Monthly Archives: October 2022

Penguin Random House employees want it to be a partisan publisher 1

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged books censorship on by

There are 520 employees of Penguin Random House who think it should take a partisan position in what books it publishes. Hopefully the publisher will tell them it doesn’t take their orders. They want the publisher to drop Amy Coney Barrett’s upcoming book, which as far as I can tell doesn’t have an announced title yet.

Update: Good news! The publisher has effectively told that bunch to go to Hell.

It reminds me of some Amazon employees lying on the ground a few months ago and demanding that it not carry some books. Do some people get jobs in publishing and distribution because they dream of controlling what people can read?
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Misusing scientific terms in writing

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

The direct inspiration for this article was a piece (by a friend I won’t name) that complained about a “quantum increase” in something. The idea of a “quantum increase” or “quantum leap” is that at a sub-microscopic level, changes in the state of particles are discrete, not continuous. A particle’s energy goes from one level to another without going through intermediate levels. In other words, a quantum leap is the smallest amount of change possible. A lot of writers must think it means something else.

That’s just one of many scientific terms that get mangled in popular writing. Let’s look at a few more.
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Beatings in Manchester, LARP control in Chengdu 1

This entry was posted in Commentary News and tagged China fandom science fiction on by

How did this become the leading blog on boycotting the Chengdu Worldcon? I don’t know, but here are two new items for the list of reasons to stay away.

In Manchester, UK, employees of the Chinese Consulate assaulted protesters on the street. They dragged a man into the consulate and beat him, as well as grabbing posters from the protesters. The UK government has done nothing. The Chinese version is that the consulate staff was defending itself against a barrage of hurt feelings, and that they were trying to hold the man back as he crawled into the consulate, dragging their hands with his hair.
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Chengdu Worldcon GoH applauds Russian attacks on civilians

This entry was posted in Commentary News and tagged China conventions science fiction on by

Sergei Lukianenko, one of the guests of honor at the 2023 Worldcon in Chengdu, has called the Ukrainians “fascists” and applauded Russia’s attacks on populated areas in Kyiv.

The 2022 WSFS meeting condemned Chengdu’s choice of Lukianenko as a GoH. As far as I know, Chengdu hasn’t responded, nor has Ben Yalow. If I’ve missed anything, please let me know.

The convention’s shills tell you, “So what if China has no free speech? Just go there, shut up, listen to the GoH speech, and come back.”

By now there should be a huge movement in fandom to boycott the Chengdu Worldcon. Why isn’t there?

Is PayPal a danger to writers?

This entry was posted in Commentary News Writing Writing as business and tagged business PayPal writing on by

A change in PayPal’s policies has blown up in its face. PayPal claimed the right to debit accounts $2,500 for “misinformation.” It would be the sole judge of what constitutes misinformation. In the face of widespread user fury, PayPal backed down, claiming “the language was never intended to be inserted into our policy.” Even with the removal of that language, it still has language financially penalizing some forms of expression.

People often disagree on facts. Some people make claims which others say are false. Non-fiction writers are in the business of asserting facts, and sometimes they claim that what’s “common knowledge” is wrong. Many writers get paid through PayPal, and sometimes it’s the only option the customer offers. If PayPal decides your article is wrong, it could take away a large fraction of a month’s income.
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Six blunders to avoid when writing about computers 1

This entry was posted in Commentary Techniques Writing and tagged computers research writing on by

Computers are everywhere, yet writers of scripts for movies and TV constantly get them wrong. Ludicrously wrong. Good written fiction, especially science fiction, does better, but writers of all kinds need to be careful. You can depart from the real world if you like, but you have to know what you’re doing. Make sure the reader knows it’s intentional.

Here are six ways writers can mess up. Not all of them are completely impossible, but if you use any of them, you at least need to make the scenario plausible.
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