Here’s Chapter 40 of The Magic Battery. It’s a little Christmas story by itself.
The Christmas guests at Thomas’s house were the mages Lucas Schneider, Jacob Kessler, and their families. The dinner, everyone agreed, was excellent. The fire made the room pleasantly warm. Everyone was in good spirits.
Kessler stood on a chair and raised his cup. “To Thomas Lorenz, for bringing in a new age of magic!” All joined in enthusiastically.
(more…)
Some things are sillier than any parody you could make of them. An example is Stanford University’s recent “Elimination of Harmful Language” document. It was greeted with so much laughter that Stanford has hidden it behind a login screen. Fortunately, the Internet Archive still lets you see the document, so we can still make fun of it. Try to imagine writing an article adhering to its demands. It would have no color (oops, can’t say that — racist!), and the effort would leave you gasping (belittles people with asthma!) and drive you insane (insults people with psychiatric issues!).
It starts with a self-own: “Content Warning: This website contains language that is offensive or harmful. Please engage with this website at your own pace.” Further on, it self-owns the self-own by telling you that a “trigger warning” “can cause stress about what’s to follow. Additionally, one can never know what may or may not trigger a particular person.”
That last is actually the one piece of sensible advice in the whole clown act. Psychological experts have found that warning someone that scary stuff is coming only makes the reader more anxious. So naturally they don’t follow their own advice.
For the rest, I can’t do better than pick out some gems:
(more…)
My latest article for Online Library of Liberty, “Authority and Oppression in Verdi’s Operas”, is now up for your reading enjoyment. I’m especially proud of the research that went into this one.
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.
(more…)
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.
(more…)
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.
(more…)
Amazon is changing its e-book return policy to make it harder to read entire books for free, producing no income for the author. Currently, it’s generally permitted to “return” any e-book within seven days for a full refund, even if the customer has read the whole thing. Under the new policy, automatic returns will be allowed only if the customer hasn’t read more than 10% of the book. People who have read more than 10% can still request a refund, but they’ll have to file a customer service request, which a human will review.
Some authors have reportedly experienced a serious decline in their income due to abuse of the return policy.
Of course, this is a reminder that Amazon tracks your reading habits in detail when you buy their e-books.
The question keeps popping up on Reddit: “Am I allowed to write about [category of people who are different from me]?” It’s always on Reddit.
Short answer: Yes.
Slightly longer and more precise version: There’s no “allowed.” You don’t need to ask anyone for permission to write.
The August 12 assault on Salman Rushdie was almost certainly prompted by his “blasphemy.” In 1989, the Ayatollah Khomeini took a dislike to Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, called it blasphemy, and put a bounty on Rushdie and his publishers. Rushdie went into hiding for years, the book’s Japanese translator was murdered, and the Italian translator was stabbed. 
Writing about controversial subjects has always attracted anger and violence, and religion is one of the most controversial. Many governments with state religions have imposed severe penalties for blasphemy. Leviticus 24:16 says, “And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.” The most famous blasphemy execution in history was the one of Jesus of Nazareth. For his part, Jesus said that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the one unforgivable sin.
In modern times, several countries, mostly Muslim, have laws against blasphemy, sometimes carrying the death penalty. In Pakistan, mobs have murdered alleged blasphemers. Even the supposedly civilized country of Austria has a blasphemy law, and several people have been convicted under it. The European Court of “Human Rights” says that such laws are fine. So much for freedom of religion. Germany has a law that can get someone who “through dissemination of written materials (section 11(3)) defames the religion or ideology of others” locked up for three years.
The Institute for Justice has launched a lawsuit against the city of Lakeway, Texas, over its heavy restrictions on home-based businesses. The business at the center of the controversy is a daycare center, but it got me wondering how freelance writers are affected. The city had nineteen criteria to be met, recently reduced to ten. I can’t find a full list, but the hints I’ve seen suggest that writers are OK in principle. Freelance writers don’t normally have customers come to their homes, make lots of noise, or emit clouds of toxic fumes.
(more…)