There are a lot of reasons that people write poetry. To describe the beauty in the world. As a coping mechanism. In an attempt to impress the woman they’re in love with even though she doesn’t read poetry and she’s clearly not into me. But in talking about his new poetry book Minivan Poems (paperback, digital), writer Justin Grimbol said he started writing this collection of poems about minivans as a bit of a lark.
The biggest stigma when it comes to free-to-play games is that they’re not as deep, involved, or as good as games you pay for. But while that perception has been slowly dissipating, it may be entirely obliterated when third-person action game Let It Die is released for PlayStation 4. A raw, gritty hack & slash beat-’em-up made by Grasshopper Manufacture (Lollipop Chainsaw, Killer Is Dead), Let It Die may not cost anything to buy, but after playing it for a couple hours recently, I can attest that it feels like, well, not a million bucks, but certainly sixty. Heck, they even got Mark Hamill to do a voice for it. Though in talking to Game Director Hideyuki Shin about it afterwards, he was pleased I not only didn’t think it was a free-to-play game, but that I thought it was a Grasshopper-esque as well.
When done right, a novel creates a vivid world that jumps off the pages. But in their fantasy novel Between Worlds (hardcover, digital), writer Skip Brittenham and artists Brian Haberlin, Jay Anacleto, and Doug Siros don’t just do this with words and full color illustrations. The thirteen images in the book actually interact with a free app for iOS and Android, turning the cover and the illustrations into 3D images you can interact with, as well as use for magic training so you can learn to battle Monga. It’s rather trippy how well it works. Though as I learned when I spoke to Skip and Brian about the book, the illustrations, and the interactivity, call the latter two elements an augmentation of the former isn’t quite right.
Christmas is a time for love, joy, and happiness. Which is why it’s also a time for fans of the dark arts to indulge their macabre side in hopes of keeping the holiday cheer from sending them into a diabetic coma. It is for those latter people that I present the following interview with Sam Shearon, a.k.a. Mister-Sam, the writer and illustrator of the coloring book Mister Sam Shearon’s Creepy Christmas: A Merry Macabre Coloring Book (paperback).
In novels about aliens making first contact with humanity, usually one of two things happen. First, the aliens enslave humanity, and we fight back. Or, the aliens become our friends and we still fight back because sometimes humans can be real dicks. But in Rick Wilber’s new novel, Alien Morning (hardcover, paperback), he puts this trope for a tailspin by including some alien-on-alien violence, alien economic policies, and a new kind of social media that carry it all out.
Some of the best art comes from when we explore difficult subjects. It’s something I thought about a lot when editing the following interview with Una, the writer and artist of the graphic novel memoir Becoming Unbecoming (paperback, digital), in which she explores the serial murders committed in the late-’70s by Peter Sutcliffe as a way to explore her experiences with sexualized violence. Especially since, according to UN Women, 35% of women worldwide have experienced, “either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner at some point in their lives.” Though in talking to Una about the book, it was interesting — but not the least bit surprising — to learn that it wasn’t as much about Sutcliffe as you might expect.
It may seem strange to people who grew up playing Call Of Duty sequels and Halo games, but there was a time when Japan dominated video games. But while they may have lost that prominent position, their influence is still felt, even in Call Of Duty sequels and Halo games. Originally published in 2004, but newly republished with a new chapter, Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave The World An Extra Life (paperback, digital) by Wired’s Games Editor Chris Kohler — who, full disclosure, is a fellow game writer with whom I’ve shared many a conversation and meal — explores how Japan became such a cultural force in gaming at a time when America and Europe dominated movies, music, and other forms of entertainment. In the following interview, we discussed how the original came together, what prompted this reprint, and what he added to this new edition.
While many fantasy novels take themselves seriously, occasionally you get a tale that’s not just of might and magic, but of mirth as well. Such is the case with A City Dreaming (hardcover, digital), a new urban fantasy novel from Daniel Polansky that’s not only been compared to the Harry Potter books and the Hellblazer comics, but also to the works of Kurt Vonnegut and the animated sitcom Archer. Though in talking to Polansky about the novel, it seems this tale was inspired by a certain city as well.
There’s a conspiracy theory which suggests that not only did the U.S. government fake the moon landing, but that they hired film director Stanley Kubrick to make the fake footage. But while this is obviously not true, what if Kubrick did leave clues in his movies, clues meant to lead eagle-eyed viewers to a treasure? Such is the premise of Kubrick’s Game (hardcover, paperback, digital) a puzzling thriller by Derek Taylor Kent. Though in talking to Kent about his novel, it seems this idea isn’t as far-fetched as you might think.