Stuart Aken's Blog, page 234

Do You Employ Redundancy? #2

Another foray into the fascinating world of unnecessary words, repetitions and other heinous crimes of grammar. If guilty, kindly write out the following a hundred times each!
Absolutely certain: You’re certain, are you? Well, if you are, you’re unlikely to be partially so. Certainty is absolute, so the adjective is superfluous: Cut it out.
Basic fundamentals: If it’s basic, it’s fundamental. Tautology is bad for you; don’t do it.
Close proximity: Now, you know better than this. If something is in the proximity of something else, it’s close to it; that’s what proximity means. Chose you word; one or the other, not both.
Definite decision: Not all decisions are final, but all decisions are definite, otherwise no decision has been made. Cut away the inessential.
Estimated at about: Estimation is approximation, so is ‘about’ in this context. You don’t need the extra word.
Invited guests: We call uninvited people ‘gate-crashers’. By their nature, guests have been invited.
Past history: History is a record of past occurrences. If you’re recording the present or a predicted future, it isn’t history. ‘Past’ isn’t needed.
Revert back: If something reverts, it goes back to an earlier state. Leave the back against the chair and lean on it.
Still remains: When something remains it is still there. Let’s keep the still in the shed, making the illegal hooch, eh?
Usual custom: Custom is routinely observed, that’s what makes it a custom. Unusually, however, here it is possible to have an unusual custom, which is a custom practised in one place but not common in another.

Another rant done with. But, beware; there will be more!Related articles Do You Employ Redundancy? #1 Tautology 34 redundant, repetitive, and superfluous phrases 50 Redundant Phrases to Avoid

Courting Contentious Content.

Julian Assange painted portrait - Wikileaks (Photo credit: Abode of Chaos) Are we subject to a type of censorship that curtails freedom of speech and prevents honest debate of issues of vital importance to civilisation?
In the West, we pride ourselves on our tolerance. This is especially the case in Europe and even more so in the UK, a land noted for its cultural diversity and its acceptance of the beliefs, customs and traditions of others. In order to protect those institutions, beliefs, sensibilities and creeds that differ from our home-grown varieties, government has implemented laws intended to prevent prejudice and insult. But, because of the undeniable threat of terrorism, they’ve also set in place watchdogs to detect activity that may be considered a threat to the State.
It’s my belief that the combined effect of these two factors is to stifle serious debate about religious bodies and/or traditions and customs.
Let me illustrate my point. If I wish to write a feature, or even a piece of fiction, highlighting perceived dangers presented by extremist groups, my first recourse is research, so I can get my facts right. So, I start to  investigate terms like Al-Qaeda, mujahadeen, taliban, islamist, the Army of God, Ku Klux Klan, etc. In common with most modern writers, my first port of call is the web. But wait: if I start typing such words into my search engine, am I going to immediately become a target for the anti-terrorist organisations that filter such words from our emails, texts and online searches? The danger certainly exists. And, I suspect, for many that’s sufficiently worrying to prevent them even taking the first steps.
In writing this piece, I wanted to ensure I spelt the words correctly (many of them have variant spellings, after all). For me, spelling is the prerogative of the SOED, a 2 volume version of the Oxford English Dictionary, which comes as a printed book of 20 volumes with 3 additional volumes to account for more recent words. My copy of the smaller book was printed in 2007. Al-Qaeda has been active since 1988, but doesn’t feature in the SOED. So I went to the web. I used the roundabout route of searching for Al-Jazeera, a respected broadcasting company, and was directed to the inimical Wikipedia. From there, I was more comfortable searching for the other terms.
But you see my point? Fear of the heavy-handed authorities descending on the house to remove my computer for forensic dissection, especially in light of the fate of such protectors of free speech as Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, makes me, and many others, wary of even investigating certain topics.
The other cause for concern in writing about such matters stems from the potential outcry and threats of death that may result. We have only to recall the cases of Salman Rushdie and his Satanic Verses (a book I actually read at the time, forming my own ideas about the real reason for the fatwa), and of Jyllands Posten, the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Islamic prophet, Mohammed. But it isn’t just Islam that poses such problems. There’s evidence that raising the subject of Christian, Budhist, Hindu or any other form of religious extremism can cause serious problems for those daring to criticise such organisations.
Even at a less heated level, the criticism of many religious groups, no matter where those beliefs originate, is invariably seen as an attack on faith and belief, so that simply questioning these issues often results in tirades of abuse, threats and even physical atttack.
Those of a rational turn of mind are effectively silenced by a system that was ostensibly put in place to protect the rights of minorities. It’s become very difficult to even venture an opinion on the validity of faith, the truth about religion, or the real value of certain rites and rituals unless the writer couches such ideas in the most delicate language.

