the spooky review is back... (with Skullboy)

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How to review a zine refreshingly: Stack Gang by Orbital Intelligence LLC

Stack Gang is one of my favorite zines.

I read Stack Gang over the last few days. 

Really love it.

It had me laughing.

I looked crazy.

Repeatedly.

To briefly give you an idea of my zine preferences and the degree of my fondness toward Orbital Intelligence's zine Stack Gang, here is a link to some of my favorite reads of 2022. 

To me, Stack Gang is an extreme zine.

It has crying, shouting, screaming, and destruction.

The writing in Stack Gang felt so unusually real to me that I kept wanting to look away from the zine the first time I read it. 

The art in the zine made me feel expressions, mannerisms, strained eye contact, and hear ambiguous noises.

As I read this alone in my room, on my Macbook, if felt like I was in a social situation.

Anyone who runs this game would end up joking often and dislike complaining or talking about themselves.

I related to this zine big time and was surprised and moved by the end.

The ending was like reading a story or poem that ends at the bottom of the page where I'm supposed to turn the page, then turning the page and learning I already read the last line.

This is one of my favorite experiences in reading – to be surprised by an ending that, in retrospect, seems inevitable and satisfying – and Stack Gang provides it extremely. 

Stack Gang is extreme and special in a similar manner, to me, as a group of fiction writers that journalists and other writers labeled "minimalists" in the 1970s and 1980s. 

It's extreme and special in terms of what it's about.

In the introduction to an issue of Mississippi Review focused on minimalism, Kim Herzinger, in 1985, carefully considered what minimalist fiction was about:

If "minimalist" fiction is "about" anything, it seems quite often to be "about" endurance, tracing the collision of the anarchic self and its inexplicable desires with the limitations imposed by life in the world, with special attention paid to the moment when the self confronts its limitations and decides to keep on going.

After noting that many minimalist stories began with characters experiencing "some kind of disconnection" followed by "their inevitable desire for fullness or fulfillment which is found to be impossible or inadequate," Herzinger, in a moving passage that, for me, applies to Stack Gang, observed:

The characters invariably face the impossibility with a kind of touching sturdiness – often suggested by calm or silence – that seems to me both accurate and revitalizing, something like human beings behaving rather well. They may not shout, they may not change the world or entertain any illusions that they can do so, but they are not, it seems to me, beaten.

Physical copies of Stack Gang can be purchased from Spear Witch here.

(if you'd like to support me there are links on the right to purchase my zines)

Agbogbloshie, the vibe of a zine, first post of 2023

I started following this author Mike Kleine's twitter. 

Saw a tweet about sending out review copies of his new zine (on his store).  
(click the images for high res or whatever)

I sent them a DM saying I do reviews on this blog (now you're caught up).

I'm going to start off by writing a few blurbs.

"It's fun to read Agbogbloshie. Characters admire each other's 'drip'."

(the cover is also a table of contents)

"A nice small zine that keeps you on the edge of your seat." 

"If you feel fucked this is a good zine to read, it will bewilder you." (all of my posts are good to read if you feel fucked). 

"You can read it, finish it, go back to the beginning and read it again, and keep reading it continuously." 

"Agbogbloshie has a tone like once the zine ended the author started to talk shit about themselves and were really funny." 

"You can read it then put it down and feel a ‘calming’ sensation of ‘everyone is fucked.'"

"Each page is 'infused' with being good and also fucked depressively while leaving me yearning for more."

The zine is small and seems like the editing process took a long time because of the way it is laid out. 

It feels as if Mike Kleine was sitting at his computer, sometimes grinning at something he typed, then looking behind him to see if anyone was there, and no one was there. 

I read this zine alone and was depressed, but later shared portions of the text with my family.

I spent a lot of time with this zine. 

The next day i watched hustle & flow. that movie fucks; I recommend that movie.
that movie is full of amazing scenes to quote. 

I wasn't expecting the characters in this story to be dripped out kicking ass in space, while I think, also trying to get the world to end.

I thought about each word as it was being edited. The layout is awesome.

