Tag: Castalia House

Push the Zone!

“Have you ever wished you could grow mangoes, coffee, oranges and other delicious tropical plants… but find yourself limited by a less-than-tropical climate? If you long for Key lime pies at Christmas, or homegrown bananas at breakfast, you’re not alone! Expert gardener and mad scientist David The Good fought for years to figure out how grow tropical plants hundreds of miles outside their natural climate range… and he succeeded!

In PUSH THE ZONE: The Good Guide to Growing Tropical Plants Beyond the Tropics, David the Good shares his successes and failures in expanding plant ranges, and equips you with the knowledge you need to add a growing zone or two to your own backyard. Based on original research done in North Florida, PUSH THE ZONE is useful for northern gardeners as well. Discover microclimates in your yard, use the thermal mass of walls to grow impossible plants and uncover growing secrets that will change your entire view of what can grow where!”

Featuring a foreword by Dr. David Francko, the author of PALMS WON’T GROW HERE AND OTHER MYTHS. PUSH THE ZONE is the third book in the Good Guide to Gardening series, is DRM-free, and retails for $4.99. It is already a Gardening bestseller.

From the reviews:

  • If Dave Barry wrote gardening books about his mad experiments, this would be the book he would write. If you want to grow mangoes, coconuts, or other tropical plants outside of their established zones this book will show you how.
  • I live in New York State, where it gets mighty cold, and there is no way I’ll ever be able to grow tropical plants in my garden. Nevertheless, many of the fundamental zone-pushing concepts in this book can definitely be applied to my 4b-5a USDA Hardiness Zone.  
  • I’m thinking, for example, of peaches. They don’t grow particularly well in my zone because of the cold. But in the zone 6 regions of Pennsylvania, a few hundred miles south of me, Pennsylvania peaches are a big deal. After reading Push The Zone, I now feel confident that I could successfully grow a peach tree by finding and/or creating microclimates.

The coming death of big publishing

It’s coming, and it’s coming much faster than anyone is really prepared for. Item One: Castalia author Nick Cole visits Barnes & Noble:

The other day I popped in to a big Barnes & Noble anchor store inside a high traffic entertainment complex called the Spectrum down in Irvine, California. The rest of the world may be experiencing some kind of recession as a result of Obama’s disastrous economic policies as is now being admitted by all sides, but Southern California barely shows the effects. Unless you know where to look.

So, I just wanted to cruise the science fiction section, and of course see if any of my books were in stock, and look around and see if there was anything interesting to pick up.

This is just an update on an unfolding disaster I’ve talked about before regarding the science fiction section at Barnes and Noble.

It’s a disaster. Seriously.

The science fiction section consisted of  three small shelves, badly, and fully, stocked with some standard big hitters for sure-fire sales.  But there wasn’t enough evidence in those three tiny half-aisles that spoke exciting and aggressive growth in the genre. It felt stale. It felt old. It felt Soviet. It felt defeated.  Maybe that was because it was stuck on the second floor, back near the bathroom.  You know where they keep all the best selllers and the sexiest books

Hint: No they don’t.

No, this particular placement for the once-vaunted science fiction section, a staple they kept so many bookstores alive with the trade of the faithful binge-buying junkie science fiction readers cleaning them out,  is now relegated to the smelly back of the store.  It seemed like some sort of discount holdover section no bookseller wanted to be sent into to organize. There was no love. It was forsaken.

Of course it is, because modern mainstream science fiction isn’t science fiction at all, but social justice fiction, as Barnes & Noble itself will confirm. Item Two: B&N blogger Joel Cunningham lists 20 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books with a Message of Social Justice:

From The Time Machine to Kirk and Uhura‘s unprecedented kiss, speculative fiction has often concerned itself with breaking barriers and exploring issues of race, inequality, and injustice. The fantastical elements of genre, from alien beings to magical ones, allow writers to confront controversial issues in metaphor, granting them a subversive power that often goes unheralded. On this, the day we celebrate the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., let us consider 20 novels that incorporate themes of social justice into stories that still deliver the goods—compelling plots, characters you’ll fall in love with, ideas that will expand your mind. Let’s imagine a day when the utopian ideals of Star Trek are more than just the stuff of science fiction. 

