Rollins's Review, September 23
I like Sotonye. I don’t know jack about the dude except that he’s a fellow Yid and he’s always talking about how awesome his relationship with his girl is, but that alone is life goals, right there. He’s reviewing Jennifer Beer’s article about authenticity here, which is kind of cheating (I’d usually just link Beer’s article) but I agree with her and with him, and thought his ‘stack merits a boost—he’s almost always on point.
Culture and Curiosities is one of my favorite weird shit newsletters. Jason Colavito has been on a James Dean kick lately, and this article is about a “spook show” featuring a magician who used to…well, what it says on the tin.
Boosting PITT again, with renewed enthusiasm. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but the “anti-trans movement” isn’t Nazis. It’s just parents who are grief-stricken and worried about their kids, and they’re getting demonized by the school system and dogpiled in the national press. Regardless of how you feel about transgenderism, stop kicking the shit out of people who love their children and just want them to be okay.
Without taking a position on COVID (it’s not really my beat), I’m boosting BHerr this week, because the crux of the social attack vector used for preference by the woke is language, and she’s got some incisive points about how that attack is performed. Well worth a read.
In addition to my autistic interests in language and social dynamics, I am a policy nerd from way back. Steven Johnson is one of my favorite writers on policy. One day I will get to meet him, because he’s gonna have me on TED to talk about whatever weird subject I’m interested in that month.
You gotta have goals.
Harrison Koehli has weirder, more specialized interests than I do, and that’s saying something. He is Substack’s leading authority on psychopaths and pathocracy, government by the deranged. He is also an incredibly nice and extremely thoughtful guy. Read his ‘stack if you want deep, deep dives into the methodology underlying the mess we’re all in, and some prescriptions on how we might get out.
Some housekeeping: I am discontinuing The God of Death and Second Chances unless there is resounding, overwhelming, and immediate interest. Serial fiction is an interesting exercise, but it’s not what I write these days when I put on my “novelist” hat. I haven’t done heavy noir (or dated women as crazy as Nora) in like, a decade, I mostly write science fantasy when I do fiction these days anyway, and this book is starting to feel almost as forced as Frank Miller’s All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder.
I hope I'm not too late chiming in here. I've been enjoying following along with your serial novel very much. I can see the lack of appeal in needing to keep up posting on a regular basis, but I for one will be sad to see it go.