Music While You Work

It's an old phrase, as old as piped music, or the people who whistled and clog-danced and fiddled in the work place. It's a necessity, it's a joy, it's a democratic right; music can help you work. And for someone like me, it can really get you in the mood for some serious ####. Okay, that was a little crude, but you know what I mean.

For each of my completed works, I've done something somewhere that's been influenced by a choice in music. Mainly I listen to music from video games. That's partly because movie or television/anime music tends to be slightly more specific than game music, classical music has different associations for me and so isn't very helpful, and popular music is just distracting. As for video game music, its great variety, prolific history and looping nature make it perfect for prolonged mood setting and general help.

Crystal and Sin proved difficult in the "finding suitable work music" department, as it's easy for a sci-fi thing to end up getting either a totally out-there score that's all its own (Blade Runner) or an orchestral score that stifles original thought (Avatar). It was tricky, but I found a few things. One of the better helping hands was the soundtrack album for Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I've got it on my shelves still. It helped evoke the themes and style I wanted much of the book to emulate. Since it's in part a tribute to those same sci-fi universes of conspiracy and tragedy, some conspiratorial and tragic music seemed appropriate.

For The Leviathan Chronicle, the medieval setting is something that can be difficult to find, as true medieval music encourages listening more than working (believe me, I've tried). So I went for some other things that would help evoke the right setting. Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story provided invaluable mood music when writing about the book's mature subject matter. Its more sacred moments were helped along with a liberal dose of Gregorian chant music from one of my father's CDs and some pieces from El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron and Shadow of the Colossus. Mostly not very ancient, but all highly emotive and somber.

For Stella: Maiden of the Dusk, an in-progress project which may or may not see the light of day, I went in a different direction. My influence drew from anime, particularly the work of Joe Hisaishi for Princess Mononoke and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and the pieces created by Naoki Sato for Production I.G's Blood-C. I was actually inspired by those two anime to create something of a post-apocalyptic zombie-style tale with romance and a strong grounding in Mesoamerican and South American folklore. I also used the available musical pieces from Final Fantasy XV (nee Versus XIII), as I'd imagined my heroine as a tribute to that long-lost figure of fan fiction and dreamy-eyed nostalga Stella Nox Fleuret. Yes, I called her Stella, but then lots of heroines are called Stella, and otherwise she's nothing like Nox Fleuret. She's certainly got better tastes in shoe heels.

Other unspecified projects have had less success or are too early to mention in detail, but also needed some music to spur them along. One of them required the dulcet tones of Okami and my discs of Oriental music. Another drew some interesting inspiration from the likes of Last Ranker and  But, surprising as this may seem from those who read the above, most of my writing is done in relative silence. I've sometimes even found music a complete distraction no matter how many times it's helped me along during a difficult bit.

Reasons I can't put anything better together...

Hi. Sorry, but this post is going to be very uninspired. I've been struggling to even get any descent work done outside Wikipedia work to help me escape into something totally derivative and fact-driven without the need of invention. I thought I'd like to give you an update, at least as much of one as I'm prepared to give without shouting my woes from the rooftops.

1: Family matters. I won't go into details, but things within the family have demanded my full attention. This required extensive work outside, and moving about inside. It's still not finished, but the current major pieces are finished. Things also came together so that I had to do washing-up on occasions where I might've been working. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret taking the time to do it. But it was still work time lost.

2: Work space move. For much of my time as a blog writer, I've been writing in my room. But there's only so much of that one can stand. I've since had to move out of the nice new place I had due to the family matters above, and am now getting used to another new working environment.  On the plus side, I've got a nice view.

3: General tiredness. This can be expected from the two above reasons, but it's also because I've been coping with some kind of flu. This means that much of my general output's been somewhat muted, and I've also had to pull myself back from overworking. If I do, then my quality of work plummets.

And...that's it. Told you this post would be uninspired. Didn't mention it might be short. Sorry if this is a little underwhelming. I might be able to make up for it next week.

Four Books I Couldn't Put Down

I'll admit it; I haven't got the best track record for reading and finishing books. A combination of being an avid viewer and listener, and the type of dyslexia I work with make it difficult to read some text fonts with or without glasses. But when the font -- or the story -- is right, I'll plough through a book at lightning speed. These are four books I devoured with uncharacteristic voraciousness.

1 -- A Wizard of Earthsea: I was quite sad when Ursula le Guin died in January. I haven't read as much of her work as I should, but I've gone through her entire Earthsea series. And that's due to the first book. I got my own copy for my bookshelf, and when I got it I just couldn't put it down. I didn't work that day, or do anything much beside take the book on walks up the garden, lie on my bed, sit in a chair by the fire, and read. I finished the book in six to eight hours. I was utterly entranced by her world and the flawed protagonist Ged. It convinced me to get the other four books in the series, and I've never looked back.

