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random-alex.bsky.social
Alex
@random-alex.bsky.social
150 followers 52 following 1.2K posts
I am and have been many things.
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Reposted by Alex
hannahforsyth.bsky.social
hannahforsyth.substack.com/p/love-and-h...
Love and Hate in (and out of) the University
Love-fuelled collegiality to build a better world. Hate-fuelled vandalism of intellectual infrastructure. Which does the managerial class choose?
hannahforsyth.substack.com
December 9, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Reposted by Alex
speculativeinsight.bsky.social
On the question of Jospeh Campbell, his conception of the Hero's Journey, and its failure to account for significant parts of activism and hero-work...

Read Donna Glee Williams' excellent essay here: www.speculativeinsight.com/essays/hero-journey
Purple background, white text, which says As we story-makers offer our people powerful images of collective heroism - duos and teams and leagues and legions of superiors - we need to stretch that good ole circle even further, to the point where it frames entire nations - the whole human race - as being on a shared Hero's Journey together, with each of us carrying our own tiny piece of the story. "Must a Hero Journey?" -- Donna Glee Williams
December 9, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Reposted by Alex
auswhn.bsky.social
Check out a new #VIDAblog in our Women’s Education series! 🎓

Kaitlin Mills explores the higher learning available to women in Britain during the nineteenth century, considering how these opportunities varied drastically between the classes.

Read more here ⬇️
www.auswhn.com.au/blog/a-matte...
A Matter of Class? Higher Learning Opportunities for Women in Nineteenth-Century Britain | Australian Women's History Network
This blog explores the higher learning available to women in Britain during the nineteenth century and how these opportunities varied drastically between the classes.
www.auswhn.com.au
December 9, 2025 at 1:00 AM
random-alex.bsky.social
Oh I see we’re needing to do age verification for DMs here now. Haven’t clicked the link yet to see what that requires…
December 8, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Alex
speculativeinsight.bsky.social
In her new essay for Speculative Insight, Donna Glee Williams explores the ways Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey really needs to be challenged. Listen to her explanation in this video, and then read the essay:

www.speculativeinsight.com/essays/hero-journey
December 8, 2025 at 7:21 PM
random-alex.bsky.social
There’s a town in SA called Sherlock. Someone has stenciled “no shit” on a sign pointing towards it.
December 8, 2025 at 5:56 AM
random-alex.bsky.social
The only good reason I can think of for going to do more Uni is access to inter library loans.
December 8, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Reposted by Alex
fictionmachine.bsky.social
NEW REVIEW! FictionMachine's look back at Matt Smith's third and final series in Doctor Who begins with a review of "Asylum of the Daleks".

fictionmachine.com/2025/12/07/t...
TV REVIEW: Doctor Who (2005), 7.1 “Asylum of the Daleks”
First broadcast 1 September 2012. When originally broadcast, Doctor Who’s seventh season was split into two, with five episodes airing in 2012 and the remaining eight held back until 2013. As…
fictionmachine.com
December 7, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Reposted by Alex
locusmag.bsky.social
Alexandra Pierce reviews POLYPHONIC SEDUCTION by @mathnskating.bsky.social: “I look forward to watching where Englard goes with it.”
Polyphonic Seduction by Kit Englard: Review by Alexandra Pierce
Polyphonic Seduction, Kit Englard (Arcane Lyre 979-8-99871-171-8, 172pp, $9.99, tp). Cover by Stewart Williams. May 2025. Gods, demons, and monsters from the ancient world living in the modern worl…
locusmag.com
December 8, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Reposted by Alex
speculativeinsight.bsky.social
In this wonderful new essay, Donna Glee Williams looks at how the Hero's Journey failed her, forcing a rethink about the whole way it's conceptualised for fiction and in real life... because "real heroes run in packs."

Read it here: www.speculativeinsight.com/essays/hero-journey
Purple background, white text, which says So, one of my beefs with our Standard Issue Hero's Journey is its vision of individual triumph that paints over the fact that in real life, myth, and fiction, Hero=work is often - maybe usually - collaborative. Real Heroes run in packs, y'all. "Must a Hero Journey?" -- Donna Glee Williams
December 7, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Reposted by Alex
fictionmachine.bsky.social
NEW REVIEW! Ozu Yasujiro's 1934 silent melodrama is sadly now missing its first and last reels, but the 71 minutes in between provide a valuable early look at Japan's master filmmaker.

fictionmachine.com/2025/12/07/r...
REVIEW: A Mother Should Be Loved (1934)
The terrible state of Japan’s silent film era has long been reported and discussed, where a combination of time, humidity, earthquakes, and American fire bombings reduced a legacy of literall…
fictionmachine.com
December 7, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Reposted by Alex
speculativeinsight.bsky.social
Donna Glee Williams looks at "the Hero's Journey" and points out some of its failures for both how we understand fiction and how we understand the real world...

