Index of Substack Posts
I did a soft-relaunch of this site in June of 2024, and if I’m being honest the posts from after that point are significantly better than the ones before. Maybe I’ll index the previous ones someday, but I’m not really sure they’re worth revisiting.
Selected Tales
In June of 2024, I started publishing stories in a different style that I called “the tale”. The format has evolved over time, but essentially these are fictions that are mostly expositional, with little emphasis on scene-setting or visual detail. Different tales use different techniques. Some have a strong omniscient narrator, who can move across time and space and even comment on the action in question. Some are halfway between essays and fiction, where the fiction is clearly subordinate to some point I’m trying to make. Others have a limited point of view, but retain that sketchy, impressionistic quality. These tales often have supernatural, fabulist or cosmological elements. They’re not bound by the rules of any particular universe.
Making a literary career during Trump's second term. (Feb 27, 2025).
Essentially autofiction about The Metropolitan Review.
The social role of the genius. (Dec 19, 2024)
Two writers compete to make a career in a 22nd-century setting where the meritocracy has fossilized.
Editors don’t want male novelists. (July 18, 2024).
The most successful of my tales. My entry into male-novelist discourse. About a teacher, aspiring writer, who attempts to write about his attraction for one of his high school students.
Is literary criticism just a school of sophistry? (Jan 23, 2025)
More essay than story, but I think it still counts! It’s about how much I hated high school English class.
Is literature a false God? (Feb 6, 2025)
More auto-fiction. About what we’re talking about when we discuss the ‘vibe shift’. Also contains my homage to the Baen Books-style military sci-fi novels I loved as a kid.
It's impossible to write a good novel about climate change. (Nov 14, 2024).
My attempt at a climate-thriller story
Too many novels are lacking in moral vision. (Oct 17, 2024).
Equal parts essay and story. It tells the same scenario—involving a depressed college teen—four times, by narrators that have various levels of moral vision.
Money Matters: A Novella. (Oct 31, 2024).
My longest Substack fiction. A story about a ne’er’do’well kid who’s inherited a house from his uncle and schemes to find a girlfriend who’ll help him pay the property taxes.
Literacy is good or bad perhaps. (Oct 3, 2024).
A fake book review, a la Borges, about a nonfiction book that purports to prove that reading is bad for you.
Most commercial fiction relies on the reader's belief in the spiritual power of goodness. (Mar 6, 2025)
A first-person tale, about my (fictional) experiences in a writer’s workshop, discusssing a (fictiona) Christian novel.
Selected Essays (section under progress)
Posts about specific books / authors
Uncle Tom's Cabin is the Great American Novel. (Mar 11, 2025).
Moby-Dick is a novel that is mostly about whales. (Feb 25, 2025).
James Fenimore Cooper is a more honest writer than Mark Twain. (Jan 21, 2025)
Posts about writing
Posts that are freer and more discursive, but are still somehow about books
Posts that are not readily categorizable
Every Post, in Reverse Chronological Order
Can fiction writers repress their knowledge of "the current political situation"? (Mar 27, 2025) [Tale]
Now that I'm a Hindu, I probably have to post about the caste system. (Mar 25, 2025)
I've learned to respect my comments section (Mar 22, 2025) [Paid]
Literary short stories don’t perform well online. There’s a reason for that. (Mar 20, 2025)
The most overrated writer in America. (Mar 18, 2025).
Uncle Tom's Cabin is the Great American Novel. (Mar 11, 2025).
Most commercial fiction relies on the reader's belief in the spiritual power of goodness. (Mar 6, 2025) [Tale]
I am fond of sentimental literature. (Mar 4, 2025)
Making a literary career during Trump's second term. (Feb 27, 2025). [Tale]
Moby-Dick is a novel that is mostly about whales. (Feb 25, 2025).
What is real reading. (Feb 15, 2025).
Rob Vlock is driving new readers to an often-overlooked Melville title. (Feb 13, 2025).
Social class in American literature. (Feb 11, 2025).
Is literature a false God? (Feb 6, 2025) [Tale]
Afro-pessimism produced at least one good novel. (Feb 4, 2025).
The best way to improve your writing is to share it online. (Feb 2, 2025).
Updates to “Which publisher has the best line of classics reprints”. (Jan 30, 2025).
English class teaches students to be afraid of literature. (Jan 28, 2025).
Is literary criticism just a school of sophistry? (Jan 23, 2025) [Tale]
James Fenimore Cooper is a more honest writer than Mark Twain. (Jan 21, 2025)
The Mahabharata has reached whole new levels of inaccessibility. (Jan 16, 2025). [Tale]
Which publisher has the best classics line? (Jan 14, 2025).