2 -- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: I was almost entirely put off the series by the plodding pace of The Order of the Pheonix, but the next two books were bought by the family. I picked up the sixth volume and read the first chapter or two. The next day, I picked it up again, and when I put it down later that same evening I'd finished the whole book. The story hooked me in a way both The Order of the Phoenix and The Goblet of Fire had failed to do, and it prompted me to read the final book and see the story's conclusion, which I did in a week.

3 -- Dune: This took a bit longer to get into, but it's still wonderful. I tried reading an old edition in the house but the text font defeated me. I finally got round to reading a new edition bought for me, and I was utterly entranced. I didn't expect the story to be quite as mature and arresting as it was. But then, my only exposure to the Dune universe was under twenty minutes of fragmented clips from the poor movie adaptation while I was channel surfing. I'm still unsure about whether to get the next two books, but this original work will always stand as one of my best reads.

4 -- Angels and Demons; I'd first seen the movie adaptation of The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons before my sister got me both books as part of a large charity shop haul. I started reading the original Robert Langdon story, and found myself devouring it over a few days. It can get quite long-winded, but it made me realise how far from the original the movie strayed. Darker, uglier, more pessimistic about what people are, the book was a wonderful bit of fluff to pass a few days between work sessions and housework.

And there you have it. Perhaps you've read it, perhaps you haven't. Perhaps you loved them, perhaps you hate them. But to me, they're special. Because I read them.

Shared post: Erica Verrillo's "One of my books saved someone from suicide"

I've been keeping my weather eye on authoress and general font of advice Erica Verrillo. One of her more recent posts caught my attention: from December last year, I bring you a sample of her story of how one of her books -- an early co-authored effort self-published as a second edition -- saved someone from self-destruction.

Five years ago, I self-published the second edition of a book I’d originally written with my friend and associate Lauren Gellman in 1998. The first edition, which was published by St. Martin’s Press, was out of print, and I didn’t want to go through the long, grueling process of finding an agent and publisher again. So I went ahead and published an electronic second edition on Amazon. 
After a few months of promotion, during which I gave away more than 15,000 copies, I turned my attention to other projects. I stopped reading the reviews on Amazon — until yesterday, when for some undefinable reason I decided to see if anything new had popped up.
The book is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Treatment Guide, 2nd Edition. At the time of its first release in 1998, there were no other books on the market focusing on treatments for the disease, which is not only difficult to treat, but permanently disables about a quarter of the people who contract it. (In the late 90s, the press was still calling it “yuppie flu.” It is properly called myalgic encephalomyelitis.) The book was groundbreaking. But only 5,000 copies were sold. The book’s release was, as a British friend of mine put it, “Silent as a pee in bath.”
The second edition was about twice as long as the first. (One reason I published the second edition as an ebook was that nobody would have been able to afford, let alone lift, a 750-page book.) I put a year of work into it, which I chalked up as a “labor of love” — something that was a noble effort, if ultimately unacknowledged.
All of that changed yesterday. Below is the review I found of my book. I don’t know this person. I will never meet this person. But my heart was torn when I read this review on Amazon.

Read the rest on her blog. And hope that your writing, or a book you find online or in a book store, can help someone in a similar way.

Sci-fi I Read; Hard vs. Soft

In this week's post, I thought I'd look at something I've been struggling with in terms of both my personal tastes and my writing preferences with science fiction (hereafter sci-fi). There are two major branches of sci-fi: "Hard" and "Soft", or at least those are names for them. Hard sci-fi is characterised by a reliance on and accuracy to scientific facts, while Soft sci-fi explores other aspects of science such as psychology and is often not scientifically accurate. Each has its merits, each has its drawbacks, and I like them both. The two I've decided to use for this piece are A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke and Dune by Frank Herbert.

I first read A Fall of Moondust on the recommendation of my father, and to be frank I didn't expect to enjoy it. My only real contact with Arthur Clarke at that point was 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I consider to be one of the most boring and nonsensical movies it's been my misfortune to watch. But as I read, I was pleasantly surprised. While the difficulties of performing the major rescue operation in the book are amazing on their own, it's the believably of a future where lunar tourism is commonplace and vehicles such as the tourist-cruiser Selene make regular trips across our satellite's dusty surface. It also predates the Apollo 11 million, and is still noted for its accurate depiction of lunar life despite some elements being impacted by time and advancing scientific knowledge. It pushed me a little further towards my current attitude towards sci-fi; be as accurate as possible to current practical and theoretical scientific theory. So not Avatar, basically.

Dune is a huge book, and while I might've gotten round to it sooner, the edition we had used a difficult typeface. It was a while before I a) had an edition I could read and b) had the energy and inclination to dive into the book. It's not the most scientifically-accurate book in the world. Alright, it borders on fantasy. But it's a sweeping epic which tells a tale as old as time; of warring families and politico-religious struggles. I also managed to find plenty of likable characters and complex situations in its vast cast. And given the context and actions of all the cast from main protagonists down, that's saying something. It ends on a pseudo-cliffhanger, but I've yet to read its sequels Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.

