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.