The 1970s text-based video game Colossal Cave Adventure challenged players to navigate a long tunnel with wealth at its end. An influential coding feat, Adventure—as it’s primarily known—was the first-ever work of interactive fiction, an innovation that led the way for mediums like modern video games, roleplaying games, AR and VR. Adventure isn’t purely a product of imagination, though. Its creator Will Crowther based it …
Shopping might be faster through billion-dollar corporations, but there’s no store quite as charming or magical as the independent bookshop. And even though we can’t peruse the shelves of our favorite indie booksellers right now, while chatting with employees about their recommendations, we can support these crucial businesses by purchasing from them online. Even if you’re not a big reader, most of these stores also …
Amy Hempel’s fifth collection of short fiction, Sing To It: New Stories, is the first in a decade from the beloved writer. Made up of vignettes, the book includes 15 stories that tackle themes including loneliness, truth and guilt. As ever, Hempel’s prose is somewhat minimal but concurrently undeniably rich.
