Critical Hits Writers Playing Video Games 1st Edition Carmen Maria Machado by Carmen Maria Machado, J. Robert Lennon, Elissa Washuta, Nana Kwame Adjei-brenyah, Jamil Jan Kochai, Marinaomi, Charlie Jane Anders, Alexander Chee, Hanif Abdurraqib, Larissa Pham 9781644452615, 9781644452622, 1644452618, 1644452626 instant download after payment.

From the earliest computers to the smartphones in our pockets, video games have been on our screens & part of our lives for over fifty years. Critical Hits celebrates this sophisticated medium & considers its lasting impact on our culture & ourselves. This collection of stylish, passionate, & searching essays opens with an introduction by Carmen Maria Machado, who edited the anthology alongside J. Robert Lennon. 

In these pages, writer-gamers find solace from illness & grief, test ideas about language, bodies, power, race, & technology, & see their experiences & identities reflected in—or complicated by—the interactive virtual worlds they inhabit. Elissa Washuta immerses herself in The Last of Us during the first summer of the pandemic. Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah describes his last goodbye to his father with the help of Disco Elysium. Jamil Jan Kochai remembers being an Afghan American teenager killing Afghan insurgents in Call of Duty. 

Also included are a comic by MariNaomi about her time as a video game producer; a deep dive into “portal fantasy” movies about video games by Charlie Jane Anders; & new work by Alexander Chee, Hanif Abdurraqib, Larissa Pham, & many more.