Fear of causing offence, coupled with very real concerns over both official and extremist responses, has effectively neutered those who wish to hold open and honest debates about certain religious beliefs, traditions and customs. It takes a brave writer to raise these contentious issues. I suggest that the balance of the law has shifted dangerously toward censorship of those who employ reason and rationality and is now overprotective of those who wish to maintain what are often erroneous and frequently dangerous belief systems. This fear stifles the very necessary discussion of subjects that are often directly responsible for much injustice and harm in the world. What do you think?Related articles Zemanta Power User - Stuart Aken Stephen Lloyd MP writes... Can good Religious Education build better communities?

Recommended

Today, my new book is featured on the famous website, Best Seller Bound Recommends.
Here's the link.
Why not take a look? There's an excerpt, too, for you to sample, if you haven't already tried it.

A Long Book Earns Another 5 Star Review

I won't do this with every one, I promise. The book is very long, so I didn't expect many reviews in the first couple of weeks.

Here's one that deserves a wider audience.




 An epic novel and a classic of an epic, April 13, 2014By Nigel J. Robinson (England)
   This review is from: Joinings (A Seared Sky) (Kindle Edition)This is an epic novel and a classic of an epic. Those who love to immerse themselves in a fictive universe - whole, ingenious and meticulously worked out - will find plenty here to love. It works, and it's wholly brilliant. Perhaps its only small defect is that there are so many named characters that the reader almost needs a database to track them all. No matter. I've rarely read an epic novel of such power and I write as a PhD in creative writing!
I consider that quite an endorsement!
Related articles Romancing the Fantasy - Stuart Aken

Want 10% Off the Price of a Kindle?

I have a code to give to one reader that will give 10% off any Kindle eReader. Go to my Facebook Author page (click here) give me a 'Like' and add a comment relating to Joinings , my most recent release. If you've already 'Liked' the page, you can still join the fun by adding a comment.


I'll run this until noon BST on Wednesday 16 April and then select the most appropriate comment as the winner. Good luck!

Watch That Space.

A week away, relaxing after the demanding build-up and aftermath of the book launch. A tranquil rural setting, pleasant folk, attractive scenery and nothing to do but eat, walk and spend quality time with my wife. Refreshes the spirit.
There’s still plenty to do: Networks need updating with the new book, volume 3 is still undergoing the penultimate edit, and the writing contest page needs an update. But, my priority on return home was to alter my work space.
Why?
The quality of the spot we work in can seriously impact the effectiveness of our hours spent at the keyboard. This is a creative space, after all. For what I considered practical reasons, I’d arranged my desk so that I had my back to the window. This, in turn, meant the window had to have a blind to prevent daylight reflecting off the computer screen. But, as a place to write with imagination, it lacked the right feel.
So, I gave the arrangement a proper look, considered my actual options, and decided there was more sense in altering my position so that the window was beside me.
I’ve spent the day making the changes. Not just the furniture, which is pretty minimal in this tiny room, but changing the location of some books, making the computer set-up more user friendly, chucking out some of the rubbish that inevitably congregates over time. It’s been physically demanding, but worth the effort and time.
I’m now sitting with daylight to my right and shelves lined with books to back and front. There are still a few minor changes to be made, but they’ll be done piecemeal. The room is clean and dust free again and I can actually find things I need.
It’s both settling and energising, this change. Too often we allow ourselves to put up with what we have because it seems like too much trouble to alter it. I feel better for the changes. Feel better. And that’s the significant thing. Change can be transformational or, at the very least, inspirational, if we look at it in positive terms.

