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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 1d

"If you can get a staff member of the store to kiss you, then you will be in the direct succession of Walt Whitman’s kiss, which flows from Walt to ... one of the founders of Giovanni’s Room."

And this is from their official website!!!!

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 1d

Reading the "about" section from Giovanni's Room bookstore in Philly, one of the oldest queer bookstores in the world, but I'm guessing that the following tidbit, while definitely interesting, is maaaaaaybe every HR person's nightmare: 1/2

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 2d

Oh, in addition to accidentally re-inventing book history, looks like I've also accidentally re-invented distance reading (!).

Absolutely love this article by Ted Underwood"
dhq.digitalhumanities.org/vol/11/2/000...

DHQ: Digital Humanities Quarterly: A Genealogy of Distant Reading

dhq.digitalhumanities.org

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 2d

Ha. That's like when Thoreau said that he had a library of 800 volumes, 700 of which he wrote himself (from some returns on his first book).

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 2d

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!

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 3d

True ... but I wonder if that's because Protestantism is so much harder to pinpoint than Catholicism is.

Narnia and Thomas Covenant are both v. Prot fantasy. B-sands is very Mormon .....

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 3d

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...

Tolkien’s Glee - McFarland

Tolkien’s Glee A Reading of the Songs in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings John R. Holmes 978-1-4766-9865-6 978-1-4766-5735-6

mcfarlandbooks.com

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 3d

A very pleasant review of my anthology from Douglas A. Anderson, writing for @mythlore.bsky.social .

dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol...

<i>Speculative Poetry and the Modern Alliterative Revival: A Critical Anthology</i>, edited by Dennis Wilson Wise

Book review, by Douglas A. Anderson, of Speculative Poetry and the Modern Alliterative Revival: A Critical Anthology (2024), edited by Dennis Wilson Wise

dc.swosu.edu

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 13d

matches the topic we've spent years researching seems pretty darn slim!

At any rate, this'll mark the 9th straight year that my abstract will completely ignore the conference theme. ;)

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 13d

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...

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Reposted by Dennis Wise

SF & F Poetry Assn @sfpoetry.bsky.social · 13d

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/

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 14d

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...

Speculative Poetry and the Modern Alliterative Revival

2025 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award Finalist for Myth and Fantasy StudiesIf a literary movement arises but no one notices, is it still a movement? In Speculative…

www.bloomsbury.com

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Reposted by Dennis Wise

Marcel R. Bülles 📚💍🌋🎉 @thetolkienist.com · 14d

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 One hundred and fifty-sixth Roving Ranger

The Roving Ranger #156 brings you all the interesting things Tolkienian of the last week and the weeks upcoming, curated by the Tolkienist.

steady.page

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Reposted by Dennis Wise

Paul Deane @rhunedhel.bsky.social · 15d

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/

Monostich Sequence I

The monostich (one line poem) format that Rose Novick is using consists of a single line of alliterative verse (four strong beats, three alliterating), followed by an adonic (/ u u / u).

alliteration.net

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 15d

Forget the novel! My sense of horror increased with every word you typed of that tweet!

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 15d

I actually orderrd this book like two years ago because I saw you had mentioned it in a post .... but I still haven't gotten around to reading it!!!!

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 21d

Thanks for the share!

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 23d

So if you're intrigued, get SP&MAR on the cheap .... but even if not, spread the word far and wide. Let's make genre poetry better known!
@sfpoetry.bsky.social @iafa.bsky.social @fantastic-journal.bsky.social @sfrareview.bsky.social @strangehorizons.bsky.social

www.bloomsbury.com/us/speculati...

Speculative Poetry and the Modern Alliterative Revival

2025 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award Finalist for Myth and Fantasy StudiesIf a literary movement arises but no one notices, is it still a movement? In Speculative…

www.bloomsbury.com

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 23d

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

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 28d

hahaha, and I was so excited that you specifically said "Old English elegies." That's all right, as the lamenting wives deserves as much space as Sir Gawain!

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 28d

Ah-ha! Other professors are foisting this stuff on hapless students. My mission is done.

@rhunedhel.bsky.social @adambolivar.bsky.social @sfpoetry.bsky.social

B.S.W. Barootes @barootes.bsky.social · 28d

Took @denniswise.bsky.social's book to class today as we started the Old English elegies to assure the students that alliterative verse was alive and well!

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 28d

Well yay, what about that? I hope they were properly appreciative .... and tackled Sir Gawain and the Green Knight all the harder!

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 28d

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_...

Hobbs Proves His Worth At Batting Practice | The Natural (Wilford Brimley, Robert Redford)

YouTube video by Moving Pictures

www.youtube.com

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Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · Sep 13

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...

Three Fantasy Novels from the Del Rey Hegemony

So I'm going through several old 1980s fantasy novels, primarily from Del Rey Books (DRB), and wanted to jot down thoughts on a few. Here, w...

stratofanatic.blogspot.com

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · Aug 22

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.

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