Hey guys and gals – long time, no type!
On the previous episode of the podcast, way back in February (Episode 26.5: “Murphy’s Law and Dis-Order”), I talked about how due to various factors – including, but not limited to: ADHD, getting married (again), our house falling apart, being a stay-at-home-stepdad, taking on too many ‘side projects’, and working my ass off on editing multiple seasons of Podcasters Assemble – that I needed to put the Epik Fails of History podcast (temporarily) on hold.
Unfortunately, in that time I completely missed the 10th anniversary of EpikFails.com! (which I guess is on brand?)
In case you’re wondering, this all started with a meandering (and somewhat pretentious) essay I wrote back on July 13th, 2012, called “B.C.E. – Before Common Error”. While I’m not particularly proud of that first article all these years later, that is where it all began – the idea to cover historical topics in a sardonic way, and highlighting epic failures in order to hopefully learn from the mistakes of the past, which (for better or worse) kinda changed the course of my life.
That first blog was soon followed by The 30 Years War, then the War of 1812, and a bunch of other random topics that I was either researching for various history and humanities courses, or just wanted an excuse to learn more about. And yeah, I guess I just kinda kept at it, and nearly one hundred articles later, the blog had gained a modest following (back before Facebook’s algorithm made it so only corporate sponsored ads showed up in people’s feeds at least). And while this might be biased, I do think my writing (and historical knowledge) has improved since those early articles, but hey, we all have to start somewhere.
Oddly enough, I wasn’t a huge fan of history growing up. It wasn’t until college that I started to realize just how fascinating history actually was, especially when you start to realize that it’s not as black and white as we were led to believe back in Elementary School. Seriously ya’ll, the First Thanksgiving isn’t what it was cracked up to be, all the early American Presidents were slave owners, and Christopher Columbus was a genocidal monster who got lost at sea, and was nearly thrown overboard by his crew! (for more, check out my books: “Not-So-Great Presidents” and “The Age of Exploration: Totally Getting Lost”!)
So yeah, I guess I’ve somehow been at this for 10 years now… kinda. And while I’ve been notoriously inconsistent in posting content here, it’s certainly not because I’m lazy, it’s honestly mostly been a combination of Murphy’s Law (again, see previous episode), and my inability to prioritize when I keep giving myself too many projects at once. While I would say I’m working on it, it’s also worth pointing out that a few years back I was diagnosed with severe ADHD (in my 30’s), which honestly explains a lot throughout my life.
If you’re one of the OG readers who’s somehow stuck around since I first started the ‘ole blog back in 2012, I’d first like to say thank you! I would also like to apologize for not posting any new history articles since… *checks notes* 2019?!
Wow, my bad guys…
(And in case you’re wondering, my last couple articles were apparently Nuclear Fails: 10 of the Most Terrifying Atomic Mistakes in History and Presidential Pros & Cons – Part 10)
In that time however, I somehow managed to publish four middle-grade ‘Epic Fails’ books, launched the Epik Fails of History podcast, and even revised a bunch of my old blog articles (like The Mongol Invasions of Japan), all while dealing with a divorce, a global pandemic, losing my job, losing my house, losing my literary agent, going through an existential crisis, and coming out relatively unscathed on the other end. I’ve also been hard at work developing multiple podcasts for the ‘We Can Make This Work, Probably’ Podcast Network (including 2 Young 4 This Trek, Comic Zombie, Podcasters Assemble, and The Super Switch Club), and writing dozens of nerdy articles for GeekToGeekMedia.com!
On top of all that, I have several other projects in the works that have yet to see the light of day, including my up-coming sci-fi/noir novella, “2299”, and a horror comic book called “Sunshine State”, both of which I first started on back before the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020.
Long story short: the good news is that Epik Fails of History will be returning *soon*!
I’ve got multiple podcast episodes, *and* new articles coming your way in the next few months, as well as finally getting back to our Bracket of Fails! In the meantime, follow me on Twitter @ErikSlader for updates, check out the Epik Fails of History podcast, and if you’d like to support me you can buy my books, give the podcast(s) a 5 star review, or Buy Me a Coffee!
– Erik Slader
