#528 – Michael Adamson – Niche Dissidence and the Self Reliant Future
August 8, 2026
Darren Grimes and Graham Dunlop launch their new Grimoire platform, a global book club built around 250 plus professionally narrated audiobooks, lunar-cycle book picks, and community participation. They also demo a new online Pegs and Jokers game, whil e walking through the shelves of the library and explaining how free access, founder memberships, and the inner sanctum work.
In this episode, Darren and Graham cover the launch setup, the membership model, and the structure of the new book club. They also preview the first book of the month, discuss how the shelves are organized, and share the thinking behind the game and the community features.
Key topics
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In this episode: the Grimoire launches with more than 250 audiobooks, with the library expected to grow to around 260 soon.
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The free book of the month is The Secret Teachings of All Ages in an abridged edition, chosen because starting with the full 36 hour version would be too much for most listeners.
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Founder keeper and monthly initiate memberships unlock the full library, while the free tier gives access to the monthly featured book and community activity.
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The book club is organized around lunar cycles, with a new moon monthly pick and a full moon live read, creating a rhythm of one book per moon month.
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The community model includes chapter check-ins, passage discussions, Friday tangents, and a final live book council in the last week of each book month.
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Darren and Graham describe the inner sanctum as a deeper, earned area of the platform, accessible through participation rather than payment alone.
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The shelves span Hermetica and occult, theosophy, mysticism east and west, Atlantis and Fortiana, mind and prosperity, weird fiction, philosophy and classics, magic, and power and propaganda.
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They highlight standout titles such as The Purple Cloud, The Machine Stops, Atlantis by Ignatius Donnelly, The Book of Thoth, Psychic Self-Defense, The Power of Positive Thinking, and The Road to Serfdom.
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Graham demos Pegs and Jokers, explaining how the online version works, how the cards move pieces, and why it is meant to be played with friends and family across locations.
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They mention the platform is still being cleaned up and reorganized, including moving some books between shelves and adding PDFs and other support material.
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Timestamps
00:00 – Restarting the launch after a false start
01:09 – Founder membership goals and how the book club access works
02:51 – Free members, VIP tiers, and the first monthly book
03:26 – The vault, classroom, and inner sanctum
04:16 – Launch day tech problems and the rough custom URL
05:16 – Introducing Pegs and Jokers and how the game works
06:56 – Why the game is meant for people, not just bots
08:30 – Book club access, free tier, and The Secret Teachings of All Ages
09:55 – Monthly rotation, live reads, and short book length strategy
10:01 – Reading a passage from The Secret Teachings of All Ages
11:18 – How book voting will work and the 10 comment limit
13:13 – Membership tiers and what each one unlocks
14:15 – Global map, leaderboards, and the earned inner sanctum
15:35 – Shelf overview: occult, theosophy, mysticism, Atlantis, and more
16:20 – The Purple Cloud and the appeal of weird fiction
17:41 – Hollow earth, lost civilizations, and classic speculative titles
19:38 – The Machine Stops and early dystopian fiction
20:52 – More shelf curation and shifting titles between categories
23:06 – How the monthly book club threads will work
25:18 – Commission features and community referrals
27:00 – Recent completed books and what is coming next
28:31 – Atlantis, Fortiana, and Ignatius Donnelly
31:44 – Why Donnelly still matters in Atlantis discussions
33:35 – Paradise Found and the North Pole Eden theory
35:47 – Shelf one: Hermetica and occult foundations
37:40 – Theosophy, Blavatsky, and the first monthly free book
39:59 – The Kabalah and key Hermetic texts
41:53 – Practical occultism and the warning not to treat it casually
42:46 – Rosicrucian mysteries, The Secret Destiny of America, and tarot
46:23 – Bacon, symbolic myth, and the wisdom of the ancients
47:39 – The full Secret Teachings audiobook and the premium tier
48:57 – Theosophy shelf highlights, including Thought Forms and The Secret Doctrine
52:21 – The Science of Immortality and a modern summary of Theosophy
54:55 – Mysticism east and west, slowly paced classics, and deep reading
56:15 – Christianity as Mystical Fact and esoteric Christianity
57:49 – Mystical Christianity and reading the Gospels as initiation text
58:47 – The New Man and inner psychological struggle
63:31 – Mind and prosperity: self-help, new thought, and money classics
64:58 – The Conquest of Happiness and the logic of optimism
66:19 – Meditations, Recovery Dharma, Self-Reliance, and As a Man Thinketh
67:39 – Darren’s own book and the self-directed learning theme
67:59 – The Power of Positive Thinking and Think and Grow Rich
68:51 – Weird fiction as a shelf of cosmic horror and apocalypse tales
77:32 – The Apocalypse Then compilation and end-of-the-world fiction
79:12 – Saint-Germain, Cthulhu, and cosmic horror influences
81:38 – The Willows and the best weird tale discussion
82:08 – Charles Fort, The Book of the Damned, and excluded data
84:25 – Moon Child, Eadadorpa, and final weird fiction curation
86:14 – Philosophy, classics, and the structure behind the other shelves
87:52 – Socialism, utopias, and the political thread running through the shelf
89:25 – The Game of Life, Scientism, Nietzsche, and Chesterton
91:01 – Orthodoxy and the case for mystery
93:43 – Magic as the practical shelf and the history of ceremonial practice
94:35 – Agrippa, The Book of the Law, and tarot foundations
96:01 – Psychic Self-Defense and the reality of hostile influence
97:21 – The Fourth Book of Agrippa and ceremonial magic mechanics
98:14 – Levi, the Shamir, and ancient megalithic speculation
101:04 – Malleus Maleficarum and witch hunting history
101:56 – The History of Magic and the power of imagination
103:33 – Power and propaganda as the shelf of control systems
105:34 – Wells, the world brain, and early internet thinking
107:23 – The Road to Serfdom and central planning
108:03 – Darren’s Canadian residential schools titles
109:11 – Gustave Le Bon and The Crowd
113:14 – Technocracy and the rise of expert rule
114:55 – Secret societies and subversive movements
117:05 – Proofs of a Conspiracy and early anti-Illuminati writing
124:50 – Short list of possible future reads and the launch’s next phase
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