So, have a look at your work space (if you have one) and decide whether it really is the best you can make it. I look forward to a more productive and inspired time in here now. Once this piece is posted, I’ll get on with some new writing. Have a go, see if it reinvigorates your writing muscles as it has mine.

Margery Allingham’s Mr Campion’s Farewell, Completed by Mike Ripley, Reviewed

The PR company handling marketing asked me to review this book. It’s not my usual read, but, having watched some of the adaptations on TV and enjoyed them, I agreed.
The eponymous character is well drawn, matching the depiction from the screen. He’s an interesting personality, personifying that quintessentially English upper middle class hero who prefers to pretends to be a little dim. In fact, of course, his wit is razor sharp and his intelligence high. The other players in this novel are equally well put together; individuals who manage to be representative of certain types without becoming stereotypical.
The narrative is delivered with a tongue-in-cheek gentle humour reminiscent of an earlier age. At times, I found the convoluted descriptions a little tedious, though this was only an occasional irritation, which quickly passed. There is a certain type of wit here that will definitely appeal to those who have loved the previous novels and those who enjoy the Jeeves and Wooster books.
The plot is clever and its denouement very well handled, keeping the reader interested to the very last. The relationships between the various characters are drawn with humour and compassion so that even the villains engender a certain amount of sympathy. In one of those peculiar coincidences that sometimes cause delight, I began to read this book on the day I had visited Lavenham, in Suffolk. This is the town on which the main setting of the book is based, so I immediately felt at home with the descriptions of the place and some of its buildings.

Against my expectations, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It’s an entertaining and engaging read and I expect that those who love their crime with a touch of humour will find it thoroughly worthwhile.

The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss, Reviewed.

This is the first book of the Kingkiller Chronicleand is so well written that readers will undoubtedly wish to read the next. Questions remain unanswered. In fact, in spite of the great length of the book, it’s clear the story has only just begun. It is a feature of the genre that stories can be very long, complex and wonderfully wandering. That is, in essence, what many readers find enticing and attractive about it: we don’t want the story to end, especially when it’s as entertaining as this one.
Rothfuss has invented a world in which the reader can not only believe but can easily become absorbed. In many fantasy novels, the magic can overwhelm the plot and characters; not in this one. The characters make the story, and the magic, as it should, merely augments their actions. Well drawn, varied and credible, the characters respond to the challenges set them by the author in ways that fit their personalities, but that doesn’t mean there are no surprises. It’s good when a writer finds ways to allow his players to become unpredictable, without forcing them outside their natural spheres of behaviour.

I enjoyed this lengthy and absorbing tale of perseverance, intelligence, courage and talent. I found the villains unpleasant but believable. I loved the underlying romance and its demonstration of the awkwardness of youth. All in all an engaging tale. I recommend the book to all who enjoy imaginative works and look forward to reading the next in the series. Related articlesPatrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles books are getting a TV show!

Do You Employ Redundancy? #1

For the past few weeks I’ve been editing a long book, the third volume of my trilogy. Part of that process has used the online editing tool, Prowritingaid, (try it free by clicking on this link). One of the many grammar functions it provides is a check for redundancy, that is the unnecessary repetition of an idea. Often, but not always, this can be the qualification of an absolute. Sometimes, it’s simple tautology. I’m intending a short series of examples here to aid other writers and prevent you making similar mistakes. By no means all of these are mine, but I have been caught out by a few.
Add an additional: If you add something, it’s another. You can say the same thing by using either ‘Add….’ or ‘An additional…’, depending on the way you wish to structure your sentence. You don’t need both.
Basic essentials: By their nature, essentials are elementary, so leave out ‘basic’.
Close scrutiny: Scrutiny is close study, so don’t qualifying it with ‘close’.
Difficult dilemma: A dilemma is never easy; ‘difficult’is an unnecessary modifier.
End result: A result occurs at the end, so you don’t need end as a modifier.
Final outcome: An outcome is a result and is therefore final. The exception here is when you’re listing a series of related outcomes of a process; in that case, the last one would correctly be ‘the final outcome’.
For a period of hours: ‘Hours’ is plural, and duration is therefore implied. Try to specify a number of hours or generalize with ‘many’ or ‘several’.
3 a.m. in the morning: One of my bugbears. I hate this. The abbreviation ‘a.m.’ tells you it’s morning, so please use either ‘3 a.m.’ or ‘3 in the morning’ and help prevent me busting a blood vessel.
Plan ahead: If you’re planning, you’re preparing for something that will happen in the future. Use your head, not ‘ahead’.
Spell out in detail: If you ‘spell it out’ you provide details. Let’s not detail it in detail, shall we?