They’ll have to imagine it, because it has zero relevance to the society of the future, which is much more likely to resemble the Reavers of Firefly than the neutered pantsuits of Star Trek. I was shocked the last time I visited my favorite Barnes & Noble, and that was more than 12 years ago. What had once been a large, healthy, well-stocked SF/F section – and one that carried both my books at the time – had somehow been shrunk into two bookshelves, one of which was entirely filled with graphic novels and television-show tie-in novels. Most of the rest of the “science fiction” novels had covers that looked like romance novels. I can’t even imagine what it looks like now.

Anyhow, in light of Nick’s prediction, it is interesting to observe that at least one mainstream publisher is attempting to think outside the box, as Macmillan has set up Pronoun, a pan-channel ebook distribution system that pays 70 percent on all digital sales, which compares well with Amazon’s Amazon-only 68.5 percent. It’s a pretty good deal, although it is probably five years too late in coming, as I strongly suspect another system, from a much more formidable player, is already in development.

And finally, since I mentioned graphic novels, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that one for Quantum Mortis is in the works.

Galactic Liberation 1: Starship Liberator

The Hundred Worlds have withstood invasion by the relentless Hok for decades. The human worlds are strong, but the Hok have the resources of a thousand planets behind them, and their fleets attack in endless waves. 

The long war has transformed the Hundred Worlds into heavily fortified star systems. Their economies are geared for military output, and they raise specialized soldiers to save our species. Assault Captain Derek Straker is one such man among many. Genetically sculpted to drive a mech-suit as if he wears a second skin, he must find a path to victory. 

It’s a battle in which he’ll never admit defeat, but not even Straker knows the dark truth behind this titanic struggle. With Lieutenant Carla Engels piloting, STARSHIP LIBERATOR explores enemy territory in search of answers.

STARSHIP LIBERATOR is the first book in the new Galactic Liberation series by bestselling authors David VanDyke and B.V. Larson. It is 492 pages and retails for $27.99 in hardcover and $19.99 in paperback. It is also available at Barnes & Noble.

The publication of Starship Liberator today marks a significant step forward for Castalia House, as VanDyke and Larson are among the most successful authors in science fiction. To put it in perspective, B.V. Larson regularly ranks among the top 10 bestselling authors in the genre, while David VanDyke is usually in the top 75. We are very pleased to be working with both men, and I hope more than a few Castalia readers will consider adding this attractive doorstopper to their shelves.

From the reviews:

  • Fast action. Plot has several unexpected twists. Like the development key characters. Good book.
  • Great tactical narrative. The characters are enjoyable. Good old-fashioned good vs evil. Harks back to Soviet days and 1984.
  • Excellent military space battle story. Kept me riveted from start to finish. Good storyline and well developed characters.
  • Another great addition to David Vandyke’s and BV Larson’s repertoire. It’s great to see a return to pure SF for Vandyke, and you can see why it makes sense for he and Larson to collaborate – both are excellent storytellers and create rich, deep characters, in unusual situations.
  • Recommended if you’re a fan of either of the authors, must-read if you’re a fan of both.

In other Castalia-related news, John C. Wright has begun blogging at the Castalia House blog with a detailed critique of the original Buck Rogers novella, ARMAGEDDON 2419 A.D. It is a must-read for any writer, as he breaks down what works, and what does not, and explains how it is that such a flawed piece of short fiction was able to lead to such a memorable franchise.

And speaking of doorstoppers, fans of Selenoth won’t want to miss Scott Cole’s new series of posts entitled Summa Selenothica, with which he intends to fill in some of the blanks for those who are interested in diving deeper into the epic fantasy world of Tellus Demittus, beginning with The Last Witchking.

Riding the Red Horse now in audio

The spectre of war once more looms on the global horizon. A new generation of writers and military theorists are addressing the new forms of warfare that now challenge the nation-state’s monopoly on war.

Terrorism, technology, fourth generation warfare, the decline of the Pax Americana, and the rise of China are among the issues contemplated by the 20 contributors to Riding the Red Horse, a collection of 24 essays and short stories from technologists, military strategists, military historians, and the leading authors of military science fiction. From the Old Guard to the New, the anthology features some of the keenest minds and best-selling authors writing in the genre today. Three national militaries and three service branches are represented by the contributors, the majority of whom are veterans.

