Culture Consumption: November 2023

Hi, lovelies. Here’s my month in books, television, and games.

Books

“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.”

Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus enters into the magical world of a circus unlike any other. It’s a beautiful place that feels like entering into a kind of monochrome fairyland, with each and every exhibit dressed in black and white. And indeed, the circus is more magical than it seems — because it lies at the center of a magical competition in which two students of magic are pitted against each other in a years-long competition. The story beautiful weaves through time and explores multiple character perspectives to provide a wonderful

Poetry as Spellcasting, written and edited by Tamiko Beyer, Destiny Hemphill, and Lisbeth White is a beautiful collection of essays and poetry about the ways in which poetry connects to and reflects the sacred, spiritual, and magical — and the ways the author use the act of writing poetry as a sacred practice, a form of healing, a method for connecting with ancestors and community, and a path toward building a better future. In addition to the essays and poetry, the book includes prompts and suggestions to delving into poetry while staying grounded and connected to spirit.

In the essay “Articulating the Undercurrent,” Dominique Matti writes:

“I learned that it was possible to feel what one could not otherwise know. And that I could transmit feeling where rational explanation failed, by using poetry like a lyre — plucking invisible energetic strings. I discovered that where no one would cry for me, my poetry could conjure easy tears. And when my spirit could not represent itself in mundane gesture, it could rise up and shout in verse.”

In “Text of Bliss,” Kenji C. Lui writes:

“There is a time and place for the poetry of comfort and contentment, the poem that pleases aesthetically even if the subject is difficult. Beyond that, I think my poetry goal is to break something. Not in the sense of something broken in my interior, a confession and healing, but instead a methodical attempt to

break certain aspects of

this world.

. . . to bring to a crisis [their] relation with language.

In “Poetry as Prayer,” Hyejung Kook writes:

“Rilke says, ‘Every angel is terrifying.’ But what if you are the angel? What if the power you are afraid to call upon and know is your own power? Consider the possibility that the outward address of poetry as prayer was actually an inner invocation, a tapping into our own divine and enlightened self.”

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Culture Consumption: December 2023

Hi, lovelies. Here’s my month in books, movies, television, and games.

Books

System Collapse is the seventh book in Martha Wells’ Murderbot series — one of my all-time favorite series and one of the few that I feel compelled to continue reading after the first few books. Murderbot is still its sarcastic self, but lacks the usual confidence when it comes to facing incoming dangers and protecting its humans. The harrowing events have left their mark on Murderbot. Although its mechanical aspects are able to recover quickly, its organic bits are marked by trauma, causing panic attacks. But life doesn’t stop for trauma and new dangers arise while the team works to help the surviving colonists on an alien remnants contaminated planet. I love the way this book continues to evolve this character and its relationships with the bots and humans who have become its family. This is such a wonderful series.

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Culture Consumption: October 2023

Hi, lovelies. Here’s my month in books, movies, television, and games.

Books

Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones is the second book of the Indian Lake Trilogy. Four years after the deadly events of the first book, Jennifer “Jade” Daniels is released released from when her murder conviction is overturned. She returns to her home in the rural lake town of Proofrock a different person. After the trauma of surviving the Independence Day Massacre and the years being ground down by the prison system, Jade has revert to her birth name of Jennifer and is more reserved. She has let go of her obsession with slasher movies and attempts to let go of the past.

But fate does not allow her to go free — and just as she is released, convicted serial killer Dark Mill South escapes from a prison transport near the town and he takes up his role of murderer at large, beginning to kill off teenagers in a way that replicates classic horror movies. In order to survive, Jade is going to have to team up with old friends and find the new final girl in order to prepare her for what’s coming.

Don’t Fear the Reaper is another fantastic story from Jones and I particularly love Jade’s journey in this book, as she regains her courage, anger, and forthrightness. Along with working through her trauma, she allows herself to grow connected with, care about, and  in some cases forgive the people around her (something she wasn’t able to allow for when she was younger). She has learned that these connections matter and her care for them is a driving force of her regained strength.

