I was working in the bookstore Tuesday morning, when Harper Lee’s Go Set A Watchman went on sale. The book came with a strict on sale date, which means that no one, save a select few in the publisher’s offices and friendly reviewers, had seen it. Early that morning, bookstore employees all over North America…
Barbie, Or How I Learned to Tell Stories
Welcome to WWAC Game Section’s summer Barbie series. These months are often the time that children are free from commitments, away from their friends, and ready to let their imaginations take over. For many of us that meant playing with Barbies, and over the next few weeks you’ll see the many different ways Barbies affected…
Game Diary: Dating Sims, Branching Narratives, and Cuties!
All through the month of June, my partner and I are creating a dating sim for the International Love Ultimatum Gamejam (#ilujam on Twitter and Tumblr). Want to know what goes into making a video game? I’ll be posting weekly updates in a structured development blog here. This week: dating sim basics and writing branching…
Game Diary: How to Make a Dating Sim in a Month
All through the month of June, my partner and I are creating a dating sim for the International Love Ultimatum Gamejam (#ilujam on Twitter and Tumblr). Want to know what goes into making a video game? I’ll be posting weekly updates in a structured development blog here. This week: Why are games so hard?—the role…
Editing: What Even IS That? Two Editors Discuss The Matter
EDITING. What kind of crap is that?? Some bossy grifter trying to change your words, take your voice, and redirect your thoughts? NO THANK YOU! Actually … no. That’s not so much the way of things. Editing is fun: the opportunity to support a creative writer in their production of their very best work. One…
Button-Zines and More: Chicago’s Zine Fest
It’s about zines. It’s an independent event. It’s like an indie convention. It’s about accessibility. And art. And sharing. It’s free. It’s about small presses and independent publishers. It’s about DIY. And community. And it’s really super cool. Chicago Zine Fest was started in 2010, took place at Columbia College and Quimby’s Bookstore, and has…
Secondhand Memories and Cell Phone Novels: An Interview with Takatsu
Technological advances, the invention of the internet, and the so-called “Digital Revolution” have undoubtedly impacted our daily lives. The ways in which we communicate with one another have drastically changed since my birth in the 1980s. The internet has especially helped to bring about the global “democratization of knowledge” and information, which has lead to…
He Wrote Our Soul Music: Remembering Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett was an important author–to a lot of you, to a lot of your faves (Kieron Gillen, for example), to a lot of us. Here’s how. Rachel Stevens: I remember working at a library part time in high school, and tracking down every Pratchett book I could find. I think the first work I…
Kickstarter of the Week: The Riveter
The Riveter is an online publication that aims to provide higher quality long form media for women. Started in 2013 by Kaylen Ralph and Joanna Demkiewicz, The Riveter started as a way to fill gaps in print media targeting women. These women, along with Natalie Cheng, who joined the team in 2014, noticed a disturbing…
Con Diaries: Boskone 52
Boskone is the annual science fiction and fantasy convention put on by the New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA) in Boston, Mass. One of the reasons I attend this convention is its focus on the craft of science fiction, that is to say, there’s a focus on writing, science, art, and reading.
Choose Your Words Carefully: Text Based Games
My love for reading and my love of gaming grew twined together; some of the first words I waded through were in A Link to the Past. Choose Your Own Adventure novels seemed like the best of both worlds. I could interact with the story in a meaningful, and often deadly-for-my-character, way by simply reading…
Swallowing Your Privilege: Writing and Making a Living
Privilege is a hard pill to swallow, especially growing up in the mythos of Puritanical-pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps-idle-hands-are-the-devil’s-plaything-etc. America. But, like the giant antibiotics I’m taking right now for an upper respiratory infection, you have to swallow those enormous pills, all of them. Okay, the metaphor may be clumsy, but I keep getting those damn horse pills lodged…
