"How easy was it for you to fall into authoritarianism in Frostpunk? How easy was it for you to dehumanize people in Papers, Please? What do those answers say about you?

How ready were you to use an apocalypse as reason enough to kill and steal?"

"I really don’t think this game would’ve been conceptualized without...COVID...Everything from the time frame to the presence of social media to the infection mechanic speaks to it."

"If you want to see some truly horrifying flesh monsters, play two days of Look Outside; there’s plenty to be had."

I thought I wouldn't be able to get a post up this week but I was wrong! Please enjoy my review of the indie video game Look Outside! And as always, quotes in the replies.

theorionsoapbox.wordpress.com/2025/10/08/b...

#indievideogames #reviews #videogamereviews #indie

My plans for big reviews fell through this week so instead I've written up a bunch of shorter reviews for things that, for one reason or another, I did not write a full review on.

theorionsoapbox.wordpress.com/2025/09/30/l...

#booksky #literature #indievideogames #independentcreators #manga #anime

I try to focus this account so it's for my readers, but hey writers:

NEVER sign a contract where the publisher keeps your rights indefinitely. For short stories, there should be a point when you can sell reprints.

and NEVER sign your movie/TV/etc adaptation rights to a publisher. Those are yours.

The reality is that your novel needs to rest after you do your rough. It needs to visit stranger eyeballs. It needs a paid editor to give it a once over. It needs its rewrites. It needs the time to allow it to sweeten and mature. Don't steal its time.

#writingcommunity #booksky #speedpublishing

If you are very tender to rejections, take steps to make things easier. Often a spouse, good friend or paid intern can manage your submission/rejection email account until contracts arrive. As contracts are not rejections, you should handle those.

#writingcommunity #booksky #contracts #sales

"I like stories where characters undergo irreversible transformations for better or worse... I like when the story's impact is real and tangible and the characters are different in every possible way at the end than they were at the beginning."

"Similarity provides resonance and harmony. Similarity is not the death of a concept; lack of commitment is. And Edala committed to these books every step of the way."

"It's a story about that past clinging to you like cobwebs...doing [things] anyway, even with [your] ghosts...haunting you."

Hey all, Derin Edala's "Time to Orbit: Unknown" Duology possessed me for a solid week and this review is what came from it! HIGHLY RECOMMEND THESE BOOKS!!!

theorionsoapbox.wordpress.com/2025/09/24/b...

#booksky #bookreview #indieauthor #indiecreators #selfpublished

SecUnit: "Just remember you're not alone here. I never know what to say to that. I am actually alone in my head, and that's where 90 plus percent of my problems are". Me: FACTS 😅
Network Effect. Book 5 of #Murderbot books by @marthawells.com 🥰 #booksky #books #crochet #craft

Under authoritarian regimes, the dictator often reaches out to restrict access to books. That is already happening. The push for years has been to encourage e-books, which can be erased from your devices at any point by those selling them to you. #writingcommunity #booksky #ebooks #writing #books

Fairy Noose

[ #art #DNDart ]

"How can I take a game seriously when it uses its own story as a display case for other creators’ better and more interesting ideas?"

For context, I did enjoy this game, I just don't hold back my thoughts just because I like something :P

2/2

Some highlight sentences that I really liked from this review:

"To me, dredging up Lovecraft’s old carcass to sup on the ribs of his works is only going to give the genre the bigoted lean his works unflinchingly presented, at least if done without forethought."

1/2

This blog has been a long time coming, with a strong showing no less. I just posted a review on my website about Static Dread: The Lighthouse! I recommend checking out my other posts too. More to come!

theorionsoapbox.wordpress.com/2025/09/17/b...

#indiegames #horrorgame #gamereviews #StaticDread