Well, that's it for this week. Next week, we'll be talking to a man who was recently launched into space...after failing to meet his work deadline at NASA. Good night!

Review - Movie - Ninja Scroll

This review is based on the DVD Collector's Edition, published in the United Kingdom by Manga Entertainment.

Anime in the 1990s are sometimes a mixed bag. Several of them show their age through their animation or dubbing, but some remain great to this day. One of them is 1993's Ninja Scroll, a period action drama that cemented both the career of its writer/director Yoshiaki Kawajiri and the rise of animation studio Madhouse.

The story is pretty standard fair for its time. During the Edo period, a group of ninja are sent to investigate the death of an entire village, only to be all but massacred by one of a shadowy group called the Eight Devils of Kimon. The main protagonists are Jubei Kibagami, a cross between a ronin and a ninja who is blackmailed into helping by the Edo spy Dakuan; and Kagero, a survivor of the Eight Devils who has some serious relationship issues due to being a walking weapon whose touch alone is poisonous. The main plot is somewhat convoluted, but this movie's appeal is in its high action and the freaky powers of the Eight Demons, who fall directly into the tropes associated with ninja during the 20th to 21st century.

In the animation department, the movie is a triumph. It does use the common tricks of that era of anime (repeating animations, mostly-static conversation scenes), but it also features layered backgrounds and choreography that is stunning even after over two decades. The amount of love for the project is clear, ranging from the detail of the various ninja abilities, to the dedicated fight scenes featuring Jubei. There's plenty to enjoy during both the moments of calm and the hectic action scenes which come at frequent intervals. There's also the trait of arousing female and oh-so-manly male character designs that remains ingrained in anime culture.

The music from Kaoru Wada is very good. Not at all in keeping with the period, but also amazingly enjoyable. It pushes along the action and punctuates scenes of emotion without being intrusive. That also means that, aside from a few places where the music forms most of the scene, it can become unmemorable. The English dub is good for the time, having just the right amount of camp without reaching Dragon Ball Z or Pokemon levels.

Please note that this anime isn't for kids. Alongside Ghost in the Shell and Akira, it was one of the pioneers of true adult feature-length anime. This means that there is violence a plenty, blood and gore, disturbing imagery, nudity, and some traditionally awkward animated sexual encounters. I was surprised that it only contains very mild swearing, at least in the English dub. Despite being older than me, Ninja Scroll remains a classic for all the right reasons, even though it shows its age in places.

8/10

Oh yes, and a final note. I came to this movie after watching Madhouse's follow-up television series of the same name. I'll probably be reviewing the series next week.

Return to Submitting

I know, the title looks like a cheesy sequel. And that's the irony; it is. It's been some little time since I've been doing submissions on a regular basis. This isn't due to nerves, but due to the holiday season. Lasting from December through to January, it's pretty much a dead time for anyone submitting to publishing houses and agents. And it's been difficult in several ways.

So what's difficult about this? Well, I'm brought face-to-face with how much my style's changed. You think "what the heck were you thinking when you wrote that" or "that's never going to get me published". You know, the usual stuff. The stuff anxiety attacks are made of. But the thing about me is that, under the pessimism and habit of getting into absolute tizzies at the drop of a hat, I'm generally quite optimistic and determined in my goals. I've chosen to do all I can to become a writer, have several avenues to follow, and won't give up just because my last few attempts weren't as good as they could be.

On top of that, the work  I'm submitting is new. My adventure story, built on facts and history rather than the crutches of magic and science fiction. It's something that's got appeal, but it's also something that may be a hard sell as I'm a pretty-much unknown name and this isn't some established blockbuster or macho adventure; it's a woman's slightly whimsical first-person journey with occasional asides to deconstruct the genre and its absurd pitfalls. I've already sent one submission off, and plan more. I've also sent a submission for a non-fiction book, yet another first for which I'm not holding out massive hopes. But that's the point; you try your best and try multiple avenues. I've even got some plans for one of my works that's in publishable form but hasn't been taken up yet - something I wouldn't have dreamed of a year or so ago. If nothing comes back by February, I'll feel no qualms about polishing it up and sending it out.

So what's this? What am I doing? Well, I'm talking. It's an outlet I can't let slip. It stops me from becoming a completely closed system, which is the worst thing a writer can be. Close yourself off, whether from talking about your work or from the work of others, and you handicap yourself to the point of crippling your chances. You can't do stuff in total vacuum. So here I am, talking. And it's a huge relief, as well as an act of bravery as I'm exposing my own weaknesses. And if there're any mistakes I didn't pick up before this got published, there's a living example for you. :)