Bookwarm Games

Ariosto's epic-romantic song of knights and magic, spared from the burning of the books in Don Quixote. Thanks for listening.

AKA Blade Runner. We consider the source material by Philip K Dick. Thanks for listening.

Another little book in the His Dark Materials/Book of Dust series, not about Lyra but her mother. Sort of. Recommended: Kate Bush, Lyra - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE5PmGIBfNg About the dedication - https://www.thebookseller.com/news/audible-offers-strike-relief-free-pullman-story-441276 Duparc, Lenore Millais, Portrait of Ruskin Charpentier, https://www.nga.gov/artworks/215417-death-archimedes Crashaw, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44061/wishes-to-his-supposed-mistress and "unknown worlds" in his "The Name of Jesus"? - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/richard-crashaw Wilde, Picture of Dorian Gray Poe, "The Cask of Amontillado" Neruda, "Childhood and Poetry" - https://videogameacademia.org/2022/07/12/a-wild-sheep-chase-from-childhood-and-poetry-by-pablo-neruda/ Balthus and more on art and history via https://calmgrove.wordpress.com/2022/12/27/coll/ And more on "research as leisure activity," see Celine Nguyen's substack - https://www.personalcanon.com/p/im-teaching-2-workshops-this-summer Thanks for listening.

Continuing our playthrough of Final Fantasy Tactics with a review of events leading up to the battle at Zeirchele Falls. Thanks for listening!

On summer break, we three night scholars have decided to try reading outside our usual canons and genres, starting with the highly allusive, at times bizarre, but overall quite epic and gripping sci-fi novel Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Up next: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K Dick (aka Blade Runner)Thanks for listening.

Gaetan is a longtime denizen of Cittagazze, the premier French-language source for news and gathering-place for readers of Philip Pullman. Among his contributions, the page dedicated to the poetry of The Book of Dust: https://www.cittagazze.com/univers/poesie.php?version=en Thanks for listening!

Dr Elizabeth Walsh is a Teaching Associate at the University of Cambridge and has written on the curation of Pullman's work and inspirations in museums. His Dark Materials Among the Displays, the Pitt Rivers Museum, December 12, 2022 to December 31, 2023 University of Cambridge Department of Geography faculty page for Dr Walsh Another resource for The Peril of the Pole game included in Once Upon a Time in the North And for more about this project: https://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2026/01/out-of-ground-reading-book-of-dust-by.html Thanks for listening!

We final-fantastically get back into Tactics Ivalice Edition on Switch, recapping most of what makes it fun and at times tedious up through the end of the first chapter. Thanks for listening.

Concluding our series on The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent. Next we're weighing Ariosto or Rabelais, and in the meantime, Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Maira Kalman on "Time wastes too fast" - https://archive.nytimes.com/kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/time-wastes-too-fast/ Thanks for listening

"and we're all still here, by the grace of God"Out of the Ground: Reading The Book of Dust La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman On ch 14 Lady With Monkey and ch 15 The Potting Shed Recommended readinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholastica#:~:text=Scholastica%20is%20honored%20as%20a,feast%20day%20is%2010%20February. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%202&version=KJV https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/news/philip-pullman-his-dark-materials-harry-potter-jk-rowling-b2505475.html https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-o-worship-the-kinghttps://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/49495/in-1-john-58-is-the-reference-to-spirit-water-and-blood-an-allusion-to-jesus https://www.patreon.com/posts/notes-on-phillip-158980054?source=storefront Thanks for listening.

The indomitable Professor Kozlowski brings out his Notes on Philip Pullman for the History of British Magic lecture series, available on patreon and spotify: https://www.patreon.com/posts/notes-on-phillip-158980054?source=storefront In this preview, we work out ideas about how the dear bete noir Pullman and the redoubtable magus Alan Moore, among others, stack up in their recent books, The Rose Field and The Great When. (The Year of Worldbuilding this may be on Video Game Academy, but it sometimes feels like the Year of DFW--keep an eye out for Ben's upcoming Brutal Legend essay on https://videogameacademia.org/) Thanks for listening.

