ISSUE #03 - JULY 2026

july '26 favorite

PRONOUN PALACE (2026)

did you know there’s games out there that are both funny and feel good to play? and incredibly transgender? yuup, it’s pronoun palace. it’s a tightly designed spelling roguelike with interesting gimmicks for each of its five protagonists, and god, is the art and writing excellent. my personal favorite is the child, because stressful HP management + the ability to spell multiple words each turn is a fantastic combination, but i also really like the addict, again because i love being stressed. go play this goddamn game

books, short stories & articles

  • refuse to be done (matt bell; 2022) – i finished a nonfiction book this summer!! as someone who has been writing short fiction for over a decade but really wants to branch into longform work, this had a lot of good advice, and i want to get my hands on a personal copy (libraries 4ever) so i can reference back to it. i like books on my craft that aren’t obtuse/dense, also.

  • lioness rampant (tamora pierce; 1988) – DNF because i let the digital loan run out before i got more than about 10% of the way through it, and… maybe i won’t get back to it? i think alanna’s story is one of the least interesting ones in tortall to me, even if i had a generally good time with the rest i wasn’t super compelled by this. we’ll see!

  • “monster girls tease the zoetrope massacre” (pao yumol, bullet points monthly; 2024) – really good article, really good weave.

  • “and then there are things we don’t remake” (ed smith, bullet points monthly; 2023) – good article that, reading for the first time after seeing re: requiem, kind of just makes me feel like the cat smoking cigarette gif

  • “playing resident evil: requiem is like playing two games. one of them is even quite good” (kerry eleanor; 2026) – another good article i read this month about the same thing i was thinking about above

  • meander, spiral, explode: design and pattern in narrative (jane alison; 2019) – haven’t finished this one but i’m enjoying it! i have a few books on non-western/“traditional” narrative structure checked out right now.

  • lilith’s brood: the xenogenesis trilogy (octavia e. butler; 1987-89) – the first two books in this series are really, really good; i came away from imago with much more mixed feelings. my first books from butler and i’m glad i finally got around to reading her work

  • city of stairs (robert jackson bennett; 2014) – rjb has truly been writing insane bullshit for like 12 years and it fucking rocks. it’s always a delight to go to an author’s older work and see the like, initial concepts that echo throughout their newer work. also, worldbuilding and weird magic system great as always. i love what’s going on with the gods here.

games

  • peggy’s post (digitarium; 2023) – free to play (!!) and very delightful game about weighing, stamping, and arranging the mail to be sent along whatever sea routes are available that day, from your post at a lighthouse. it’s a lovely time

  • hooked (echerryart; 2026) – i didn’t play too much of this. i saw it on the itch front page and wanted to try it because i do love a weird horror fishing game, but the gameplay was less than great, unfortunately. the fish synergy system when storing them in the boat was interesting though!

  • cloud meadow (2020) – i have my various issues with this game that i’ll probably compile into a larger, actual breakdown at some point, but i finally got around to partly playing through the new sunglades update (haven’t beat it yet!) i’ll come back to this once i have a full opinion lmao.

  • danganronpa: trigger happy havoc (2010) – replaying this so that my partners who have never seen danganronpa before can experience the nightmare that is playing danganronpa

  • cat isle (demo; 2026) – cute demo! the gameplay loop didn’t hook me so i won’t be buying the full game, it’s just not what i’m looking for in a sim like this, but i’d recommend trying it if you think it looks fun

  • prodigal (2020) – i have complicated feelings about prodigal and i’ve only just beat act one and gotten back out of the frozen isle, so we’ll Get Back To It, maybe

  • minecraft – joined a new modded cobblemon server and it’s a lot of fun... it’s unbelievable how well-made the cobblemon is, honestly