Greetings fellow book enthusiasts! Welcome back to “Booked For The Week,” our recurring Sunday discussion where we connect with interesting figures in the industry about their reading habits. After recently delving into *The Epic of Gilgamesh*, I find myself pondering how certain themes and dramatic styles have echoed throughout time, reflecting profound truths about the human condition. However, my gaming experience has also trained me to spot familiar ideas reused. Shame, storytelling, shame!
This week, we’re delighted to host Hannah Nicklin, known for her work on Saltsea Chronicles, Mutazione, Thronglets, and various other projects! Welcome, Hannah! May we peek at your personal library?
What are you presently engrossed in reading?
I tend to juggle several books concurrently. I also limit my intake of non-fiction or easily digestible reads unless I’m on vacation. My intense focus can lead to finishing books quickly, which throws off my sleep schedule. Therefore, I gravitate towards books that offer a bit more challenge. Currently, I’m enjoying a diverse selection:
*The Mechanic And The Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism Of Technology And Capitalism* by Jathan Sadowski
I’m finding this work incredibly insightful. Sadowski’s dual perspective on contemporary capitalist technoculture is particularly sharp. To quote the book itself, it’s a “[A] critical study of technological capitalism through two metaphorical role models for how to do materialist analysis: the mechanic and the Luddite. The mechanic knows how a machines is put together, how its parts function, and what work it does. The Luddite knows why the machine was built, whose purposes it serves, and when it should be seized––in both senses of stopped or taken, destroyed or expropriated. […] The materialist analysis of the mechanic provides the basis for the material action of the Luddite.” It’s essential reading for our times, thoughtfully organized as a series of essays that can be enjoyed in any sequence.
*The Next Revolution: Popular Assemblies & the Promise of Direct Democracy* by Murray Bookchin
I’m interested in portraying alternate systems of community decision-making in my games. *Saltsea Chronicles* touched upon this through societies employing collective methods, but it wasn’t formally structured within the game. While suitable for that project, I hope to further explore collective decision-making and consensus in future narrative systems. Bookchin’s book, which I’ve regrettably put off for too long (about a decade, I believe), offers a vision of a new leftist politics founded on citizen assemblies. Recent global political developments, particularly in the UK, highlight the shortcomings of “representative” democracy (especially given voting every few years in a first-past-the-post system where a monarch remains and capitalist interests hold sway). I believe representative democracy is unlikely to last much longer into the 21st century, so instead of letting strong-man fascists take over, I want to find alternatives that empower people, hold power accountable, and give us methods of overcoming blockers, whether they are bottom-up (nimbyism, misinformation, disenfranchisement) or those from above (the interests of capital, the ruling classes, etc.) to build healthier, more humane, more just societies that also tackle the most urgent crisis of our times: that of the climate.
*A Place of Greater Safety* by Hilary Mantel
Given my lengthy descriptions of the previous two books, I’ll be brief. This 871-page book is a semi-fictionalized account of Danton, Desmoulins, and Robespierre, from childhood to the French Revolution in 1789. I’ve been listening to the podcast Past Present Future on Revolutions, and I’ve had trouble tracking the revolution’s specifics. I’m currently fascinated by revolution (can you tell) at the moment: in tipping points, in the people on whom it pivots, on the people they purport to speak for, etc. I thought a semi-fictional narrative would offer the necessary context for understanding its history. I’m only 150 pages in, but I find it very engrossing.
What was the last book you completed?
As I’m currently on vacation, I indulged in some quick reads. I completed in one sitting: *Strong Female Character* by Fern Brady (a semi-autobiography by the Scottish comedian, primarily focused on her diagnosis with autism in her mid-30s) and *The Centre* by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi (a suspenseful horror-mystery about translation, language, and the transformative nature of cultural shifts).
What books are you looking forward to reading?
The next three on my table are:
- *History and Revolution: Refuting Revisionism* Edited by Mike Haynes & Jim Wolfreys
- *Playing Oppression: The Legacy Of Conquest And Empire In Colonialist Board Games* by Mary Flanagan & Mikael Jakobsson
- *Disordered Attention: How We Look At Art And Performance Today* by Claire Bishop
The first two are rather self-explanatory. The latter, authored by the writer of the essential read *Artificial Hells*, delves into the meaning of creating art in an era marked by fragmented attention.
What’s a book quote or scene that resonates with you?
It’s usually not specific scenes or words that stick with me, but rather overarching ideas. Currently, I keep returning to an idea connected to one of my upcoming answers—the notion that our narratives about who we are are founded on outdated biases. Evidence suggests that humans are fundamentally cooperative, egalitarian, and playful. There’s tremendous hope in that concept.
What book do you constantly urge your friends to read?
I’d say these four:
*Parable Of The Sower* by Octavia E. Butler. An electrifying story. Published in my birth year (1984), it begins in 2024. The accuracy of her predictions is both astonishing and unsettling.
*The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity*, by David Graeber and David Wengrow. We have all of these stories about who humans are, all drawn from who we have been and what we imagine our natures to be. In fact a lot of that is built on either fallacious or disputable readings of archeologists, anthropologists or philosophers drawing on a paradigm of knowledge that deeply impacts how they read the evidence. *The Dawn of Everything* is a profoundly liberating exploration of evidence, revealing the deeply egalitarian and playful nature of humanity. The disparities of the past few centuries are merely a deviation. If this is true, why can’t we revert to a more cooperative, equitable, just, and playful existence?
*Recognising the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative* by Isabella Hammad. A deeply humanizing small book (it’s an essay based on a speech, really) from a Palestinian author about what it means to be present, to witness at this point in history.
And for craft, I always go back to recommending Stewart Lee’s *How I Escaped My Certain Fate* – it’s a recommended text in my book Writing for Games: Theory & Practice, in fact. I return to it often, it’s such a masterclass in a life-long practice, so rich in all of his acknowledged influences, so metatextual as he unpicks his performances as a series of creative decisions. It’s a generous gift from someone deeply interesting in why and how language and human feelings intertwine. It won’t suit everyone, but it massively suits my brain.
Which book would you love to see adapted into a game?
*Your Wish Is My Command* by Deena Mohamed, a comic book. I frequently recommend it as a brilliant example of world-building. The core idea is that wishes are real. However, everything else remains the same. This means that wishes are banned as weapons of war in a post-World War II treaty. A working-class Egyptian who’s granted a First-Class wish (wishes are ranked, with the cheapest ones intentionally misinterpreting your intentions, such as wishing for a Ferrari and receiving a toy car) finds herself harassed by the police, imprisoned, and coerced into surrendering it because “someone like her” wouldn’t have access to such a powerful wish. Like all well-developed worlds, the three stories within the book are deeply human. The act of wishing reveals the seeds of human desire. Mohamed has cultivated this concept into a perfect reflection of what it means to be human. I’d love to adapt it myself. If anyone wishes to collaborate on a game development team, with me as creative director or narrative lead, let’s find Deena Mohamed and create an anthology game centered around wishing!
Allow me a moment of earnestness: thank you to those who have expressed their appreciation for this column. The idea that something I contribute is valuable or enjoyable is deeply significant, especially now that I am experiencing meaning that feels elusive. Of course, I do have to now grapple with the failure to name all the books, cascading with each subsequent column. Eh, we’ll work it out. Farewell for now, bookworms!