Edited by LTC Tom Kratman, US Army (ret), and Vox Day, Riding the Red Horse covers everything from real-world lasers, intelligence ops, threat assessments, and wargame design to space combats, fleet actions, and ground operations taking place in some of the most popular future universes in science fiction.

The anthology consists of contributions from Eric S. Raymond, William S. Lind, Chris Kennedy, James F. Dunnigan, Jerry Pournelle, Ken Burnside, Christopher Nuttall, Rolf Nelson, Harry Kitchener, Giuseppe Filotto, John F. Carr, Wolfgang Diehr, Thomas Mays, Benjamin Cheah, James Perry, Brad Torgersen, Tedd Roberts, Steve Rzasa, Tom Kratman, and Vox Day. Narrated by Jon Mollison, Riding the Red Horse is 14 hours and 8 minutes in audiobook format.

APPENDIX N: The Literary History of Dungeons & Dragons

APPENDIX N: The Literary History of Dungeons & Dragons is a detailed and comprehensive investigation of the various works of
science fiction and fantasy that game designer Gary Gygax declared to be
the primary influences on his seminal role-playing game, Dungeons &
Dragons. It is a deep intellectual dive into the literature of science
fiction’s past that will fascinate any serious role-playing gamer. It
also contains an extensive interview with the designer of the Tunnels & Trolls RPG, Ken St. Andre.

Author Jeffro Johnson, an expert role-playing gamer, accomplished
Dungeon Master and three-time Hugo Award Finalist, critically reviews
all 43 works listed by Gygax in the famous appendix of the original
D&D game books, and in doing so, draws a series of intelligent
conclusions about the literary gap between past and present that are
surprisingly relevant to current events, not only in the fantastic world
of role-playing, but the real world in which the players live. Johnson is also the Editor of the Castalia House
blog and a regular contributor there.

Featuring an Introduction by John C. Wright, himself an inveterate role-playing gamer, APPENDIX N is 355 pages, DRM-free, and retails for $6.99.

Brian Renninger described the significance of Johnson’s APPENDIX N:

With this book we are coming out a dark age. Jerry Pournelle has said “The definition of a Dark Age is that we no longer remember what we once could do.” It’s not just that we have lost capability but, not knowing that we ever had capability that makes it dark. Of course, the term “Dark Ages” has fallen out of current fashion. It seems judgmental and unscientific to call that time after the fall of Rome and through the end of the Viking Age “dark” as if it were lesser in some way. But, I’m not an academic and history is not science. And, Rome was sacked. The aqueducts did stop running. Latin was forgotten, by all but a few specialists, to be replaced by the babble of dozens of local tongues. It’s dark because the records of that time are sparse – fewer people wrote and the people who did write, wrote on fewer topics.

Appendix N is just a reading list. But, a reading list tailored to a topic. The topic being inspirational works for playing the original role-playing game – Dungeons and Dragons. The list was intended to inspire players on adding variety to their game. And, to give players examples that explain why the game was made the way it was made.</

Jeffro Johnson set himself the task to read all of Appendix N in the context of its stated purpose. He found what he was looking for: clear evidence for many of the foundational rules of Dungeons and Dragons hidden in plain sight in the text of old fantastic adventure writing. But, he also found more – the nucleus of an earlier canon of fantastic literature. In that canon he discovered greater variety, subtlety, strangeness and a broader sophistication of theme than found in the general run of fantasy writing today. And, he found some damned fun stories.

So, for us, what has been forgotten? To a large degree, we have forgotten the scope that fantasy fiction can obtain when allowed unfettered freedom of imagination. We have forgotten that fantasy fiction can be just as edgy and daring when addressing the best of human nature rather than the worst. In fact, we have forgotten that literature can and should encompass all things. Or, even more, that literature should also encompass impossible things – especially fantastic literature.

And at Castalia House, Schuyler Hernstrom explains how it was that Appendix N started a literary movement:

Jeffro has indeed unearthed something. It is the hidden heritage of our beloved genres. I feel a little embarrassed, frankly, that I was so wrong about the fiction that I love so much. What I thought I knew about the genre was a series of walls and fences, put into place to guide me toward opinions and attitudes that were presented as things inevitable…. Jeffro’s work has become a lodestone, pulling at a set of emerging and disparate writers. We are out there, creating what we want from influences as varied as Lord Dunsany and anime. From the maps he drew we are navigating rivers back to their sources. We are exploring myth and knocking the rust off old ideas like heroism and honor. 



