With Both Hands and The Long View Re-posting Project Status Update

Imperator by Nick Cole and Jason Anspach is still one of my favorite book reviews

Imperator by Nick Cole and Jason Anspach is still one of my favorite book reviews

With the arrival of 2021, I felt it was time to take stock of the status of the blog, and see whether any shifts in approach are needed.

With the general lack of mobility in 2020 due to COVID restrictions, I turned the blog more heavily to book reviews, especially adventure books, as I felt some escapism was warranted. Overall, I am happy with how this shift turned out, and I want to thank everyone who has supported this blog through affiliate links, as I use that to pay my hosting costs.

Interesting things are happening right now in adventure fiction, and I intend to for this website to be the place where people can come and learn about it.

I do intend to expand in this calendar year to more non-fiction, especially history and anthropology. I think there is an excellent synergy between my reading of history and how I review fiction books, and I see an opportunity to expand on the good response to books like Ekkehart Malotki’s Hopi Tales of Destruction.

For The Long View re-posting project, we are now into 2008. Four more years remain of John J. Reilly’s blog, before his untimely death in 2012. I am actively seeking permission from his estate to republish his books, as most are out of print. I also think there may be an opportunity to create critical editions of some of John’s online works if that permission is secured.

The hot thing at present is a grand switch to Substack and other email-newsletters. At least so far, I haven’t pursued this seriously, but if this interests you, comment here or email me at ben [at] benespen [dot] com. Consider this an opportunity for your voice to be heard.

Thank to all my readers for visiting, and I hope your 2021 goes well.