cavalry 1

The Cavalry Ain’t Coming

Success in any contest, whether it's athletic, cultural, or spiritual, requires an understanding of the situation grounded in reality. That also means adhering to the time-tested maxim "Know thyself." The enemy in the current battle for Christendom's soul spent the past century on a long march through the institutions and…
August 23, 2024No Comments
Newpub Talk Chaos

The Book Industry in Chaos

It's been obvious for a while now to anyone who's not chasing unicorns that the book industry is in chaos. The sworn testimony given by editors, authors, and agents in the Penguin Random House-Simon and Schuster merger trial revealed that only 10 percent of oldpub titles move more than 2,000…
August 22, 20244 Comments
Conveyor Belt rapid release

The Pros and Cons of Rapid Release

Because many of my valued neopatrons are newpub or newpub adjacent, my deep dive indie publishing tips usually get reserved for them. But every so often, I part the veil to give regular readers a glimpse of my patrons-only material. Today's post originated from a patron request to lay out…
August 21, 20241 Comment
Kevin Murphy

MST3K’s Kevin Murphy Notices Movie Ground Zero

Hollywood product has degraded to the point that hardly a day goes by without someone noticing Cultural Ground Zero. Valued neopatron, DJ, and fellow ex-movie theater employee Scott Waddell brings up this book, wherein MST3K's Kevin Murphy notices movie ground zero. Dial around your radio and you’ll sometimes hear a…
August 20, 202411 Comments
Book Shelf

Why Authors Need Wide and Varied Influences

A big temptation for new authors is to immerse yourself in a narrow selection of books, often within the genre you're writing. You may feel that keeping exclusive focus on your genre will give you the best chance of mastering its conventions and satisfying your readers. But limiting your reading…
August 19, 20246 Comments
LoF Trailer Thumbnail

Unveiling the Lord of Fate Book Trailer

It's become an open secret that thje book industry is undergoing major destabilization. It's been something of a meme for a while now that bookselling strategies everybody used to swear buy are yielding diminishing returns. The good news is that the neopatronage model is going strong. Plenty of newpub authors…
August 16, 2024No Comments

Why New Authors Should Master Genre Conventions Before Breaking Them

One of my cherished neopatrons called my attention to this post by The Brothers Krynn, which itself is a response to another piece by author JD Cowan. After spending some time retreading the "Are fantasy and sci fi separate genres?" debate, it brings up an issue that's running rampant among…
August 15, 20245 Comments
Marble Hornets

The Link From Gen Y Nostalgia to Gen Z Horror

Our recent post on analog horror brought out a lot of folks to comment. It was especially edifying to get more of the Millennial view on the genre. Related: Analog Horror: The Past as Nightmare, Not Nostalgia The most copious treatment of the subject comes from commenter Rudolph Harrier: This…
August 14, 202410 Comments
Analog Horror

Analog Horror: The Past as Nightmare, Not Nostalgia

In recent years, a fascinating trend has emerged within the horror genre that has captivated the imaginations of Generation Z: analog horror. Cribbing the aesthetics of VHS tapes, public access television, and other analog media, this subgenre is the opposite of retrowave. Becauuse instead of eliciting nostalgia for simpler times,…
August 13, 20249 Comments
Bob Gymlan Joe Rogan

Bob Gymlan on The Joe Rogan Experience

It's been a minute since we featured a tale or two of high strangeness on this blog. The work of bigfoot expert Bob Gymlan has been featured here before. As far as YouTubers go, Gymlan is refreshing for keeping an open mind and doing his homework. So I was delighted…
August 12, 20245 Comments