Some may wonder why Castalia publishes such seemingly esoteric books, especially given the fact that I’m not an RPGer, and never was except in the very most casual computer-game sense. The reason is that the dominance of the Left is cultural, and they arrived at their position of political influence in the West primarily through cultural means as per Gramsci rather than the economic means Marx predicted or the violent means Mao, Lenin, and Che utilized. Those on the Right who sneer at cultural matters as being irrelevant or unimportant fail to realize that they are playing a superficial and losing game. It is from children’s tales and children’s games that tomorrow’s voters are made.


“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”
– GK Chesterton

“nearly as good”

Those reviewing A Sea of Skulls should really be a little more careful. Such positive reviews bid fair to cause more than a few SF-SJWs to stroke out. Didact’s Reach reviews A Sea of Skulls and finds it to be rather better than one might expect:

If the critics found ATOB a bit difficult to stomach because it proved to be such an effective demonstration of what a (supposedly) less skilled but (definitely) more disciplined writer could do when compared with GRRM’s declining powers, they are going to very quickly find that A Sea of Skulls will be an even bigger shock to their worldview.

For with this book, Vox Day has not merely matched George R. R. Martin’s fantasy writing skills and output. He has exceeded him, by miles, leaving old Rape Rape wheezing and panting in the dust.

In fact, I am willing to go so far as to argue that, with this book, Vox Day has catapulted himself into the storied and rarefied rank of writers that sits just below The Master himself.

That’s right, I went there. I just said that Vox Day has written a book that is nearly as good as J. R. R. Tolkien’s work.

Not as good. But not terribly far off, either.

From one fantasy fan to another, praise simply does not come any higher than that….

This book is, quite simply, an extraordinary achievement. With it, Vox has separated himself from all of his contemporary rivals and has clearly laid down a marker for everyone else to match- and I personally don’t think anyone will be able to do so for years, maybe decades, to come. What he has written here is far more than merely a great book. It is a masterclass of what high fantasy could actually be.

That’s just an excerpt. Read the whole thing there. Of course, what may be the biggest testimony in favor of the growing consensus that the ARTS OF DARK AND LIGHT series has unexpectedly become the best epic fantasy series going is the total silence on the part of those who usually don’t hesitate to speak out critically every time I recommend a book, or, in some cases, exhale. Just as SF/F sites like Black Gate and File 770 inexplicably have nothing to say about many of the very best-selling authors in science fiction, SF authors such as Vaughn Heppner and B.V. Larson, who have sold literal millions of books, they are silent on the subject of a massive epic fantasy saga that some readers now consider to be the best to have appeared in decades.

Now, I am under absolutely no illusion that my work will ever reach the lofty height of Tolkien’s. It can’t. It won’t. Tolkien’s grasp of history, myth, and language are deeper than mine, and the greatness of his work reflects that. The Lord of the Rings is the greatest work of science fiction and fantasy fiction, and, based on my extensive reading of fiction dating back to Homer and the Lady Murasaki, it will remain so for the foreseeable future.

But that does not mean that it cannot be exceeded in various areas, some of which happen to be particular strengths of mine. The martial aspects, the magic systems, the politics, and the socio-sexuality are all elements that can be improved upon. Even the philosophy of evil, in my estimation, is rather on the thin side; who would actually want to serve Sauron? I never found Saruman’s switching sides to be terribly convincing; yes, everyone wants to be on the winning side, but what is the point of being a lieutenant of evil if it requires living in squalor surrounded by orcs?

If nothing else, elf chicks are hotter. So are human chicks, and, arguably, dwarf chicks, for that matter. Is living in a mud pit surrounded by howling, bestial orcs really the way a quasi-immortal wants to spend the rest of his days? I’m just not seeing a credible motivation there.

And let’s not even get started on the whole “fly in on a squadron of eagles and drop the One Ring in Mount Doom” strategy.

