The Holidays are over and I hope you enjoyed yours. It’s now a new decade, so it’s time to get back to business. 2020 is going to be the biggest year in the Masculine Epic’s history – by far. As it’s a new decade, it’s time to cross new frontiers. Here’s what you can expect here in 2020.
In a brief overview…
- The posts I will and will not do here.
- My new books.
- My new wrestling show.
- My big masculine science fiction book.
- My new Patreon.
Historical and persuasion posts will remain staples
Content about the great men and feats in history will be as prevalent as ever. It’s especially important to share this knowledge when our “intellectual” and “leadership” class is doing its utmost to erase them in their twisted quest for a “utopia.” People, and young men in particular, need to hear these stories, so I will continue sharing them. They also interest me, so that helps.
Likewise, my posts about persuasion and influence will remain as much a part of the diet of this site as they always have been. Persuasion skills will only get more important as the world becomes more connected by technology. Posts on the art and science of influence will be as prevalent as ever.
Less political posts
This will sound paradoxical, given that we’re now in a presidential election year, but I will continue trends from 2019 and post less about politics. Truth be told, all those political posts in the midst of the 2016 election exhausted me. If something extraordinary happens (like this escalation in Iran – that will be the next post), I’ll talk about it, but otherwise my political posts will be limited to my quarterly election forecasts. We learned back then that news cycles don’t determine elections, so I will not comment on them.
I also don’t have a new book on this topic to promote this time around, which makes the decision easier.
I know that a lot of you found me for my takes on this subject and might be disappointed (I know this because my emails to you tend to get more engagement on political topics), but rest assured, the quality of what political posts I release will make up for the lack in quantity. You’ll still get takes from me you will only rarely find elsewhere, and will certainly not find in the fake news media.
Truth be told, Stumped already said all the important things.
I aim to be less of a cultural critic in the first place because I think the tide has turned against the woke mob. In the second place, it’s because 2020 is the year where the Epic transitions from being a culture critic to a culture creator.
2020: The year of new products
I haven’t released a new product here since 2016. There are a couple of reasons for this, but the drought ends in 2020. I’ve spent a lot of time growing this website and I thank you for reading it. Now’s the time to move it up to the next level.
I will be setting up a Patreon page for premier, next-level content, but here’s what you can expect to come down the pipeline in 2020.
The link above is to the page under construction. Bookmark it and check back later.
More small books
“The Big One” will be posted below, but there will be littler, non-fiction books, as well as tie-ins to “The Big One.” Topics will include a personal discipline plan. In the spirit of Scott Adams’ lessons in How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, this book will be a compendium of all the simple systems of behavior I’ve learned over the years that will double or triple your productivity.
Another small book will include topics about everyday persuasion in conversation and writing, and how to get better at it, though this is just in the planning phases.
There’s another one about everyday behavioral systems you can use to become more creative – and follow through on that creativity.
And there’s a bigger one, which will be released before those. I’ve often wrote about the decisive battles in history here. Last year, I began a major project to do a comprehensive update to Joseph B. Mitchell’s 20 Decisive Battles of the World, bumping the number to 100 and taking the additional challenge of ranking them in overall importance. Each entry is backed by authoritative primary and secondary sources.
That project is far from done. I decided to put it on hold because my big fictional story was more important to me (more below) but a sizable chunk of a first draft is finished. I’m going to release that portion of the first draft exclusively to Patreon supporters. If you’ve liked my historical posts before, these ones go into much more detail and carry many more lessons for us all today, lessons which our “leadership class” refuses to heed.
Most people are obviously not reading this material.
I will be continually adding new battles to the chapters already on Patreon after the initial release, until the final book form comes into being (whenever that is, it won’t be this year).
It’s also going to be a great resource if you’re a student and need to study or write a paper!
Outskirts Battledome Wrestling
My production this year won’t be limited to the written word. I don’t just aim to inform you. I aim to entertain you. And I aim to be help breathe new life into a culture stultified and sanitized by corporate whitewashing and brain-dead political correctness. This is the first of these initiatives. It’s small, but significant, given how big YouTube is a part of our culture now.
Some of you are aware that I run the Outskirts Battledome Wiki, which focuses on cross-fictional battles. It’s an opportunity that came my way.