Each page is 'infused' with being good and also fucked depressively. 

Everything was really inspiring me as I was reading it.

To me, it reads like a one-shot OSR (derogatory) adventure. 

I recommend buying zines that aren't TTRPGs.

This one is sold out in print but I think it will be available digitally soon.

I love books with an index.

I recommend using indexes. 

I am curating an index for my next project.

I won't get into spoilers but I think the characters crash their space cars, run away from orcs on fire, pray to the 99 gods, 3 of them answer, hack a bunch of shit, blow shit up, and see the world end.

this next photo (not mine) is from twitter and it has a great summary of the zine. 

and now an interview with the author

1. If you could leave yourself a present in the future what would it be?

Just a short hand-written note on cream paper or something (so I'd know it's from me for sure) that reads, "Drink more water, please, And also sleep longer. XOXO"

2. What do you do on the internet if you're bored?

Lately? Mostly, I try and learn how to be better at Twine. And by this, I mean I just run a ton of different scenarios and ideas until I break the software, then I wait until the next day, after my brain has recovered, and try and figure a way around the "break" I caused. I am not a programmer and this is probably the closest I will ever come to programming. It's fun solving puzzles I sort of caused/created myself. My goal is to one day become comfortable with all the Twine story formats. I also really need to get back into Bitsy. (This is one game I made.) (Here's another.) (And one last one I made with Dan Hoy, here. Oddly enough, it won the award for Most Bizarre at The 2019 Spring Thing Festival of Interactive Fiction!)

3. When do you enjoy making art the most?

Between the hours of 11PM and 2AM. This needs to stop, tho.

4. Can you type a dialogue you've had in real life that you remember and liked?

Sure.

"What was the thing you said last week?"
"What thing?"
"I dunno, it was something funny."
"But you don't remember what it was?"
"If I remembered what it was, I wouldn't be asking you if you remembered what you said last week."
"What did you say?"
"What d'you mean?"
"Hmmm. (?)"
< pause >
"I am trying to remember what you said last week."
"I don't think you remember what you even said last week... even."
< beat >
"Plz don't change the subject."

5. Can you type a dialogue you've had in real you remember and disliked?

Yeah.

"I didn't get Tár, I didn't like it."
"What do you mean you didn't like it?" What's there to not like?"
"Like, right now I am looking on the phone. Who even is Tár?"
"Tár isn't a real person."
"Tár isn't a real person?"
"No--Tár isn't a real person."
"..."
"..."
< beat >
< beat >
< beat >
< beat >
< beat > < beat > < beat > < beat >
< beat >
< beat > < beat > < beat >
< beat > < beat >
< beat >
< beat >
"..."

Even tho I didn't like the film, the dynamic range/swell of the orchestra bits is some of the best sound mixing I’ve ever heard (for film), maybe ever.

6. What are you writing now?

I wrote this today:

<% character.inventory.addItem("Blade of Gonzo'r"); %>

<%
character.addGold(25);
%>

<img src="[REDACTED FOR PRIVACY REASONS. SORRY.]" width="500" height="256">

You are <%
switch (Math.floor(Math.random() * 4)) {
  case 0:
    print('an ogre');
    break;

  case 1:
    print('a monster');
    break;

  case 2:
    print('a terrible person');
    break;

  case 3:
    print('not of this Earth');
    break;
}
%>.

You have always lived in the swamps and you will forever remain in the swamps.

You have been blessed by the god <%
switch (Math.floor(Math.random() * 4)) {
  case 0:
    print('Xll'yen');
    break;

  case 1:
    print('43rf'yh');
    break;

  case 2:
    print(52529890r.562');
    break;

  case 3:
    print('Yett');
    break;
}
%>, with the following items, for your journey ahead:

Blade of Gonzo'r
25 gold
Tunic of Despair

[[Continue|The Journey Begins]]

(Before this, I was working on a character generator thing, for myself mostly, and have since given up on that (at least for now).)

thanks mike

you can buy books from Mike on his website or here. 

read some of his book reviews and find out more about him and his other books on htmlgiant. 
It's a small world, Mike went to college with a person I collaborate with a lot now as a writer. This mutual acutance we share is also my mortal enemy. 

