Critical Hits: Writers on Gaming and the Alternate Worlds We Inhabit

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

'A loot drop of brilliance' Naomi Alderman, author of The Power

Whether you're an avid gamer, a Twitch subscriber, or just an incidental Subway Surfer, video games have changed the way you interact with the world, and have been part of our lives for over fifty years. Critical Hits is a celebration of play and playfulness, and the lasting impact of videogames.

Composed of sharp, impassioned, and inquisitive essays, this collection begins with an introduction by Carmen Maria Machado and presents video games through the eyes of eighteen writer-gamers as they straddle real and artificial worlds. In games, they find solace from illness and grief, test ideas about language, bodies, race, and technology, and see their experiences and identities reflected in-or complicated by-the interactive virtual realities they inhabit.

From a deep dive into "portal fantasy" games by Charlie Jane Anders and a comic by MariNaomi about her time as a video game producer, to the overlaps in gaming and poetry by Stephen Sexton, Critical Hits illuminates fragments of an industry that is wildly popular, grossly misunderstood, and absolutely spellbinding.

Reviews

'These fun, funny, occasionally cutting but often affirming essays celebrate the surprising potency of video games and virtual experiences. With any luck, this book will find a place of honour on every literary gamer's bookshelf' - Tom Bissell, author of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter

'A loot drop of brilliance, and a hugely satisfying and entirely convincing literary salvo on the artistic worth of games in our lives' - Naomi Alderman, author of The Power

Author Bio

J. Robert Lennon is the author of nine novels and three story collections, including Familiar, Mailman, and Broken River.

Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the memoir In the Dream House and the story collection Her Body and Other Parties.