Enter your email Address

ENTROPY
  • About
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Advertising
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Info on Book Reviews
  • Essays
    • All Introspection
      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Tales From the End of the Bus Line: Aging Ungraciously

      January 18, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Salt and Sleep

      January 15, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Revolution for Covid

      January 14, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      WOVEN: My Precious: On Leaving My Abusive Ex-Husband and Being Left with the Ring

      January 13, 2021

      Introspection

      The Birds: A Special Providence in the Fall of a Sparrow

      January 2, 2020

      Introspection

      Returning Home with Ross McElwee

      December 13, 2019

      Introspection

      The Birds: In Our Piety

      November 14, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations: Landslide

      June 12, 2019

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      The Birds: Little Birds

      December 11, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Perdix and a Pear Tree

      December 9, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: A Glimmer of Blue

      November 23, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Circling for Home

      November 13, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: The Guest

      November 9, 2020

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Review

      Review: Shrapnel Maps by Philip Metres

      January 18, 2021

      Review

      Perceived Realities: A Review of M-Theory by Tiffany Cates

      January 14, 2021

      Review

      Review: Danger Days by Catherine Pierce

      January 11, 2021

      Review

      Review – : once teeth bones coral : by Kimberly Alidio

      January 7, 2021

      Collaborative Review

      Attention to the Real: A Conversation

      September 3, 2020

      Collaborative Review

      A Street Car Named Whatever

      February 22, 2016

      Collaborative Review

      Black Gum: A Conversational Review

      August 7, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      Lords of Waterdeep in Conversation

      February 25, 2015

      Video Review

      Entropy’s Super Mario Level

      September 15, 2015

      Video Review

      Flash Portraits of Link: Part 7 – In Weakness, Find Strength

      January 2, 2015

      Video Review

      Basal Ganglia by Matthew Revert

      March 31, 2014

      Video Review

      The Desert Places by Amber Sparks and Robert Kloss, Illustrated by Matt Kish

      March 21, 2014

  • Small Press
    • Small Press

      Gordon Hill Press

      December 8, 2020

      Small Press

      Evidence House

      November 24, 2020

      Small Press

      death of workers whilst building skyscrapers

      November 10, 2020

      Small Press

      Slate Roof Press

      September 15, 2020

      Small Press

      Ellipsis Press

      September 1, 2020

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        Creative Nonfiction / Essay

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Games

        Hunt A Killer, Earthbreak, and Empty Faces: Escapism for the Post-Truth Era

        September 21, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Paperback and Anomia

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Video Games

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Video Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Video Games

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Video Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 2018

    • Food
    • Small Press Releases
    • Film
    • Music
    • Paranormal
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Graphic Novels
    • Comics
    • Current Events
    • Astrology
    • Random
  • RESOURCES
  • The Accomplices
    • THE ACCOMPLICES
    • Enclave
    • Trumpwatch

ENTROPY

  • About
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Advertising
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Info on Book Reviews
  • Essays
    • All Introspection
      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Tales From the End of the Bus Line: Aging Ungraciously

      January 18, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Salt and Sleep

      January 15, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      Revolution for Covid

      January 14, 2021

      Creative Nonfiction / Essay

      WOVEN: My Precious: On Leaving My Abusive Ex-Husband and Being Left with the Ring

      January 13, 2021

      Introspection

      The Birds: A Special Providence in the Fall of a Sparrow

      January 2, 2020

      Introspection

      Returning Home with Ross McElwee

      December 13, 2019

      Introspection

      The Birds: In Our Piety

      November 14, 2019

      Introspection

      Variations: Landslide

      June 12, 2019

  • Fiction
    • Fiction

      The Birds: Little Birds

      December 11, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Perdix and a Pear Tree

      December 9, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: A Glimmer of Blue

      November 23, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: Circling for Home

