One of the great gifts of the book is the entrée it affords into the contemporary IF scene. Graham Nelson, Adam Cadre, Emily Short, and Andrew Plotkin were all authors who were new to me, but no sooner had I worked through Plotkin’s remarkable “Shade” than I added it to my spring syllabus (which I’ll post soon, btw); and I suspect others will follow suit. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised to find this text canonized amongst a new academic audience because of Montfort’s account of it here. —Matt Kirschenbaum reviews Nick Montfort’s Twisty Little PassagesWor(l)d Games (MGK)

As George wrote in a comment to the above entry, “Stuff like this is why I like reading blogs.”

I don’t know what it is about interactive fiction, but it prompts a lot of autobiographical essays like this one. (See also SPAG newsletter editor Paul O’Brian’s review.)

And homestarrunner.com features a text game this week.

I oughta add a new category: geekiness.

View Comments

  • Dennis, unfortunately, the answer is no. But I know you'll get it when I say that I smell a wumpus...

  • Awesome, Dennis! I knew there would be other cartoons on homestarrunner worth seeing. But if I told you that "The system is down," would you get the reference, or just pull fistfulls of hair out? :)

  • Josh, if I signed my name as Dennis "The Yellow Dart" Jerz, would you get the reference? :)

  • The official SHU math club mascot is Trogdor, of homestarrunner fame. We're still waiting for the official release to use his image on out T-shirts....
    Joshua Sasmor, SHU math geek, faculty sponsor for the math club

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