If you haven’t heard of the Paradox Series yet, it’s a time travel sports adventure that begins as a coming-of-age tale in the first novel and climaxes as a wild conspiracy thriller in Book Six (coming in a couple few months). Themes of manhood/masculinity, leadership, and truth vs. popular perception run through the entire course of the overarching plot.
I’m happy to report that all five books in the series so far have been category bestsellers. Five for five is batting really well. Even though I’d still like to stretch the envelope of success, I didn’t even imagine the series would do this well back when I decided to break up the Super Great American Mega-Novel.
More important to you is that right now, you’ve still got a little time to pick up the entire series (plus the entire Retreads Series) at 99 cents per full-length novel. This is not just on Amazon, but all the online stores with E-Books for sale (linked throughout this post, along with the ‘Zon series pages).
My books, plus dozens more, are all heavily discounted at the Summer Based Book Sale. As always, there are more books by more authors than the previous sale.
Non-woke authors are providing alternatives to the ubiquitous Globohomo narratives that are disgusting you and targeting your children. We all want an escape in our entertainment. Consider buying it from people who don’t hate you.
First of all, what is “Iron Age,” besides a hashtag and keyword?
Since (I think) it began after one of Razorfist’s rants, primarily among independent comics creators, let’s look at it through the lens of comics for a moment.
Action Comics #1, introducing the very first comic book superhero, is where I place the start of the Golden Age. I think all agree that it ended before 1956. I would place it more toward 1949, when all but a handful of superheroes disappeared from circulation. Because of the crude (sometimes downright childish) art and writing, few are as fascinated with it as I am. Still, that period is universally recognized as “The Golden Age.”
Experts identify the “reimagining” of the Flash, in 1956, as the beginning of the Silver Age. And though the Flash is a DC character, it was Marvel that made the biggest splash during this era.
The first comic book I ever laid my hands on. I think it’s from the Bronze Age.
Near as I can figure, the Bronze Age was when I first discovered comic books. It was the ’70s-80s, when comics could still be found on spinner racks in drug stores and gas stations, kids still read them, and the politics weren’t nearly as unbearable as they would become later. There were no cultural Marxist screeds yet–the writers usually conducted a Gene Roddenberry charade of balance, where those accursed right-wingers also had a right to their opinions.
Below is the Razorfist rant in which I believe the term “Iron Age” (as it applies to entertainment) may have been coined (as with all Razorfist rants, I apologize for the profanity but accept your gratitude for the humor):
Usually, “ages” of this, that, or the other are determined retroactively. If nothing else, The Iron Age is unique in that it has been named while it is ongoing.
In this video, Katie Roome gives an educational introduction to the Iron Age:
Even though there is a website called “Iron Age Media,” the Iron Age isn’t a publisher or an organization. It’s the age of entertainment we’re living through. More than that, according to many: it’s a movement by independent creators. The nature of the creations is outlined by Katie Roome fairly well.
Some of my readers might ask if I’m a part of this movement. Well, I started blogging, and published my first novel (independently) approximately a decade before the Wu Flu lockdowns. That alone might disqualify my work, depending on how rigidly one wants to define the Iron Age. My primary goal has always been to tell good stories and entertain, but I have offended many a leftist snowflake by pushing back against the woketard agendas and narratives that dominate pop culture so far. I do this increasingly in my bestselling Retreads series, for instance.
Along with the Detective Comics title above, this represents my very first comic book purchase–with change given me by whatever adult I lived with at the time. I can’t remember if there was added tax, so let’s say 50 cents for both.
However, my fantasy shorts and retro-pulpy boxing novella are exclusively entertainment, devoid of any contemporary politics.
So am I part of the movement? I am still publishing work, in the post-lockdown era, so maybe. In any case, I certainly sympathize with it (as I understand it) and applaud the intentions of the creators who are part of it. There is no single authority on, leader of, or governing body over Iron Age (setting it apart from “Comicsgate,” perhaps) so it’s academic, if not moot.
When I am finished with my current time travel series, I plan to shift my efforts from prose over to sequential art. My first graphic novel, a sort of pulpy space opera, will resume once I find a dependable artist with integrity. For now, a black & white “false start” (not intentionally such) is available for free on Arkhaven.
If the Iron Age is a movement, I’m looking forward to what is produced from within it.
Red-Blooded American Men Examine Pop-Culture and the World