mike likes troika, and owns troika zines. i invited him to play troika online sometime. he told me his dad played dnd. 

lemme tell you more about Agbogbloshie

 the Agbogbloshie sphere has an active volcano, a swamp, canyons, black wilderness, prairie grasses with hidden sewer tanks, and corpo office towers with evaporating doors

encounters from the Agbogbloshie (aka earth2) sphere

1. an erupting volcano melting the castle known as '76, ancient electronics can be looted, d20 orcs are running to a jeep, d6 of them are on fire

2. jungle swamp corridors lead down to a mosquito net tent littered with pink maggots eating the flesh off of a designer cybernetic arm, horror film strings play

3. a low-level guard driving a jeep, blasting drill 'n' bass music drowned-out

4. 1d3 blind women summoning a psyops barge descending from the sky, they each wear a pendant of st. agnes

5. the ceiling clouds escaped the castle, they are outside, dropping black soot (poison)

6. !!??!!?!

(at this point in the blog post writing process i started making a cajun spaghetti sauce, starting with the trinity first, making it extra spicy, and serving it with my own homemade jalapeno cheddar bread)

a background from the Agbogbloshie sphere or earth2

Jamal

the soul survivor always kisses their gun when suitin' up.

possessions:
d3 synaptic-jammers
d3 heavy-glow putty 

d3 pop-smoke

hecka-expensive snake-charmer shotgun with 2d6 shells (damage as pole-arm)

headband (with a charm from an ancient hell witch, +3 random spells)

skills:
3 hackin'

3 paintin'
2 blastin'

(if you'd like to support me there are links on the right to purchase my zines)

(this blog is impervious to criticism)

end of the year post, d20 links to some of my favorite 2022 reads that are now encounters

a massive amount of confusion has arrived in my brain. 

it spent months reading endlessly. 

it can take months of concerted effort to replace an irrational thought process.

happy new year 🐹

i'm going to share the first and last sentences from some of the books (and/or zines) i've read this year.

it's a poetic way to close this year on the blog. 

i've made an encounter table at the end to be used for a setting based on the books (and/or zines).

1. Cyst by Jamzilla
First Sentence: "All has come to ruin."
Last Sentence: "All is lost."

2. Psycho Nymph Exile by Porpentine Heartscape
First Sentence: "Vellus Satowary is a biomecha pilot."
Last Sentence: "I was alone for so long."

3. Horse Girl by Samuel Mui
First Sentence: "You are a woman in her late 20s."
Last Sentence: "You will be remembered by those who love you."

4. Against Nature by Tomas Espedal
First Sentence: "I’m starting to grow old; I don’t recognize myself."
Last Sentence: "You say the end, but love doesn’t want to end."

5. The Pheasant by Raymond Carver
First Sentence: "Gerald Weber didn't have words left in him."
Last Sentence: "'He should turn around and just knock hell out of her.'"

6. White Ibis by Sam Pink
First Sentence: "'Just, whatever,’ I said, standing in a drugstore aisle with my girl."
Last Sentence: "And I couldn’t tell if it was trying to come in, or telling me to come out."

7. Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier
First sentence: "Her name was Jenny Hauser and every Wednesday I put pickles on her pizza."
Last Sentence: "She really was beautiful, even with short hair."

8. Into the Odd (remastered) by Chris McDowall
First Sentence: "The world is too large for explorers to map, and too old for academics to record."
Last Sentence: "The crew are looking for anything to stave off the boredom."

9. The Blunts and Future King by Jimble
First Sentence: "A hand hearth is a small, stone orb with a hole in its top." 
Last Sentence: "This supplement was written with the Champion being an NPC in mind, but I’m not a cop."

10. To Be Devoured by Sara Tantlinger
First Sentence: "Something is dead over there, hidden among the tall trees separating my property from Mr. Landon’s."
Last Sentence: "At least it is something they cannot take from me."