Is it possible for a novel to have a good story, but a bad style? (Jan 12, 2025)
How to make a fortune working in Silicon Valley. (Jan 9, 2025). [Tale]
Style and story are the same thing. (Jan 7, 2025).
State of the blog (IV). (Dec 28, 2024)
The social role of the genius. (Dec 19, 2024) [Tale]
In the same year my novel failed, this newsletter gained thousands of subscribers. (Dec 17, 2024)
Dharma isn’t assigned by society. (Dec 12, 2024) [Tale]
Many cultural institutions have forgotten their educational mission. (Dec 10, 2024)
"The function of the poet is, first and foremost…to be an early adopter of new media". (Dec 5, 2024)
You can’t write another Middlemarch. (Dec 3, 2024)
The reason editors don’t want reviews of classic novels. (Nov 30, 2024)
The dharma of writing high-brow fiction. (Nov 21, 2024) [Tale]
Hinduism might be true. (Nov 19, 2024)
It's impossible to write a good novel about climate change. (Nov 14, 2024). [Tale]
How to write a novel that ‘transcends’ commercial fiction. (Nov 12, 2024).
State of the blog (III). (Nov 10, 2024).
The Last Samurai is a book people will still be reading in 200 years. (Nov 7, 2024). [Tale]
The most important news you’ll hear about today. (Nov 5, 2024).
Money Matters: A Novella. (Oct 31, 2024). [Tale]
Why I am publishing a novella on Substack. (Oct 29, 2024).
The Mahabharata is not boring. (Oct 27, 2024).
Spanking your kids might be fine, or...it might be child abuse. (Oct 24, 2024). [Tale]
Christopher Lasch's books are great (if you enjoy feeling superior to other people). (Oct 22, 2024).
Too many novels are lacking in moral vision. (Oct 17, 2024). [Tale]
Start with 19th century literature. (Oct 15, 2024).
State of the blog (II). (Oct 13, 2024)
An immigration parable. (Oct 10, 2024). [Tale]
Hinduism did not precede Buddhism. (Oct 8, 2024).
Literacy is good or bad perhaps. (Oct 3, 2024). [Tale]
Sometimes the Great Books can be boring. (Oct 1, 2024).
Resentment is productive. (Sept 26, 2024). [Tale]
Our literary landscape rewards demagoguery. (Sept 24, 2024).
Science fiction and psychological realism are unlikely partners. (Sept 19, 2024). [Tale]
The Great Books are a source of power. (Sept 17, 2024).
The state of the blog. (Sept 15, 2024).
Exceptional minds tend to lead exceptional lives. (Sept 12, 2024). [Tale]
Garth Greenwell’s book is unreadable. (Sept 10, 2024).
How to write a regular short story. (Sept 5, 2024). [Tale]
The literary short story is an empty formal exercise. (Sept 3, 2024)
The Gospel according to some guy’s wife. (Aug 29, 2024). [Tale]
The Mahabharata is a socio-historical process that’s also an incredible text. (Aug 27, 2024).
Good, bad, and okay. (Aug 24, 2024).
The secular American university is worth keeping. (Aug 22, 2024). [Tale]
The literati aren’t reading new releases anymore. (Aug 20, 2024).
Literary journals shouldn’t dismiss Christian fiction. (Aug 15, 2024). [Tale]
Hinduism is not monotheistic. (Aug 13, 2024).
Hinduism is somewhat ugly. (Aug 8, 2024). [Tale]
Hinduism doesn’t exist. (Aug 6, 2024).
The incoherence of the literary critics. (Aug 1, 2024). [Tale]
“Western civilization” vs. “World literature”. (July 30, 2024).
Publishing short fiction on Substack is doable, but not easy. (July 27, 2024).
Money can’t buy happiness. (July 25, 2024). [Tale]
You can be a writer without being an artist. (July 23, 2024).
Editors don’t want male novelists. (July 18, 2024). [Tale]
It’s okay to take a book seriously. (July 16, 2024).
On going off my antidepressants. (July 11, 2024). [Tale]
One simple method for reading more books. (July 9, 2024).
The North Korean writing workshop. (July 4, 2024) [Tale]
Some badly-told stories get preserved forever. (July 2, 2024).
Mankind is inherently good. (June 27, 2024). [Tale]
The only Great Book that is a must-read. (June 25, 2024).
Therapy isn’t the (only) answer. (June 20, 2024). [Tale]
Most popular things are not-so-great. (June 18, 2024).
Being a Great Books reader is always pathetic. (June 13, 2024).