Personally, I think the dude who wrote his workout routine in The Iliad either achieved physical perfection or wrote it to help the guy who bought it after him get a solid workout routine.
Thank you for writing this. There is a narrative in our media and culture that says men don’t like to read, or that men are reading less. And while it’s true that female readers outnumber male readers overall, the reality is if you remove romance readers from that list, it’s more or less even, yet our publishing industry caters almost exclusively to female audiences or high-brow literature that appeals to educated gay men. There are very few books published today targeted to those of us who enjoy a good adventure with conflict and male protagonists sacrificing for the greater good and defending the ones they love. Then when Andy Wier published a book, it’s a massive bestseller with a huge male (and female) audience. I don’t think there should be fewer of one genre and more of another, I’m saying there’s a market for both, but breaking through the slop with something genuinely fun to read and well written feels like swimming upstream. I write literary mythic thrillers. My readers love my work, but I’ve been told by more than one agent in my quest for representation that “publishers aren’t buying male protagonists these days. Have you considered making your hero gay?”
Went through a lot of that same headache years ago when I had an agent/subbed to tradpub. I stick to small presses now, they actually care about the work.
The levitation that captured publishing is Robert Maxwell (of Epstein fame) and other members of the tribe.
Men don’t read new literature because it’s all injected with homosexuality and other brain weakening propaganda. By the people like Maxwell.
LOTR would never be published. RJ was forced to inject this nonsense in tWoT in order to get published and BS happily shoe horned in all the worst of the homo-publishing cartels demands.
Just broke up and i keep remembering all the times i tried getting her to like my war stuff. She never did. But she was never scared either. She took for granted that she had to deal with "that weird part of me" to get to the part she actually fell in love for. Honestly? i respect that in her. We stayed together 10 years (yes despite all the crazy shit you'll read on my posts). I cannot immagine building this type of oldschool male/female respect for eachtother we had with someone from scratch, especially in this meat economy. But i'm extending myself here.
Highly recommend “Interesting Books Reviewed” YouTube - avuncular guy discusses real conspiracy lit.
Currently working through Book of the New Sun - which seems to be both based and literary - and *arguably* better stylistically than Herbert or Tolkien
I swear you’re like the third guy this year to recommend that book to me, and none of y’all know each other. Universe out here trying to get my attention. I”ll put it on the list.
At the behest of Ron Pirie on You Tube, I bought and embarked on reading The Harvard Classics. Yes all fifty books. I'm about halfway through. I realized this is the shelf of knowledge under attack by the fem-lit circles offering nothing to replace it. NOTHING. The basics of Stoic thought, the underpinnings of US Democracy, the roots of many forms of genre fiction, all reside here.
In this we learn that Ben Franklin wrote his first treatises about Why women should receive an education. It was his first argument of letters. He lost that argument. That really pissed him off! He sought to become a better man of words in a time when books were hard to find at all. He was a vegetarian and lays out the rational basis for his choice. And the rational basis for when he rejected it. No all we hear now is about his place in "patriarchy."
I have been listening to this garbage since I was three years old. You know the saying, sugar and spice and everything nice, that's what girls are made of. Girls good, boys bad. Female spaces are sacred. Men's spaces are patriarchy and must be invaded and dismantled. To find the whole of publishing today is corroded with they spirit of this little rhyme, it's a small agony.
Thank you Trucker man for your voice. It's appreciated. I'm a homosexual with a more working man fraternal life. I prefer the company of men and it's not always about sex. in fact rarely about it. I feel like I've been working for the wrong team for 40 years. Re calibration can happen, it's a bitch. But I'm tired of being told my unwillingness to bed a woman is somehow sexist. I consider it survival at this point. I'm glad you and your Lady have an accord.
I won't apologize. I am a woman. I wrote books that women will enjoy. Actually confused me when an ex-boxer bloke from the UK full of Dad jokes abd satirical misigyny liked one of my stories, but a good sort of confusion.
I want, nay need, there to be more Iliads and Treasure Island and Bourne Identity. And guys, just be guys, okay? You'll still exasperate and confuse me, but also keep me on my toes, and fight for me when I'm too enmeshed in little details in front of my nose to notice the army assembling on the hill.
Personally, I think the dude who wrote his workout routine in The Iliad either achieved physical perfection or wrote it to help the guy who bought it after him get a solid workout routine.
🤞
Who can say why Homer wrote the Iliad? We can't rule out the possibility.
We need more Feral Historians
He's good. I'm thinking about moving to video essays like his.
They're important and much more visible, don't get me wrong. But they're a lot harder to link to or search.
Which may be part of the point for him. I don't know if he's still in academia, I suspect not.
Nooooo.... video essays without competent transcripts are worth very little.
The piece on Stargate as GWOT Star Trek was stunningly insightful. I lived through it and never thought of it that way before. Now, it's obvious.
He's a cool dude.
Zoomer Historian
Is that another YT channel?
