Free to Play: A Video Games Anthology

About the book

(For orders outside Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, please enquire with your favourite local book store.)

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. 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: ‘Alongsideness’ and Memorialisation in Action Role-Playing Games – 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 Luisa Binte Yaacob
  10. Dawn of Clarendera – Meihan Boey
  11. memory leak – Leong Yi 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

Adan Jimenez
Adan Jimenez

Editor

Adan Jimenez is a writer, editor, and translator. He is the proud son of Mexican immigrant parents and became an immigrant himself when he moved to Singapore. You can find him playing all kinds of games on his YouTube channel: youtube.com/@thecomicman.

Daryl Lim Wei Jie
Daryl Lim Wei Jie

Editor

Daryl Lim Wei Jie is a poet, editor, and translator from Singapore. His poetry collection Anything but Human was a finalist for the 2022 Singapore Literature Prize. In 2023, he was awarded the Young Artist Award, Singapore’s highest award for young art practitioners. Find Daryl at www.darylwjlim.com.

Joses Ho
Joses Ho

Editor

Joses Ho is a poet, pro-wrestler, and scientist. He also has interests in creative computing and generative text. His pamphlet Dogma was shortlisted for the inaugural Paper Jam series in 2021. He is also a pro-wrestler and ring announcer with Grapplemax.

Natalie Wang
Natalie Wang

Editor

Natalie Wang is the author of The Woman Who Turned Into A Vending Machine, a collection of poems on metamorphosis, myth, and womanhood. She has been published in The Fairy Tale Review, Cartridge Lit, and Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, amongst others

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