I also really liked seeing from the perspectives of multiple people throughout the town, which revealed how the traumatic events really affected everyone. It also provided increased tension as the body count slowly rose, since seeing through other characters eyes brought us face to face with the horrors as they unfolded.

Coincidentally, Jade Daniels (especially with a third book on the way) represents a final girl who can’t seem to escape the ongoing saga of violence that surrounds her — makes for a nice companion read to my essay “The Never-Ending Tedium of Survival” about final girls who are caught in franchises that force them to struggle to stay alive again and again.

Tracy Fullerton’s Game Design Workshop is an excellent read for anyone looking into understanding the full scope of the game design process. The book carries the reader through every step of the process, from ideation to prototyping, development and iteration, QA testing, and publishing. In addition, she provides Exercises at the end of most sections that provide the reader with an opportunity to further explore the concepts in a practical way, which also offers a means of building a portfolio of work as you follow along (a step that I skipped at this time, but intend to pursue down the road).

Another great aspect of the book is that it is peppered with personal perspectives and anecdotes from various game designers, producers, writers, and creatives who make games. They expand on some of the information that Fullerton provides and also share their journey into games, what inspires them, and how they approach problems during the development process. It’s a fantastic way to expand the scope of the discussion.

My copy was the 4th Edition, published in 2019, so some of Fullerton’s perspectives in regards to the status of the games industry (in Chapter 15) are a bit outdated, since the nature of the industry is constantly changing. So, I would imagine that a new edition could be due soon. However, the bulk of this book remains valid — as it provides valuable insights and perspectives on how to approach making games.

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Culture Consumption: September 2023

Hi, lovelies. Here’s my month in books, movies, television, and games.

Books

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw is a dark and gory retelling of The Little Mermaid. In this story, the mermaid is a creature of scales and teeth. Captured by a prince who attempts to tame her through marriage and the removal of her teeth and tongue, the mermaid gives birth to daughters who consume the kingdom and set it aflame. Leaving the burning kingdom behind, the mermaid chooses to wander with a mysterious plague doctor. The road leads them to a forrest full of blood-thirsty, immortal children and devastating secrets.

The Salt Grows Heavy is my favorite kind of fairy tale retelling, one that holds to the fantastical and bloody nature of the originals while spinning new perspectives. I love the way Khaw writes her characters with passion and teeth and hunger. This was a wonderfully dark and satisfying read for me.

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Culture Consumption: August 2023

Hi, lovelies. Here’s my month in books, movies, and games.

Books

The Game Writing Guide: Get Your Dream Job and Keep It by Anna Megill is a wonderfully practical guide to understanding how to build and maintain a career as a writer in the games industry. Her advice — which is based off interviews with dozens of writer mentors, as well as her own experience writing for games such as Fable, Control, and Dishonored, among others — runs the full gamut, from job hunting, writing resumes and cover letters, building a portfolio, and interviews to moving up within the company once you have the job and leadership roles. All of this advice is delivered in simple, well-organized, and straightforward manner — with little dashes of humor sprinkled in — making the book easy to ready and follow. Where Megill is less confident in her commentary, she admits so upfront and presents insights of other mentors or other avenues for seeking this information. For those interested, I wrote up a few of the insights I learned from the book.

It should be no surprise to anyone who has paid attention to my blog that Junji Ito is one of my favorite horror writers. Tombs is another phenomenal collection of short graphic tales from this master of the genre. The collection offers eerie and terrifying tales of a town with tombstones growing throughout its streets, a haunted clubhouse, terrible body horror, the hell of neighbors, and creatures dragged up from the depths of the sea — among other wonderfully haunting stories. As with each of Ito’s books, the horrors of the tales are illustrated beautifully in his signature black and white style.

Page spread from the story “Washed Ashore” in Tombs</>

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