On ch 12 and 13 of La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman. Recommended reading: Gen 6-9Joyce, "Araby"Thanks for listening

Slightly touching on 7, but mostly dealing with 6: the bowling green/model fortifications/paradise of Uncle Toby. Thanks for listening.

Further hobby-horsical misadventures with our diverting narrator and the cast of his meandering novel. Thanks for listening.

A taking stock and looking ahead sort of conversation in the middle of the journey of our life. Thanks for listening.

Of names and noses, fortifications and divagations--and other hobby-horses. Thanks for listening.

As you head towards the stairwell of one of the older buildings on campus, voices reach you from the office around the corner. You can't quite make out what they're saying, but it seems to be two old friends talking about the overview of a possible lecture series they've been cooking up on religious narratives in popular culture. Thanks for listening.

As you head towards the stairwell of one of the older buildings on campus, voices reach you from the office around the corner. You can't quite make out what they're saying, but it seems to be two old friends talking about a biography of Dostoevsky (again), and then about a little-known masterpiece on philosophy of language... Preliminary to a possible lecture series Ben's cooking up on religious narratives in popular culture. Thanks for listening.

As you head towards the stairwell of one of the older buildings on campus, voices reach you from the office around the corner. You can't quite make out what they're saying, but it seems to be two old friends talking about a biography of Dostoevsky, and then about a film called The Book of Clarence... Preliminary to a possible lecture series Ben's cooking up on religious narratives in popular culture. Thanks for listening.

Slight spoilers: it's teamwork. Also the religious substrate of the zodiac; the transcendence of calculations; the harmonious imbalance of bravery and faith; the rigors of preparation for pivotal battles... Many thanks to Ryan and Pat for joining me for this late-night conversation, an echo of many a hangout from days of yore around lower Deer Park Dr, and one hopefully to be continued in another 20 or so hours of gameplay. Music clips courtesy of Zophar's Domain. Thanks for listening.

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman--sampled at hazard we find de gustibus, ab ovo, and Alas, poor YORICK! which translated seem to mean "of tastes, from the egg, and [church bell tolling a black page]" as near as I can tell. The opening volume of Sterne's comic modern masterpiece delights and eggs us on. Thanks for listening.

Professor Kozlowski, fresh off a whirlwind tour through 99 Hours of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, joins us to break down some of the highlights of the early game and frame story of FF Tactics: Ivalice Chronicles. https://videogameacademia.org/2026/03/22/99-hours-of-clair-obscur-expedition-33-part-one/ https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/ Thanks for listening.

Discussing La Belle Sauvage Ch 10 Lord Asriel & 11 Environmental Protection/Three LegsRecommended Reading: Milton's hymnal setting of Psalm 136 ("Let us with a gladsom mind"/ "And the Horned moon at night, 'Mid her spangled sisters bright") - https://milton.host.dartmouth.edu/reading_room/psalm_136/text.shtml Pullman's Blake Society Annual Lecture - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wbcVXLLChY Valerie Hansen, The Silk Road: A New History Withers, A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne - in Poco a Poco, Daemon Voices (cited in Kristen Poole, Pullman and the Historical Imagination)EH Gombrich, Symbolic Pictures (via Christopher Johnson's discussion of Cesare Ripa and Aby Warburg at https://www.engramma.it/eOS/index.php?id_articolo=1612) TH White, The Sword in the Stone Course page at https://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2026/01/out-of-ground-reading-book-of-dust-by.html Thanks for listening.

Reading and discussing the opening of Part I of Kierkegaard's Either/Or, in which he invites us to listen again to Mozart's Don Giovanni. Also mentioned: Phish, The Line; One Battle After Another; Mario Galaxy... Thanks for listening.

The first excursion in a new series of Side Quests with Alexander Schmid and the folks at Video Game Academy, where we've been gifted a couple of copies of Final Fantasy Tactics Ivalice Chronicles on Switch by amigo of the show and my longtime friend, Ryan. Thanks for listening!

The repeated "no" and the boundless energy of the great opera of the rake punished. Thanks for listening.