There, that’s made me feel better. But has it helped you? I hope so. A small point for fiction writers; by all means allow your characters to use these redundancies in their speech, under such circumstances they’re as forgivable as clichés: we need to make our people sound human, after all.Related articles ProWritingAid, a Review.Common Grammatical Tautologies

Passions in Australia: Faye Hall Guests

Today, I’m hosting another writer; an author of Historical Erotic Romance.

Faye Hall's passion driven, mystery filled books are set in small townships of North Queensland, Australia during the late 1800's.
Each of her novels bring something symbolically Australian to her readers, from Aboriginal herbal remedies, to certain gemstones naturally only found in this part of the world.
Each of her books tell of a passionate connection between the hero and heroine, surrounded and threatened by deceit, scandal, theft and sometimes even murder.
These romances swerve from the traditional romances as Faye aims to give her readers so much more intrigue, whilst also revealing the hidden histories of rural townships of North Queensland.
Faye finds her inspiration from the histories of not only the township she grew up in, but the many surrounding it. She also bases most of her characters on people she has met in her life.
Faye was able to live her own passion driven romance, marrying the love of her life after a whirlwind romance in 2013. Together they are raising their 9 children in a remote country town in northern Queensland, Australia.
Passions in Australia
She giggled knowingly. “I knew your name, Re, both your first and your last.  How could I not.”“Then why pretend you didn’t know me?”She shrugged casually. “Would you rather me have told those ladies that we slept together?” -       From Faye Hall's 'She's a Lot Like You', released April 2014

Faye Hall, an Australian author, will have her second eBook, ‘She’s A lot Like You’ released with Red Sage Publishing April this year.Like her other passion driven, mystery filled books, her new release is set in a small township of North Queensland, Australia during the late 1800's.
Ravenswood, the setting for ‘She’s A lot Like You’, is a township in Queensland most commonly known for its history in gold mining.  However, for her story, Faye has chosen to show a more glamorous and risqué side of this once very prosperous town.  There are beautiful gowns, gala dances and the hidden beauty of a country estate, all things Ravenswood had and more before the gradual decline of the town.  As with all her stories, Faye has included something singularly Australian to entice her readers into the hypnotic allure of the Australian culture in the late Victorian period. 
Faye has chosen this period to set her stories in precisely because she feels it has not been explored enough, nor has the beauty of Northern Australia during that period been represented to its fullest extent.  Other townships Faye explores through her writings include the Burdekin Shire, Sarina, Proserpine and Bowen (the township made famous by Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Australia’).
With every book, Faye has strived to give her readers not only the passionate connection between the hero and heroine, but also the ever present threat of deceit, scandal, theft and sometimes even murder.
A third book has recently been contracted with Red Sage, but as yet a release date is unavailable.

Faye’s books can be purchased direct from Red Sage at:-http://eredsage.com/store/MyGiftToYou.htmlhttp://eredsage.com/store/ShesALotLikeYou.htmlFrom Amazon:-http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00DPIMSMWAlso you can visit Faye’s blog and website for any updates:-http://www.faye-hall.comOr find her on social networks:-https://www.facebook.com/pages/Faye-Hall/174774709247649
https://twitter.com/FayeHall79