      November 13, 2020

      Fiction

      The Birds: The Guest

      November 9, 2020

  • Reviews
    • All Collaborative Review Video Review
      Review

      Review: Shrapnel Maps by Philip Metres

      January 18, 2021

      Review

      Perceived Realities: A Review of M-Theory by Tiffany Cates

      January 14, 2021

      Review

      Review: Danger Days by Catherine Pierce

      January 11, 2021

      Review

      Review – : once teeth bones coral : by Kimberly Alidio

      January 7, 2021

      Collaborative Review

      Attention to the Real: A Conversation

      September 3, 2020

      Collaborative Review

      A Street Car Named Whatever

      February 22, 2016

      Collaborative Review

      Black Gum: A Conversational Review

      August 7, 2015

      Collaborative Review

      Lords of Waterdeep in Conversation

      February 25, 2015

      Video Review

      Entropy’s Super Mario Level

      September 15, 2015

      Video Review

      Flash Portraits of Link: Part 7 – In Weakness, Find Strength

      January 2, 2015

      Video Review

      Basal Ganglia by Matthew Revert

      March 31, 2014

      Video Review

      The Desert Places by Amber Sparks and Robert Kloss, Illustrated by Matt Kish

      March 21, 2014

  • Small Press
    • Small Press

      Gordon Hill Press

      December 8, 2020

      Small Press

      Evidence House

      November 24, 2020

      Small Press

      death of workers whilst building skyscrapers

      November 10, 2020

      Small Press

      Slate Roof Press

      September 15, 2020

      Small Press

      Ellipsis Press

      September 1, 2020

  • Where to Submit
  • More
    • Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Games
      • All Board Games Video Games
        Creative Nonfiction / Essay

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Games

        Hunt A Killer, Earthbreak, and Empty Faces: Escapism for the Post-Truth Era

        September 21, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Victoriana and Optimism

        December 14, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: Lady of the West

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Session Report: Paperback and Anomia

        July 27, 2019

        Board Games

        Ludic Writing: The Real Leeds Part 12 (Once in a Lifetime)

        November 10, 2018

        Video Games

        How Zelda Saved Me: The Inspiration, Feminism, and Empowerment of Hyrule

        November 2, 2020

        Video Games

        Best of 2019: Video Games

        December 13, 2019

        Video Games

        Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the Spirit of Generosity

        December 31, 2018

        Video Games

        Best of 2018: Video Games

        December 17, 2018

    • Food
    • Small Press Releases
    • Film
    • Music
    • Paranormal
    • Travel
    • Art
    • Graphic Novels
    • Comics
    • Current Events
    • Astrology
    • Random
  • RESOURCES
  • The Accomplices
    • THE ACCOMPLICES
    • Enclave
    • Trumpwatch
ListReviewVideo Games

Haunting Reads

written by Quincy Rhoads October 24, 2014

Image Credit: Pixelchaos via cartooncliparts.com
For many co-sleeping households, the transition from family bed to crib can be fraught with tears and tantrums, and my house is no stranger to those. As my wife and I try to ready our one year old and attempt to establish a bedtime routine, there are, of course, challenges and a give take/relationship. My son has a wicked case of fomo, so the best way to deal with bedtime is to lay down with him in our bed after story time and jammies and let him think that we’re all going to bed and then transfer him to his crib later. Otherwise he screams and cries and gnashes his five teeth.

Lately, while lying next to me in the dark, my son insists on tugging my ear instead of his own, digging his tiny nails into my cartilage, fishing those thin fingers into my ear canal. As any parent will attest, sometimes it’s best to just go with it.

But after he’s sound asleep in his crib, the tugging sensation lingers.

Michael J. Seidlinger says

Live every day of October haunted.

— Michael J Seidlinger (@mjseidlinger) October 1, 2014

so in the spirit of the season (and because I’m typing this late at night), here are some books that are haunting–reads that feel like a fingernail into the ear days after they’re read.

1. Galaga by Michael Kimball (Boss Fight Books, 2014)

 

Abuse is a troubling, yet very real occurrence that is hard to read about, let alone discuss, but Kimball’s autobiographical account of the abuse he received from his father and older brother and the escape that games such as Galaga provided him is as essential as it is stirring. The simple concept of a book on Galaga being a survival story is proof positive that video game criticism can be so much more than navel gazing about ones and zeros.

2. ZZT by Anna Anthropy (Boss Fight Books, 2014)

Speaking of video game criticism, the entire first season of Boss Fight Books have truly raised the bar. Like Michael Kimball’s Galaga, the best parts of game programmer Anna Anthropy’s ZZT are her personal accounts of growing up as a trans woman and the respite and conflict that internet communities and the indie gaming community provided her: “When all you are is a string of text, it’s easy to control how others perceive you.” It’s not limited to autobiography, however. The book is also a guided tour through the proto-indie gamer world, a treatise on independent living and the infantilizatiuon of American consumers, and most startling, a dissection of troll culture:

…They’re the oppressed so they cannot be the oppressor.

