An excellent article that hits the spot. Most of the stuff I read is pre-woke now (my childhood reading material was HP Lovecraft and Dennis Wheatley so I may have been groomed). Although I picked up a modern book at my local village Telephone Box Book Exchange called “Yellow Face” which was written by a Chinese woman, as a white woman, who posed as a Chinese woman to get a Chinese historical novel published (cultural appropriation etc) and was then doxed and cancelled. An airport lounge book with many flaws but reflects what you are getting at in a world that most of us haven’t a clue about. It’s actually criminal in my book.
Wheatley's a really interesting writer. I get the impression that he's not at all widely read now, but in his day he was hugely popular. I discovered him via some of the Gregory Sallust stories when I was a kid, Sallust being a sort of proto-James Bond WWII secret agent.
I didn't read any of his occult novels back then, but last year I picked up The Devil Rides Out and really enjoyed it. It's fascinating that he included a thinly-disguised portrait of Aleister Crowley in it as the arch-baddie. Interesting too that he's cited as such an influence on Black Sabbath, one of my favourite bands. There's a connection to another great band too, Led Zeppelin, via Crowley and the occult generally.
I tried reading Yellowface too, but got a bit bored and DNF’d. Is it any good? If yes, maybe I’ll give it another shot. Not to be confused with Conan Doyle short story, The Yellow Face, which, being a Sherlock Holmes story, is very good.
I wouldn’t call it “good” but it was interesting to me because I usually avoid anything woke like the plague, even though it was satire and funny in parts. It revealed to me the total horror of intersectionality and the social media tyranny of likes for those in jobs that require public approval, although I’m not sure if it did quite what the author wanted it to do. Spoiler: the sacked Chinese-American assistant who recommended the rejected sensitivity reader did it😱
Thanks Nick. Other than a revolution, during which most people from most institutions are put on a very large boat and sent to China, I fear nothing will change.
One of my daughters read "English & American Literature' at UEA in Norwich around 15 years ago. I'm still amazed that she had never (until I asked her recently) heard of Ayn Rand or "Atlas Shrugged". It was three years of Marxist, Feminist, Critical Theory indoctrination, that has left a lasting mark on her thinking. And I had to pay for it :( .
My younger daughter graduated from Cardiff last year with a degree in English Lit, and has expressed a wish to work in publishing. I'm fairly gloomy about this, for obvious reasons. She's not especially woke, but she's 22 and has the usual leftish-liberal opinions of young women these days.
Sadly, I think she would probably fit in and go along with all the nonsense, at least for the moment, without even realising what she was doing. Fortunately, for the moment she's occupied with a job for a PR company, and she seems disinclined to move to any of the cities where publishing is centred, so it may not happen.
What a sad thing that it's come to the point where I hope she doesn't go into what, until a couple of decades ago, was often an honourable profession.
I remember back in the mid-90s, the people in publishing that I knew from the book trade were generally fairly sound. Especially the publishers' reps who'd come around to the shop punting new books, they were usually pretty down to earth and fun, and could be relied upon to let us have free proof copies and even occasionally take us out for dinner and a few drinks with an author they wanted to promote.
I have virtually stopped buying or reading new fiction since early covid days. I find so much in it now that is preachy or openly left wing. Even with some of my once favourite authors. Still, it's given me the chance to read more non-fiction (depressing mostly but very eye-opening) and to revisit some of my favourite classic writers. I don't think I'll be returning to modern fiction in the near future.
Off topic I know (please forgive me) but I was pleased to hear Nicholas De Santo mention Nick in a recent interview with Fleur Hassan-Nahoum ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kNGzwkRcyY - mention @ 19.30 ). The interview is well worth viewing anyway.
Ha, that's nice from Nicholas. I was actually being quite rude at the moment he quoted, but he had said something that riled me online. Probably accidentally. He's a good guy though.
John O’Sullivan said "All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing."
Publishers drift ever leftwards until they produce nothing but conformist left wing pap. They have gone woke and now they deserve to go broke.
They deserve to die and it cannot happen soon enough. Any tech that accelerates that decline is welcome. Schumpeter's creative destruction.
New publishers and platforms need to sweep away the old. Substack is pretty impressive but it still astounds me how few people are aware of it, even now.
This article was a great read. You are doing all the right things to accelerate that revolution.
Amalgamations and rationalisations in the industry of publishing have created enormous publishing empires which, despite their might, are not immune from the ebb and flow of trend or the stagnant shallows of social and cultural infections.
The publishing houses of the past were generally staffed by discriminating, well-read staff, steeped in the quality and value of literature. Come the internet, such staff have now been culled: read any contemporary periodical, newspaper, magazine or (even) book, and it might be clear that sub-editors, copy-editors and proof-readers have also been sacrificed to that ever-greedy monstrous Moby-Dick of mammon.
