New digs!

You’re looking at the newest (and thirdest) iteration of my author site. Keywords are simple to browse, simple to use. No more webshop, just a blog and some ready info on my publications and myself as a writer. Key, for me, is that it’s as frictionless as possible to post new articles on here because the blog part is front and center.

It might be amusing to see how previous versions of roderickleeuwenhart.nl looked. Here’s the one that started it all, back in 2014:

Back then, I was just self-publishing my first novel, YA coming-of-age dramedy Pindakaas en Sushi. Science fiction was still far off as I was honing my writing skills, just ever so carefully dipping a toe in. So the site was radiant with Japanese touches and nerd culture, and I still like the colors.

The redesign in 2021 was made by Davey Cobben, a figure from the Dutch SFF publishing world and fandom, also proprietor of FantasyWereld.nl. It’s a small community here and I was very fortunate he offered to help me out. My own WordPressing skills are modest at best.

We went all-out on this one, it featured a webshop and randomized banners, galleries. This was on the cusp of my foray into science fiction, the genre I love most of all. De Heren XVII (The Gentlemen Seventeen) had been released, but I was still working on getting Sterrenlichaam (Star Body) published in both Dutch and Chinese.

Many things happened since then that made me want to update my site again. More of my work got published abroad, for instance, spurring me to go for an all-English approach. The webshop was no longer needed, as I’ve been slowly winding down selling my own books now that my self-pubbing days are largely over.

More importantly perhaps, I feel a desire to return to blogging. I used to do a lot of that back when I had a webcomic going, Captain August, which is no longer online. Since those days (2004!), social media had all but taken over that impulse, but, HA!, as you all know, social media are DEAD AS A DOORSTOP. Well, they ought to be. Largely. In recent years I’ve merrily closed my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, keeping only a tiny little Bluesky account running. Never looked back and it’s been an absolute liberation. Can recommend.

In its place, I want to start blogging a little more frequently again. Which is why I’ve set my author site up as a friendly, easygoing, personal place for whatever ruminations I have. No ads, no popups, no comments, no like and subscribe, no [blergh] sales funnel. I briefly considered blogging on Substack or kindred sites, but then I’d once again be delivering my content to outside influences. Instead, I heed the words of John Scalzi.

Be forewarned: I might post about our schipperke Orbit as much as science fiction.