Bartholomew Lander

Programmer. Writer. Spider Enthusiast.

5 Ways to Enjoy Reading More With Aphantasia

I recently saw some people on Twitter expressing confusion about how people enjoy reading with aphantasia. I even saw some people not believing that it was possible to enjoy reading if you were unable to visualize the characters and events.

This got me thinking a bit about what it is that I personally enjoy about reading. And I think most of the things I like and dislike about books can be traced back to aphantasia. While I think aphantasia is far too complicated and nuanced to paint with a single-sized brush, here are five things that I’ve found help me enjoy reading more. I hope these will help you get more out of reading with aphantasia without becoming frustrated at your lack of a mind’s eye.Continue Reading

“The Rats in the Walls”, But You Name the Cat

H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls” is an uncomfortable story, but not really for the reasons the prolific author originally intended. Although the story is among Lovecraft’s most discussed, it’s difficult for many people to get past the narrator’s cat’s undeniably racist name. Thankfully, in the year of our Lord 2020, we finally have the technology to rename cats at a whim (and really, what greater joy in life is there than naming a cat?).

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Casual Perception Check: Enabling the Narrative

I became a GM almost entirely by accident. Somewhere along the line, somebody in our circle of friends and co-workers casually brought up the idea of putting together a tabletop RPG group. I expressed approval, but I didn’t expect it to go any further than an idea sitting on the periphery. That was until I got a text from one of those people a few weeks later, which read: “When are we doing the RPG?” It might only have been the confidence with which she asked the question that made me actually take the initiative and start looking for a system to learn and introduce to the fledgling group. Continue Reading