Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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The King of the Nerds Falls Flat

Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons and Dragons by Michael Witwer

May 1, 2022 by CoffeeShopReader 1 Comment

Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons and Dragons tries to be a history of gaming, both general and specific, a biography, and a business of pop culture (cons, trends, geekdoms, etc) review all at once; it does not succeed. On the biography side, the subject Gry Gygax is presented with little personality other than ‘tempermental’ and ‘creative genius’ and ‘somewhat difficult’. There’s also little narrative to build and follow, mostly scattered episodes. Part of the problem is that no one else […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Fantasy, History Tagged With: #biography, #fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons and Dragons, gaming, Gary Gygax, geek history, Michael Witwer

CoffeeShopReader's CBR14 Review No:34 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Fantasy, History · Tags: #biography, #fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons and Dragons, gaming, Gary Gygax, geek history, Michael Witwer ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

Uneven characters in real and D&D worlds

The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi & Fantasy Role Playing Club by Doug Henderson

November 1, 2021 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi & Fantasy Role Playing Club has a nice premise: group of queer pals, some of whom are very different from each other, get together weekly for their D&D sessions. Most of the real world characters and issues have a generally cliché but still cute quality to them. Ben is one of the main characters, he’s gay (or at least prefers men), college graduate (degree in history) who lives with his parent and makes spending money selling pop-culture paraphernalia online. He […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction Tagged With: Coug Henderson, D&D, Doug Henderson, gaming, LGBT fiction, The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi & Fantasy Role Playing Club

CoffeeShopReader's CBR13 Review No:90 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction · Tags: Coug Henderson, D&D, Doug Henderson, gaming, LGBT fiction, The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi & Fantasy Role Playing Club ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Come for the plot, stay for the doggo.

Let’s Play Volumes One by Leeanne M. Krecic

Let’s Play Volumes Two by Leeanne M. Krecic

September 24, 2021 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Come for the plot, stay for the doggo. Is how Let’s Play Volumes One and Two promote themselves. This two-book series is only the first 40 or so episodes of a web comic from WebToon. This website allows you to read graphic novel/comics online. However, some of the more popular titles are getting in real life editions made. I sat down on a Saturday to start reading book one and was done sometime on Sunday as I had to sleep. Leeanne M. Krecic created a […]

Filed Under: Comedy/Humor, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Romance, Young Adult Tagged With: friendship, gaming, Leeanne M. Krecic, manga & comics, programing, video games, vlogging, WebToon

BlackRaven's CBR13 Review No:285 · Genres: Comedy/Humor, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Romance, Young Adult · Tags: friendship, gaming, Leeanne M. Krecic, manga & comics, programing, video games, vlogging, WebToon ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Two Gaming Nerds Go on a Road Trip and….

Conventionally Yours by Annabeth Albert

May 27, 2021 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

I’m not sure how Conventionally Yours ended up on my radar since I’m not a reader of romance novels generally speaking. Basically, it’s a queer romance with a twist on the standard enemies to lovers plot, namely the setting is serious card gaming and convention. On the one side, there’s Conrad the good-looking friendly guy who seems to have the perfect social life and image, but is actually dealing with major issues in his life. On the other side, there’s Alden, the seemingly uptight, prissy, […]

Filed Under: Romance Tagged With: Annabeth Albert, fandom, gaming, geeks, LGBTQ, LGBTQ romance, Romance

CoffeeShopReader's CBR13 Review No:46 · Genres: Romance · Tags: Annabeth Albert, fandom, gaming, geeks, LGBTQ, LGBTQ romance, Romance ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Video Games and the “Real World”

Press Start to Play by Daniel H. Wilson, John Joseph Adams, Ernest Cline

July 7, 2020 by CoffeeShopReader Leave a Comment

Bingo Review 2: Shelfie I honestly have no idea how long Press Start to Play has been on my literal TBR shelf, but it’s been a while. I figured this was as good a reason as any to finally pick it up, especially since I actually broke down and bought a Nintendo Switch Light a few weeks ago. I’ve never been much of a gamer; I didn’t grow up with it really, unless you count the educational stuff like Oregon Trail and Number Munchers. I […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: #Science Fiction, Andy Weir, austin grossman, cbr12bingo, Daniel H. Wilson, John Joseph Adams, Ernest Cline, gamers, gaming, Holly Black, Hugh Howey, Marc Laidlaw, Press Start to Play, Rhianna Pratchett, Seanan McGuire, short story collection, Speculative Fiction, video games

CoffeeShopReader's CBR12 Review No:59 · Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Speculative Fiction · Tags: #Science Fiction, Andy Weir, austin grossman, cbr12bingo, Daniel H. Wilson, John Joseph Adams, Ernest Cline, gamers, gaming, Holly Black, Hugh Howey, Marc Laidlaw, Press Start to Play, Rhianna Pratchett, Seanan McGuire, short story collection, Speculative Fiction, video games ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Friends don’t let friends die in video games

Glitch by Sarah Graley

May 28, 2020 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Personally, Glitch is one of those books that did little for me. However, if you have a 10 to 14-year-old who loves video games, especially girls, this is a rock out adventure! Sarah Graley created a graphic novel that is part science fiction meets realistic middle school and family issues. Oh, and there are some killer skeletons, robots and one Big Bad Boss, too! Overall, Glitch is fun. You cannot take it too seriously, but you will seriously be rooting for Izzy and her best […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, Comedy/Humor, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Science Fiction, Suspense, Young Adult Tagged With: Computers & Digital Media, friendship, gaming, Sarah Graley, video games

BlackRaven's CBR12 Review No:185 · Genres: Children's Books, Comedy/Humor, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Science Fiction, Suspense, Young Adult · Tags: Computers & Digital Media, friendship, gaming, Sarah Graley, video games ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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