Book Review – A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms By George R.R. Martin

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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin, published in 2015, collects the first three prequel novellas to the popular A Song of Ice and Fire series. The stories collected are The Hedge Knight (1998), The Sworn Sword (2003), and The Mystery Knight (2010). Set nearly a century before A Game of Thrones, each story follows the young hedge knight Dunk, also known as Ser Duncan the Tall, and his squire Egg as they adventure across Westeros during a time when the Targaryen family still holds the Iron Throne.Read More »

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Artful Video Game Storytelling

I don’t get too specific, but this post has Spoilers for 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors

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Anyone who plays enough video games knows how important storytelling has become for the medium. Though obviously not essential, as many great games have little to no story at all, both the big budget and independent scenes have a plethora of compelling, story-driven games. Video games are unique when it comes to storytelling because they require the direct action, and often skill, of the player to progress. This is unlike other mediums, where you’re never punished for doing a poor job of watching a movie or reading a book. How much you can understand may vary, but you progress regardless.

Over the past few years I’ve become increasingly aware of and fascinated with games that have core story elements that only work in the video game medium. Adaptation would be possible, but something crucial would be lost along the way.Read More »

Comic Book Review – Darth Vader (2015) Vol. 1

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With the release of Star War: The Force Awakens has come a lot of new fiction to the Star Wars universe. Regrettably, this resulted in a lot of the old expanded universe fiction being relegated to “Legends” status in the canon, but I’ve seen it as an opportunity to get deeper into the now more manageable canon of expanded fiction. One such series that saw release in early 2015 was Darth Vader, an ongoing monthly series by Marvel Comics, written by Kieron Gillen with art by Salvador Larroca.Read More »

The Overpowered Problem

Contains Minor Spoilers For One-Punch Man

Saitama

Growing up, I never had a strong affinity for Superman. I hadn’t read any of the comic books, and only had a passing experience with the cartoon, but my father’s dismissal of the character for being “too powerful” and therefore “boring” turned my interest away from him for a long time. Having become much better versed in Superman stories, however, I have turned this around.Read More »