In which lessons are learned and opinions are expressed

Ways I know that the road to hell is paved with those who abuse the democratization of text: I just spent more than two hours of my life trying to write something about making stories and the responsibilities inherent in self-publishing by using an extended poop metaphor.

Kill your darlings, people. Just saying.

And really, it's not a post I actually need to write. Chuck Wendig beat me to the punch days ago. I just can't look at this review of Michael J. Sullivan's Theft of Swords over at Strange Horizons (and the ensuing comment fiasco) without hearing the Mitchell & Webb's snooker commentators go, "Oh, that's a bad miss."

Also, thinking of crevette's review of Night Travels of the Elven Vampire. Not because I think Liz Bourke went too far in her review, but because "chivalrous knight of archaic dimensions" sounds like a worthy successor to the fragrance of strawberries in terms of being an object lesson in why a strong, reliable editor is an author's best friend.

But hey, at least that's not Orlando Bloom on the cover, right?

~*~

Speaking of things in review, I finished watching the third episode of this year's season of Sherlock last night.

It's peculiar, seeing those three episodes in the same month as the second Guy Richie film, especially since both of them offer such different interpretations of the original text while using so much of the same material (Irene Adler, Watson as a target, and Reichenbach).

The more I think about it, the more I find myself preferring the Moffat and Gatiss. Some of that is because there's more urgency and depth -- virtually everyone who appears on-screen gets to be important at least once -- and it's impressive to see a show with 90 minute episodes that feels like it uses all of that time effectively.

I'm also laughing a little about Moffat's antics on Twitter in relation to the year's third episode, and am increasingly prepared to not believe a word he says when Doctor Who starts up again. The kitten photos were nice, though...

This post has been mirrored from Christian A. Young's Dimlight Archive. To see it in its original format, visit dimlightarchive.com