11. The Easter Parade by Richard Yates
First Sentence: "Neither of the Grimes sisters would have a happy life, and looking back it always seemed that the trouble began with their parents’ divorce."
Last Sentence: "Would you like to come on in and meet the family?"

12. Ashcan People, Displaced Well Beyond Time and Space Volume 1 by Evey Lockhart
First Sentence: "Why is a large, wedge-shaped neighborhood near the densely packed heart of Troika City, more than half abandoned at any given time?"
Last Sentence: "If you are in a wetlands area, your spells have no stamina cost."

13. Chilly Scenes of Winter by Ann Beattie
First Sentence: "Permettez-moi de vous présenter Sam McGuire” Charles says."
Last Sentence: "It would be a waste of time just to stare at snowflakes, but she was counting, and even that might be a waste of time, but she was only counting the ones that were just alike."

14. Stack Gang by Sean Richer
First Sentence: "Welcome to Troika City, wherein the STACK GANGs are in a very boring mumblecore war with the Flatmen, the Flatworlds, and the Trash Corps that plug the hole between the 2D and 3D astral planes." 
Last Sentence: "Running at full speed right at you."

15. EEEEE EEE EEEE by Tao Lin
First Sentence: "Andrew talks to Steve on the phone then drives to Domino’s."
Last Sentence: "He pulled the blanket over his head and listened to Steve, in the kitchen, cleaning dishes, then microwaving something, then nothing for a while; and then the TV, making a cheering noise."

16. Batrachian Swamps by Micah Anderson & Nate Treme
First Sentence: "37 distrustful villagers, many missing arms—fishers of vast catfish and the dreaded lurks and divers of swamp pearls."
Last Sentence: "If it makes it out, the whole swamp becomes infected and the frogmen are reborn from the junk DNA of their mammalian scourge."

17. The Garbage Times by Sam Pink
First Sentence: "It was a shitty winter."
Last Sentence: "I blew her a kiss and it shattered the window and exploded her head and went through the wall behind her, through the entire building and everything else in its path into the sky, moving so fast it didn’t even disrupt clouds, up and up, halving an airplane as it continued into space, crushing meteoroids such that they smothered and killed stars, piercing and assassinating the sun, eventually reaching the end of everything and opening a hole in the lining, deflating it and carrying it off like a popped balloon."

18. Vampire Cruise by Amanda Lee Franck 
First Sentence: "A few months ago, a pair of young and hungry vampires wrote out a business plan, dredged up a wreck, and poured their hoarded wealth into veneering it in luxury."
Last Sentence: "Adding to the model boat to bring it more in line with the real boat will allow for more specific effects."

19. Enter the Craplands by Sean Richer
First Sentence: "Alright, so like, I’ll be pretty straight forward: these are the denizens of the craplands, just ordinary people."
Last Sentence: "Craplandian Goddess of the Wind, patron saint of slamming that damned door in your face."

20. Bear by Marian Engel
First Sentence: "In the winter, she lived like a mole, buried deep in her office, digging among maps and manuscripts."
Last Sentence: "It was a brilliant night, all star-shine, and overhead the Great Bear and his thirty-seven thousand virgins kept her company."

d20 encounters from this blog post to write into your #dungeon23 notebook

1.  lost ruin
2. biomecha pilot. “I was alone for so long"
3. horse-girl
4. man without a face
5. d8 wild pheasants
6. drugstore, open
7. pizza delivery driver
8. d6 mercenaries, bored
9. majikal pipe, see “the blunts and future king
10. d3 volture-women, hungry
11. 2 sisters taking care of their sick mother
12. 2 great ponds on the edge of the city
13. begins to snow
14. people stacked on one another’s shoulder, running full speed right at you
15. pizza joint, payphone
16. fishery. ran by frogmen
17. a giant crater, caused by a kiss
18. vampire
19. Craplandian Goddess of the Wind, see enter the craplands
20. mole-girl, speaks of the Great Bear and his thirty-seven thousand virgins

my new year's resolution is to not say a single word all year 🐹

edit:

i've noticed the best encounters are ones not based on a TTRPG

i review 'liminal high school' and interview the author evlyn moreau

I bought this new zine from Evlyn Moreau (I recommend following or subscribing to her patreon, she posts free use art in high frequency) called Liminal High School. According to the author, it's as if The Breakfast Club took place in Silent Hill.

