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Book Title

Critical Hits

Subtitle
Writers Playing Video Games
Author 1
Carmen Maria Machado and J. Robert Lennon
Body
From the earliest computers to the smartphones in our pockets, video games have been on our screens and part of our lives for over fifty years. Critical Hits celebrates this sophisticated medium and considers its lasting impact on our culture and ourselves.
 
This collection of stylish, passionate, and 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 and grief, test ideas about language, bodies, power, race, and technology, and see their experiences and 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; and new work by Alexander Chee, Hanif Abdurraqib, Larissa Pham, and many more.
 

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List Price
$18.00
ISBN
ISBN
978-1-64445-261-5
Format
Format
Paperback
Publication Date
Publication Date
Subject
Pages
Pages
224
Trim Size
Trim Size
5.5 x 8.25
Keynote
A wide-ranging anthology of essays exploring one of the most vital art forms on the planet today

About the Author

J. Robert  Lennon
J. Robert Lennon is the author of nine novels, including Subdivision and Broken River, and three story collections, Let Me Think, Pieces for the Left Hand, and See You in Paradise. He lives in Ithaca, New York.

http://jrobertlennon.com/
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Carmen Maria Machado
Credit: Art Streiber / AUGUST

Carmen Maria Machado is the author of In the Dream House and Her Body and Other Parties, a finalist for the National Book Award. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, she is the writer in residence at the University of Pennsylvania and lives in Philadelphia with her wife.

https://carmenmariamachado.com/

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