Given my newfound appreciation for how book packaging & distribution -- hc vs. pb, covers, bookstores vs. wholesalers -- affects interpretation, I realized I've just invented a new field of literary studies. I think I'm going to call it "book history." Hope it catches on!

Just saw that this came out! Holmes has always written *extremely* insightful reviews and articles. I'll be looking forward to this one .... although mainly to see what he says about Tolkien's alliterative poetry! mcfarlandbooks.com/product/tolk...

A very pleasant review of my anthology from Douglas A. Anderson, writing for @mythlore.bsky.social . dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol...

I've always been puzzled by standing conferences that have "themes." ICFA always has a theme, and this year's theme ("cognition") is perfectly decent .... but how many academics actually write their paper to match the theme? The chances that any one theme randomly...

Announcing the 2025 Rhysling Award Winners The Rhysling Award honors the year's best in speculative poetry ✨ Nominees were selected by the membership of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. Each member is allowed to nominate one work in each of two categories: Long and Short poem thread/

Christmas is coming up...and what do you get the person who has everything? Clearly, SPECULATIVE POETRY & THE MODERN ALLITERATIVE REVIVAL, the most exciting compilation since the 10th-century Exeter Book! (Seriously, the pb edition's still on sale for only $25.) www.bloomsbury.com/us/speculati...

Another edition of the Roving Ranger has just been sent to its subscribers. Including: PE 18; Ohio Shakespeare's Smaug; CfP - Fantasy's Present Pasts; Christopher Lee & Tolkien; JRRT, the air raid warden; Bilbo's superpower; what does 'home' mean?; Magic wants the Hobbit; cost of a pint & more...

The fourth poem Forgotten Ground Regained is nominating for #BestOfTheNet: @rosenovick.com's "Monostich Sequence 1": Isolated images that add up to much more than that. alliteration.net/poetry/monostich-sequence-i/

IT'S OUT!!!! ... the *paperback* edition of SPECULATIVE POETRY AND THE MODERN ALLITERATIVE REVIVAL, which was just short-listed for the Mythopoeic Society Scholarship Award. PLUS, publisher' s running a sale, so pb copies are just under $25 (even less for ebook) 1/2

Ah-ha! Other professors are foisting this stuff on hapless students. My mission is done. @rhunedhel.bsky.social @adambolivar.bsky.social @sfpoetry.bsky.social

In honor of Robert Redford, the three best baseball movies ever made: 1. The Natural 2. Bull Durham 3. Field of Dreams (Anything who thinks Major League belongs on this list should be swiftly kicked.) www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-o_...

Spent another morning writing about three fantasy novels from during the Del Rey Hegemony (i.e., the 1980s!). For all my usual action-packed commentary, plus a reference to "massive puppykickers," check out the following. stratofanatic.blogspot.com/2025/09/thre...

Finally took the plunge: I'm beginning an "absolutely no electronics" policy in my classroom this semester. Just too much evidence out there about the negative impact it has on peoples' attentions. Just converted ALL my course links to pdfs, that students can print & bring.

In my class on close reading, I'm spending one day walking my students through FINNEGANS WAKE. Super beginner stuff, of course (I myself haven't read more than 50 pages of it), but man .... I've been studying some supplemental materials, and I'm only now realize how hilarious Joyce is.

"We are contacting you because your *expertise in areas related to linguistics (if any)* makes you an ideal candidate to review [ms.]." Um .... I'm selected for my expertise in linguistics, *IF* I have any expertise in linguistics? Gosh, shucks, you guys sure know how to make a girl feel special.

After another day of "Reading papers at Conferences" discourse on Twitter, I wonder how much of the whole debate from Humanities folks boils down to sheer in-group/out-group mentality. All the arguments for the "necessity" of straight-reading paper are specious.

Ooof. I'm focusing a lot on the history of criticism for my Literary Analysis course, and I thought, "Oh, I should share a chapter from POSTMODERN POOH by Frederick Crews. It's funny and accessible, and gives a taste of what different methodologies in literary studies looks like."

Having just read Klarkash-Ton's THE LAST INCANTATION, I'm liking some of these phrasings!

There's a conference on alliteration in poetry & cultural history, University of East Anglia, Norwich UK, Sept. 1st. You have till Aug. 18th to register for the conference, till Aug. 14th to register for the conference dinner, which will include informal poetry readings www.uea.ac.uk/groups-and-c...

I'll give this for Google AI: I'm currently prepping my ENGL 380: Literary Analysis class, and I asked, "What's the worst poem in the English language?" Google AI didn't even have to think. "William McGonagall's 'The Tay Bridge Disaster'", it said. One point to AI!

Whoa. This looks like an amazing new dataset from the folks over at @post45data.bsky.social

Well hey, I sent in a reader's report to an editor last night, and today they wrote to me, "... most fun I have had reading a review - ever." I'm glad I could entertain!

Well, check this out! The poet Mari Ness giving some love to FORGOTTEN GROUND REGAINED.

As I research Lester del Rey's biography, I'm seeing a lot about his uncle, Dr. George L. Knapp. He was actually quite a prominent public figure during his day ... and a pretty fair novelist, too. Here's his first novel, THE SCALES OF JUSTICE (1910). stratofanatic.blogspot.com/2025/07/lest...

The latest issue of @extrapolation.bsky.social just came out, and it contains a great set of reviews -- not only mine of CORRODING THE NOW, but also several reviews by several folks whose opinions I'm always keen to listen to! Definitely check it out: liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/epdf/10....

