can confirm, paratexts are a joy to write
My first assignment as a junior writer was the emails + news articles in Batman: The Enemy Within. I built out the world, deepened characters, + rewarded players with branched text that reflected their choices.
In-game text can make the world feel like a handcrafted love letter, or a chore list.
In-game text can make the world feel like a handcrafted love letter, or a chore list.
using AI just to make the "unnoticable" textures is stupid. making the unnoticable textures is one of the best bits. making stupid jokes on in-game billboards. putting crappy effects over eachother til it looks good. drawing squiggly lines to make something look less flat. all of this is fun
July 1, 2025 at 8:51 PM
can confirm, paratexts are a joy to write
🧵: My undergrads have written paratexts (title pages & prefaces, frontispieces,&c) for fictional #18thc fictions. Some examples might cheer you up this morning as well. Herewith some sample titles, subtitles, prefatory cautions, &c:
_Married Life: Or, Faults and Follies on All Sides_
_Married Life: Or, Faults and Follies on All Sides_
March 30, 2025 at 2:12 PM
🧵: My undergrads have written paratexts (title pages & prefaces, frontispieces,&c) for fictional #18thc fictions. Some examples might cheer you up this morning as well. Herewith some sample titles, subtitles, prefatory cautions, &c:
_Married Life: Or, Faults and Follies on All Sides_
_Married Life: Or, Faults and Follies on All Sides_
Comic book paratexts is a digital collection of advertisements, correspondence, etc. curated by the reliably excellent John Walsh.
It comes with a perfect introductory essay, and I'm looking forward to digging in further.
biblicon.org/cbp/
It comes with a perfect introductory essay, and I'm looking forward to digging in further.
biblicon.org/cbp/
Home, Comic Book Paratexts
Comic Book Paratexts is a collection of example comic book paratexts, including advertisements, correspondence, dedications, epigraphs, and more.
biblicon.org
May 13, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Comic book paratexts is a digital collection of advertisements, correspondence, etc. curated by the reliably excellent John Walsh.
It comes with a perfect introductory essay, and I'm looking forward to digging in further.
biblicon.org/cbp/
It comes with a perfect introductory essay, and I'm looking forward to digging in further.
biblicon.org/cbp/
#CFP for #earlymodern folks! @hannah-historian.bsky.social and I are putting together a special edition of the Journal of Epistolary Studies on "Letters as Paratexts in the Early Modern World"!
April 16, 2026 at 4:11 PM
#CFP for #earlymodern folks! @hannah-historian.bsky.social and I are putting together a special edition of the Journal of Epistolary Studies on "Letters as Paratexts in the Early Modern World"!
Today’s #OTW guest, Atticus Yus, discusses fanfiction, consent, and tagging as paratexts. Read more at otw-news.org/ym553em7
July 10, 2026 at 7:11 PM
Today’s #OTW guest, Atticus Yus, discusses fanfiction, consent, and tagging as paratexts. Read more at otw-news.org/ym553em7
I had the pleasure of wandering around this exhibition today, highly recommended, on until March 1st.
It does a deep dive into paratexts and how they influence readers.
🧵1/
It does a deep dive into paratexts and how they influence readers.
🧵1/
February 10, 2026 at 5:25 PM
I had the pleasure of wandering around this exhibition today, highly recommended, on until March 1st.
It does a deep dive into paratexts and how they influence readers.
🧵1/
It does a deep dive into paratexts and how they influence readers.
🧵1/
Our latest for @sequentialscholars.bsky.social talks Bitch Planet x activist paratexts. #ComicsStudies
American comic book fan communities are stereotypically male. “Stereotypically” because girls & women have always loved comics but are less represented, both culturally & in terms of marketing. “Bitch Planet” addresses this neglect, cultivating a woman-led, explicitly feminist fan community. 1/13
September 10, 2026 at 2:22 PM
Our latest for @sequentialscholars.bsky.social talks Bitch Planet x activist paratexts. #ComicsStudies
New from
@mariakalberto.bsky.social & @pbooth81.bsky.social in Convergence
‘So much for the prattling of sages’: D&D gaming paratexts, Fan(nish) distribution of knowledge, and Drow
#FanStudies
doi.org/10.1177/1354...
@mariakalberto.bsky.social & @pbooth81.bsky.social in Convergence
‘So much for the prattling of sages’: D&D gaming paratexts, Fan(nish) distribution of knowledge, and Drow
#FanStudies
doi.org/10.1177/1354...
‘So much for the prattling of sages’: D&D gaming paratexts, Fan(nish) distribution of knowledge, and Drow - Maria K Alberto, Paul Booth, 2024
This article investigates gaming paratexts related to the popular tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) as heuristics. Gaming paratexts are accessi...
doi.org
December 19, 2024 at 6:01 PM
New from
@mariakalberto.bsky.social & @pbooth81.bsky.social in Convergence
‘So much for the prattling of sages’: D&D gaming paratexts, Fan(nish) distribution of knowledge, and Drow
#FanStudies
doi.org/10.1177/1354...
@mariakalberto.bsky.social & @pbooth81.bsky.social in Convergence
‘So much for the prattling of sages’: D&D gaming paratexts, Fan(nish) distribution of knowledge, and Drow
#FanStudies
doi.org/10.1177/1354...
I'll be talking about paratexts at the Chester Beatty museum on 19 November 2025 in their Manuscripts and the Mind Lecture Series.
April 23, 2025 at 11:39 AM
I'll be talking about paratexts at the Chester Beatty museum on 19 November 2025 in their Manuscripts and the Mind Lecture Series.
For the first time since 2019, I will be attending DiGRA in-person next week!
I'll be presenting two talks, the first at the Games and Pr0n workshop:
Keeping the Secret(um): Sensory Archaeologies, Porn Games and Paratexts
I'll be presenting two talks, the first at the Games and Pr0n workshop:
Keeping the Secret(um): Sensory Archaeologies, Porn Games and Paratexts
June 8, 2026 at 12:19 PM
For the first time since 2019, I will be attending DiGRA in-person next week!
I'll be presenting two talks, the first at the Games and Pr0n workshop:
Keeping the Secret(um): Sensory Archaeologies, Porn Games and Paratexts
I'll be presenting two talks, the first at the Games and Pr0n workshop:
Keeping the Secret(um): Sensory Archaeologies, Porn Games and Paratexts
Yesterday I helped to hoover this venerable chunk of material culture (a near-200-year-old cast of Deinotherium's skull at the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social). Careful not to suck up any ephemeral paratexts!
January 13, 2026 at 8:29 AM
Yesterday I helped to hoover this venerable chunk of material culture (a near-200-year-old cast of Deinotherium's skull at the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social). Careful not to suck up any ephemeral paratexts!
As a PhD student I was on a panel about paratexts in early Am lit with a couple other grad students (didn't know each other, someone else had organized the panel). During the q & a a senior scholar declared paratexts a stupid concept, Genette a fool, and demanded we justify the panel's existence.
As a Phd student, I used to get so nervous about presenting because of how vicious people are that I used to need medication to calm down. We are so incredibly unnecessarily mean.
People who think Emily Wilson is being mean have clearly never presented a paper at an academic conference
July 27, 2026 at 10:50 PM
As a PhD student I was on a panel about paratexts in early Am lit with a couple other grad students (didn't know each other, someone else had organized the panel). During the q & a a senior scholar declared paratexts a stupid concept, Genette a fool, and demanded we justify the panel's existence.
Given the discourse around using generative AI in the game development process, it's more important than ever for devs to share their sketches, notes, prototypes and other documentation, and for these paratexts to be preserved!
December 18, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Given the discourse around using generative AI in the game development process, it's more important than ever for devs to share their sketches, notes, prototypes and other documentation, and for these paratexts to be preserved!
one of these is gerard genette’s paratexts. the other? a late 80s / 90s taco bell interior.
i’ll let you draw your own conclusions
i’ll let you draw your own conclusions
February 3, 2026 at 3:14 PM
one of these is gerard genette’s paratexts. the other? a late 80s / 90s taco bell interior.
i’ll let you draw your own conclusions
i’ll let you draw your own conclusions
*BIOGRAPHICAL PARATEXTS*
Intertitles? That doesn’t feel satisfactory. I think of them as biographical paratexts
November 23, 2025 at 3:35 PM
*BIOGRAPHICAL PARATEXTS*
Turns out that my new book is out. It's about this docudrama's skilful techniques, its re-enactments of Doctor Who scenes, paratexts (such as trails and idents), historiography and school teaching of history in the 1960s... and it celebrates Hartnell's Doctor and Who's ambitious early years.
To celebrate 10 years of the Archives, we're proud to announce an Archive Special - David Rolinson takes on AN ADVENTURE IN SPACE AND TIME in a double length examination of Mark Gatiss' love letter to Doctor Who!
Ebook out now - paperback in May!
obversebooks.co.uk/product/an-a...
Ebook out now - paperback in May!
obversebooks.co.uk/product/an-a...
April 28, 2026 at 7:41 PM
Turns out that my new book is out. It's about this docudrama's skilful techniques, its re-enactments of Doctor Who scenes, paratexts (such as trails and idents), historiography and school teaching of history in the 1960s... and it celebrates Hartnell's Doctor and Who's ambitious early years.
My article (open access) on the apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans, canonicity, paratexts, and Latin manuscripts!
