Bookwarm Games

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 Thanks for listening

Discussing Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and its contexts. 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

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/rarebooks@shapero.com/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

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,

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!