Nathaniel Dean James's Blog, page 6

Food For Thought # 005

“People get excited about the antics of apes, dolphins and crows. I’ve never understood why. The difference between a mind, be it logic circuits or animal, and the awareness inherent in the human being is not the ability to solve problems. That function is inherent in all living things by design. Show me a monkey […]

Food For Thought # 004

“It’s hard to justify a position that warns against the dangers of the unwashed masses by suggesting we should leave things to the bakers and the circus.”  - Stuart Mitchell Rainey Filed under: Food for Thought, Shorts by number

Album Review – Hello Nasty

  I first saw the Beastie Boys live in Budapest in ’95 during their Ill Communication tour about a million years ago. The gig was put on in the upstairs hall of a building whose name and location I have long since forgotten. What I do remember was thinking the floor would collapse –  you […]

Food For Thought # 003

“Perhaps the most significant event in the evolution of the liberated mind arrives with the realization that most people, even in their deepest convictions, are blind to all but a few simple truths.”  - unattributed Filed under: Food for Thought, Shorts by number

Why Is The Media Ignoring Author Exploitation By Publishers?

Originally posted on David Gaughran:
The Amazon-Hachette dispute has caught the media’s attention. But what about the story the media refuses to cover? The media is more concerned with one-sided accounts of Amazon’s perceived actions – when no one really knows the exact nature of the dispute. The media is more concerned with what Amazon might do in…

A Sneak Preview of Origin – Season Two

And I keep insisting it isn’t really Sci-Fi. Those of you who venture to read this sample will undoubtedly disagree. And I can hardly blame you. But you should also know that despite this brief initial foray into the other worldy, the rest of this book plays out right here on shitty old Earth, in […]

Critical Mass – The Goal of Any Aspiring Writer

For those of you not familiar with the formula, K=1 denotes critical mass, the point at which a nuclear reaction is neither sub-critical, nor super-critical, but self sustaining. Of course in a reactor this is where you put on the brakes (or lower the cooling rods), while in the field of publishing it’s where you […]

Adventures in Publishing – Week 14

PAID REVIEWS Can you say, disaster? Yes, my experiment with paying for reviews is over and the results are sobering. I shelled out $90.00 for a premium service that claimed it would provide 5 independent reviews within 14 days. That was 17 days ago and so far I have only received one. Actually, that’s not […]

Review – Game of Thrones Season 4 (TV Series)

  Title: Game of Thrones – Season 4 Creators: David Benioff and D. B. Weiss Network: HBO Cast: Charles Dance, Peter Dinklage, Lena Heady, Emilia Clarke, and many more My rating: 8/10 Review: One of the more frustrating moments in my recent past … Continue reading →

Book Review – Fidel Castro My Life

  Interviewer: Ignacio Ramonet Title: Fidel Castro – My Life Available at: Amazon My Rating: Excellent ***** Synopsis by publisher: “He is the only world leader to have outlasted nine US presidents, has survived over 600 assassination attempts and remains one … Continue reading →