About the book

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Literature as a game. Gaming as literature. How are writers and artists interacting with video games, gaming, and notions of play?

Spanning fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, comics, and multimedia works from an international array of emerging and established voices, Free to Play: A Video Games Anthology is both a love letter to, and a bold exploration of what video games and gaming culture are and can be.

Why read this book?

• Difference Engine’s first multi-medium anthology ranging from comics both fiction and non-fiction, prose fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and works with multimedia elements.
• Featuring creators from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Lebanon & USA.

Contents

1. 1. No Man is an Island – Ellie Black
   2. The Short, Sweet Life of Commander Brian – Gabriela Lee
   3. Side-Scroller – Ken Liu
   4. The Last Bonfire – Myle Yan Tay & Natalie M. E. Tan
   5. All the Times I was Dragonborn – Nuraliah Norasid
   6. Less Than Three Stars – Jack Xi
   7. All the Skin(s) You Left Behind – Sarah Mak & Nic Chan
   8. Press “Y” to Reboot – Noor Tannir
   9. He is You, She’s For You – Hana Yaacob
   10. Dawn of Clarendera – Meihan Boey
   11. memory leak – Zhen
   12. A Seat at Venba’s Table – Varsha Sivaram
   13. God of War – Maya Escobar
   14. Boys and Girls Across Dead Worlds – Alex K. Masse
   15. Don’t Start Without Me – Kenneth Lam
   16. The Writer as Gamer – Alvin Pang
   17. It’s Dangerous to Go Alone – Anthony Falleroni
   18. snake on a train – judith huang
   19. Your Inventory is Filling Up Again – Wen-yi Lee
   20. Shadow Stone – Erica Eng
   21. Fast Travel – Adriana X. Jacobs

Praise for Free to Play: A Video Games Anthology

Our experiences with games are varied and wonderful and they bring out the most diverse and incredible responses from us – from farming grinds, to replays, heated forums, following streams, to creating fan art and fiction. It is all about celebrating life through games and this anthology captures it all. A must-read for every type of gamer.

— Yen Ooi, Sun: Queens of Earth

This anthology hardwired my muscle-memorised casual gamer reflexes directly into the nervous system of human vulnerability, somehow connecting the accumulation of all my clicks of a thumbstick to the unspoken syllable of real-world survival.

— Shivram Gopinath, Dey

Passionate, funny, and at times genuinely moving, it’s the kind of collection that makes you want to pick up a controller and a pen at the same time.

— Joe Peter, No Average Joe