Read it now: www.speculativeinsight.com/essays/hero-journey
Purple background, white text, which says The vision of the solitary Hero's Journey is a dangerous ideal, not just because it disrespects the lived experience of women, but also because it perpetuates the lie that "the true hero always goes it alone and gets it all done by himself". It misrepresents how real change happens in the real world. "Must a Hero Journey?" -- Donna Glee Williams
December 6, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Reposted by Alex
renay.bsky.social
Intergalactic Mixtape is live! It was Podcast Week, with lots of pods dropping episodes. Plus, some excellent essays and a banging interview between Ann Leckie and Arkady Martine from @speculativeinsight.bsky.social.
Intergalactic Mixtape #31
Hey! This week I welcomed several new books to my house. This was illegal, as I was supposed to be on a book buying ban for December. However, one of the...
buttondown.com
December 5, 2025 at 6:50 PM
random-alex.bsky.social
As I said...
random-alex.bsky.social Alex @random-alex.bsky.social · 4d
MIIIITCHELLLLL

STAAAAAAAARC
December 6, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Reposted by Alex
fictionmachine.bsky.social
NEW REVIEW! Michael Chaves' Last Rites purports to be the final film in the Conjuring franchise. Promises, promises...

fictionmachine.com/2025/12/06/r...
REVIEW: The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)
Believe the marketing, and Michael Chaves’ 2025 horror film The Conjuring: Last Rites marks the final instalment of the hugely successful Warner Bros franchise. Of course any viewer of Americ…
fictionmachine.com
December 6, 2025 at 7:38 AM
random-alex.bsky.social
MIIIITCHELLLLL

STAAAAAAAARC
December 6, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Reposted by Alex
lizcopeland.bsky.social
This is great. Well worth the read
speculativeinsight.bsky.social Speculative Insight journal @speculativeinsight.bsky.social · 4d
New! free! essay by Donna Glee Williams, asking pointed questions about Joseph Campbell's conception of the Hero's Journey...

Read it now! Tell your friends!

www.speculativeinsight.com/essays/hero-journey
Purple background, white text, which says There are aspects of the Hero's Journey - in real like, in myth, and in fiction - that just aren't mapped out by Campbell's schema. Martin Luther King Jr didn't live to see Barack Obama - but John Lewis did... "Must a Hero Journey?" -- Donna Glee Williams
December 5, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Alex
austhistassoc.bsky.social
For the entire month of December, the History Australia special collection on history and AI is free to read! Grab a cup of tea, settle in, and happy reading! www.tandfonline.com/journals/rah...
History and AI
Explore the article collection: History and AI. Published in History Australia.
www.tandfonline.com
December 5, 2025 at 2:46 AM
Reposted by Alex
terriwindling.bsky.social
For academic friends researching fantasy and mythic/folkloric literature:
profcarolyne.bsky.social Carolyne Larrington @profcarolyne.bsky.social · 6d
Call for papers for a special issue of Humanities journal, edited by Professor Bartłomiej Błaszkiewicz. Here are the details:
www.mdpi.com/journal/huma...
www.mdpi.com
December 4, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Reposted by Alex
speculativeinsight.bsky.social
ICYMI! Two of the greats chatting about empires etc in their novels.
December 4, 2025 at 6:52 AM
random-alex.bsky.social
I always expect Neon Hemlock to give good books, and @ldlewiswrites.blacksky.app' The Dead Withheld is no exception. Noir but make it female, queer, demonic/magical, with a bit of music thrown in.

randomalex.net/2025/12/04/t...
The Dead Withheld
Oh look, another Neon Hemlock. Am I finally catching up on all of the novellas that have been piling up in my electronic TBR? Yes I am! I love it when folks play with the hardboiled detective story…
randomalex.net
December 4, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Reposted by Alex
scyllapublishing.bsky.social
Aussie folks - @brainjarpress.bsky.social, an indie press with fab fantasy titles, is moving and doesn't want to ship all their books across town! So grab 30% off using code NEWLAB2025 - I just nabbed some short story collections by @angelaslatter.bsky.social and Lisa L Hannett I was lusting after.
December 3, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by Alex
fictionmachine.bsky.social
NEW REVIEW! Gregory Peck plays a colonel overseeing American operations in West Berlin in this 1954 Cold War hostage drama.

fictionmachine.com/2025/12/03/r...
REVIEW: Night People (1954)
To summarise, and thus save valuable reading time: good concept, good cast, and weirdly listless direction. Fans of star Gregory Peck or Cold War thrillers might get a small thrill from 1954’…
fictionmachine.com
December 3, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Alex
speculativeinsight.bsky.social
ICYMI, I was delighted to bring together these legends for a written conversation …
December 3, 2025 at 8:58 AM
random-alex.bsky.social
No Such Thing as Duty: I have no idea about Somerset Maugham, and yet I still greatly enjoyed this fantasy-ish-ing with a period in his life.

randomalex.net/2025/12/03/n...
No Such Thing As Duty
Do I know anything at all about W. Somerset Maugham? I do not! Have I ever read anything he wrote? I have not! Did I still enjoy this fantastical take on a period in his life? Certainly did! Willia…
randomalex.net
December 3, 2025 at 2:48 AM