I’m back.
Special mention to Joel Gunz over at Meaning is the MacGuffin for helping me make the Prophecy of the Living Dead presentation on Weirdosphere a big success (and for continuing to tolerate my weird rambling since then).
More exciting stuff coming soon.
🤖 Robot Summary 🤖
Ryan returns after a long absence to confirm he’s still active and to explain a shift in how his work will be published. Substack will remain free and lighter, focused on shorter posts, audio, and occasional rants, while a new Patreon will host more structured, project-based work that benefits from subscriber support. His main upcoming project is a traditionally printed reference-style book on the Elder Futhark runes, paired with an online, indexed, chat-style interface that is “AI-adjacent” but not generative AI–written.
Key points:
Return and status update: Ryan reassures listeners he is still alive, engaged, and full of new ideas after a difficult year away, and that more details on future projects are forthcoming.
Shift in platforms: He explains that Substack will stay free and become more casual, with shorter writing, audio recordings, and informal commentary, while Patreon will be used for deeper, project-focused material that may require financial support to develop.
Use of audio and summaries: He plans to record more extemporaneous audio and use tools like ChatGPT to create summaries for people who don’t want to listen to long recordings or read lengthy essays.
Film discussions (not a “movie podcast”): Ryan and a collaborator, Joel, will occasionally record conversations about what makes certain films strange or uncanny, humorously clarifying that this is not a formal movie podcast.
New book project: His main Patreon project is a book on the Elder Futhark runes, intended as a visually interesting, reusable reference manual rather than a one-time read, with both a print edition and a companion online interface.
Approach to AI and technology: He emphasizes that he is not using generative AI to write the book, but is experimenting with “AI-adjacent” tools to create an indexed, interactive way to explore the material online.
Views on Substack’s algorithm: Ryan expresses skepticism about continuing to gain followers while inactive and notes that a sarcastic, critical post unexpectedly became his most popular piece.
Ongoing presence: While most of his energy will shift toward Patreon, he will maintain a nominal presence on Substack for free content and announcements about upcoming discussions and projects.