Discussing his book Reverse Design: Chrono Trigger with the author, analyst and game developer Patrick Holleman. Sundry allusions and fascinating connections ensue. For the video and detailed description, please see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VQDA7d4kpo Many thanks again to Pat for his time, and to Alex for hosting and recording. We should be back soon with the long-awaited Side Quests series on Final Fantasy Tactics. Thanks for listening.

Do you have the nerve, the skill, and the derring-do to challenge the wind and play PERIL OF THE POLE? Ain’t no if... Discussing Pullman's second companion novella to His Dark Materials, Once Upon a Time in the North (2008; aka the little blue book) with reference to: Once Upon a Time in the West dir. Sergio Leone - https://bridgetothestars.net/news/once-upon-a-time-in-the-north-our-review/ Pullman's book signing in Tysons Corner, VA - https://bridgetothestars.net/news/pullman-in-virginia/ Donna Freitas interview in Publishers Weekly - https://web.archive.org/web/20080331141641/http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6545130.html The Shipping World Year Book (1910) - https://www.abebooks.com/Shipping-world-year-book-1910-desk/32244845727/bd BBC Q&A - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/7774176.stm Board Game Geek's review of the Peril of the Pole - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/35602/peril-of-the-pole And another resource on games based on the North, courtesy of Liz Walsh - https://alaskahistoricalsociety.org/gaming-for-arctic-adventure/ Thanks for listening!If the audio is still being weird for you wherever you're hearing this, as it is for me on anchor where I'm hosting it, try the video at https://youtu.be/qEjWaJEOGX4 Thanks for listening

Discussing Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and its contexts, filling in some of the material between the opening of the game and our last conversation with Otto on the Train Graveyard. Thanks for listening.

Having read the whole, we discuss the conclusion of Byron's unfinished poem. Thanks for listening!

Considering the canonical ending and the clear line of development for a sequel it implies, along with the mechanisms of Lavos and the Entity's involvement in the evolution of consciousness. Thanks for listening.

Though he's the only one of us to have actually played it, Otto takes the time to talk with Alex and me about the themes at play in Remake's take on the Train Graveyard sequence. Like us, I hope you'll keep an open mind and be willing to give it a try! Thanks for listening.

Reading and discussing the unruly comic romantic epic, and it's growing on me. Thanks for listening!

Or Prometheus and Atropos. On the remaining side quests. If the earthbound ones and Mother Brain are in fact references to EarthBound/MOTHER 2 and you can verify that at all plausibly, please let me know! Thanks for listening.

The Romantic hero goes to war, and his poet pursues greatness. Thanks for listening.

Going back to old games, known and unknown, and returning them to the present. The main game and side quests considered in the light of the campfire and the writing on the gravestone. Thanks for listening.

How will Juan and all lovers, the poet, and the nation find their way out of enslavement to freedom? Through copious lashings of mock-epic verse, of course! Thanks for listening.

I'm joined by Red aka The Well-Red Mage, Moses Norton, the author of The Definitive Book of SNES RPGs. He's quite possibly the only person ever to have played every RPG released in the US on the system on original hardware--and certainly he's the only person to write a great book about it--and he's been kind enough to take the time to reflect on that experience with me here. Catch him streaming on twitch and youtube @thewellredmage -- https://www.twitch.tv/thewellredmage https://www.youtube.com/@theWellRedMage We build on the discussion Moses recently had with the folks at RetroLogic Games-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp7T1j9Z33g You'll also want to read the book itself once it is available once more, but in the meantime you can see my review for more: https://videogameacademia.org/2025/11/12/rpg-nirvana-jrpgana-the-definitive-book-of-snes-rpgs-by-moses-norton-a-guide-to-japanese-role-playing-games-by-kurt-kalata/ Audio clips from Country Comfort - Waimanalo Blues, The Makaha Sons of Ni'ihau - Hawaii 78', Jerry Santos - Kuʻu Home ʻO Kahaluu, and the Fishing Max track from Breath of Fire II are used for educational purposes only; all rights reserved to their respective owners. Alexander Schmid on Dante: https://penn.manifoldapp.org/read/dante-and-video-game-adaptations-an-analysis-of-dantean-elements-in-dante-s-inferno-devil-may-cry-and-final-fantasy-vii-and-final-fantasy-viii Moses on Dante: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TdWFirsgHc Thanks for listening!

