Ask Lev

History shows that what they say is not as important as how they say it - and what they look like when saying it... [Ad]Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/podcast to start your free trial today.

Contrary to what people such as Jack Thompson say, there is no reliable scientific evidence to support this claim. This special episode of Ask Lev explains the fallacies in experiments and surveys that purport to show a connection between violent videogames and violence in the real world. See me debate this with Jack Thompson, http://www.paullevinson.net/media.phtml [Ad] Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/podcast to start your free trial today.

How much of a story, poem, or song by another writer can you quote in your own story, without having to pay that other writer or get permission? Welcome to the complex world of Fair Use, which is explained in clear terms, with examples.... [ad]Try GoToMeeting for 45 days! Visit www.GoToMeeting.com/podcast to start your free trial today.

The special thing about being a writer is having a mind that is open to ideas from everyday experience - you do not have to look for special places - you have to look specially at everything.

I'm author of five novels, including The Silk Code, which won the Locus Award for Best First Science Fiction Novel of 1999, and my current novel, The Plot to Save Socrates. Here I answer a question that's frequently asked: what is the best music to listen to when writing? The answer of course differs for every author. My answer is ... ... none! Because I love music too much, and it would distract me from my writing. I recommend bottling your musical inpirations in your brain, and bring them out when you write.

Many in the media were reporting that John Edwards was going to suspend his campaign, to be with his wife to help battle her recurring cancer. In fact, John and Elizabeth Edwards announced that the campaign would vigorously continue. An analysis of how the media got this so wrong.

Contrary to what many people may think, research shows that movie-critics, tv-critics, and book-critics have almost no impact on ticket sales, viewership, and books sold. What really counts: word of mouth - of friends and family.

I like light, so I love it. Further, I can't understand why we would want less light in the winter, when darkness already comes earlier. In this episode, I talk about the culprits and the heroes in our stewardship of light.

a special 10-minute episode ... the origin and the early work of the Record Industy Association of America ... and its present, increasingly truculent crackdown on new ways of sharing music

it's like one of your children going off to college ... out in the world ... in the hands of the cosmos rather than yours ... the trade paperback of my novel, The Plot to Save Socrates, was published today...

look for first editions or first printings of books by important authors ... if these first printings were small, and you can pick up the book for a song and a dance, you could make a handsome profit

1st season was superb ... 2nd season awful ... 3rd season off to a rocky start this Fall ... and its continuation? - it started with the best episode since 1st season ... background reading: http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2007/01/lost-keys-to-whats-really-going-on.html

I recommend old Encyclopedia Britannicas and the Web - both were my best friends when I was researching my novel, The Plot to Save Socrates. But check all of your Web sources at least 4 times!

movie-watching began as a one-on-one experience with Edison's kinetoscope ... rental of videos and DVDs has returned to that, but the future of Blockbuster is limited - no one wants to run out in the rain to return a movie ... Netflix is better, but its delivery of movies is only as reliable as the mail ... that leaves the web - and nothing succeeds like delivery at the speed of light!

all-important: if you don't grab your reader in the first paragraph, your story or article or book is unlikely to be read any further