Monthly Archives: February 2023

White-Out

Posted on February 27, 2023 by midiguru

In today’s news, Elon Musk (a flagrant asshole) is defending Dilbert creator Scott Adams (also a flagrant asshole). Adams made some overtly racist remarks, as a result of which his once-popular comic strip is being dropped by a lot of … Continue reading →

Posted in society & culture, unitarian universalism | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

That Handbook Thing

Posted on February 26, 2023 by midiguru

I’ve written a couple of books on music technology. Got paid, even; these were not self-published projects. In recent years, though, the market for that type of book seems to have imploded. New software is released, but the publishers are … Continue reading →

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The Vorple Blade

Posted on February 26, 2023 by midiguru

I have a long and somewhat contentious relationship with the Inform language for programming text adventure games. I’ve written a couple of games using it. I’ve written a book-length tutorial about how to use it. But I don’t actually like … Continue reading →

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Is UU Is or Is UU Ain’t?

Posted on February 22, 2023 by midiguru

No, this isn’t about that 1943 pop song. Nor is it about an early text adventure game called Unnkulian Underworld, which features a wise old man named Kuulest. It’s about religion. What it is and what it’s not. And in … Continue reading →

Posted in religion, unitarian universalism | Tagged , | 12 Comments

Fitting the Planks

Posted on February 16, 2023 by midiguru

Just a quick note about world-building, and I’m pretty sure it applies equally well to science fiction and fantasy. (Not surprising, since science fiction is actually a subgenre within the fantasy genre.) Whenever you introduce an element into your story … Continue reading →

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Black Hearts & Daggers

Posted on February 12, 2023 by midiguru

The modern mystery genre embraces several distinct subgenres — the police procedural, the cozy, the thriller, the crime caper, the classic whodunit, and maybe a couple others that I’m forgetting. All of them are somewhat formulaic, so if you’re going … Continue reading →

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The Epic

Posted on February 2, 2023 by midiguru

Being, at the moment, too distracted by some health issues to tackle any creative work of my own, I thought to fill the idle hours (which is most of them) by reading Tad Williams’s massive series called Memory, Sorrow, and … Continue reading →

Posted in fiction, writing | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment