The Baboon's Backside approach to marketing

You know what bothers me? The kind of marketing that is like a baboon's backside. You know, the kind that says, "Woo! I'm so extreme, you can't take your eyes off me, can you? Huh? Huh? You want some of this? You do, don't you?"

And what bothers me most about it is that it's generally more successful than the kind I prefer, which is, "Here is something that you might like to be aware of, as it is good and useful for people in a particular set of circumstances, viz, these circumstances here. If those are your circumstances, consider this product as something that might meet your needs."

I love living in the 21st century, but unfortunately my sense of a good ad is straight out of the Victorian era.

That's all. Just a complaint, no solution offered.

The Name of the Wind

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I'll be honest - I picked this book because I needed something thick enough to last me through an overseas trip with a lot of time spent on planes and in airports. But it turned out to be really, really good. I rarely give five stars to anything, but The Name of the Wind deserves them.



Not only is it a well-written, well-plotted and fascinating adventure, but it has a richness of allusion and a sense of so much happening offstage, so many threads to be woven together, that it not only keeps you reading but leaves you eager for the rest of the series. The main character is complex and multifaceted and an interesting rogue with principles who is constantly in strife. I was reminded of the Locke Lamora books, except that Kvothe is less of a rogue than Locke and at least some of his troubles are not self-inflicted.



The editor needs to work harder - there are a few misused homonyms ("make due" instead of "make do", "discrete" for "discreet" and the like). But the writing, the dialogue, the worldbuilding and the characterisation are all very good indeed.


View all my reviews.

City of Masks on Authonomy

I've just added my novel City of Masks on Authonomy, which is a website Harper-Collins Publishers have set up to get the reading public to help them choose books for publication.

If you want to help me out, especially if you've already read City of Masks and enjoyed it, please hop over to Authonomy, sign up, and add City of Masks to your bookshelf (by clicking the "Back the Book" link).

More detail on the City of Masks blog.

University results

I'm studying part-time at Massey towards a Certificate in Health Science. I'm now a quarter of the way there - just got my results for this year's classes. I got a B+ in Psychology and an A in Nutrition, which I'm happy with (especially since the psych assignments were marked really hard).

I'm studying two papers over the summer too - Applied Science for Health Professionals and Human Bioscience: Normal Body Function. Lots of anatomy and physiology. It's interesting.

Human bodies are amazingly complicated things. I'd hate to have to run one.

Oh, wait...

Preorders for Changing Health Behaviours

(Crossposted from my hypnotherapy blog)



I'm very happy to announce that my book and CD Changing Health Behaviours (formerly entitled Life Leverage) is now available for preorder from the Hypno NZ shop at the special preorder price of $17.50 (NZD) plus postage and packing.

(As at when I'm posting this, that's about $9.50 USD, 7.5 Euro or 6.3 pounds, but currency conversions can change quickly.)

The files go out today for printing (of the book) and duplication (of the CD). The preorder period lasts until 31 December 2008, after which I will begin shipping, and the price will rise to $25.00 NZD plus P&P.

Preorder books will also be personally signed by me - please provide a note with your PayPal order if you want me to write anything in particular in them.

Changing Health Behaviours is based on several sources of material. One is this very blog, Living Skillfully, and you can check out a sample of what will be in the book by reading my series on Health Behaviours and Change Techniques. Naturally, I've reworked the material, expanded it, and incorporated more from the courses I run, Befriend Your Stress and Change Your Mind, but reading the blog will give you an idea of the topics I cover, what kind of things I say about them and the quality of my writing.

The book gives sound basic advice on what a healthy lifestyle consists of and, more importantly, personal change techniques that actually work to enable you to adopt a more healthy lifestyle. It includes a simple but practical introduction to using self-hypnosis and material on habit change, emotional management and change planning and execution.

The other main source is my hypnotherapy recordings. Again, you can listen to free samples of these in my podcast.

The CD which accompanies the book holds 20 MP3 tracks, all of my Healthy Lifestyle and Transformation Skills recordings, plus several extras. The total comes to over three hours. These are tracks that I give as bonuses to my clients, and the feedback I've had has been excellent.

At the end of each chapter of the book, I indicate which tracks to listen to in order to help you make the shifts of thinking, feeling and behaviour that I've been discussing in that chapter.

I normally sell these recordings on three audio CDs (Transformation Skills is a double CD set) for a total of $25, so $25 for all them (and a few extras) plus the book is a great deal, and $17.50, the preorder price, is an excellent deal.

So order now, and I'll ship you a personally signed book and CD to help you actually carry out those New Year's resolutions this time.

Typealyzer

Apparently I'm a different person on my different blogs.

From fellow hypnotherapist Adrian Tannock I found out about Typealyzer, which analyzes a blog and gives you a Myers-Briggs type for the author.

Like Adrian, I'm an INTJ on the Myers-Briggs, at least I was last time I was tested, and this is indeed the result I get for Living Skillfully. Genderanalyzer says, 69% chance I'm male, as well.

But here at The Innocent Man, I'm apparently an ESTP (81% chance I'm male):

ESTP - The Doers

The active and play-ful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.








When I'm writing Gu - which I've just finished doing, by the way - I'm an INTP (59% male, but "quite gender-neutral", which is encouraging because at least half the dialogue and most of the viewpoint is from female characters):

INTP - The Thinkers

The logical and analytical type. They are especialy attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.

They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.





City of Masks, by contrast, is ISTP (and 75% male):

ISTP - The Mechanics

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

So... which is the true Mike?

Perhaps we all are.

Magic Lost, Trouble Found

Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
A nice piece of work, with standard fantasy tropes (elves, goblins, magic, a sinister High Priestish guy, a magical McGuffin) used skillfully to create a story that goes well beyond the usual boring, repetitive genre fantasy.

I liked the main character (who's also the narrator), who's in the popular Kickass Heroine mold but definitely not a Mary Sue. She struggles and suffers but never abandons her friends or her principles for any reason.

The other characters could be told apart from each other easily (not always the case in fantasy), and the setting is evocative and interesting.

I'm looking forward to more.


View all my reviews.