Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Interactive Fiction for Fun





Stealing Wikipedia's definition, Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the form of interactive narratives or interactive narrations.

IF happens to be a gem of a genre for someone like me who loved to read choose-your-own-adventure novels when I was a kid. To have books with destinies decided not just by the author but by the reader was astounding to me. Besides, I frequently look at my own life this way. What if I chose to go to the park instead of just staying in that day? What if I decided to kiss the girl on the date instead of not? What if I decided to cook curry instead of fish? The most trivial choices can lead to momentous results.

Perhaps because of this, I was intrigued when I discovered Twine -- an open source tool for creating interactive fiction. Check it out: http://twinery.org/

Here are a few examples of works that people in this community have created. I am not saying they're the best stories but they can be interesting to read.


https://tayruh.github.io/monster

http://slimedaughter.com/games/twine/wtwla/ 
Strange but beautiful I hear (with music).

http://mirror.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/competition2013/web/solarium/solarium.html#1e

https://philome.la/winningcake/a-trial/play/index.html

http://ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/competition2018/Bogeyman/bogeyman.html

For more games, you can check out what other people are playing:
https://intfiction.org/c/playing

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Literature: Reading Taste

I just spent some time reading some short stories by Mulk Raj Anand, a famous 20th century Indian writer. There are many accomplished writers from other cultures that I do not read much. These authors, though appreciated by the literary critics and those who studied liberal arts, are under-appreciated by the public at large, even by those who read a lot. Nowadays, if I read fiction, I find myself mostly absorbed in science fiction or fantasy. They're typically very entertaining but not very deep or intellectually fulfilling. It's like eating ice cream or candy compared to eating rice or meat.

When I was younger, I delighted in reading kid's magazines such as Highlights, Boy's Life, and Cricket. I especially liked Cricket since it was a kid's literary magazine with stories, cartoons, and assorted articles. As I grew older though, my taste changed and the magazines I read shifted towards more worldly concerns such as the Economist and Times. However subtly, I relinquished my zeal of reading well-written meaningful literature and opted instead for news, politics, business, and science fiction.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Literature: Some Books

I constantly add new bookmarks to books that I should read. Forgive my description, but I have decided that my bookmarks of my Google Chrome is becoming increasingly bloated like a constipated fat man needing to relieve some gas. I have decided to clean up my original Chrome bookmarks of books and instead re-organize and share the books I'm reading or plan to read here. Have you read any of these? Let me know.

BIOGRAPHY
Angela's Ashes: A Memoir
Frank McCourt

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
Amy Chua

The Glass Castle: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls


BUSINESS
A Gift to My Children: A Father's Lessons for Life and Investing
Jim Rogers


Jump Start Your Business Brain: The Scientific Way to Make More Money
Doug Hall

The Innovation Paradox: The Success of Failure, the Failure of Success
Richard Farson, Ralph Keyes

Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges
C. Otto Scharmer


CULTURE
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Jared Diamond

Into that Silent Sea
Francis French, Colin Burgess, Paul Haney


FUTURISM
The Third Culture Beyond the Scientific Revolution [FREE!]
John Brockman


HUMOR
Dinosaurs by Design
Duane T. Gish, Earl Snellenberger, Bonita Snellenberger

Niubi!: The Real Chinese You Were Never Taught in School
Eveline Chao, Chris Murphy


INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL/SPACE
Emigrating Beyond Earth: Human Adaptation and Space Colonization
Cameron M. Smith

Frontiers of Propulsion Physics
Dr. Eric W. Davis, Marc G. Millis

Going Interstellar
Les Johnson

The Seventh Landing: Going Back to the Moon, This Time to Stay
Michael Carroll

Space Enterprise: Living and Working Offworld in the 21st Century
Phillip Harris


LAW
Getting Permission: How to License and Clear Copyrighted Materials Online and Off
Richard Stim


NOVEL
Alas, Babylon
Pat Frank

The Art of Racing in the Rain
Garth Stein

Deep Winter
Thomas Sherry

Earth Abides
George R. Stewart

Earth's Children (5 Books)
Jean M. Auel

Fifty Shades of Grey
E. L. James

Lights Out
David Crawford

On the Beach
Nevil Shute

One Second After
William R. Forstchen

The Last Ship
William Brinkley

The Postman
David Brin

平凡的世界
路遥


PHILOSOPHY
First Earth Battalion Operations Manual: Reprint of Original Manual from the '70s
Jim Channon

God's Mechanics: How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion
Guy Consolmagno

The Trial
Franz Kafka


PHYSICS
Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality
Dean Radin

The Holographic Universe
Michael Talbot

Wrinkles in Time
George Smoot, Keay Davidson


POLITICS
Letters to the Editor: Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative
Jon Michael Hubbard

The Machinery of Freedom
David Friedman


PSYCHOLOGY
Dangerous Instincts: How Gut Feelings Betray Us
Mary Ellen O'Toole, PhD, Alisa Bowman

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
David Eagleman

In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People
George K. Simon, PhD

Milieus of Creativity
Peter Meusburger, Joachim Funke, Edgar Wunder

The Myth of Sanity: Divided Consciousness and the Promise of Awareness
Martha Stout

Out of the Ordinary True Tales of Everyday Craziness
Jon Ronson

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry
Jon Ronson

The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty
Simon Baron-Cohen

Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work
Paul Babiak, Robert D. Hare

The Sociopath Next Year
Martha Stout

Without Consciousness: The Disturbing World of Psychopaths Among Us
Robert D. Hare, PhD


SCIENCE FICTION
2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America
Albert Brooks

Ennatarian Dreams [Kindle]
Peter Saye

Eternity Road
Jack McDevitt

Expedition: Being an Account in Word and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV
Wayne Douglas Barlowe

Operation Chaos
Poul Anderson

Orbit Unlimited
Poul Anderson

The Fountains of Paradise
Arthur C. Clarke

The Silk Code
Paul Levinson

Wasteland: Stories of the Apocalypse
John Joseph Adams


SPIRITUAL
A Heart as Wide as the World
Sharon Salzberg

ALREADY READ

Abundance
Dr. Peter Diamondis