Episode #264: Deep Down We All Have 2 Brains

This is what I would imagine myself to be after spending a day trying to understand why myself decided to usurp myself.

I am a typical guy when it comes to my health, in that it does not matter what happens to us, we do our best interpretation of the Black Knight before continuing on with our day.

Unless we get a cold, then we don't act like a typical guy. Instead, we simply brush it off and continue with our day in good old Black Knight fashion. But sometimes, every once in a while, things go a tiny bit sideways. When that happens, our second brain kicks in and takes over.

Think I'm kidding? Well, here's the deal: we all have a Big Brain* that we use to govern every part of our existence. Living, breathing, eating, relaxing, etc. etc. etc. It's used extensively and for the most part, what we say goes. But there are times when our body finally says, "ENOUGH!", and decides to do something about decision making process.

This is where the Not-So-Big-Brain comes into play. "How?", you may ask. Well, it's pretty simple really. Because I'm always a good malleable subject when it comes to exploring certain harebrained theories, we'll use me, because, unlike others in the world today, I don't suffer from phantom maladies, but I do suffer from a good sense of humor.

Now, everyone's Not-So-Big-Brain is located deep inside their Big Brain, and is only accessible by the Body, and no one else. Not you or I, nor the Big Brain, just the Body. So, getting back to me.

Like I stated earlier, I'm one of those guys who can be quite stubborn about their health, and this past week was no exception. In spite of the increasing pain in my lower extremity, I did my normal walking and ran my normal errands, and ignored all of the warning signs that my body was telling me. Well, my body finally said, "ENOUGH!", whipped out the Not-So-Big-Brain, and took over.

They decided that I should be punished for my ignorance by increasing the pain in my lower extremity to the point where I actually had to go to see my doctor before my scheduled appointment to have it taken care of. The immediate aftermath of this was that I am not allowed to do any long distance walking for at least a couple of weeks.

If you think that's no big deal, think again. I am one of those people who simply cannot sit on my buttocks whenever I want to listen to any kind of audio medium (e.g. podcasts, c.d., radio, sports, YT). I actually have to be doing SOMETHING. Doesn't matter what that something is, I need to do it if I want to have a fulfilling audio life.

So, not being able to get my 3+ miles of daily walking in while methodically listening to 27+ podcast feeds/5+ YouTube channels that specialize in pop culture content, bothers me to no end. Makes my body happier than a foodie creating sugary masterpieces in the kitchen, knowing that they're in the driver's seat because the weather has just started to turn for the better here in Connecticut, and that makes them cackle with glee.

And there really isn't thing one I can do about, because we all know that when our body wants to do something proper, like healing from an illness, and we don't, it's going to make damn sure that we suffer the consequences of our own blithering idiocy.

So my friends, always remember that if you and your Big Brain don't listen to your body from time to time, your body is gonna whip out that Not-So-Big-Brain and make you suffer the consequences of not paying attention. Just like me.**

*: "Big Brain" is a phrase that well known YouTuber Simon Whistler, who hosts almost one dozen channels and at least three that double as podcasts, is very fond of using, mostly as a gentle insult to himself and others.

**: I had developed a nasty foot ailment that I'd ignored for the past three months until the pain got to be unbearable. End result, ailment fixed but now forbidden from hardcore walking for at least two weeks. So now I'm substituting crosswords puzzles during the same two time frames for walking, in order not to fall too far behind with my podcasts subscriptions.

{c} 2025 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #263: Why I Like Certain Kinds Of True Crime Books

A more lighthearted example of the kind of true-crime books that I own/read. This is actually the 2nd edition, which I found of B&N, written by a current (?) National Service Park Ranger.

I'm not sure why I was drawn to true-crime books, but I think it was a young boy's curiosity with different types of non-fiction books beyond the bios and pop culture that I was reading at the time. I do know that the earliest true crime books that got my curiosity pique about true crime, were two particular books that I read some ten years apart.

The first one was about the Mob & the Mafia back when I was in middle school (late 70's). It was pretty graphic to say the least, much like the movie horror mag Fangoria years later. The second one that really piqued my curiosity was the paperback version of the book "Helter Skelter", while graphic text-wise, was not picture-wise.

