Tim Learn's Blog, page 22

To Beat a Grammarian: Commas (Part Three: Myths)

To Beat a Grammarian: Commas (Part Three)

Somewhere in elementary school, our brains get trained to believe commas go in certain spots or are used in certain situations. This is probably where so much of the difficulty arises. Even for well-read individuals, we take in the information passively and make wrong assumptions with no formal practice. Through all of this, we, collectively, end up making myths about the comma. Here are the two biggest ones:

1) Pauses equal commas

Now a bit of that is true—but in reverse. When there is a comma, the reader should pause, especially if reading aloud. However, usually, if we are scanning something, most people don’t take the time to slow down their momentum. If anything, commas are the literate’s form of a speed bump. For this reason, commas don’t belong anytime we DO pause! Think about a road covered in speed bumps for every time we tap on the breaks. Traffic would grid to a halt—so, too, does reading!

Therefore, use commas sparingly and where they are needed, not every time you take a breath. And this notion leads right into the next myth.

2) Long sentences need commas

I have no idea where this got started. Quite possibly a weak or lazy student began to realize his sentences rambled on forever and too often relied upon simple sentence structures, so, in order to add a glean of professionalism, they spliced in a couple of commas and—voila!—a masterful piece of writing. Regardless the origin, long sentences can stand on their own if the meaning is not sacrificed or distorted. If commas clarify and ease the readers along, then so be it.

All of this being said, commas may still come off as a mystery. Sometimes one person throws one in, while another doesn’t. That’s not to say there aren’t rules. When you know them—all the better! If not, pay attention while you read.

Graynelore

Graynelore

(Adult Fantasy)

By Stephen Moore

Rating

Synopsis

Rogrig is a reiver, caring only about stealing and killing and following his graynelord, but when something strange happens on the battlefield, he wanders off on a world-changing adventure.

Prose/Structure

I’ve read stuff from this author before, so I know he has a unique way of presenting himself—all authors do. I also know he has a good grasp of words, which is present for the most part in his newest venture. However, he’s added a little twist this time, presenting his tale in a first-person with old-time speech.

‘This was not a threshold lightly crossed.’

Or

‘This was altogether different, if immediate. Without the use of my eyes, I was allowed knowledge of that dark space. An enchantment was lifted or the gift of blind-sight was bestowed upon me. Either way, I was made aware not only of its extent but also of the nature of the welcome that awaited me there.’

Though not altogether difficult—as some have already said of it—you can see how at times the prose is thick and circuitous. In essence, he repeats himself heavily, drawing out the narrative, which, in turn, slows down the story drastically. In this way, very little happens for pages, and when it does, he uses such ambiguous, roundabout language that it feels like very little has happened at all.

The bigger problem, however, I found lay in the speaker—Rogrig Wishard, himself. Throughout he portrays himself as the worst of the worst, nothing more than a simple thief relying on his inbred instincts. Yet this is what we hear from him:

‘Worse, I came to realize…this gifted sight was mine alone. Among my whole family it was only I who possessed it. In all honesty, what innocent child can carry such a weight?’

For an uneducated, inbred man, he monologues quite well in his mind, while outwardly his spoken words don’t match up so well. This disparity is rather jarring and hard to follow for me, as you can see:

‘So I can knock your teeth down your throat–! Lowly Crows, where are you?’

My last concern deals with not the book, per se, but its genre. The author has stated this was written for adults—his first foray away from children’s books. However, I’m not quite sure how. There is sex in the book—yet the language is so windy and abstruse that I know of many adults who wouldn’t be able to crack his overly wrought code. On top of that, it seems he’s only used the claim ‘Adult Fantasy’ in order to drop in a plethora of swear words, which he uses to highlight his main character’s low nature. But again, I don’t see how this is useful. For one, his character only uses them when speaking, not when thinking. Second, everything else in the world is so heavily thought out and given distinct different names than what we are used to that I don’t know why they use the same swear words as us. Maybe it’s just me.

Overall

In the end, I gave it three stars. You might be asking why after reading the above. The book and story are presented well—meaning it shows the ticks of someone having scoured over it to bring it to perfection. This is no hack-job. And in fact, others may rather enjoy the long-winded sentences that sometimes lead right back to where they started. For me, it’s not particularly my taste. It feels illusionary and untruthful. Nonetheless, it shows hard work and I hope the author the best, despite it not being my cup of tea.

Stephen’s Website, click here.

To Buy Graynelore, click here.

Another Awesome Review for Chewy Noh and the Phantasm of Winter!

She reviewed the first one and I was happy with the results, and here’s her take on the second. Thanks, Nayuleska!

http://nayusreadingcorner.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/chewy-noh-and-phantasm-of-winter-by-tim.html

The Finished Look! Chewy Noh’s New Cover

Here it is, the new cover in its finished state for Chewy Noh and the March of Death:

Chewy Noh and the March of Death blueprint Cover

Heres the beginning design for book three.

My Top Three Reactions to Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman

My Top Three Reactions

To

Go Set a Watchmen

 

Having seen many others’ take on this controversy / book, I wanted to clarify a few things that seemed to bother me about the whole hoopla. But first, I felt I had to—not to mention wanted to—read Harper Lee’s new book, and this is what I have to say about it.

 

 1) There is no controversy

 Most people are up in arms about the fact that her long trusted literary agent quite possibly coerced a less than sound Ms. Lee into publishing this book despite her prior wishes against it. From a publishing standpoint, yes, it will make a lot of money and this is probably the driving impetus behind it. But in no way is Ms. Lee alone.

