Looking Back and Looking Forward

A year in review

Hey folks, PJ here.

It’s been quite the year, hasn’t it? A little over a year ago I first created my blog here on Substack just as a way to blow of some steam and scream into the void. Partially as some free therapy. Partially so my friends and loved ones wouldn’t have to listen to me rant about the CIA as much. I never expected to have anyone listen, but I have found a small audience to my constant surprise and excitement. For this, I am truly grateful and humbled in a way that is difficult for me to express. I also want to give a special thanks to my friend and mentor

Chesterton's Fence

who was the one who first encouraged me to write and saw potential in me. So, if you’re a fan of what I do, thank him. If you hate it, well, you know where to direct the complaint emails to.

This has been a tumultuous year for me personally, but as a writer I have grown a lot. Before this year, I had never really written before. This has been a fun, exciting and nerve wracking experience. I am still blown away that people are willing to listen and that some of you have said such kind words about my writing. What’s more, I launched a podcast and people are even willing to listen to me yap. From the bottom of my heart, if you’re a reader, I want to say thank you. I have learned a lot this year about writing and made some great friends.

So, with the coming year there will be some changes. First, I’m doing a slight rebrand. From now on, I will be going by Prester John Andrews, or PJ Andrews. This is an attempt to hold myself a little more accountable in terms of sincerity. I like to remain anonymous (mostly because I’m a private person), but this name change is something that sounds like a real person instead of an anon handle (I hope). The name Andrews is also something that is not connected to my real name, but it holds personal significance to me. So, with that in mind, I will be going by Prester John Andrews going forward. I still seek revenge, but it will be hopefully in a more thoughtful and measured way.

As for content. If you’re a fan of what I have done in the last year, don’t worry, nothing is going to change. I will still put out 1-2 written articles a month on Dispatches From The Golden Horde. This will be on topics you may have come to expect from me such as politics, history, esoterica, tech, culture and the like. If you’re a fan of my interview podcast The Xanadu Review, that will continue as well released twice a month as well. I will be interviewing writers from Substack as well as hopefully expanding into different platforms as well. I'll also be periodically putting out some music if you're into that kind of thing. I wrote and recorded the music for my podcast, so that's a small taste of what I do.

Also, if you want to join the community, I have created a Discord server for anyone who wants to join. We hang out, talk, share memes and discuss the general goings on in the world.

Regarding the new: I am also launching a second podcast called The Digression Sessions. This is going to be a panel show that will feature past guests of The Xanadu review or other people I want to talk to. This will be a more informal program where I have a few people on to discuss a specific topic. It could be current events, politics, a movie, a book, an idea or really anything. I recorded the first episode with

Yakubian Ape

and

Lirpa Strike

and it will be released on January first. This will happen once or twice a month.

I will also be continuing to work more on my second blog, But I Digress. This will feature poetry, fiction, personal essays, auto-fiction and anything else that doesn’t fit on the main blog. I have a passion for fiction and plan to write more in the new year. This could be anything from fantasy or historical fiction to modern, contemporary fiction. If that’s your thing, please subscribe if you aren’t already. If not, I will continue writing the other content as well.

In other news, I had a few podcast appearances on other shows and guest articles this past year in case you missed them. My first appearance was with

DeepLeftAnalysis

and I am very grateful, it was a lot of fun and was intellectually stimulating. I also spoke with

Alexandru Constantin

and

Phisto Sobanii

about historical illiteracy, amongst other topics on Alexandru’s podcast. I also had the pleasure of writing a guest article for

Katherine Dee

entitled I Have No Mouth and I Must Stream which is one of the things I am more proud of writing. I’m hoping to do more collaborations in the new year as these were a lot of fun. If you would like to have me as a guest on your podcast in the new year or have me write a guest article, please reach out and we can work things out.

And finally, thanks to all the smart, interesting people I met over this year. There are too many to name everyone, but I want to highlight a few.

Lisa Kuznak

is a great writer and I bought her book The Highwayman Kennedy Thornwick and it’s a page turner as well as Lisa always being witty and interesting.

James Benson Sarsgard

is someone I met early on who shares my passion for history who I had a facinating conversation on the subject with and hope to do so again.

Alexander Hellene

is a fantastic fiction writer and insightful individual whos work always makes me think and more importantly, feel something.

Sudana Krasniqi

was a friend I made early on who I first bonded over music, but her writing is what I describe as “a cross between Carrie Bradshaw and Hunter S Thompson” and is always a treat.

Ancient Problemz

is always funny and insightful and I hope to collaborate with even more in the new year.

Monia Ali

is the perfect person to follow if you, like me, have checked out of pop culture but still want to know what is going on in that world.

Casey Shea Gallagher

is a friend as insightful as he is funny and is always worth reading. Lemon (who can’t be tagged) has a blog worth reading and she always challenges me to think and sometimes look into topics I would have never thought about otherwise.

Bitch Sensei

is another person who I always love hearing from either for her cultural essays, book reviews or just to have a casual conversation with.

So, thank you to everyone who reads what I write or listens to me talk. Thank you to the people I met who made Substack such a fun experience. I’m excited for this next year and can’t wait to put out more and I hope you will be there with me. Happy new year, and again, thank you.