Anyhow, it’s very flattering, and encouraging, to see the latest installment in the series has been so well-received. Fans needn’t be concerned that any such praise will go to my head, as to the contrary, it has inspired me to buckle down, grit my teeth, and try to raise my game even more. When even those who openly detest me are willing to admit that AODAL is markedly better than ASOIAF and genuinely merits comparison to The Lord of the Rings, then perhaps I’ll be willing to contemplate a little coasting.

In the meantime, I have about another one million words to write before AODAL will be finished. The only proper verdict at this point is: it’s too soon to tell. I’m barely one-third of the way through the monster. I expect it will be around 1,660,000 words in the end.

Summa Elvetica in print

Utrum Aelvi habeant anima naturaliter sibi unita. 

Do elves have souls? In a fantasy world in which the realm of Man is dominated by a rich and powerful Church, the Sanctified Father Charity IV has decided the time is ripe to make a conclusive inquiry into the matter. If, in his infallible wisdom, he determines that elves do have immortal souls, then the Church will be obliged to bring the Sacred Word of the Immaculate to them. But if he decides they do not, there will be holy war. Powerful factions line up on both sides of the debate. War-hungry magnates cast greedy eyes at the ancient wealth of the elven kingdoms and pray for a declaration that elves are little more than animals. And there are men who are willing to do more than merely pray.

The delegation sent to the High King of the Elves is led by two great theologians, brilliant philosophers who champion opposite sides of the great debate. And in the Sanctiff’s own stead, he sends the young nobleman, Marcus Valerius. Marcus Valerius is a rising scholar in the Church, talented, fearless, and devout. But he is inexperienced in the ways of the world and nothing in his life has prepared him for the beauty of the elves–or the monumental betrayal into which he rides.


SUMMA ELVETICA: A CASUISTRY OF THE ELVISH CONTROVERSY is the prelude to the massive epic high fantasy saga ARTS OF DARK AND LIGHT. In addition to the novel, it contains eight additional tales of Selenoth, including the Hugo Award finalist, Opera Vita Aeterna. 520 pages. $27.99 hardcover, $19.99 paperback.

If you’re collecting the series for your library, you’ll definitely want this one to go with the other doorstopper. And speaking of series, isn’t it fortuitous that WorldCon is experimenting with a Best Series Hugo this year?

An eligible work for this special award  is a multi-volume science fiction or fantasy story, unified by elements such as plot, characters, setting, and presentation, which has appeared in at least three volumes consisting of a total of at least 240,000 words by the close of the calendar year 2016, at least one volume of which was published in 2016. 


All right, let’s see here:

  • Multi-volume science fiction or fantasy story. Fantasy. Check.
  • Unified by elements such as plot, characters, setting, and presentation. Check.
  • Has appeared in at least three volumes. Three volumes. Check.
  • A total of at least 240,000 words. 634,590. Check.
  • At least one volume published in 2016. A SEA OF SKULLS. Check.

It looks like the Rabid Puppies have a strong candidate for Best Series here. Isn’t that nice? And as the reviewers have noted, as the series have continued, AODAL is stacking up increasingly well against ASOIAF.

Meanwhile, over at Castalia House, Dragon Award-winner Nick Cole has made his debut with a bang, with a post entitled You are Fake Sci-Fi:

Fake Sci-Fi is ruining actual Sci-Fi and here’s who’s to blame: Fake Science Fiction Writers. But first… a little background.

Science fiction has always been a rather fragile affair. At times it has not had the significance it enjoys now. In fact, there were times when it was, for all practical purposes, dead. Just a few grandmasters held the torch during those times, breathing life into the guttering flame during those dark unsexy years of the seventies and eighties when it was just us true believers. But now it’s enjoying a cultural renaissance.

Or is it?

If you’ve heard me talk before, you know that I have a point I occasionally rail on. And it’s this: SciFi is a weak medium that’s been high jacked by radical leftist thinkers recently, to advance cultural change through imaginative storytelling both visual and written in order to download their weird thinking into the collective hardrive.

Read the whole thing there.

The return of the trilogy

Just a little clearing the plate as we gear up for some new releases, beginning with the much-anticipated Appendix N: A Literary History of Dungeons & Dragons from Jeffro Johnson. The three Eternal Warriors novels are now available again on Amazon. If you are a New Release subscriber, be sure to check your email. These were my first solo novels, and it tends to show, particularly in the first book. They don’t need to be read in order.

