Greetings, and welcome to Khans & Cosmonauts – my new monthly newsletter.
You might be seeing this because you previously subscribed to my Ex Utopia mailing list – or maybe you were on my separate tour email list.
This year I’m rolling both into one monthly newsletter on Substack.
Rather than sending out emails every time I have a new article or tour update to share, instead you can now get a regular digest of links and news on the first day of every month.
So without further ado...
Contents
Monthly Digest
Why Substack?
Tours in 2023
Next Month
Monthly Digest
Wonderful Winnipeg: Canada’s Brutalist Utopia / Ex Utopia
My latest article on Ex Utopia is a subzero tour of (mostly) Brutalist architecture in Winnipeg, Canada. Based on my visit in April 2018, it’s a long, in-depth read with a lot of photographs.
Colin’s Barn / Ex Utopia
I published this short article a while ago, about a peculiar little folly located in a farmer’s field in Wiltshire, England. However, I completely forgot to send an email about it… so here it is in case you missed it.
Bulgarian Riverlands / Hidden Europe
A slow and meditative piece in which I travel the Bulgarian Danube plains and talk to a spy-catcher-turned-priest about his dreams. (Hidden Europe is a print magazine, so the link goes to a page where you can order the issue.)
The Future Folklore of Chornobyl / Folklore Thursday
I actually wrote this in 2020, for the site Folklore Thursday. It has been getting some more attention lately though. I’ve never shared it through my mailing list before, and I like it – so here’s a link.
Coming Soon…
This past month I have been doing an awful lot of writing, though it isn’t all available to read yet. I currently have four new articles that are sitting with editors and awaiting publication – including a piece on the history of Soviet handheld gaming devices, plus an exploration of virtual versions of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. So check in again next month, and I’ll have more ready to share.
Why Substack?
Let’s be honest: my old mailing list system was a mess. I sent out random emails whenever I had a new post on Ex Utopia – but these didn’t mention the writing I was doing in other places. So I’ve decided it makes more sense to just send a monthly recap, of all my writing on Ex Utopia and elsewhere.
Besides, I just didn’t like MailChimp, the platform I was using before. It’s primarily an email marketing tool, and every time I logged in it would bombard me with stats and percentages. That’s not how my brain works, and it doesn’t put me in the mood for writing. Substack, in comparison, feels like a platform designed for writers, and I find it more comfortable to use.
Sometimes I also want to write things that don’t fit on Ex Utopia… or anywhere else, for that matter. So I have made two sections here, called “Newsletter” and “Meditations.”
This is the Newsletter, and it will be monthly. Meditations will go out on Wednesdays, and will generally be short essays on all kinds of different subjects. (Like this article about factory tourism for instance.)
If you’re arriving here from my old Ex Utopia mailing list, then I’ve only added you to the Newsletter posts. I won’t sign you up for anything you didn’t ask for. But if you want to check out the Meditations section too – fantastic, be my guest.
You can easily change which sections you are subscribed to, either in the Substack app, or by clicking “unsubscribe” in the bottom of the email – which will bring up a page letting you manage your subscriptions.
And if you’re wondering why I chose the name Khans & Cosmonauts, you can read all about that in this introduction post.
Tours in 2023
Right now I have just one tour on offer for 2023, which I will be leading for Atlas Obscura:
The Balkans: Landscapes and Memories of Yugoslavia
Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia
25 September–7 October
Itinerary & Bookings
Tourism has been in a strange place for the last few years. First it was Covid, and then the invasion of Ukraine has obviously affected various countries where I usually run tours too.
From 2017-19 I was running around 8 tours a year. I was only able to run one tour each in 2020 and 2021 though. Last year saw a bit of a return – with 5 departures in 2022. For various reasons though, this year is looking like another slower one.
However, I am currently working on a couple of new routes to run later in 2023. I think these are going to be popular, and I’m personally very excited about them. So – this time next month I plan to make a new tour announcement.
Next Month
I am currently in South West England, which is where I will be based for April. I just spent two weeks in Spain, photographing Brutalist architecture and controversial Francoist monuments, and at some point I plan to write about those subjects. I am currently working on a piece about esoteric myths in Bulgaria – and with the Chornobyl anniversary coming up later this month, I was also thinking about doing something to commemorate that date.
I still want to find a home for my story about searching for Sasquatch in the wilds of Manitoba, too. And did I mention that I’m working on a new book?
Lots of ideas at the moment, but finishing things is always the big challenge. So we’ll see what happens, and I’ll share another update here in due course.
Until then, thanks for reading – and see you next month.
All the best,
Darmon.