FAQ

Fictionally Asked Questions

What does ‘Unspeak’ mean? Is it the same as spin, or doublespeak, or Newspeak?
Please read the extract from the book’s Introduction, which explains the idea in detail.

Aha! You’re just as guilty of using persuasive rhetoric as the people you mock!
That’s not a question, but sure, of course I try to make persuasive arguments. The difference is that I don’t try to conceal it.

Why should I buy the book when I can read your blog for free?
You don’t have to, of course. But maybe I should point out that Unspeak the book is not merely a book-of-the-blog; it’s the other way around. The blog began after I had started writing the book, initially as a way for me to ask a few carefully screened friends of massive intellectual capacity what they thought of draft sections I was working on. Later on, thanks to the power of the internets, other people discovered the blog, and once I had finished the book I redesigned the blog, moved it over to Wordpress, and started posting more regularly. Still, the book covers a wider range of subjects, with more detailed references and a somewhat more concentrated style than most of the blog posts. Also, it has that lovely paper feel, the print is pretty legible, and it smells quite nice. Have a look at the extracts, available from the left-hand menu, to get more of an idea.

Who are you and why should I care what you think?
I’ve been writing on books, music and film for many years for the Guardian and other daily British newspapers, and sometimes the TLS and the New Statesman. Here’s a selection of articles. In 2000 I published a book about the aesthetics of videogames, called Trigger Happy. I also write music. Naturally you should only care what I think, on any matter, to the extent you find it interesting or provocative, or so wrong as to be in need of finely tuned retorts.

Why don’t you do a blog post about such-and-such a subject?
By all means, write about it yourself in the forum.

Will you come to our festival/do a talk/be interviewed on our radio programme?
Very possibly. Get in touch with the publishers, or use the contact form to send me an email.

Will you write something for us?
Very possibly. Not for free.

What is your privacy policy?
Simple: your email address and other identifying information will never be passed to anyone else. The site also sets cookies to track usage patterns with web-statistics analysis programs, for my own information. Nothing that could identify you will ever be passed to anyone else either, but if you still don’t like it, you can always set your browser to decline the cookies.

I love your blog and want to support it!
Hey, that’s not a question either, but thanks for saying so. If you really like the blog and want to help defray the costs in hosting fees, software, writing time and so on, you could consider buying the book (for yourself or a friend), or leaving something in the tip jar. I am contractually obliged not to ask you to click on the google ads in the sidebar, and I must insist that you should not take this as a recommendation to do so. Thanks!