1. The Shoes of the Fisherman’s Wife Are Some Jive-Ass Slippers, Charles Mingus. that chorale tho

2. The Single Petal of a Rose, Duke Ellington. the bass accompaniment really makes this song, listen to it with headphones or good speakers

3. Tell Me a Bedtime Story, Herbie Hancock. trust the song not to be obnoxious light jazz, the beginning seconds are a little scary

4. You Must Believe in Spring, Bill Evans. probably the least deserving of this list because it’s pretty well-known but i encounter a shocking quantity of people who simply have no idea what it is

twin peaks is good, watch it

1. your characters don’t talk to you, you know them well enough to know definitively what they would do in most situations. hon if figments of your imagination are speaking to you there’s a word for that and it sure as hell isnt “being a good author”

2. the internet’s capacity to generate fucktons of content about anything and everything has led to a perhaps unhealthy number of memes about writers block

ever played a zero player game

well now you have

it bears an interesting resemblance to the kind of self-organization we see in nature all the time

yoik

The City and the City by China Miéville

Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs by Lisa Randall

Department of Speculation by Jenny Offill

The Witchwood Crown by Tad Williams

The Jazz of Physics by Stephon Alexander

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge