Month: September 2015

One Easy Trick to Improve Your Print-On-Demand Book: How to Get Better-Looking Text

/ Ryan McSwain / 2 Comments

Print-on-demand gives self-publishers enormous freedom to create and distribute books. But the process can be tricky, and the physical book can come out looking different than it did on your monitor.

This forum post shows some of the ways your letters can turn out. It’s easy for text to become blurry or pixelated. My problem was the Garamond font came out looking emaciated.

Here is the process that helped me to get the interior of my book looking great. All credit goes to Daniel Flavin, who posted his method in the Adobe forums. I’ve taken his process and created this step-by-step illustrated guide.
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Top 10 Nostalgic Episodes of The Twilight Zone

/ Ryan McSwain / Leave a comment

You fine folks enjoyed my countdown of the Top 13 Scariest Episodes of The Twilight Zone, so here are my picks of the best nostalgic episodes.

These trips to The Twilight Zone ruminate on the allure of the past. Escaping into memories of a simpler time might lead to dreams coming true, but just as often reveal that the good ol’ days hid nightmares of their own.

Nine of these episodes are available on Netflix, and all ten are available for free on Hulu.

I’ll try to avoid spoilers. But when most episodes feature a twist, just knowing the tone of a story can give away the ending. I don’t want to ruin anyone’s experience, but that’s all the warning you get.

10. Of Late I Think of Cliffordville (Season 4, Episode 14)

Twilight Zone - Of Late I Think of Cliffordville

Julie Newmar, the real reason this episode made the list.

William Feathersmith, an aging millionaire, decides the getting is better than the having. So he makes a deal with the demonic Miss Devlin to live his life over again.

This episode runs through most of my favorite Twilight Zone plots: nostalgia, time travel, and a Faustian bargain. It doesn’t work as well as I’d hoped, but it explores one of my favorite questions: if you could go back in time and relive your life, but with the knowledge you have now, could you live it better? Continue reading →