Toward Ecosophy

The publisher of my new book The King In Orange is rather more enthusiastic about marketing via podcasts than my publishers have generally been, or maybe it's just that this book is more appealing to the podcastoisie than my other titles. One way or another, I've been spending a good deal more time than usual on the phone talking to podcasters in the last few weeks, and the podcasts are starting to go live. 

Those of my readers with just a little free time on their schedule can take in a nice crisp 45-minute podcast with Richard Syrett on his podcast Conspiracy Unlimited, which you can listen to here. Richard and I had a good thoughtful conversation and covered most of the basic concepts of the book, focusing on the political dimension of the Trump phenomenon. 

Those of my readers who have more time on their hands may want to tune in to the Michael Decon Program, where Michael, co-host Myke Hideous, and I spent upwards of two and a half hours talking about -- well, The King in Orange, yes, but also politics, the current virus panic, unidentified flying objects, Japanese monster movies, Elon Musk, and much, much more. You know those late night conversations over a couple of beers that spin out in every direction you can imagine and some you can't?  This was one of those. It was a wild time and worth a listen. You can take it in on YouTube here, on iTunes here, and on Castbox here. 

By the way, I was struck with another example of the almost Nietzschean revaluation of all values currently under way in our society. For many years the cultural cliché has been that thinkers in the mainstream are calm, tolerant, and broadminded, while conspiracy theorists out on the fringes are tense, obsessed, and fixated on some improbable narrative or other. It's been a source of some amusement to me that these days, it's the mainstream that's tense, obsessed, and fixated on a whole flurry of improbable narratives. As for the hosts of these two conspiracy-themed podcasts -- you guessed it, they were calm, tolerant, and broadminded, as we discussed the decidedly edgy perspectives of The King in Orange. It really is getting weird out there...

Those of my readers interested in secret societies, or looking for a gift for someone who likes odd corners of history, may want to know about a new book of mine, just out from Sterling Publishing. The Conspiracy Book is a history of secret societies in the Western world, told in a hundred historical vignettes. It's a quick read, not to mention a gorgeously illustrated hardback with the kind of attractive cover you don't get often these days -- if you've seen my earlier Sterling title The Occult Book, this is the same sort of thing. Sterling is Barnes and Noble's house publisher, you can order copies here, or pick one up at your local B&N if you've got one -- but don't tell anyone that you've read it. ;-)