Mariel thought she was the guardian angel of an ordinary child — until the night an army of fallen angels takes an unholy interest in her charge. Overcome by an angel prince of awesome power, Mariel can only watch as a terrible evil descends upon the home of the boy she is guarding, then vanishes with him. 307 pages. $4.99. Available on Kindle Unlimited.
On a fallen planet, evil may be defeated, but it is never vanquished. When the evil archangel Kaym seeks vengeance, he does not aim at those who belong to his divine Enemy, but at the vulnerable souls around them. Two troubled boys are easy prey for Kaym, and as the high school prom approaches, they are willing to serve as his chosen instruments of death. 337 pages. $4.99.
Book Three: The Wrath of Angels
There is war among the Fallen. As the dread daughter of Moloch cuts a broad swath through the demon princes of Europe, the long-conquered Faery kingdom of Albion threatens to rise against its dark master. Treachery and intrigue are the order of the day as evil battles evil, and jackals lurk amidst the shadows to devour the defeated. 346 pages. $4.99.

From the past reviews.

  • As others have noted, the dialogue is the worst part of the book. Considering that this was Mr. Beale’s first novel, we immediately discover that he is not a most naturally gifted writer. While it always feels evident that he has made great efforts to craft the dialogue carefully, there are moments where it titters on being banal and cringe-worthy.
  • The story was alright, but the Christian message was not subtle, and ended up being a complete turnoff. American Protestant Evangelical Christians of a certain variety will enjoy this, though. I didn’t, and can’t recommend it at all.
  • The book has a couple of strengths that make it unique in Christian fiction. First, the author is honest about the power of evil. He does not whitewash, downplay or ignore the temptations of evil and it’s potentially consuming power. Beale represents evil as the willful choice and temptation that it is, and in doing so incorporates it’s tragic consequences effectively into the story, without diminishing the power of God’s grace and redemption.

The World in Shadow

  • Not only an amazing sequel to the first story, but dives right into the logical consequences in ‘real life’ of the universe the author described in the opening book. This second book, I must say, was even more enjoyable and immediately identifiable than the first. I literally could not put the book down once I got into the story line a few dozen pages into the book.
  • I have been most impressed by Mr. Beale as an author. His development from his first novel to his second is phenomenal. What strikes me most is his dead-on ability to catch the dialogue and culture of his characters. There are few writers who come close to his ability at this. More than that, he is writing not only page-turning stuff, but page-turning stuff with a brain.
  • This book was better than the first, without a single doubt. It brought the spiritual war to Earth, where it indeed is being fought daily.

The Wrath of Angels

  • This is the third, and in my opinion, the best, story of the War in Heaven trilogy, though this book departs considerably from the other two. While the first two are very noticeably ‘young adult’ in their writing style, this one approaches a regular novel, albeit it is rather unusual in terms of its content. All are written in the vein of C. S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy and Milton’s Paradise Lost, taking the perspective of a ‘fallen world’ very literally.
  • This, the third book in the Eternal Warriors Series, shows a significant jump both in Mr. Beale’s story-writing abilities and the complexity of the Eternal Warriors setting. One experiences the world of this third book as significantly more expansive, alive, and realistic than the world in the first book. Likewise, the internal worlds of these characters also loom larger. 
  • Excellent finale to this excellent trilogy. I felt a little sad when I finished as I wished the characters were around for a fourth book. I especially enjoyed the spiritual dimension – both the good and evil. Fast paced and fun read. The monsters were enticingly freakish.

How big is your brand?

Castalia author Mike Cernovich puts things in perspective:

You can monitor my brand in real-time on Amazon by watching my sales rank. You can do this for any author. Amazon ranks books based on how many copies have been sold over the past hour to 24 hours.

  • Mike Cernovich, Gorilla Mindset – #9,431
  • Robert Cialdini, Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade Kindle Edition by  #5,476
  • Scott Adams, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life – #6,548
  • Lena Dunham, Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s “Learned” – #23,209
  • MILO, Dangerous – #897
  • Donald Trump, The Art of the Deal – #1,646
  • Hillary Clinton, Stronger Together – #152,422
  • Mike Cernovich, MAGA Mindset – #47,065
  • Ben Shapiro, True Allegiance –  #40,936
  • Vox Day, SJWs Always Lie – #5,022
  • Mike Cernovich, Danger & Play: Essays on Masculinity – #27,356

For those keeping track at home. I’ve surpassed Ben Shapiro, who had a ten-year head start on me and also has many billionaire sugar daddies, and am on par with Vox, whose IQ is way higher than mine and who has been writing longer than I have. (He’s my editor, proof that I work with the best!)