New issue of FORGOTTEN GROUND REGAINED! Lots of good verse under the theme of "prophets, protests, and poetic battles." Plus one action-packed article by yours truly on an astounding alliterative poem by Charles R. Sleeth called "After the Flood." alliteration.net/current-issue/

And as told with the usual wit and verve!

The Summer issue of Forgotten Ground Regained will also contain an article by @denniswise.bsky.social on "After the Flood", a prize-wining poem by Charles R. Sleeth.

Maybe the oddest biographical fact I just realized: Lester del Rey and L. Ron Hubbard went to George Washington University at the same time (1931-1933 vs. 1930-1932), and they both dropped out after their second year.

Two big things in my Lester del Rey research: (1) Two days ago, found a major unknown primary source on Lester's family background; (2) This morning, conclusive evidence that Lester del Rey truly WAS Leonard Knapp. (Before, it was just "the weight of the evidence suggests ...").

There are now several published #poetry collections that primarily consist of #alliterative verse. You can find them (and other collections that have alliterative poetry in them) here: alliteration.net/books/collec... #poetrysky #poetrycommunity #alliterativeverse (links to those books in replies)

Currently researching Lester del Rey -- his real name was "Leonard Knapp" -- and as I'm looking thru Moskowitz's profile of Lester, it's hard to believe ANY one ever believed it. It's nothing but truth nuggets mixed w/ the most obvious utter bullshit that I've ever seen.

I spent way too long crafting this review of a fantasy novel nobody remembers ... but if you check it out, you might see just how much brilliance went into the creation of FANTASY FICTION as a publishing category. stratofanatic.blogspot.com/2025/06/how-...

Modern alliterative verse: Not a contradiction in terms. Here's @jdharlock.bsky.social's "To Consecrate this Carnage" ... unfortunately, it's more appropriate today than when it was written. #alliteration #poem #alliterative #poetry #poetrysky #poetrycommunity alliteration.net/poetry/to-co...

And @adambolivar.bsky.social's alliterative verse poetry collection Wheel of Ravens has been nominated for the SFPA's Elgin Award. www.jackanapespress.com/product/a-wh...

I don't want to dunk too hard on someone who obviously loves fantasy, but a new youtube video is trashing Del Rey Books, and since I *am* writing a monograph on them, I can't resist. Here's the blog post. The original video appears as the first comment. stratofanatic.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-...

Congratulate @denniswise.bsky.social ... his groundbreaking book "Speculative Poetry and the Modern Alliterative Revival" is a finalist for the @mythsoc.bsky.social's award for Myth and Fantasy Studies! It has more original alliterative poems by more poets in one book since 1450! & maybe before.

Congrats to the finalists for Myth & Fantasy Studies! Stefan Ekman, Urban Fantasy Sophus Helle, editor, Enheduanna Matthew Oliver, Magic Words, Magic Worlds Dennis Wilson Wise, Speculative Poetry and the Modern Alliterative Revival Jack Zipes, Buried Treasures: The Power of Political Fairy Tales

Congrats to the finalists for Inklings Studies! Anahit Behrooz, Mapping Middle-earth Annie Brust. Tolkien's Transformative Women Scull & Hammond, The Collected Poems of J. R. R. Tolkien Robert Stuart, Tolkien, Race & Racism in Middle-earth Hamish Williams, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Utopianism & the Classics

The finalists for this year's Mythopoeic Society awards (fiction & scholarship) have now been announced.

I'm 8 years post-PhD. I've been doing heavy loads of serious literary criticism all that time. And nobody, but NOBODY, has ever once told me me what an amazing resource of pure facts *Publishers Weekly* is. And none of it comes up in the standard academic search engines. ...

Well, hey now .... looks like I got my first fan letter! It was from a former UA alum who saw me on the PBS special on Judy-Lynn del Rey, so I naturally shared my *Conversation* article on Judy-Lynn as well. Clearly, academia is the path to fame and fortune. theconversation.com/the-woman-wh...

If you would like to know what all your friends are talking about, you can now pre-order the paperback edition of SPECULATIVE POETRY AND THE MODERN ALLITERATIVE REVIVAL for just a measly $31! @sfpoetry.bsky.social www.bloomsbury.com/us/speculati...

"What are you talking about? Even if I don't agree with their political views, libertarian SF writers are perfectly normal folks who try to sensibly come to terms with society. Now, hold on, and let me read this interview from libertarian SF writer L. Neil Smith." *reads interview* *eyes widen*

You know the dumbest thing that your kindergarten ever told you?If you're in publishing, that's easy: "Never judge a book by its cover". For instance, I'm studying the early 1980s rivalry between Timescape Books and Del Rey Books .... and here are two typical covers from each imprint.

Abstracts due in two days!

The *Encyclopedia of Science Fiction* (and its sister encyclopedia on fantasy) is one of the greatest resources ever created for SFF scholarship ... but I wish, I REALLY REALLY wish, that somebody would someday do a good deconstruction of its core theoretical & ideological slant. 1/2

The major effect of the "AI revolution": For all colleges degrees earned mainly or partly through online classwork, you've just paid a lot of money for a worthless piece of paper.

Exciting news from the Modern Alliterative Revival! Pat Masson (d. 1994) was re-discovered by Paul Deane.... And, today, it was announced that her poem "The Last Valkyrie," was nominated for a Rhysling Award @sfpoetry.bsky.social .. 31 years after she wrote it. alliteration.net/poets/pmasso...