The outsize captains of publishing will continue to chart their own course to the shallows or on to the rocks; while, perhaps, the only possibility of navigation to a literature of any depth might lie with small, independent publishers able to withstand being gobbled-up by titans of the deep, brave enough to weather any storm, and able chart their own course. They are already out there, tiny lighthouses of hope.
I was taught English Literature by firstly a Canadian who - as school rumour unsupported by evidence - was the inspiration for the Robin Williams character in Dead Poets Society. He was later replaced by a Pole who finagled his way out of Communist Poland by sneaking his family out and then sea kayaking to Germany.
I suspect I was the last generation to receive a non-woke education.
You’re absolutely right. I was going to mention it but didn’t want to come across as a kook. Nevertheless, it’s only a sort of puckish, contrarian first wave liberalism that could probably still have a place in a 1950s homogenous society.
Good to be reminded of how shit it is to get traction. There are however a number of alternative publishers now. Imperium Press for starters. Contact Greg Johnson at Counter Currents. Legatum Press. The European Conservative publish an array of articles and essays frequently. The Plough also is a religious based publication and does similar to the EC. Thought of self publishing? New Culture Forum produces work (although personally, I think they are not radical enough) such as the recent ‘Immigration The Betrayal of Britain. Vauban recently published the latest edition of Camp of the Saints. Professor E Micheal Jones at Fidelity Press is contactable. As are the guys at Antelope Hill Publishing. There’s more, but I’m sounding like the obsessed fan from Blades of Glory. Good luck Nick.
While some of those are good, they are all, from what I know or can tell, niche right wing publishers. While it may be better than nothing, the problem is we apparently can't have a publisher that just publishes good stuff, particularly in the realm of fiction, without regard for politics. I have heard rumours of eg JK Rowling's agent setting something up for this reason, which would be interesting. But I don't think a niche, very right wing thing addresses what I'm talking about.
An excellent article that hits the spot. Most of the stuff I read is pre-woke now (my childhood reading material was HP Lovecraft and Dennis Wheatley so I may have been groomed). Although I picked up a modern book at my local village Telephone Box Book Exchange called “Yellow Face” which was written by a Chinese woman, as a white woman, who posed as a Chinese woman to get a Chinese historical novel published (cultural appropriation etc) and was then doxed and cancelled. An airport lounge book with many flaws but reflects what you are getting at in a world that most of us haven’t a clue about. It’s actually criminal in my book.
Wheatley's a really interesting writer. I get the impression that he's not at all widely read now, but in his day he was hugely popular. I discovered him via some of the Gregory Sallust stories when I was a kid, Sallust being a sort of proto-James Bond WWII secret agent.
I didn't read any of his occult novels back then, but last year I picked up The Devil Rides Out and really enjoyed it. It's fascinating that he included a thinly-disguised portrait of Aleister Crowley in it as the arch-baddie. Interesting too that he's cited as such an influence on Black Sabbath, one of my favourite bands. There's a connection to another great band too, Led Zeppelin, via Crowley and the occult generally.
I still use the phrase “I have made a very careful study…”😊
I tried reading Yellowface too, but got a bit bored and DNF’d. Is it any good? If yes, maybe I’ll give it another shot. Not to be confused with Conan Doyle short story, The Yellow Face, which, being a Sherlock Holmes story, is very good.
I wouldn’t call it “good” but it was interesting to me because I usually avoid anything woke like the plague, even though it was satire and funny in parts. It revealed to me the total horror of intersectionality and the social media tyranny of likes for those in jobs that require public approval, although I’m not sure if it did quite what the author wanted it to do. Spoiler: the sacked Chinese-American assistant who recommended the rejected sensitivity reader did it😱
Thanks. I, too, avoid anything woke, be it books, TV, film, like the plague. Absolutely loathe the preachy, right-on, smug tone of the stuff.
Thanks Nick. Other than a revolution, during which most people from most institutions are put on a very large boat and sent to China, I fear nothing will change.
One of my daughters read "English & American Literature' at UEA in Norwich around 15 years ago. I'm still amazed that she had never (until I asked her recently) heard of Ayn Rand or "Atlas Shrugged". It was three years of Marxist, Feminist, Critical Theory indoctrination, that has left a lasting mark on her thinking. And I had to pay for it :( .
To be fair Rand's prose is terrible, but a student of literature (or politics) should certainly know who she is.
I really enjoyed Atlas Shrugged but it was overlong and did get bored of the tedious Money Speech that most people go gaga for.