I read and then reread this zine while lying in different positions on my bed and then sent the link to purchase it to ~6 friends.

I feel that would make a good blurb. 

I will write more blurbs for it now.

'I felt myself strongly relating to the character I created.'

'I absolutely love this release. It's simple but has depth like homemade vegan lasagna.'

'It's very well executed in a sweet way that makes me think of the creator a lot.'

'While reading this zine I felt calm and detached from reality almost like a robot that has reprogrammed itself with what it wants and can effortlessly and automatically do whatever it wants with complete control over all impulses.'

The zine provides tables and alternate rules for creating Liminal Horror (a modern horror hack of Cairn [a hack of Into the Odd and Knave]) characters in high school that feel genuine but aren't simple caricatures or anything like that.

Let me partially introduce you to the first character I rolled up. (the bold text being the generating tables)

Student Archetype: You are the... Bookworm (bury yourself in a book)

What's cool about this table is that characters can recover d6 HP when they do the activity listed in parentheses. 

Reputation: You are known for... A flaw (often something that adults disapprove of)

I'm going to say it's vandalization, or just being destructive in general.

How are your grades: You are barely keeping up but you are doing ok.

Personal Connections: Significant person... Ghost of your best friend. Contact... a teacher.

The ghost of your best friend is already a great hook for starting an adventure and I'm not even finished with character creation. 

When you confide in your significant person you recover d6 HP. Contacts generally trust your character and you are instructed to give them an area of expertise

There are NPC portraits on this page.

Cell Phone: Last year's model but with a badly cracked screen.

Here the zine has an optional rule to use cell phones as a way to reduce a player's stress or inflict additional stress. I really like this but you'll have to get the zine and see it for yourself. 

Players then get 2 rolls to 'spend' on 4 different tables for starting gear. 

The last bit of character creation is to roll on the 'what bounded you all together' and 'personal bonds between students'. 

There is a subtle artistic social commentary throughout this release that surprised me. There are layers to the text like homemade vegan lasagna. This is good. These I will leave for you to find for yourself. 

Liminal High School is something I would like to play and write adventures and content for. I hope to see others releases made specifically for it soon. 

It's a submission from The Tales of the Void: Liminal Horror Jam going on right now at itch. 

An interview with the author

When do you enjoy making art the most?

When I go drawing at the coffee shop, early in the morning or late at night. I like when there are a few people around and a quiet vibe, it helps me focus.

What are your favorite materials you use to make art, and any other material you would be interested in learning?

I simply draw on normal sheets of paper with a pen or pencil. My favorite pens right now are Uni Pin. Oh, I would love to get better with watercolors but I rarely give myself occasions to practice.

What's the coolest thing you've ever drawn and why?

For now, I would say that my favorite work is still what I drew for 'Where the Wheat Grow Tall'.

What do you do on the internet if you're bored?

I often watch videos about astronomy or space exploration. But when I get bored I often try to do off-screen activities like painting minis, crafts or going on a walk.

If you could leave yourself a present in the future what would it be?

An immortal pet that I can sneak in my handbag and who communicates with me telepathically. Well, I guess that I am describing a familiar. 

(if you'd like to support this website there are links on the right to purchase my zines)

edit:

Evlyn tweeted that she is planning to add the following to Liminal High School to make it a ~20 page physical release:
-student character sheet
-stress fallouts table for teens
-weird teachers and weird students table
-optional character advancement focusing on the student's life (grades, relations, etc)
-a short adventure

This entry from the Tales from the Void Jam called Mary's Stall would pair nicely with Liminal High School. It's about a haunted bathroom stall. 

This is a photo of my favorite teacher from high school. I plan to use them as an NPC in my first session of Liminal High School.

Here is a recipe for a vegan lasagna from the singer of the Cro-Mags that my friend said was 'good'.
 

i review 'this house is haunted' and interview the author known as disaster tourism

 

Reading this book I felt excited, and when the book ended I felt excitement for a while (20-30 minutes).