Journal of the Bible and its Reception Vol. 13, No. 1 (2026) www.degruyterbrill.com/journal/key/... #openaccess @dgb-relbibtheo.bsky.social @iannelsonmills.bsky.social
Journal of the Bible and its Reception Volume 13 Issue 1
Volume 13, issue 1 of the journal Journal of the Bible and its Reception was published in 2026.
www.degruyterbrill.com
June 1, 2026 at 1:15 PM
My article (open access) on the apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans, canonicity, paratexts, and Latin manuscripts!
Hey #earlymodern peeps and #skystorians! @hannah-historian.bsky.social and I are putting together an edited collection on "Letters as Paratexts in the Early Modern World," and we'd love to see wonderful and brilliant article ideas! Check out the CFP here, and let me know if you have any questions!
#CFP for #earlymodern folks! @hannah-historian.bsky.social and I are putting together a special edition of the Journal of Epistolary Studies on "Letters as Paratexts in the Early Modern World"!
May 5, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Hey #earlymodern peeps and #skystorians! @hannah-historian.bsky.social and I are putting together an edited collection on "Letters as Paratexts in the Early Modern World," and we'd love to see wonderful and brilliant article ideas! Check out the CFP here, and let me know if you have any questions!
Nothing brightens my day like getting an email from a grad student about my research, asking legit thoughtful questions about archives AND expressing appreciation for my paratexts article! (This is why I always reach out/email scholars whose work I admire! Good to know someone is reading at all.)
October 6, 2026 at 11:13 PM
Nothing brightens my day like getting an email from a grad student about my research, asking legit thoughtful questions about archives AND expressing appreciation for my paratexts article! (This is why I always reach out/email scholars whose work I admire! Good to know someone is reading at all.)
Was once told by an editor to "tether the meta-effusion" due to a particularly winding sentence that had – ( ) & ; referring to a text, its paratexts, citations of its paratexts & one of its own influences, but also didn't actually close its opening clause, so…
like the first time i saw this i felt fully attacked. don’t make me go back to being a parentheses ass bitch
February 24, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Was once told by an editor to "tether the meta-effusion" due to a particularly winding sentence that had – ( ) & ; referring to a text, its paratexts, citations of its paratexts & one of its own influences, but also didn't actually close its opening clause, so…
Really enjoyed this, well deserved! And as a translator, the "paratexts" at the end were also a lot of fun.
Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and Lin King have won this year’s International Booker Prize with TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE! Congratulations to both author and translator!
This marks our second International Booker win in a row, following the success of Deepa Bhasthi’s translation of Banu Mushtaq’s HEART LAMP in 2025.
This marks our second International Booker win in a row, following the success of Deepa Bhasthi’s translation of Banu Mushtaq’s HEART LAMP in 2025.
May 20, 2026 at 6:56 AM
Really enjoyed this, well deserved! And as a translator, the "paratexts" at the end were also a lot of fun.
exhibit 651309 of "people have feels about academia as a text based on paratexts and fanon about it, not the real thing"
I know it's a right-wing, anti-DEI talking point, but do regular people think this? That DEI offices were auditing faculty syllabi and ordering them what to teach? Maybe I'm naive, but that level of detailed attention and oversight sounds far-fetched to me from any higher ed admin unit.
February 25, 2025 at 3:32 PM
exhibit 651309 of "people have feels about academia as a text based on paratexts and fanon about it, not the real thing"
I will be honest: I am not particularly enamored of Cameron's AVATAR films. (They're fine.) But a lot of what people online mean when they say they had "no cultural imprint" is that they didn't produce a mass of nerdy paratexts. The majority, meanwhile, was perfectly happy to just go see the movie
December 15, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I will be honest: I am not particularly enamored of Cameron's AVATAR films. (They're fine.) But a lot of what people online mean when they say they had "no cultural imprint" is that they didn't produce a mass of nerdy paratexts. The majority, meanwhile, was perfectly happy to just go see the movie
David Jara Soto's 2021 dissertation deals with the fact that a RPG's *paratexts* -- any material surrounding the "main" text -- are crucial to our interpretation of it.
In other words, we're often reading frames through frames within other frames, also modeling the *essence* of the medium itself.
In other words, we're often reading frames through frames within other frames, also modeling the *essence* of the medium itself.
Ok, this is @friede.bsky.social's fault. She raised the question of *how* people analyze RPG texts, and that is a BIG, HAIRY QUESTION, and it got me thinking.
I'm not ready to take a tilt at it yet, but that's because it turns out there are a lot of things I do *before* I read an RPG. A lot.
I'm not ready to take a tilt at it yet, but that's because it turns out there are a lot of things I do *before* I read an RPG. A lot.
December 29, 2025 at 3:31 PM
David Jara Soto's 2021 dissertation deals with the fact that a RPG's *paratexts* -- any material surrounding the "main" text -- are crucial to our interpretation of it.
In other words, we're often reading frames through frames within other frames, also modeling the *essence* of the medium itself.
In other words, we're often reading frames through frames within other frames, also modeling the *essence* of the medium itself.