My younger daughter graduated from Cardiff last year with a degree in English Lit, and has expressed a wish to work in publishing. I'm fairly gloomy about this, for obvious reasons. She's not especially woke, but she's 22 and has the usual leftish-liberal opinions of young women these days.
Sadly, I think she would probably fit in and go along with all the nonsense, at least for the moment, without even realising what she was doing. Fortunately, for the moment she's occupied with a job for a PR company, and she seems disinclined to move to any of the cities where publishing is centred, so it may not happen.
What a sad thing that it's come to the point where I hope she doesn't go into what, until a couple of decades ago, was often an honourable profession.
I remember back in the mid-90s, the people in publishing that I knew from the book trade were generally fairly sound. Especially the publishers' reps who'd come around to the shop punting new books, they were usually pretty down to earth and fun, and could be relied upon to let us have free proof copies and even occasionally take us out for dinner and a few drinks with an author they wanted to promote.
I have virtually stopped buying or reading new fiction since early covid days. I find so much in it now that is preachy or openly left wing. Even with some of my once favourite authors. Still, it's given me the chance to read more non-fiction (depressing mostly but very eye-opening) and to revisit some of my favourite classic writers. I don't think I'll be returning to modern fiction in the near future.
Yes it’s terrible with some noble exceptions like The Shards.
Off topic I know (please forgive me) but I was pleased to hear Nicholas De Santo mention Nick in a recent interview with Fleur Hassan-Nahoum ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kNGzwkRcyY - mention @ 19.30 ). The interview is well worth viewing anyway.
Ha, that's nice from Nicholas. I was actually being quite rude at the moment he quoted, but he had said something that riled me online. Probably accidentally. He's a good guy though.
John O’Sullivan said "All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing."
Publishers drift ever leftwards until they produce nothing but conformist left wing pap. They have gone woke and now they deserve to go broke.
They deserve to die and it cannot happen soon enough. Any tech that accelerates that decline is welcome. Schumpeter's creative destruction.
New publishers and platforms need to sweep away the old. Substack is pretty impressive but it still astounds me how few people are aware of it, even now.
This article was a great read. You are doing all the right things to accelerate that revolution.
I thought that was Conquest but I do vaguely recall hearing it was originally someone else.
Thanks for the kind words about the article!
A mighty thumbs up from me for this episode.
Amalgamations and rationalisations in the industry of publishing have created enormous publishing empires which, despite their might, are not immune from the ebb and flow of trend or the stagnant shallows of social and cultural infections.
The publishing houses of the past were generally staffed by discriminating, well-read staff, steeped in the quality and value of literature. Come the internet, such staff have now been culled: read any contemporary periodical, newspaper, magazine or (even) book, and it might be clear that sub-editors, copy-editors and proof-readers have also been sacrificed to that ever-greedy monstrous Moby-Dick of mammon.
The outsize captains of publishing will continue to chart their own course to the shallows or on to the rocks; while, perhaps, the only possibility of navigation to a literature of any depth might lie with small, independent publishers able to withstand being gobbled-up by titans of the deep, brave enough to weather any storm, and able chart their own course. They are already out there, tiny lighthouses of hope.
I was taught English Literature by firstly a Canadian who - as school rumour unsupported by evidence - was the inspiration for the Robin Williams character in Dead Poets Society. He was later replaced by a Pole who finagled his way out of Communist Poland by sneaking his family out and then sea kayaking to Germany.
I suspect I was the last generation to receive a non-woke education.
Interesting. Although DPS does have a clear liberal bias I might talk about another time.
You’re absolutely right. I was going to mention it but didn’t want to come across as a kook. Nevertheless, it’s only a sort of puckish, contrarian first wave liberalism that could probably still have a place in a 1950s homogenous society.
We're all kooks here, Ian.
Good to be reminded of how shit it is to get traction. There are however a number of alternative publishers now. Imperium Press for starters. Contact Greg Johnson at Counter Currents. Legatum Press. The European Conservative publish an array of articles and essays frequently. The Plough also is a religious based publication and does similar to the EC. Thought of self publishing? New Culture Forum produces work (although personally, I think they are not radical enough) such as the recent ‘Immigration The Betrayal of Britain. Vauban recently published the latest edition of Camp of the Saints. Professor E Micheal Jones at Fidelity Press is contactable. As are the guys at Antelope Hill Publishing. There’s more, but I’m sounding like the obsessed fan from Blades of Glory. Good luck Nick.
While some of those are good, they are all, from what I know or can tell, niche right wing publishers. While it may be better than nothing, the problem is we apparently can't have a publisher that just publishes good stuff, particularly in the realm of fiction, without regard for politics. I have heard rumours of eg JK Rowling's agent setting something up for this reason, which would be interesting. But I don't think a niche, very right wing thing addresses what I'm talking about.