We're circling around many of the same topics, but with our outlines completed and submitted and the rich endgame of Chrono Trigger before us. Thanks for listening

Of shipwrecks and sex on the beach, with sundry learned allusions. Thanks for listening.

or, "it feels as if the whole city’s looking out for us…" The first in a series of discussions of the companion books, the little books published between His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust, beginning with Lyra's Oxford. With continual reference to His Dark Materials and (spoilers) The Book of Dust. An example of a Baedecker on Bohemia: https://aba.org.uk/assets/catalogues/[email protected]/Baedeker2020.pdf On Bohemia and its non-existent coastline in Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale: https://www.folger.edu/blogs/shakespeare-and-beyond/bohemia-winters-tale-seacoast/ (and almost all Pullman's stories are very much winters' tales, aren't they...)The article in the Guardian cribbed from for the epigraph: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jul/27/booksforchildrenandteenagers.philippullman Interview with Margaret Kean: https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/philip-pullman-lyras-oxford-bodleian-library-masterclass Unveiling the gargoyles: https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/gargoyles-unveiled-0 And a talk at Jericho's St Barnabas: https://www.youtube.com/live/WhbvkC3QZLY Compare Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist; Philip Goff's Galileo's Error; Feuerbach's The Essence of Christianity... I've also been reading Kristen Poole’s Philip Pullman and the Historical Imagination, and finding it enormously helpful and interesting. Thanks for listening! https://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2026/01/out-of-ground-reading-book-of-dust-by.html

As far as Zeal, at least, and our first scrape with Lavos in the main storyline. Outlines are submitted and awaiting feedback from the editors at Psychgeist. Will it be the black wind blows or memories of green for us? Time will tell! Thanks for listening.

Launching our new series on Byron's comedic epic Don Juan (rhymes with "new one"). Thanks for listening.

Many a reference for your consideration, with thanks to the folks at Psychgeist. See https://videogameacademia.org/courses/current-semester/chrono-trigger/ for more

Many thanks to David Nixon, Associate Pastor at Carrubbers Christian Centre - http://www.carrubbers.org/ Apologies for the abrupt cut-off at the end of the episode. Our connection was severed by the parsimonious razor of zoom... Recommended reading: "The Gospel in Secular Scotland: in Conversation with David Nixon" - https://www.solas-cpc.org/the-gospel-in-secular-scotland-in-conversation-with-david-nixon/ "Engaging with Pullman" series of reflections on Solas - https://www.solas-cpc.org/engaging-with-pullman-part-five-pullman-on-alienation-and-the-argument-from-desire/ - Part One: Why I’ll be watching ‘His Dark Materials’ and so should you - Part Two: Philip Pullman and the Power of Stories - Part Three: Pullman on God and the Church - Part Four: On Dust and the Signals of Transcendence - Part Five: On Alienation and the Argument from Desire Within which you'll also find references to Tolkien, Lewis, and a number of other contemporary thinkers, including Philip Goff and Sharon Dirckx, mentioned in our chat and well worth checking out. Thanks for listening! More on this project: https://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2026/01/out-of-ground-reading-book-of-dust-by.html

We wrap up our discussion of this challenging, beguiling, and not altogether satisfying work by Nabokov, then begin to look ahead to our next book, Byron's Don Juan. Thanks for listening.

RIP Lucette, we hardly knew you!

Discussing the first half or so of Chrono Trigger, we continue the patient work of scholarship, moving towards an upcoming deadline for the outline to be delivered this week. Thanks for listening!

The moment of truth: Lucette departs, Demon discovers, Van and Ada jump forward in time. Thanks for listening.

The Crystal at the back of Memoria, past the elemental chaos monsters and Hades in his synth shop, where the voice of Garland runs out. We fight three final bosses, enjoy the ending, and sing the Melodies of Life theme once more. Thanks for listening! Up next, an abbreviated Chrono Trigger run, and then FF Tactics...