The name of the game this week is games and growth. We at Lit Hub are splitting the biscuit between new beginnings and alternate histories. We’re getting out, and looking back.
Jonny Diamond is welcoming spring Mary Lennox-style—i.e., with the holiness transition deserves. “We have a whole slew of veggies and flowers started in the house (for planting soon),” our editor says. “And each morning, early, with grave seriousness, I check their progress with my 2.5-year-old who, each morning, with grave seriousness, asks me to name them, repeating each word as if it holds an essential secret.” Lovely stuff.
Drew Broussard has been listening to a gloriously goofy podcast: Ross Bryant’s Push the Roll, in which a bunch of great actors/comedians/podcasters improvise and play through a Call of Cthulhu TTRPG scenario.
By Drew’s reckoning, the show is “the best actual-play podcast going right now” for its cheeky sense of humor, and appropriate stakes. “Too many actual pods lean theater-kid-dramatic and I just don’t care,” says our podcasts editor. “Whereas this [show] is fast, inventive, and still willing to get emotionally true and rich while not sacrificing on fun.”
Mr. Bryant, if you’re reading this, know you’ve got an eager volunteer for next season. Hint: part of his first name rhymes with ‘Cthulhu.’
James Folta has been in the gameland, too. (Maybe that’s a function of all his hard work on our adaptation bracket.)
Our staffer has been enjoying a presidential election simulator called “New Campaign Trail“—which is almost exactly what it sounds like. “The gameplay isn’t terribly wonky or complicated,” says our podcasts editor. “And the tone of the project is relatively tongue in cheek, so it’s accessible even for the casual history fan. That being said, it’s a very nerdy premise.”
If you’ve got general Marty McFly inklings—or a really specific urge, like seeing a Free Soiler elected in 1844—this is the game for you. James keeps trying to get Dukakis over the finish line in ’88. But so far, no dice.
I, Brittany Allen, have been enjoying some old-timey New York nostalgia. This week I attended a friend’s (lovely) NYC anniversary party, which featured guests in metro-propriate costumes. (The A train; Carolyn Bessette Kennedy…) I also read Anatole Broyard’s Greenwich Village memoir, Kafka Was the Rage. These things plus the summery breeze have been balmic. I’ll take any excuse to celebrate the passage of time in this town.
Wishing you a weekend of gentle progress, seasonal glee, and un-serious gameplay.
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