otherwise the book title sounds like a conservative political treatise. Charles Howe’s For Faith and Freedom is part of my growing research collection for the Thomas Lorenz novels. Before reading it, I was worried that Frieda might be unrealistically advanced in her views for the 16th century. After reading the accounts in this book, I understand better that it was entirely possible to launch a full-scale attack on the Christian orthodoxies of the day. You just had to take into account the likelihood of being denounced, physically attacked, arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and burned alive.
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A review of The Magic Battery

This entry was posted in My writing Writing and tagged books magic battery writing on by

Author Walter Donway has posted an enthusiastic review of The Magic Battery on the Savvy Street website. I love not just his praise, but his understanding of what I was aiming for.

Full disclosure: I recently posted a favorable review of Donway’s Retaking College Hill, but there was no tit-for-tat agreement between us. He emailed me a draft of the review last week, asking just for factual corrections.

Some thoughts on J. K. Rowling 2

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged books cancel culture Rowling on by

This post may cost me some people whom I mistook for friends. If that happens, it’s painful, but there’s no point in living with an illusion. It’s more important to point out unjust positions within your circles than with those outside, because you have a much better chance of having an effect. The danger when you speak up is that the people in your circles may turn on you, but I expect the number of people who do that to me will be small and won’t include anyone I truly value.

J. K. Rowling has been the target of extreme hostility from quite a number of people, including some within my circles. They don’t give reasons; they just spit. Sometimes they call her “transphobic,” but that’s a three-syllable word and is apt to promote a second of thought while saying it. The word “terf” is much easier just to spew (or should that be S.P.E.W.?).
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Use the right statistic

This entry was posted in Commentary Writing and tagged statistics writing on by

Mark Twain talked about “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Lying with statistics isn’t always intentional; sometimes a writer doesn’t understand their meaning or applicability.

Recently I saw a news article on the COVID-19 infection rate in northern New Hampshire. It reported a higher positivity rate than in previous weeks. That doesn’t tell us anything about whether infections are increasing or decreasing, though. If the positivity rate goes up, it could mean one of several things:

  1. More people are infected.
  2. More of the people who are infected are getting tested.
  3. Fewer people who aren’t infected are getting tested.

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Some less-known benefits of private browsing

This entry was posted in Techniques Tools Writing and tagged Internet privacy software on by

Most browsers give you the option of browsing in a private window. The name may vary; Microsoft Edge calls it inPrivate, and Chrome calls it Incognito, Whatever it’s called, it sets up a temporary window or tab and discards your cookies and browsing history when you close it. You’ll see warnings everywhere about its limitations. If you’re an NSA whistleblower, you’ll need much better protection to avoid being caught. But here I want to talk about some benefits that aren’t often discussed. They’re especially handy when doing research.
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You aren’t a virtual person

This entry was posted in Writing and tagged usage vocabulary on by

You don’t lose reality by communicating at a distance. You don’t become a “virtual” person. I wrote about this a year ago, but the silliness hasn’t abated, so I want to make the point again.

An online gathering of people can appropriately be called a “virtual” gathering. They aren’t really coming together; they get the effect of it through technology. The people participating, though, remain real. You’d think that after over a century of telephones, everyone would grasp that people can be real without being in the same room.
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Book review: Retaking College Hill

This entry was posted in Book discussion and tagged books education fiction Objectivism on by

Walter Donway
Retaking College Hill: The Adults Are Back
Paperback or e-book, Amazon.com

Cover, Retaking College HillRetaking College Hill is a novel of both action and ideas. It deals with a topic which is an excellent source of dramatic conflict but hasn’t been used in literature as much as it should. That topic is the battle for academic freedom, for making universities a place for teaching and controversy without fear of retaliation.
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