I read or reread this book in bed, in the bathroom, in the kitchen, and at a 24-hour deli where nearby people were hating their lives and hating the universe, while staring at my phone.

This book seems afraid of boring the reader or using too much of the reader's time and like it wants to finish quickly and be a nice, considerate book; I like books and people like this, it feels like the author worked very hard deleting words and sentences that people might be bored by.

I want my books to have this quality.

If I like something I want more of it, I want everything to be like that, and it does not get 'annoying' and it is never 'enough'. If Disaster Tourism wrote five more 'This House is Haunted' I don't think I would ever say something like 'it was good the first three times but then it was like, come on, can't you do anything else, make something up'; I would be like 'yes, I like this; since I like this I want more, thank you'.

Any of the above would make for a good blurb.

I will write another blurb now.

'Disaster Tourism is a rising star. Rising out of the shit of the world. Into newer kinds of endless shit.' - Spooky Rusty

That is my blurb for the book. 

That is how I blurb.

It would help sell tens of copies if they'd put my blurb on this book.

The books has about a dozen 'system neutral enemies', some tables to generate encounters for locations, and provides tools to develop an increasingly spooky 'atmosphere'.

I'll roll on the 'd666 creepy things' table to show a few ways to further spookify any situation: 

 

551. a dollhouse that is a replica of this home, but is missing this particular room. 

415. pinboard of scalps

354. a knife that slices, dices, and julienne on its own

356. a door that will not let you leave

224. a white man with answers only presented through mansplaining

655. man-shaped tree or a tree-shaped man that moves closer and closer

511. serpent of unimaginable size flicks its tongue from a cramped space, laying in wait

This table alone is worth having for your horror games. There's some humor found here and other places in the book.

How about a house plant that can sprout up to a 100 homunculi? Fuck yes. Each 'enemy' in the book comes with a reaction table (like miens in troika) and wants.

Anyone purchasing this book should be able to immediately have a game ready for their friends with minimal preparation. It's that well laid out with the right amount of information. I would recommend not prepping much before hand and generating most of the house on the fly (there's a dung fly in here too) as the party investigate whichever rumors you gave them. Everything is written as 'period generic' so it should be easy to insert this into any of your campaigns. 

If you ever wanted to roll 16d6 at once to generate a mannequin workshop this book is for you.

Some of what you'll find in the book:
1. six tables to generate your own ghosts 
2. rats that vomit a pustulent boiling bile
3. expressive layout with several original art pieces
4. a gibbering doll that may recite poetry at a speed you can barely follow (more ttrpg products should involve poetry)
5. a mannequin workshop generator
6. a dried cow's tongue that swells when danger is near
7. a green house with 5 killer plants
8. a 9ft clown that has to hunch throughout most rooms in the house after you (this one really freaks me out) 

I recommend vibing out with music from Vatican Shadow if you run this game for your friends.

An interview with the author

Can you type a dialogue you've had in real life that you remember and liked?

Me: Luna what do we do to cops?
Luna: Say "fuck you" and give them a knuckle sammich


Can you type a dialogue you've had in real life you remember and disliked?

Me-in Walmart shoplifting a baby doll for my kid
My kid-Daddy you didn't pay for this!!!! (really loud)

What do you do on the internet if you're bored?

Usually watch horror movies.

If you could leave yourself a present in the future what would it be?

A cabin in the woods.

What did you do in place of writing before you started writing?

Painted a lot of miniatures and made model scenery and terrain. I'm a huge hobbyist.

What are you writing now?

Three re-writes of my last years Halloween games, Several as of yet unannounced Troika projects with a few cool people, and a mothership pamphlet. We'll see how those go. Also have a game coming out built on the WYRD framework that I'm releasing in November.

You can purchase 'This House is Haunted' on their website (if you order now you should get it before Halloween), follow Disaster Tourism on twitter, check out their other games on itch.io, and consider joining their patreon.

(if you'd like to support me there are links on the right where you can purchase my zines)