As the decades progressed, I found myself going through mellowing out, so to speak, with true crime in general. I was finding that most of the true crime books were becoming somewhat redundant in formula and content, so I started searching out other types of books to get my true crime fix, like the one pictured above. I found about that one pre-pandemic via a YouTube documentary about Yellowstone Park. But that particular book was not my initial foray into different types of true crime books. Instead, it was more like a pleasant exit from the now tasteless (to some) highway I was currently traveling.

Pictorial history, for lack of a better phrase.

Back in the late 90's, I had gotten hooked into an HBO show about autopsies hosted by Dr Michael Baden, well known forensic pathologist. Curiosity piqued, it eventually led me down the very weird rabbit hole of true-crime pictorial death.

Over the next few decades, I purchased a few true-crime pictorial books that featured stories/pictures about death and policing in the United States. One book, that featured the LAPD, featured stories about policing in the early part of the 20th century, as well as stories about dying (from the local coroners's office). While informative, it was also pretty grim and depressing look at live in United States during that aforementioned era of the 20th century.

I also purchased one put out by CourtTV, that featured a lot of true crime photography mostly shot by New York crime photographer Weegee.This book also featured both crime scene photos along with specific stories for certain types of crime scenes as well.

I was, and still am, an ardent student of American History, especially the seedier side of history, which is why books like the aforementioned pictorial books about the LAPD crime archives and the CourtTV book about crime in NYC intrigued me so. You really can't get a good understanding about the history of the US without delving into books like these, not so much for the pictures but for the stories connected to those pictures.

The most interesting aspect about my tiptoeing into this particular realm of true-crime, is that I've already had exposure to this kind of pictorial writing earlier in my life. My late father was a US Civil War buff who, when I was a school-aged lad in middle school and high school, would lecture at my schools throughout the years about this era of American History. So decades prior to Time-Life getting out of the book business, I managed to acquire by subscription, their entire 35 volume series on the US Civil War.

This also gave me exposure to the great 19th century photographer Matthew Brady, whose grim battlefield pictures truly brought home the abject horror of war to the masses. And some of these pictures actually made it to American History textbooks, back when a school education actually meant something.

Overall, true-crime is actually a good genre to pursue as a reader, because it can cover a myriad of social and political issues that you really can't get anywhere else, except maybe podcasts, which is a whole other post entirely.

Thanks for stopping by to learn yet another interesting facet about what I like to read. The true-crime genre has always fascinated me, which is why, even though I don't read that much true crime these days, I subscribe and listen to nearly a half dozen long running and limited podcast series to get my true crime fix.

{c} 2025 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #262: Casually Moving From That To This

No hidden meaning behind the pic. Just pining for the warmer weather of Spring after battling the nasty cold of Winter.

I have officially put my five volume fantasy series "Sister vs Sister" to bed, as the final seven chapters {113-120} was properly transcribed, printed, three hole punched, stashed in a three ring binder, and had the requisite editorial notes written on their formerly pristine pages before it was lovingly tucked away in a plastic milk crate so that it could rest up for the next few months, because as you all know, editing is where the wannabes are brutally separated from those who are.

Of course, the issue now facing me is...what do I do next? I mean, I just spent 2 1/2 years working on a project that theoretically took over every waking moment of my life, and now I'm just supposed to find something else that would also take over every waking moment of my life?

The obvious answer to that question is supposed to be a resounding YES. But to be perfectly frank with everyone, the well has run temporarily dry when it comes to churning out fresh new product.

But, even though the well has run temporarily dry, I still got something up my proverbial sleeve that I can work on. Something that I actually finished work on around 2 1/2 years ago, when I had finished up a second round of edits, and just before starting my fantasy series: a re-re-re-re-worked novella that actually has the working title/blog tag of Average American Novella.

Funny thing about this novella, which is a fast-paced fantasy crime drama of the R rated variety, is that throughout the entire time I was writing it, it felt like I was possessed by it. No, seriously, I think I was possessed by the story itself. I mean, once I was finally able to find a good plot line to work with, {on the fourth try, hence the re-re-re-re-work} it just...took on a life of its own.