Many authors have had their works published without permission—posthumously—for ages. To name a few: Albert Camus, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and even Michael Crichton. True, they were dead before publishers started scraping the body for whatever’s left, but I see little difference. If her agent didn’t do it now, in a couple of years when she does pass, the same thing would happen. I wonder greatly if many feathers would be ruffled at that point.

 

 2) A lack of editing = no novel

Another argument against it is that Harper Lee did not vet this book with the proper editing and therefore it should not be a book, or at least given the name ‘novel’—as one Michigan bookstore claims. Proper editing does not make a book a novel or not. A novel is a form of writing, like a poem, play and so on. Go Set a Watchman is definitely a novel.

On top of this, using my examples above, Michael Crichton’s last novel—Pirate Latitudes—was found by someone other than his family on his computer after his death before being published. It has even been noted that Crichton wasn’t able to put this novel through his normal rigorous editing, and yet no one seemed to raise any questions. In fact, Steven Spielberg is already vying to make it into a movie. This makes me begin to think that maybe it’s not the poor practice of publishers that is in question but the content in the book that is fueling this fire. So let’s get to it.

 

 3) The True Intent of Harper Lee’s Book

Before the book was even released, the fact that Atticus had turned racist was blasted across the Internet. People were shocked and hurt. They saw Atticus as a symbol of something great, something as a role model and, if this rumor were true, their once moral, guiding light would be gone. The reaction to hate the book is natural. But let’s think about it for a second.

The original manuscript Harper Lee gave to her editor was this story. It is from this that a sharp and understanding editor told her to reshape it to produce what we now know as To Kill a Mockingbird. What this means is that Harper Lee’s original vision is Go Set a Watchmen, and what is the underlying goal of the book? Simple—to show how Scout is shocked and hurt at seeing Atticus—a symbol of greatness for her and a role model—end up a flawed, imperfect man; or, in essence, to lose her moral, guiding light. Sound familiar?

In this way, this second book is phenomenal. Her editor must’ve seen that if she had published this book first, nobody would’ve cared about how shocked Scout was seeing this different person in her father. In order to make people feel this, Harper Lee had to first make the world fall in love and praise Atticus like Scout did. Did To Kill a Mockingbird not achieve exactly that?

On top of this, it is a story of growing up—which makes entire sense. To Kill a Mockingbird was in the extremely personal first person like all childhood memories are, while Go Set a Watchmen is in the deep POV of third person much like we have grown to be as adults.

 

In the end, anyone who reads Go Set a Watchman will experience just that—the harsh, cold division that resides between our childhood world and our adult world, a world where the heroes of our youth—Bill Cosby?—may not be as great as we’ve convinced ourselves to believe them to be.

 

Chewy Noh and the Fall of the Mu-Dang by Tim Learn

keats0810:

Another great review!

Originally posted on Mezzalilys Teen Book Reviews:

Chewy Noh and the Fall of the Mu-Dang
ISBN: 1505814804
Published: 8th September 2014

Paperback, 280 pages
Genre: YA, Middle Grade, Mystery, Paranormal
Rating: 7/10

Thanks to the author Tim Learn for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!

Chewy Noh was never very good at school until he took his grandfather’s advice to go see a Mu-Dang. instead of receiving help he gives it and with this earns the right to a power of his choice. Chewy soon moves to America but becomes the target of the school bully and many rumors.

“The seed of the tree may do all the growing, but if it lands in a desert no one expects a future rich with wood.”

This was a pleasant read about a young boy trying to come to terms with many big changes in his life. It had a nicely paced plot with flashbacks…

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Chewy Noh and the Phantasm of Winter Giveaway!!!

  

The new book has dropped and so a giveaway has begun to all who want to try. Two copies are up for grabs! Click below!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/r.html?C=RNOTE2AA1ZDP&K=A2BTX7E676JAQ9&R=2UWB83K684T1A&T=C&U=https%3A%2F%2Fgiveaway.amazon.com%2Fp%2Fd33e632dc26c338a%3Fref_%3Dpe_1771210_134854370&A=8LIXDDPFFVJYONAW8W8NCT4DIAOA&H=QAPXKTJNEHTMQ4ZUNH32AJWXKA4A&ref_=pe_1771210_134854370

Chewy Noh and the Phantasm of Winter – it’s a spooky ghost!

keats0810:

Awesome review for the newest Chewy! Everyone should check this guy out.

Originally posted on Glenn Hates Books:

4 of 5 Whimpy-Korean-Fucker Stars – Chewy Noh and the Phantasm of Winter by Tim Learn.

For someone like me, who’s never heard of any Korean mythology, this book is very strange. I mean, who knew that there was a fucking god of the kitchen, goddess of the bathroom, and a god of the door. Yes, apparently Koreans worship the door to their bathroom. Crazy fucking wack-jobs.

This book is the second installment of the Korean retard known as Chewy Noh. Okay, he’s not technically retarded, but he’s not smart, that’s for damn sure. He’s some Junior High kid who can only pass tests at school because he’s literally got super-powers that allow him to pass any test. You know, like X-Men mutant powers.

But without his super-powers, he’s completely retarded. In this book, he soon wishes he doesn’t have super test taking skills, because his new teacher starts to…

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!!!Free!!! Chewy Noh and the Phantasm of Winter !!!Free!!!

With upcoming release on July 15th of the book 2 in the Chewy Noh series, I’m giving away free copies for reviews. Anyone who is interested, feel free to contact me at my blog: keats0810.wordpress.com or on Twitter @timlearn

Even if you don’t think you can get a review ready by then, posting after release date is wonderful, too!

Just let me know. I have files for any reading devices.