December 2025

  4. December

Play Story Book Talk – Roll with Advantage

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In this Book Talk, Suzanne Richardson and Ed Chang share about their book, Roll with Advantage: Creative, Collaborative, and Critical Responses to Dungeons & Dragons. https://playstorypress.org/books/roll-with-advantage/ This book is an interdisciplinary, multi-genre, mixed-form anthology featuring poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, personal essays, interviews, and analytical scholarship about and inspired by D&D—the game, the legends, the media, and the people. The book is a playful, imaginative, and critical response to D&D’s pop cultural renaissance, particularly during and after the global pandemic, with its appearances on television shows like Stranger Things, Community, and The Big Bang Theory, celebrity players like Vin Diesel, Deborah...

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Call for Papers! Games And Thirst, a Psychgeist series

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Games And Thirst, a Psychgeist series, edited by Kristine Ask, Ashley Guajardo, and Tanja Sihvonen. Game characters are hot. From Leon Kennedy’s slutty little waist (Resident Evil 4) to Mel Medara’s graceful political maneuvering (League of Legends), videogames present us with magnetic, desirable, and sexy characters to thirst after. Thirst, in common internet slang, references a strong sexual attraction or desire for something. Just as a person who is thirsty in a traditional sense badly needs water, thirsty people in the slang sense crave a fictional character with the same desperation and intensity. If you have ever thirsted after a...

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Play Story Book Talk – The Psychgeist of Pop Culture Book Series

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In our first Book Talk, we chat with Dr. Rachel Kowert about the Psychgeist of Pop Culture Book Series. https://playstorypress.org/all-psychgeist/ Over the last few decades, interest in pop psychology has grown faster than most of our Netflix backlogs. This series from Dr. Rachel Kowert highlights iconic pop culture content from television, film, literature, and video games through an examination of the psychological mechanisms that endear us to these stories for a lifetime. https://youtu.be/5KVqle5N5Gc  

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IndieCade: A History

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Play Story Press is excited to release IndieCade: A History — The Interdependence of Independents, by Celia Pearce. IndieCade: A History — The Interdependence of Independents chronicles the story of IndieCade as told by one of its three co-founders—its modest beginnings and evolving role in the larger independent games ecosystem over its decade-plus history. More broadly, it situates IndieCade within a historical context, looking at the various factors of the indie ecosystem that have contributed to making independent games writ large such a major force in today’s video game industry. IndieCade: A History — The Interdependence of Independents

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The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Stardew Valley

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Play Story Press is excited to release The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Stardew Valley, edited by Elizabeth D. Kilmer. Stardew Valley is a cozy farming simulation role-playing video game where players work to restore their grandfather’s farm to try out a new pace of life. Players farm, fish, and forage, while building friendships with residents of the valley. Stardew Valley has an approachable story, engaging gameplay, relaxing music and sound effects, and is open-ended enough for players to progress at their own pace. This volume explores psychological concepts related to the story, gameplay, and culture of Stardew Valley. The Psychgeist of Pop Culture – Stardew...

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