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Wingborn by Marjorie Liu is an Enjoyable Second Act!

Wingborn, I’m happy to say, is an enjoyable second act to what has been an imaginative exercise in middle-grade fantasy for the ever-talented Marjorie Liu. I was sent this one by Sparkerpoint Studio in return for a review. Their representative reached out to offer me copies of these, for which–thanks, Rylee! A full sixty pages longer than Wingbearer, this second chapter in Zuli’s adventure is a…

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Neon White: Pure, Non-Stop Fun | Game Review

The card-game mechanics will always get me, folks. I wasn’t sure Neon White was for me, but when it popped up on Xbox Game Pass for PC, I had to give it a try. Now, I’m as far away from a speedrunner as you can be while still enjoying a good wall hack, but after playing this game, I can proudly say: I get it now. I understand why people go for the challenge and the fun of it. Because, if there’s…

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Wingbearer by Marjorie Liu - An Excellent Middle-Grade Read | Review

Marjorie Liu and Teny Issakhanian have created a magical world in Wingbearer, the first in a trilogy of graphic novels. I was sent this one (alongside an arc of the second work in the series, Wingborn) by Sparkerpoint Studio in return for a review. Their representative reached out to offer me copies of these, for which–thanks, Rylee! What a kick I’d have gotten with Wingbearer if I read it about…

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Hades II Will Be a Masterpiece || Early Access

Hades 2 will be a masterpiece. Anyone who has gone on to play the Early Access, in which I have over 35 hours of playtime at the time of writing will know as much (45 hours by the time I finished writing this). This isn’t breaking new ground, it’s not telling you anything you don’t know. What it is, is me celebrating a game I love – something I really should be doing more of on this channel. The…

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Helldivers 2 Bucks Live Service Trends for Super Democracy! | Game Review

Super Democracy! You might call it a lie, you might call it filthy propaganda, you might suggest its striking similarity to fascism. If that’s the case, the firing line’s this way – let the bullets hit you on your way out. For all my fellow loyal citizens, I congratulate you: together ,we have done much to defeat the threats that surround our very own Super Earth. We’ve gassed bugs (without any…

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Starling House by Alix E. Harrow is a Love Letter to the Gothic Genre | Book Review

How might a love letter to the gothic genre look? It might, first, be in the novel form: nothing less would capture its grandiose themes, its dark and brooding atmosphere. Then, there must be a house. Not just any house will do. You know the type: a tangle of rust-covered metal gates and fence, and behind them a jagged, dark marvel of Gothic Revival architecture, “like a vast animal from its den:…

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The Short Story Reader #128 - Born a Ghost by Nadia Bongo

Previous | Next What a beautiful, tragic human tale Nadia Bongo tells! “Born a Ghost” follows a small ghost girl’s life from birth until her twelfth year. This story is a kind of ontology of the ghostly life across this period, a magical tale that hides reality under a thin layer of fiction. It’s not difficult to read Bongo’s story as analogous to class and social conflict (in fact, I find it…

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The Short Story Reader #128 - Born a Ghost by Nadia Bongo

Previous | Next What a beautiful, tragic human tale Nadia Bongo tells! “Born a Ghost” follows a small ghost girl’s life from birth until her twelfth year. This story is a kind of ontology of the ghostly life across this period, a magical tale that hides reality under a thin layer of fiction. It’s not difficult to read Bongo’s story as analogous to class and social conflict (in fact, I find it…

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The Short Story Reader #127 - Spread the Word by Delilah S. Dawson

Previous | Next This psychological horror packs the punch of peak Stephen King, and its subject matter is reminiscent of the master storyteller’s own interests. A strange, religious obsession befalls the dads of Will’s new friends, transforming them, turning them violent and cruel. Will’s no hero, he’s just arrived to town after his own share of troubles with his dad; what’s he, a small kid,…

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Lil' Guardsman's Top Six Characters! (With Spoilers?)

Lil’ Guardsman presents a veritable treasure trove of memorable characters, but today, we at the Filip Magnus channel are going to talk about and celebrate the six best characters across all this lil indie game! Spoilers for Lil’ Guardsman follow, so if you haven’t played it – turn away! Why top six?! Because…shut up. There are many criteria by which to pick excellent characters: you can judge…

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The Short Story Reader #126 - Nothing of Value by Aimee Ogden

In “Nothing of Value,” Aimee Ogden renders a future where teleportation throughout the Solar System has become commonplace. What are the ethical and moral implications of what is called “transit” and involves the translation of information across vast amounts of space, information rearranged in just the way it was sent out in the first place. SO our protagonist believes, and so do many others,…

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Lil' Guardsman Is Beyond Charming | Video Game Review

Lil’ Guardsman takes the core concept of Papers, Please! and places it in an irreverent, colourful setting that oozes with charm and an endless amount of humour. If protagonist Lil, short for Lilith, was just a sarcastic little imp, it would not have worked as well as it does. But because she has heart–because the whole of Lil’ Guardsman has heart in spades–this game turns into one of the most…

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The Pale Beyond Challenges You to Survive (on) the Ice | Video Game Review

The age of the Earth’s exploration–or of its mapping, rather–is long since over. Yet the age in question continues to fascinate. And arctic expeditions, those journeys into the most inhospitable climate on the surface of the planet, hold a special place in the public imagination. For millennia, European peoples believed (and searched for) an ice-free polar sea supposedly acting as a shortcut to…

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American Arcadia is Biting Social Satire | Video Game Review

Now and then comes a narrative game that will glue me to the screen. 2023 has been excellent at offering me those, and all of them different experiences: from the survival narrative of The Pale Beyond to the fantastic saga of Baldur’s Gate 3 to the metanarrative mind-bending horror of Alan Wake 2, I’ve played through more unforgettable narrative experiences in the last half year than across the…

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Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree is Cozy Fun with a Necromantic Edge! | Book Review

My Legends & Lattes review! The Dark Lord’s Legends and Lattes review. Travis Baldree’s Legends and Lattes was the cosy fantasy the book-reading world needed in 2022; but does its prequel show that Baldree, former games developer and full-time narrator, can catch lightning in a bottle twice? The short answer: Yes. Yes, it does. It’s not the same lightning, and it’s not the same story. A…

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A Brief Poetry Recommendation - TROOP NO. 80085 by Marisca Pichette

Here’s something I don’t do much of – recommending poetry. Marisca Pichette’s piece for Deadlands #32 is too much fun not to, however, with its gay girlscouts riding out the afterlife for a good time: our death is the latest badgestitched to rotting skinluminous beneath the moon. sitting cross-legged in mosquito poolswe learn the names of the shadowswho lead our immortal troop: hecate,…

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The Dragon Beckons the Fish

Last month, I shared a pair of drawings; since I’m busy writing my Starling House review and don’t have the time to read or write my daily short story review, you get another pair of drawings! I continue to follow along with 21draw’s excellent lessons, taught by Mark Kistler. Oh no, I forgot to shade all the fingers!