Second Thoughts

In Which I Begin to Doubt Myself

Never one to let creative momentum stand in the way of second-guessing myself, I’ve started to rethink what I’ll include in Volume 1 of the Grognardia anthologies. A couple of weeks ago, I explained that my original plan was to leave out ongoing series like Pulp Fantasy Library or Retrospective, saving them for dedicated volumes of their own. My thinking was straightforward: each of these series contains enough material to fill a book on its own and each highlights a distinct facet of Grognardia that deserves to be presented in a focused, self-contained collection, rather than scattered among other posts. But the more I think about it, the more I wonder if weaving them in might give Volume 1 more varied content and be a truer reflection of the blog as a whole.

Naturally, I haven’t committed to this idea one way or the other. There’s still a lot to weigh. The biggest factor is length. In just the first year of the blog, there are more than 600 posts. Even if I assume that only a quarter of them are truly worthy of a Year One anthology, that’s still 150-plus entries. Add in even short introductions and commentary, and I’m looking at a manuscript creeping toward 250 or even 300 pages. That’s hardly monumental by publishing standards, but it’s also much longer than I’d initially envisioned. This brings me to the nagging question: does anyone really want to read 300 pages of blog posts from nearly fifteen years ago? I honestly don’t know.

At the same time, preservation is a huge part of why I finally decided to tackle this long-gestating project. In the present media environment, I have little faith that anything posted online — Substack included — can be counted on to survive for five years, let alone ten or more. A physical book, on the other hand, stands a much better chance of enduring. If the true goal is to safeguard these posts for the future, then maybe it does make sense to include more, even if that means a heftier, longer volume. Which brings me back to square one: I still don’t know.

So here I am, still waffling. I’m not quite back to square one, of course. I’ve already made solid progress on the posts from my original table of contents, but I do keep circling back to the question of whether to include more than just the strongest “stand-alone” pieces from Grognardia’s first year. Most of the comments and emails I’ve received lean toward “more is better” and I’m starting to think that, all other things being equal, maybe that’s the wisest course.

Once again, I’m turning to you, my subscribers, for guidance. This time, I’m making it easier for both of us by trying out a poll, a feature of Substack I’ve only just discovered. If you’re reading this, I’d be grateful if you could take a few seconds to let me know what you’d like to see in the Grognardia anthologies. I still have my own preferences, both practical and philosophical, but I genuinely want to hear what my potential readers think. Thanks in advance for helping me steer this project in the right direction.