OnlySky is back from the dead!
Back in 2022, an entrepreneur named Shawn Hardin launched OnlySky Media as an explicitly secular news and media site, designed by and for America’s rising nonreligious population. I was honored to be one of the writers on board. I believed it was a worthy mission, and I still do.
Unfortunately, the landscape for startups is harsh and unforgiving. OnlySky found itself in need of more funding at the worst possible time, a period of spiking inflation when money was extremely difficult to raise. American Atheists took over the site and sustained it as a nonprofit for one more year, but their board ultimately decided that it wasn’t a strategic priority for them.
In March 2024, OnlySky closed its doors. That was when I came to Freethought Blogs, and I’m happy to make this my new writing home.
However, I have good news. Shawn Hardin wasn’t ready to give up on OnlySky. He reacquired the brand name and brought the site back to life. Behold!
OnlySky 1.0 was a home for all topics of secular interest, but OnlySky 2.0 has a tighter focus: the exploration of possible futures. Under this umbrella, it’ll forecast the fallout of everything from climate change to AI to transhumanism, and imagine every permutation of the future from secular solarpunk utopia to global theocratic fascism. I’m pleased to say I’m one of the writers on board this time around too.
OnlySky 2.0 will publish fiction and nonfiction, including both brand-new material and selected content from the previous iteration of the site. It’s free to read, but if you’d like to subscribe and toss us a few bucks, there will be some extra perks.
I intend to keep writing on Freethought Blogs, but I’ll also contribute to OnlySky as and when I’m able. Come by and check it out!
Practical question: is there currently a place where we can find your Atlas Shrugged archives (doing a fairly gradual readthrough)?
My entire blog archive was on OnlySky until recently, but they’re taking old material down as they transition the site to its new focus. That’s irksome.
They sent me a data dump of my archive, which I’m trying to get uploaded to Freethought Blogs. Hopefully that will be done soon. In the meantime, I have an index page here on my personal site:
http://www.daylightatheism.org/atlas_shrugged.html
I’ll try to keep those links current, but if they don’t work, you can also put the URLs into the Wayback Machine.
I love this. Reminds me of circa 1980 OMNI magazine. I’m signing up!
So your Fountainhead reviews will also still be available, when you get the archive up? I am so glad you’re keeping those and Atlas Shrugged going, I like them so much that I read them over and over!
But, I really liked the rest of your thoughtful archive. I read through those too, going all the way back to when you started. It relaxes me and calms me, you provide the more optimistic and anti-doom-spiral view that I often need. Thanks!
Yes, the Fountainhead reviews will also be here once I get my archives up on FTB.
I really appreciate that you find my archives optimistic and calming! Honestly, that’s one of the best compliments I’ve ever gotten.
Futurists topics are also very interesting, getting more and more real now with AI. AI is doing some stuff I didnt imagine it could do, and I am an engineer!