This post was published today at the new God of the Desert Books Substack. This will be the final Liberty Island post. Please enter your email and join us over at Substack where we will begin publishing new online content starting July 4, 2022 and restart publishing books this fall. See previous posts about Liberty Island’s hiatus and relaunch from March 2022 here and September 2021 here. Thank you for your patience as we have figured out our new plans moving forward.

On June 3, 2021 the publisher where I worked put out a press release:

Liberty Island Media Group announced today that David M. Swindle, an editor for the publishing company since 2015, is taking over operations as the new owner, Editor-in-Chief, and Publisher.

Liberty Island was launched in 2013 as an online magazine featuring conservative and libertarian-inspired creative writing. The following year it began publishing books, primarily novels, ranging from serious literary works (Red Line Blues, The Undergraduate, the Mad Jones, Heretic trilogy) to genre-based thrillers (The Secret of Fatima, Pulse of the Goddess) to offbeat nonfiction titles (We Can Be Heroes: The Radical Individualism of David Bowie). In seeking to create a platform for right-of-center creatives, Liberty Island aspired to follow the late Andrew Breitbart’s insight that “politics is downstream from culture.”

Swindle says, regarding future plans for Liberty Island, “I’m very excited to build on the foundation which our founders Adam Bellow and David Bernstein have built. They brought together such a wide range of voices telling all sorts of stories across genres and styles – I really want to nurture that for the future.”

The announcement then proceeded to lay out our plans for the rest of 2021, plans which largely derailed due to a series of tragedies: the sudden death of my Zionist activist mentor and primary professional partner Jack Saltzberg, the sudden death of my most active and loyal Liberty Island contributor Tamara Wilhite in deeply disturbing circumstances I still struggle to write about, and finally my experiencing of criminal assaults in September which has left me afflicted with often severe, debilitating PTSD symptoms. I didn’t anticipate my “mid-life crisis” to arrive so soon at 37, but as St. John the Walrus once said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

So it’s time for another plan.

On June 6, 2021, building on the points from the press release, I published, “4 Reasons I Decided to Launch Liberty Island Books 4.0,” which emphasized 4 points that are still true, so I may as well begin this explanation of what I’m intending to do here:

1. I believe in our authors and their books.

2. I want to try and build a new, 21st century independent publishing house which is author and editor-centered.

3. I remain a firm advocate of “counterculture conservatism” and seek to collaborate with others who recognize how so-called “counterculture” ideas and so-called “conservative” values can unify to create something new and exciting.

4. I also remain an unapologetic religious fanatic, and am eager to continue Liberty Island’s tradition of publishing religious-themed books from faith-driven authors of diverse religious perspectives.

Despite my deep disappointments in my first decade working in the publishing world, I am going to keep at it primarily because I still very much believe in the group of authors and books assembled at Liberty Island and the broader network I have developed since starting as a full-time “new media troublemaker” in 2009. I’ve met so many wonderful writers and want to offer them a platform and publishing home base where they will be respected and honored, their work cherished and celebrated. I’ll be writing about each of them in the coming months and telling you all about their books which we’ll be publishing or re-publishing. I’ll also get back to writing more myself and finally publish my own books, both fiction and non-fiction titles that have been in gestation for years.

Yet, I’m sure many people are no doubt curious, why launch a new publishing company with a new name instead of just maintaining the current Liberty Island site, brand, and “conservative” political framing?

The truth is that the sequence of life shocks I received over the last year have transformed me so profoundly that a full-scale re-branding to reflect this new shift in publishing priorities was necessary for two reasons:

5. While I still regard myself as a “conservative” with moderately “libertarian” positions on economics, affably “hawkish” views on foreign policy, and a deep love for the Judeo-Christian traditions which underlie our Western civilization and American nation, I don’t really fit into the “conservative movement” or “the Right” or the Republican Party at all anymore. I still hold to much of the ideas – Reaganism – which I promoted in blogs from 2009-2015, principles which are no longer in fashion today amidst the populist-nationalist conspiracy theory garbage of Marge Greene and her racist homophobic troll army.

6. Though my enthusiasm for “right-wing media” has waned over the years as the movement has changed so dramatically since I joined it, my appreciation and engagement with other causes I have worked in – particularly Zionism, counter-Islamism, and antisemitism awareness – remain as strong as ever. I am now as excited to publish writings on these subjects as I am the novels and poetry in our growing to-publish queue, with the writings of Jack Saltzberg at the top of my priority list. God of the Desert Books will take a special interest in promoting peace in the deserts of the Middle East, in particular through promoting the expansion of the Abraham Accords, urging more Muslim states to make peace with the Jewish state.

In the coming weeks and months I’ll explicate at much greater length about further plans and reasons for this book publishing company. I’ll lay out the various types of books we’re interested in acquiring and publishing, and the themes we’re most interested in exploring. I’ll introduce our lead series and primary contributors. For now though, one of the final key reasons I am choosing to continue publishing books:

7. I want to help other aspiring writers afflicted by the condition which now haunts me daily: PTSD. I am slowly learning how to cope with this new disability and its broad range of effects on my mind and body. I want to share what I’ve learned so far with others and will be writing about my experiences. I similarly will be looking for other authors who want to tell their story or explore ideas related to overcoming the effects of trauma in fiction. As God of the Desert Books will seek to bring together peoples across borders and faith traditions we also seek to bring together those struggling to grapple with the impact of trauma in their life.

What to Expect in the Coming Weeks after we officially launch our daily publications on July 4:

  • Short Stories
  • Poetry
  • Essays on culture, family, and faith
  • Photography and art
  • Film, book, and music reviews
  • Personal reflections in blog posts and essays, especially on trauma struggles and coping
  • Excerpts from God of the Desert Books titles, which we hope to begin publishing starting this fall – title release schedule coming soon
  • Podcast, video, and social media experimentation and fun!
  • Desert lifestyle photography, art, and reflections

 

Next Post Coming Soon: “Why God of the Desert Books?” Our new name’s mysterious origins explained and its implications revealed…