Thank you for writing this. There is a narrative in our media and culture that says men don’t like to read, or that men are reading less. And while it’s true that female readers outnumber male readers overall, the reality is if you remove romance readers from that list, it’s more or less even, yet our publishing industry caters almost exclusively to female audiences or high-brow literature that appeals to educated gay men. There are very few books published today targeted to those of us who enjoy a good adventure with conflict and male protagonists sacrificing for the greater good and defending the ones they love. Then when Andy Wier published a book, it’s a massive bestseller with a huge male (and female) audience. I don’t think there should be fewer of one genre and more of another, I’m saying there’s a market for both, but breaking through the slop with something genuinely fun to read and well written feels like swimming upstream. I write literary mythic thrillers. My readers love my work, but I’ve been told by more than one agent in my quest for representation that “publishers aren’t buying male protagonists these days. Have you considered making your hero gay?”
Went through a lot of that same headache years ago when I had an agent/subbed to tradpub. I stick to small presses now, they actually care about the work.
I find it funny that the AWFLs think that just because they captured publishing they get to dictate what men like.
“Why did you use real bullets?!”
This excellent post was worth reading just for the line "The Hoe Quivers Before Truth."
Boys should be reading more Robert Louis Stevenson and Jack London.
Industrial Society and It's Future is a good read.
I'm working on Camp of the Saints now.
I read that one last fall, it was a gut punch but very good.
_Submission_ is a good companion piece to Camp of the Saints.
I mean the Michel Houellebecq novel (there seem to be a lot of books and films with that title, go figure!)
Outstanding post, bro. Wish I could hammer out poignant thoughts like this
Takes a few drafts but you can get there, brother
Sounds to me like what we had going was working, and then somebody decided to change it......for reasons.
The levitation that captured publishing is Robert Maxwell (of Epstein fame) and other members of the tribe.
Men don’t read new literature because it’s all injected with homosexuality and other brain weakening propaganda. By the people like Maxwell.
LOTR would never be published. RJ was forced to inject this nonsense in tWoT in order to get published and BS happily shoe horned in all the worst of the homo-publishing cartels demands.
That covers a lot of it, yeah.
Just broke up and i keep remembering all the times i tried getting her to like my war stuff. She never did. But she was never scared either. She took for granted that she had to deal with "that weird part of me" to get to the part she actually fell in love for. Honestly? i respect that in her. We stayed together 10 years (yes despite all the crazy shit you'll read on my posts). I cannot immagine building this type of oldschool male/female respect for eachtother we had with someone from scratch, especially in this meat economy. But i'm extending myself here.
Awesome Article!
Highly recommend “Interesting Books Reviewed” YouTube - avuncular guy discusses real conspiracy lit.
Currently working through Book of the New Sun - which seems to be both based and literary - and *arguably* better stylistically than Herbert or Tolkien
I swear you’re like the third guy this year to recommend that book to me, and none of y’all know each other. Universe out here trying to get my attention. I”ll put it on the list.
I’d never heard of it and same deal. Gene Wolfe is to fantasy as Steven Wright is to standup. Beloved, by pros, but not a household name.
At the behest of Ron Pirie on You Tube, I bought and embarked on reading The Harvard Classics. Yes all fifty books. I'm about halfway through. I realized this is the shelf of knowledge under attack by the fem-lit circles offering nothing to replace it. NOTHING. The basics of Stoic thought, the underpinnings of US Democracy, the roots of many forms of genre fiction, all reside here.
In this we learn that Ben Franklin wrote his first treatises about Why women should receive an education. It was his first argument of letters. He lost that argument. That really pissed him off! He sought to become a better man of words in a time when books were hard to find at all. He was a vegetarian and lays out the rational basis for his choice. And the rational basis for when he rejected it. No all we hear now is about his place in "patriarchy."
I have been listening to this garbage since I was three years old. You know the saying, sugar and spice and everything nice, that's what girls are made of. Girls good, boys bad. Female spaces are sacred. Men's spaces are patriarchy and must be invaded and dismantled. To find the whole of publishing today is corroded with they spirit of this little rhyme, it's a small agony.
Thank you Trucker man for your voice. It's appreciated. I'm a homosexual with a more working man fraternal life. I prefer the company of men and it's not always about sex. in fact rarely about it. I feel like I've been working for the wrong team for 40 years. Re calibration can happen, it's a bitch. But I'm tired of being told my unwillingness to bed a woman is somehow sexist. I consider it survival at this point. I'm glad you and your Lady have an accord.
I shall have to look into that list too.
It definitely promotes a mindset of what a country could be with unified, conservative values.
Damn straight.
I won't apologize. I am a woman. I wrote books that women will enjoy. Actually confused me when an ex-boxer bloke from the UK full of Dad jokes abd satirical misigyny liked one of my stories, but a good sort of confusion.
I want, nay need, there to be more Iliads and Treasure Island and Bourne Identity. And guys, just be guys, okay? You'll still exasperate and confuse me, but also keep me on my toes, and fight for me when I'm too enmeshed in little details in front of my nose to notice the army assembling on the hill.