I've put up both of John J. Reilly's books that I publish in the Summer 2025 Based Books Sale. I've participated in the sale before, as there are a ton of authors I like who also participate, and I usually sell a few copies of John's books every time. In| With Both Hands
In the first essay, which Frye subtitled "Historical Criticism", Frye created his categories by looking at the historical development of heroes and themes. In the second essay, Frye will turn to the different contexts in which we interpret symbols. Since Frye spends a lot of time coming up with his| With Both Hands
Last night on Twitter/X I suggested that John J. Reilly may be the prophet of our times. John died in 2012, but his writings offer us useful concepts for understanding our times based on history. In this 2009 blog post, John shows us what a modern day purge would| With Both Hands
"Trap Line" might just be the perfect introduction to Timothy Zahn for those who are unfamiliar with him. This short story has Zahn's signature style, a hybrid of Campbelline science fiction with adventure, and often a little bit of mystery and intrigue too. His characters [and sometimes the readers] need| With Both Hands
Welcome back friends to the With Both Hands Digest! I logged off of Twitter/X for Lent and that ended up turning into a sabbatical from WBH as well. I spent my time engaging in spiritual disciplines, thinking different thoughts and doing different things from my normal routine, and I| With Both Hands
Nick Cole's Strange Company 3 is coming out April, so I started reading the first Strange Company again this week. And that got me to thinking about the use of convention in telling stories. We cannot truly understand literary genres without understanding the conventions that comprise them. Yet convention is| With Both Hands
I have an essay on how to win at D&D, Kickstarters for your consideration, the Based Book Sale, along with some literary thoughts. Captain_Hook's Brolog: Wargames are not 'Playing Toy Soldiers' An excellent reflection on how good games make a tradeoff between simulation and gameplay. Doctor Universalis by| With Both Hands
Unfolding the World – Agony and Ecstasy I've said in the past that great men are often ridden by their obsessions. Based on this story from J. Daniel Sawyer, pain can also serve as a spur to accomplishment. The old humility was a spur that prevented a man from stopping; not| With Both Hands
The 50th Anniversary Edition of Adrian Cole's The Dream Lords will release on Amazon on January 15th, 2025, and you, my loyal readers, simply must pick this up, because this is the book for anyone who wanted Dune to be a comedy instead of a tragedy. Dune is| With Both Hands
Welcome to 2025! When I started my commentary on Northrop Frye's The Anatomy of Criticism, I thought to myself that I could write about it for a year at least. That has absolutely come true, with the first post coming just over a year ago now, and I&| With Both Hands
With my recent comparison of two D&D-inspired anime using a method of genre analysis, this is a good time to get into Northrop Frye's fourth phase of interpretation, the mythical phase. In the mythical phase, we will interpret literary symbols as archetypes. This phase of interpretation speaks deeply to| With Both Hands
The Red King by Nick Cole Amazon Digital 2005 $0.00; 285 pages ASIN B019S9WEHA I don't usually read ebooks. I have an irrational love of physical books, with their scent of slowly oxidizing paper. I find that I will do almost anything to avoid reading ebooks. Thus despite having over 700 physical b| With Both Hands
Fifteen years ago, I probably wouldn't have taken a bet that the Boston Globe would still be in business in 2024, but they are still chugging along. On the other hand, the loss the New York Times took to sell the paper was staggering. The Times bought the| With Both Hands
The society emerging at the conclusion of comedy represents, by contrast, a kind of moral norm, or pragmatically free society. Its ideals are seldom defined or formulated: definition and formulation belong to the humors, who want predictable activity. We are simply given to understand that the newly-married couple will live| With Both Hands
As part of the launch of John J. Reilly's The Perennial Apocalypse I am cross-promoting John's books with Hans Schantz' 2024 Black Friday/Cyber Monday Based Book Sale. 2024 Black Friday/Cyber Monday Based Book Sale by Hans G. Schantz Running Now Through Tuesday December 3 Read on Substack Both| With Both Hands
John J. Reilly died before the hostage incident he mentions in this blog post got turned first into a movie starring Tom Hanks and then into a meme, but this now fifteen-year-old blog remains topical. John didn't name his blog idly. One of the big questions of late| With Both Hands
Today the With Both Hands digest returns with exciting news! I have re-released John J. Reilly's The Perennial Apocalypse! The book is available as a paperback and ebook on Amazon. Those of you who are members of my mailing list also have access to free downloads of both| With Both Hands
We are still in the the third phase of the Second Essay of the Anatomy of Criticism. This phase of symbolic interpretation got so big that I decided to split it into two parts. In the last installment, I promised to get into the much misunderstood concept of allegory. Allegory| With Both Hands
The third phase of Frye's phases of literal symbolism is the formal phase. This will be Frye's briefest section in the second essay, but don't let it fool you. Frye is making a synthesis out of the prior two phases, the literal and descriptive phases. This section will also be| With Both Hands
After our brief introduction to the Second Essay in the Anatomy of Criticism, we will turn to the phases of literary symbolism. This will get very abstract, very quickly, because we are going to try to describe things are that are nearly indescribable. Bear with me, the only way out| With Both Hands
Last time, we explored Northrop Frye's modes of heroic action, which creates a model in two dimensions, the mythic-ironic axis and the tragic-comic axis. In the latter part of the First Essay, Frye turns to another related way of categorizing stories: theme or "dianoia". Aristotle lists six aspects of poetry:| With Both Hands
In this post, I'll isolate one specific part from Northrop Frye's Phase Space so that we can look at it in more detail. Let's turn to Frye's model of the mode of heroic action. Frye surveys literature over time, and he classifies it according to a principle he borrows from| With Both Hands
I got my start on Northrop Frye through John J. Reilly's review of his most famous work, Anatomy of Criticism. Since then, I have come to appreciate Frye more and more as I develop my book criticism. I am most interested in genre fiction, especially adventure fiction written for men,| With Both Hands
In the second Gemini Man book, Gemini Drifter, I said that Matthew and Jason had the freedom to make their own path. In Gemini Outsider, that choice has now been made. The choice is to seek anonymity and normality, whatever that means for two young men who have traveled between| With Both Hands