My brand is bigger than a Hillary Clinton surrogate (Lena Dunham) who had her own TV show, and not as large as MILO, Trump, or Scott Adams.

MILO is a once-in-a-generation talent, so there’s no competing with him, ever. No one can.

Amazon sales rank is much more relevant than the mainstream publishers, and the authors published by them, want to admit it is. Yes, it doesn’t capture all possible sales, but the fact is that it captures far more than is required for a statistically relevant sample.

And while it is only a snapshot in time, and cannot capture the conventional sales from major publishers made via the bookstores, it is a vastly more accurate, and comprehensive, picture than that provided by the newspaper bestseller lists, or, God forbid, the SJW-converged awards. As Spacebunny mentioned to me yesterday, the Newbery Medal used to be an indicator of great books you should read, like The Black Cauldron, A Wrinkle in Time and The Dark is Rising. Now it is a reliable indicator of books you should avoid reading at all costs.

But the fact of the matter is that the Amazon rankings correctly indicate that bestselling authors such as Vaughn Heppner (#1,005), B.V. Larson (#884), and David VanDyke (#2,058) have bigger personal brands, and are much bigger influences on SF readers, than conventional authors such as John Scalzi (#8,062), Charles Stross (#9,127), and even China Mieville (#28,169), especially since the latter are heavily reliant upon their publisher’s brands, distribution, and marketing efforts. Sure, more people recognize the names of the latter trio, but far more people actually buy and read books published by the former. And that’s the aspect of brand that counts.

At Castalia, we’re intent on building up the personal brands of our authors, not churning through authors with one predatory two-book deal after another, sitting on the rights as long as possible, then begrudgingly purchasing the mercenary allegiance of those who sell the best. Whether an author sells 50,000 books or 25 books, if we like the quality they are producing, we’ll keep working with them. That’s why you almost always see the authors we’ve published bring us additional books. And also that’s why we’ve invited our authors to begin blogging at the Castalia House blog, including Nick Cole, David the Good, Peter Grant, and Mr. John C. Wright, Esq.

Our goal this year is to make Castalia House the best, most intelligent, SF/F-related site on the Internet. I hope you’ll be a part of that.

Two questions

Both Selenoth-related. And yes, this is an example of the stuff we discuss at Brainstorm from time to time, but I need more general opinions on these two items.

1. A number of people have been saying they would like to see some sort of summary of the previous book in order to help refresh their memory of A THRONE OF BONES, or even to let them jump right into A SEA OF SKULLS. I really don’t like the idea of a conventional “What Has Gone Before”, since I don’t like intruding on the text, but I can imagine where a letter or two, such as appeared in the first book, might be apt. They would go into the Extended Edition, probably after the Prologue. Yes/No?

2. A few people have encouraged me to crowdfund the two audiobooks, because they are so long that it’s hard to find top quality narrators interested in ACX’s revenue share option. While we do have one good English volunteer presently tackling the short stories and Summa, it’s going to take him a long time just to get through those; I think he’s wrapping up Witchking and is moving on to Wardog soon. (We’ll put them out together with Summa, just as we’re doing with the print.) I’m a little leery about the crowdfunding idea, since you guys are already supporting so many things and this is simply not something I consider a priority on the order of Infogalactic, or even Brainstorm. A top-quality narrator goes for 200 to 400 per hour, and ATOB alone will require 36 hours. Do the math and you can see the problem. Anyhow, share your thoughts on this, if you have any.

To be blunt, I don’t listen to audiobooks myself, so it’s just never been a priority for me. But, I understand some people love them, and I can understand that fans of epic fantasy probably would enjoy having 72+ hours of Selenoth to listen to. So, I’m open to ideas and suggestions. Please note that I’m not looking for volunteers; we have a good volunteer already and I’m not willing to do anything that isn’t going to be both professional and excellent.