For years, we had been talking about creating a wrestling show featuring the characters we routinely compare.
Professional wrestling is one of my guilty pleasures in life. I enjoy it for the craft of storytelling. It’s also one of the few avenues where you can live test persuasion in real time by seeing how a live audience reacts to the wrestlers and what they’re doing.
Well now, I’ll be part of my own federation, as the showrunner and booker, along with a team from the OBD.
In Outskirts Battledome Wrestling, you’ll see characters you know and love like Goku, Thanos, Emperor Palpatine, Solid Snake, Shredder, and many more battle for gold and pride. We’ll construct rivalries and storylines to spruce up the action you see in the ring.
If you appreciate good action and creative storytelling, and ever wondered what would happen if these characters met in battle (and I’m guessing you have), this is the show for you.
We’re well underway to launching our alpha episode – a tournament to crown the first world champion – and here’s a special preview.
This tournament should come out in January, so look out for it. Depending on how successful it is (and the legalities of it all), there will be special stuff for Patrons, but those announcements will come later.
The Big One – The Red War
This is the year.
I’ve hesitated, and to some extent, I’m glad I did. I’ve improved as a writer beyond measure since the first draft was completed, let alone when I began work on this story. I also wanted to grow the website and have a bigger audience before releasing it. Now, I’m comfortable with where I am, and I have you to thank for that.
The Red War is a story about an off-world conflict that erupts out of arrogance, miscommunication, and miscalculation. It’s the latest in a timeless tale of how man, brimming with hubris in his vision of universal dominion, unleashes forces he cannot control – and which might just pulverize him.
More personally, The Red War is a story about three people who the whirlwinds of fortune decide to uproot and blow onto the center stage of history.
It’s the tale of a young man beset with a sudden loss, a loss which will force him to earn his masculinity and prove himself as a man in a world gone mad – but at what price?
It’s the story of a young woman with high hopes but shattered dreams, whose natural talent for inspiring devotion in others suddenly thrusts her into a crossfire of political chaos and into the throngs of a confused world desperate for leadership – but can she handle it, and what will it do to her psyche in the process?
And it’s the saga of a grizzled, jaded veteran forced from his embittered isolation into the forefront of the war, where he would become a living legend to some, a bloodthirsty terrorist to others – but who is he really, and can he find his humanity again under such hellish conditions?
Jared at Legends of Men talked about science fiction not being conducive to masculine storytelling. With The Red War, I’ll accept the challenge, although, as you can tell by now, that’s not its only focus. It’s a story about action, the frailty of human nature, statecraft, and speculations on the future of warfare. Femininity and its role in the sweep of history is also explored, and there are some female warriors, though I’m not obnoxious about it. That’s the biggest problem with the modern entertainment industry.
I aim to have part one of The Red War out in the summer, though external circumstances may force me to push it back. Also note that The Red War is just a working title. The real title will be released closer to D-Day. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, Patrons and loyal email subscribers will get the first collection of a series of essays looking at the war from the standpoint of future historians, to get a taste of things to come. That should be out by early spring. Make sure you subscribe or become a Patron when the latter goes live. Email subscribers and Patrons will get exclusive updates and tie-ins.
I want 2020 to be my most fruitful year ever, and it’s thanks to you coming on the journey to glory with me that I’m in a position to do all of this.
Truth be told, my most ambitious goal is to start my own media and advertising firm, particularly to service the guys that have been censored and squelched by woke insanity. Everyone knows we need some real, raw, unscripted energy in today’s culture. That’s where I aim to come in. These are the seeds from which a garden will sprout.
2020 is going to be the year this all gets started. Truth be told, I’m toying with changing the name and URL of the site, but that would be something for much later on, and I still need to make sure all circles are squared if I do so.
Beyond myself, I invite you to contribute your own work in 2020, too. Always quest for glory.
Let’s leave behind the cultural dark age of the 2010s and create a new Roaring Twenties together. The upcoming Patreon page, again, is here. It’s still under construction. It’s just there for you to bookmark the URL.
Thanks for reading and sticking with me for all these years. I hope you enjoy the year to come. Enjoy Stumped, my first product, in the meantime if you haven’t already.
As always, if you want to hire me to create content for you, please contact me and tell me what’s on your mind.
