Why Boys Stopped Reading, and How Malory & LitRPG Save Them

 Reading fiction has become "a girl thing," and an entire generation of boys now pay for it. Mookie sits down with UK author Malory (yes, one name — think Sting, but with lots of typing) to dig into why literacy stats are cratering for young men worldwide, and why the fix isn't more "important" books, it's fun ones they love to read. They dig into a defense of pulp fiction, the mechanics of why LitRPG works where traditional YA fiction hasn't, describe the genre's video-game style "system" that tracks stats and rewards competence, and why stories of everyday heroes overcoming adversity resonate. They also discuss why publishing quietly stopped wanting male protagonists and how a teacher's assumption about "who the good readers are" becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy by age fourteen.Then the conversation turns to Malory himself, and how he went from burned-out day job to full-time author in four years. His professional writer's journey started on Royal Road, the crowdsourced fiction platform where he serialized a chapter a day. There he learned the hard way to write rapidly, consistently, and with good quality, while thousands of strangers picked apart everything wrong with every word. That brutal, real-time feedback loop is where he actually learned to write, and where the deadline discipline got hard-coded: break the schedule, lose the audience.His craft sharpened further through Raconteur Press's themed anthologies: a Buck Rogers pulp month, a hardboiled noir month, each with a hard word-count ceiling that beat the ramble out of his prose and made his longer 100k+ word litRPG series tighter. He talks through his actual process: 5 a.m. starts, treating writing like "another nine-to-five," not waiting for inspiration, nor taking days off because he might not feel it. Malory also shares lessons learned from co-writing, hitting Audible's 40-hour sweet spot for readers doing long American truck hauls, and why he now has several ongoing series plus new ones signed for next year.Malory and Mookie also get philosophical, and wrestle through the paradoxes and illusions of the "tortured genius" myth. For Malory, writing is a contract with an audience, and being responsive to readers isn't selling out, it's the job. That leads into the AI reckoning hitting litRPG, and why Malory's shifted away from pure pen-name anonymity toward doing more podcasts and interviews. He understands that human readers are most responsive to human writers, especially ones with a real track record fueled by their lived experience, not LLM matrix math. For Malory, writing is about deadlines, discipline, writing for a younger version of himself, and an older version of his 9-year-old son. For you, this podcast provides inspiration, best practices, and a rare glimpse into the world of creativity, publishing, and creative success. The GuestMalory is a lifelong sci-fi and fantasy fan writing LitRPG and Progression Fantasy, books built on strong characters, action, and snark. His philosophy: write fun stories people actually want to read, because the world needs more escapism. That drive led him to write his first Boy's Own Adventure for his son, chasing the golden age of classic heroics. Winner of the 2026 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award, he's partnered with Aethon Books, Legion Publishers, LitForge, and Soundbooth Theater, plus regular anthology work at Raconteur Press. Outside writing and doctoral research, he's rereading Terry Pratchett or watching England's cricket team collapse again.His Websitehttps://maloryauthor.com/Tap here to share your opinion! Be a guest on the pod! Mookie wants to hear from you...