I 've been musing about podcast ideas and possibly reviving Rolecasters . I'd want completely overhauled setup, objectives, direction, and content matter. So once all of those fall into place, I guess we'll see if the name "Rolecasters" still fits. My dedicated co host has moved on to other endeavors, but has pledged her support as long as she doesn't have to do anything. Honestly I've missed the weekly+ shows and all the great friends made along the journey. The rate at which we produced content back then would sink my currently running projects, so if there were a return it would be with a more leisurely cadence, especially since it would be now be a solo project on my part. While I continue to mull over the prospects, I thought it would be appropriate to share an almost decade long cherished podcast, Mysterious Universe . Their focus has always been on entertaining storytelling and, upon reflection, the majority of tales told are incredibly pulp. Alt...

I came across the perfect analogy of my own pulp awakening in John C Wright's foreword to Jeffro Johnson's Appendix N: The Literary History of Dungeons & Dragons . "Imagine if you had lived in a house for decades, as had your father before you, and grandfather, and you thought you knew all its halls and chambers. Idly, some rainy day, or when the snow has covered all the roads, you take up a lantern and go to see what is stored in those old boxes in the cellar, or where that one small door you never opened before leads. You pry the door open, and it groans on rusted hinges, and beyond are caves of wonder, heaped with treasure. Here, like a column of fire, stands a strange genii and other spirits bound to serve your family. They are willing to carry you whirling through the air like an autumn leaf, in less time than it takes to gasp in awe, to far and fabled lands beyond the cerulean ocean, to elfish gardens of dangerous glamor, to jeweled mountains, alabaster cities...

Children in school today will not be prepared for the jobs of the future. Our education system wasn’t much of a problem until now. The system addressed the 19th century industrial revolution needs for labour that could perform simple and repetitive tasks. But that era is long over. Our children must gear up for the ‘gig economy’. By the time today’s graduates are 38, they would have gone through 10 to maybe 14 jobs. Moreover, 15 years from now, 65% of graduates will be going into jobs that don’t yet exist. Given these trends, lessons taught in classrooms no longer seem relevant for our increasingly tumultuous world. Teachers are wrestling with how to break away from archaic pedagogies and curricula. Students are jumping off the education conveyor belt unequipped for an unforeseen future. Governments are eager to develop knowledge societies but are grappling to find concrete strategies to get there. A "gig economy" is not guaranteed, that's just the current catchph...

In relation to my Fourth Turning vision , which was in fact an allusion to the book by the same name , I want to share the salient works of Robert David Steele . Here is an article from the Guardian discussing the cusp of a revolution already set upon us. “We are at the end of a five-thousand-year-plus historical process during which human society grew in scale while it abandoned the early indigenous wisdom councils and communal decision-making,” he writes in The Open Source Everything Manifesto. “Power was centralised in the hands of increasingly specialised ‘elites’ and ‘experts’ who not only failed to achieve all they promised but used secrecy and the control of information to deceive the public into allowing them to retain power over community resources that they ultimately looted.”  Matrix on the preconditions for revolution There are a number of red flag catch phrases in the article to be wary of, but in terms of the impending positive revolution I think he may be on...

2016 was rough. Beneath the waves I was beaten against the rocks of fate and blinded by the slurry of poor decisions that once settled there years before. 2017 my head is up above the water's chaos. I can breath again. I can think again. React with more than reptile survival instincts. From here I see a great wave swelling. Time to swim hard to ride that wave. Stay, rest, and be content. The waves will push us under. Swim, ride, and be honest. The waves will carry us into a beautiful new era.

I present to you 2017's reading list. Some are for research, some leisure, and others inspiration. Many of these works will be an impetus for articles written here throughout the year. You'll notice quite a few classics because my goal is to get to the meat of these timeless concepts. I do however have a completely separate reading list for my work as editor at  Whitehart Publishing  for our pulp revival project. The Last Wish: Introducing The Witcher Blood of Elves (The Witcher Book 1) An Arrow's Flight: A Legend of the Western Shores (Legends of the Western Shores Book 1) The Last Witchking Arthurian Romances The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 1, c.500-c.700 Medieval Ghost Stories: An Anthology of Miracles, Marvels and Prodigies Appendix N: The Literary History of Dungeons & Dragons Understanding Bitcoin: Cryptography, Engineering and Economics Split-Second Persuasion: The Ancient Art and New Science of Changing Minds Influence: The Psych...