I mean, the time that I had spent on this novella just seemed to fly on by, especially when I did the switch to handwriting the final nine chapters. Now that I had some time to reflect on it, I made the switch from straight computer writing to pen and paper midway through because the hand fatigue that I was suffering for the past several years was getting progressively worse, so I figured it was time to try something new. And, as the tired cliche goes, the rest is history.

My goal with this novella is to have it published in 2025, so to that end, we're starting off the process by applying another round of edits and printing out a fresh copy to play with. Once that's been done, the next trio of issues that I will need to tackle, which are the usual bane of any writer's existence: a title; a medium length blurb; and a short length blurb.

There are few other issues that I will need to spend some time on, but those three are the main ones that will require my immediate attention once I get everything printed out again. While not completely taking over my life like my fantasy series did, it will demand just enough of my attention to keep my writer's brain from atrophying through non-use.

Tune in next week when I should have a better idea on what I need to blog about in regards to this novella, since the last time I had blogged about it was nearly 3 years ago. But hey, redundancy can be a good thing, right?

{c} 2025 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #261: The Winner For Strangest Non-True Crime Book Read Is...

The star of today's post for strangest book read.

Simple question for everyone perusing this post: What is the strangest book that you've ever read?

Caveat: Only non-fiction non-true crime choices.

Reason: We all know that fiction and its wonderful genres, sub-genres and sub-sub-genres can be...strange to a certain degree to everyone. So trying to come up with a fictional title that would qualify as strange would be quite difficult, because someone else's strange is someone else's normal. So fiction is eliminated because it's difficult/nearly impossible to come up with a viable choice that people can agree upon.

But non-fiction, that's a whole other pork pie. Because with non-fiction, you can generally come to a consensus about the strangeness/oddity of a given book. And trust me, since the heady start up days of the printing press back in the 15th century, non-fiction has always had that special singular ability to churn out some really odd choices for reading material. Also, no true-crime, because that is a whole different zoo of its own and I want to keep everything at least PG-13 or lower.

Pivoting back to me. I've always held a deep fondness for the non-fiction genre, as it was the very first overall genre that I had fallen in love with as a child and is the only genre that has stuck with me in for my entire life. No matter what sub-genre that has sprouted from it over the decades, I've probably sampled at least one from those sub-genres.

Over the years, especially in the past few, I've read some very quirky non-fiction titles over an assorted range of topics: animals {ex. barn owls}, historical events {ex. the Oregon trail} and national parks {ex Yellowstone}. But the subject of today's post has to be the strangest one that I've encountered and read by far: the Oxford English Dictionary.

This one I came across at my local library's gently used books store during my continuing adventures of finding a book for nearly any topic under the sun*, and this one really piqued my curiosity that I was more than willing to shell out $4 USD for it.

*for those of you who may be first time readers, I've been on a journey to prove a theory that you can find a book for any topic that you can think of. I have purchased several very odd books in support of that theory, of which three are mentioned above.

The premise of the book is pretty basic: it's about the people who help create the Oxford English Dictionary (this monstrosity was begun in the Victorian era and the main body was completed in the 1930's, with addendums being produced throughout the decades afterwards), with the chapters being broken down by the type of people involved (much like Sue Grafton's Alphabet Mysteries).

To give you a basic idea on how they were broken down, here is short list of four chapters:

1. P is for Pornographers
2. Q is for Queers (male or female)
3. R is for Rain Collectors
4. S is for Suffragists

Now, while these categories sound very odd, you have to remember that the bulk of the OED was originally created during the Victorian Age, so you know how publicly prudish/morally uptight (for letters P & Q), exceptionally odd (letter R), and politically active (letter S) people were.

Overall, this book was an exceptionally fascinating read, not only because I often wondered (in general) how dictionaries were created, but the rich history behind the creation of it (including the Victorian equivalent of a Kickstarter campaign to recruit volunteers). 

If you enjoy watching shows like "How It's Made" or YouTube channels that feature quirky stuff like that, then you will absolutely enjoy this book. This book is my choice for the strangest non-crime book that I've ever read. So tell me, what's the oddest non-true crime book that you've ever read?

{c} 2025 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved