scop (noun): Old English – bard, minstrel, storyteller
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Newsletter Challenge #1
Forgotten Superheroes Recognize these guys? If you’ve subscribed to the Minute-Men: Execute and Run newsletter, you know all about the challenge associated with them. If you’re not a subscriber, please consider signing up via this handy subscription box: Either way, now that you’re here, let us know if you can identify any of the characters…
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Out Now: “Echoes” in Weird Fiction Review
Prosperous Progeny. “And now, once again, I bid my hideous progeny go forth and prosper.” That’s Mary Shelley, writing in her Introduction to the 1831 edition of Frakenstein. While writing the book as a teenager, she could not have imagined how successful the novel would become. But as an adult, after witnessing a reissue of the…
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Newsletter: Ready for Launch
How to Sign Up. Earlier this year, a newsletter subscription offer appeared on this website. Can you find it? If you’re reading on your phone, the box is near the bottom of this page. Otherwise, it should be off to the right. See it? The Substack logo that you click to enter your email address…
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Sleuth 1972 on Blu-ray
At last! The Blu-ray holy grail! For years, I’ve been convinced we would never see a decent home video release of the ultimate two-hander, the parlor mystery that pits wealthy blue-blood Andrew Wyke (Laurence Olivier) against first-generation Brit Milo Tindle (Michael Caine). Written by Anthony Shaffer and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the film made…
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The Power of the Known
The Power of the Familiar Two days ago, during my presentation at Duquesne University (see my previous post for more details), I asked a student to recall a passage that had effectively drawn him into a piece of writing. Without hesitation, he identified the opening of Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle.” Whoever has made a…
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Ideas
Back to the River You can’t step into the same river twice. So said the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus. It’s not just that the river changes. We do as well. And the change becomes more pronounced with time. I made that point a few months back in a post about rewatching John Carpenter’s They Live.…