Need pod.

I've had to wean myself off a few podcasts this week. The political ones were the first to go—obviously. I couldn’t keep subjecting myself to that grief and stress for the next few months. But I’ve also ditched some strength training and fitness podcasts. Turns out, a bunch of the hosts were these ultra right-wing, Trump-loving douche-bros and listening to them was just... exhausting. So, I hit delete.

Now, I’m on the hunt for something chill to listen to. I’m still hanging onto a couple of tech podcasts, and I’ve got a backlog of The Rest is History episodes waiting for me. I’ve been considering diving back into pure Roman history podcasts. I remember there was this amateur historian, one of the early pioneers in podcasting, who did this massive, hundreds-of-episodes deep dive into the rise and fall of the Roman Republic and Empire. I was really into it maybe ten years ago, but then it got crowded out by other podcasts as the biz grew more professional.

Jason and I were talking recently about this idea I’ve been kicking around for an epic fantasy series—a kind of clash of empires, with an alternate-history Roman Empire or Republic squaring off against an alternate-history Parthian Empire and maybe a Chinese dynasty of sorts. Might even throw in some barbarian hordes for good measure. Anyway, I realized I should probably spend the next year or so brushing up on my history. It would also be a great way to escape the modern world, which is feeling increasingly grim and dire by the day. So, if anyone has suggestions, I’m all ears.