Bookwarm Games

Overview and tentative vindication of Xenogears' opening chapters of disc 2  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

Leanna, aka Musical33, mod on the HDM Fandom Wiki, joins me once again, this time for a joyous discussion of season one of the new series. Spoilers abound!  https://hisdarkmaterials.fandom.com/f  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

On ch 3 Scavengers and ch 4 Ama and the Bats, of The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman  with "The Knight's Tomb," by Coleridge and "She lay as if at play," by Dickinson  https://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2020/02/gamecool-books-amber-spyglass.html  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

The Gamecool Books podcast turns to The Amber Spyglass, the concluding volume in His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman. Long-form discussions of the intertextual goodness branching out from the book in all directions, and of the depiction of consciousness at its heart, will be posted on a weekly-or-so basis, along with conversations with other fans and scholars. This page will also be updated with recommended additional reading to accompany our deep dive into Pullman's work. I welcome any questions or comments. Enjoy!  This episode covers Ch 1 The Enchanted Sleeper and Ch 2 Balthamos and Baruch.  Recommended Reading:  Blake, America A Prophecy  Rilke, The Third Elegy  Ashbery, The Ecclesiast  Blake, The Little Girl Lost  Job 4  "The Man Who Walked with God: Philip Pullman's Metatron, the Biblical Enoch, and the Apocrypha," John Haydn Baker. In Critical Perspectives on Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, Barfield and Cox ed.  --- Support this podcast: https://an

In which we range over the contexts for game- and god-talk, with genial insights from my guest Moses Norton and some great audience input--many thanks to the Well-Red Mage for hosting my writing, cross-releasing this episode (with augmented audio) on his podcast, and letting me host him on this show! https://thewellredmage.com/ and see his Chrono Trigger dissertation  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

Gabriel joins me to discuss the massive, rich, and challenging new book, The Secret Commonwealth, the second volume of Philip Pullman's Book of Dust.  After this interlude, I'll be picking up with The Amber Spyglass shortly!  Thanks for listening.   https://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2019/05/gamecool-books-subtle-knife-by-philip.html   --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

On Solaris, where we're head over heels, and on to the end of Disc 1 of Xenogears. If anyone knows what Citan's sword is saying with his elemental attacks, please teach me that sophistry or poetry or whatever it might be!  https://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2019/05/bookwarm-games-xenogears.html  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

On ch 15: Bloodmoss, concluding The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman. With reference to The Journey of the Magi, by TS Eliot, and to the wrestling passage in Gen 32:24 more: https://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2019/05/gamecool-books-subtle-knife-by-philip.html  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

On ch 14: Alamo Gulch, in The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

On Xenogears' destroy the gate generator missions: the omnigear in the Mausoleum, the Republic of Aveh, tag-team battles on Babel Tower and Ft. Jasper, and Emeralda in Sargasso  With thanks to the Retrograde Amnesia podcast for a kind shout-out, and to Karnegal at the Let's Play Archive --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

Opening a discussion with the Argentine scholar Guillermo Lariguet on the philosophical context for Pullman's trilogy. This conversation was recorded piecemeal and built up from transmissions from Guillermo via whatsapp, with my responses.  "A Brief Examination of the Literary Trilogy by Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials" essay (in Spanish) on academia.edu and Erasmus online review:  https://www.academia.edu/37331615/UN_BREVE_EXAMEN_FILOS%C3%93FICO_DE_LA_TRILOG%C3%8DA_LITERARIA_DE_PHILIP_PULLMAN_LA_MATERIA_OSCURA  https://www.icala.org.ar/erasmus/Archivo/2018/2018-1/erasmus-20-1-2018-00.pdf  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

On Ch 13 Æsahættr, in The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman.  Word study: Fandom, wiktionary, Skaldic poetry; Waking of Angantyr; Icelandic dictionary And while you're looking that up, maybe you want to check out this band's Self-titled album --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

On ch 12: Screen Language, in Philip Pullman's The Subtle Knife On Everett and his Many Worlds: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hugh-everett-biography/ Augustine on Angels: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s2c1p5.htm --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

On The Subtle Knife and Philip Pullman's epic tendencies. Many thanks to Faith Acker, lecturer and preceptor at Signum University, for joining me! See more about her course, The Life and Times of the English Epic: https://signumuniversity.org/catalog/the-life-and-times-of-the-english-epic/  And our conversation celebrating the release of The Secret Commonwealth, with Kris Swank and Gabriel Schenk, as part of Signum's annual fundraising campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZV47M-0EZI  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

On ch 11: The Belvedere, of The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

On Xenogears' central chapters, from Zeboim to Shevat via Babel Tower, and what awaits you there --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

On ch 10: The Shaman, in Philip Pullman's The Subtle Knife --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

On the simulacra and ekphrases of Xenogears' first half or so, continuing where our first talk left off.  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support

We touch on C.S. Lewis' "On Stories," which Pullman cites approvingly more than once: https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/lewiscs-onstories/lewiscs-onstories-00-h.html  Here's some information about the wall Gabriel mentioned, dividing rich and poor parts of Oxford: http://www.bbc.co.uk/oxford/content/articles/2009/03/26/cutteslowe_feature.shtml It's very close to the Hornbeam trees (Sunderland Avenue: https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2368292) This is the cemetery described by Pullman in The Subtle Knife: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolvercote_Cemetery This is Gabriel's flash fiction piece, chosen as one of five competition winners by Philip Pullman: https://gabrielschenk.com/writing/home/ More information on the Jewish cemetery and the Botanical Gardens: https://www.oxfordjewishheritage.co.uk/projects/botanic-gardens-first-jewish-cemetery  More images from the books and the "How to Read the Alethiometer" promotional poster can be found on the HDM Fandom.  --- Support thi

On everything from Ramsus' underwater attack and help from Billy, the young priest, to the encounter with the green-haired girl in the ruins of Zeboim; Xenogears' theological arguments begin to take shape.  https://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2019/05/bookwarm-games-xenogears.html  --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/wesley-schantz/support