In high school, you’re surrounded by that shit. You see popularity and exclusion used as tools to gain status. You see race, economic status, homophobia, and transphobia used to control people. Any teenage boy (or anyone who thinks of themselves as a boy becasue a better option hasn’t presented itself yet) is aware of the power homophobia has.

You’re handed this community that lives in your computer, almost like a laboratory experiment. It’s safe. You can turn it off at any time. No one knows your real name, You type words–people react to them. Maybe they get mad, maybe they get hurt. Are you not going to try out the social tools you see your offline peers using against you?

3. The Shark King by R. Kikuo Johnson (TOON Books, 2014)

This book caught me off guard. I received it, intending to feature it in my post on comic books for children, but it didn’t quite fit. It’s still a comic book, and it’s still very well-suited for young readers, but the story of the Shark King is so much more. For those unfamiliar, the tale is of a young couple who fall in love, and like many young couples in love, they have a son. Once the son is born, the father disappears and the mother is left to raise their child alone. We come to realize that this son is different from the other children in the village. He is an astute swimmer and he has a shark mouth in his back. The story is good fun until the ending–a regular angry mob chasing the freak number. So here’s what’s so haunting about this book. It ends with the son being chased out into the ocean and the mother all alone, knowing both her son and lover care for her, but being alone nonetheless. I’m still befuddled by this ending months after reading it. What kind of ending is that?

Haunting Reads was last modified: October 21st, 2014 by Quincy Rhoads
anna anthropyboss fight booksgalagaHalloweenhauntedMichael J Seidlingermichael kimballpecadilloesTOON bookszzt
0 comment
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Avatar
Quincy Rhoads

Quincy Rhoads lives in Middle Tennessee with his wife and their son. He teaches English composition for Nashville State Community College. His writing has appeared in HTMLGIANT, Rain Taxi, and Indie Cardboard.

previous post
Dogs in Space
next post
Session Report: Mansions of Madness

You may also like

SHE NAMED HIM MICHAEL

July 4, 2017

Sex in Games, Spectating vs Participating, & Unconventional Spatial Mechanics

July 24, 2014

The Silences that Amount to Us: F. Guevara’s Reddest Herring

February 11, 2019

Unknowing Beauty Among: Brenda Hillman’s Extra Hidden Life, among the Days

January 10, 2019
Facebook Twitter Instagram

Recent Comments

  • Lei Yu wow so beautifully written!

    Review – : once teeth bones coral : by Kimberly Alidio ·  January 18, 2021

  • Lisa S Thank you so much for your kind words and your feedback. I can only hope my story is able to help someone who needs it.

    WOVEN: This isn’t love ·  January 8, 2021

  • Ann Guy Thank you, Josh. And glad you didn’t get tetanus at band camp on that misguided day.

    A Way Back Home ·  December 24, 2020

Featured Columns & Series

  • The Birds
  • Dinnerview
  • WOVEN
  • Variations on a Theme
  • BLACKCACKLE
  • Literacy Narrative
  • COVID-19
  • Mini-Syllabus
  • Their Days Are Numbered
  • On Weather
  • Disarticulations
  • The Waters
  • Session Report series
  • Birdwolf
  • Comics I've Been Geeking Out On
  • Small Press Releases
  • Books I Hate (and Also Some I Like)
  • The Poetics of Spaces
  • Fog or a Cloud
  • Tales From the End of the Bus Line
  • 30 Years of Ghibli
  • Cooking Origin Stories
  • YOU MAKE ME FEEL
  • Ludic Writing
  • Best of 2019
  • The Talking Cure
  • Stars to Stories
  • DRAGONS ARE REAL OR THEY ARE DEAD
  • Foster Care
  • Food and Covid-19
  • LEAKY CULTURE
  • Jem and the Holographic Feminisms
  • D&D with Entropy

Find Us On Facebook

Entropy
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

©2014-2020 The Accomplices LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Read our updated Privacy Policy.


Back To Top