Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 6d

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 · 6d

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...

1

Reposted by Dennis Wise

SF & F Poetry Assn @sfpoetry.bsky.social · 6d

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/

1 16 30

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 7d

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

1 1

Reposted by Dennis Wise

Marcel R. Bülles 📚💍🌋🎉 @thetolkienist.com · 7d

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

1 4 8

Reposted by Dennis Wise

Paul Deane @rhunedhel.bsky.social · 8d

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

3 4

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 8d

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

2

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 8d

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!!!!

1 1

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 14d

Thanks for the share!

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 16d

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

4 5

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 16d

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

1 2 4

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 21d

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!

1 1

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 21d

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 · 21d

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!

1 2 6

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 21d

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

2

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 21d

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

1

Dennis Wise @denniswise.bsky.social · 24d

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.

1 4