Currently Reading
August 12th, 2023

I finished a couple of good books in the last week, and I
figured I would write about them here. Not so much of a
review but more of a ramble. Towards the end I'll mention
what I'm reading right now and what's next on my list.
Thrilling, right?

50 Years of Text Games
I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned this one previously on
here, but I finally finished it and so here I can give a full
overview. This is a history book about the rise of text-based
games. There are 50 chapters, one for each year between
1970-2020, featuring a single game which was the author's
opinion of the best representative of that year. There is
also a chapter at the beginning of each decade which does a
more general overview and mentions other games. At 10-20
pages per chapter, this is a beefy book and took me a while
to get through!

I found it interesting to think that text-based games were
not truly the first games, as rendering text on a screen is
actually a more complex task than just rending a dot or a
cube flying around. They came a few years later, but made a
big impact from the start. Most people think of text-based
games being primitive, but to look at them in a different
way, they were the graphical powerhouses of their times,
limited only by the rendering capabilities of a player's
imagination.

This book was well-written and interesting throughout, with 
a modern perspective which was not dismissive of some of the
older technologies which were discussed. It also gave me
some ideas for a few games to try out, as a lot of the older
titles are available for free on archive.org while the newer
titles are commonly for sale on Steam or free on the web
directly from the authors. I would recommend this title for
anyone with an interest in history, gaming, or storytelling
techniques in general.

The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece
This book was written by Tom Hanks and so has entered the
public space with a slightly higher visibility than my
previous title. I was able to check this ebook out of the
library after a couple of months' wait, which was great.


Obviously, Tom Hanks has a lot of knowledge about what goes
on in a movie production. This novel is a fictional account
with some really diverse characterization and also differing
internal voices, especially as some of the story takes place
in earlier time periods.

Although this novel probably doesn't need my help making any
sales, I'd say it was an enjoyable read. If you're looking
for something light and fun to flip through to relax, it's
worth picking up, especially if you can get it from a
library. It was of about average length, and I finished 
it in a few days of moderate reading pace.

Now Reading - Dheghom
At first, I wasn't all that gripped by this book, but as I
push further into the text I'm getting a bit more attached.
Dheghom is a sci-fi story where it seems some visitors from
another dimensions are entering our world occasionally and
displaying some god-like/matrixy powers. I look forward to
seeing where it's going from here.

Every single chapter (so far as I've read) is from a
different character's perspective, with no repeats or
overlap. This is an interesting way to go about writing a
novel, but it seems to be working. I actually picked up this
book because it's written by Richard Bartle, the creator of
the first MUD, who I read about in the history of text games.


Next Up
I'm getting ready to go on a week long camping and
bouldering trip next week, and so I've stocked up on a few
books to read in the tent when it's raining or when we're
recovering in the evenings.

* The Princess of Potential: A Humorous Romantic Fantasy -
This is a cozy fantasy novel written by Delemhach, whose
work I have greatly enjoyed in the past. This is a marginal
sequel in that the main character of this book is the
daughter of the protagonist of the previous novel. It
promises to be...well...a humorous romantic fantasy, but by
an author I can trust to give me a good time.

* True Trans Bike Rebel - A zine written by various trans
authors about how riding bicyles and having adventures
outdoors overlaps with their own life experiences. I've read
some great bicycle-related books from this editor before so
I know this will be enjoyable, and also likely a quick read.

* Roughing It - A Mark Twain "autobiographical" novel, so if
you've read any of his work you know what to expect. It's
about some of his time spent out in the wilderness as a
silver prospector. Promises to be entertaining and a good
book to read while camping.

* My First Summer in the Sierra - John Muir wrote this book
about his time spent in the Sierra region of the US. As one
of America's most famous naturalist writers, this also
promises to be a good title to peruse while out under the
stars.

* Yellowface - This is a general fiction book which deals
with issues of anti-asian racism in modern America. My
partner, who is asian, is currently reading it and says it's
"ok" so far. Since we already own it I figure I'll check it
out.

I have a few other books floating on the horizon, but those
are probably what's on the schedule for the next few weeks
at least! Maybe I'll write about some of these a little more
when I'm finished with them.

Comments?	kinosian@sdf.org