Alrightreads: 40K

Rhys Hughes, The Astral Disruptor

2010 / Ebook / 24 pages

*****

Invert your mind and join Absurdity Investigator Sampietro Mischief as he cracks the case of the disappearing sky. Likely one of Hughes' finest tales, though I've admittedly only read 600 or so.

Rhys Hughes, The Phantom Festival

2011 / Ebook / 30 pages

****

The emotive exploration of a music festival's festival.

Rhys Hughes, The Polo Match

2011 / Ebook / 20 pages

****

I'm literate enough to get at least some of the references.

Bruce Sterling, The Parthenopean Scalpel

2010 / Ebook / 26 pages

**

A crap terrorist's manifesto.

Paul Di Filippo, Waves and Smart Magma

2011 / Ebook / 35 pages

***

Too adventurous in its posthuman ecopunk for this timid Star Trek kid, give me basic allegories and lumpy foreheads.

Alrightgames: Sonic 3D

Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island

1996 / Sega Mega Drive emulator game / 1 player

*

She enjoyed Sonic 3 & Knuckles so much, I felt it was only fair that she experience the crushing disappointment that came next. It hasn't accumulated any quirky retro charm to alleviate that since. Mind-bogglingly appalling.

Alrightgames: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon

1994 / Sega Mega Drive emulator game / 1–2 players

**

I could only find games for her new favourite anime in Japanese, but translation wasn't a barrier to understanding this Streets of Rage / Golden Axe / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist, etc. side-scrolling beat-em-up clone. She tired of the brainless repetition before too long, though she doesn't seem to mind that in the show.

Alrightgames: Simon the Sorcerer

Simon the Sorcerer

1993 / PC adventure game / 1 player

****

A step backwards from PlayStation RPGs technically, but she may have appreciated the low-effort respite and enjoyed the familiar fairy tale trappings and PG humour (Monkey Island™ may be a bit dark, for now), though her lack of literacy meant I had to go with the dreaded speech option for the whole game. I resisted looking up walkthroughs until desperate, so she got the authentically frustrating point-and-click-on-everything-everywhere experience.

Alrightgames: Final Fantasy VIII

Final Fantasy VIII

1999 (2013 remaster) / PC roleplaying game / 1 player

****

Back in the day, I found the sombre sequel to FFVII a more satisfying challenge, but a considerably less enthralling experience. Playing with a four-year-old, the constant need to draw magic and adjust stats drained what fun was left. She didn't like the blood at the start either, but at least no one died this time (or we just didn't make it that far).

Babyliography CLXVI

Smriti Halls and Erika Meza, Stop! That's Not My Story!

2023 / Library book / 32 pages

**

Stop going on about fairy tales then, if you're so bored of them.

Kimberley and James Dean, Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses

2015 / Library book / 32 pages

**

Less charismatic than he thinks he is, she was bored by the repetition.

Michael Rosen and Bob Graham, I'm Number One!

2010 / Preschool book / 32 pages

**

What a dick.

Kathryn Bradley and Georgina Croll, A Friend Just Like Me

2021 / Library book / 32 pages

**

I didn't realise the subject matter until it came up, and that certainly makes it more worthwhile and important for its target audience, but it's otherwise just a lovey-dovey bear book.

Various, Read with Oxford: Stage 1 – Biff, Chip and Kipper – Dad's Birthday and Other Stories

2018 / Library book / 96 pages

***

She's chosen these reading and phonics activities over proper bedtime stories every night this week. What's wrong with this kid?

Babyliography CLXV

Sue Hendra, Paul Linnet and Nick East, Simon Sock

2017 / Preschool book / 32 pages

**

She got the gist when reading it to me.

Brianne Drouhard, Billie the Unicorn

2011 / Ebook / 36 pages

**

Shop-brand My Little Pony adventure.

Katarzyna Kaczan-Borowska and Barbara Galińska, My Little Pony: Tajemniczy gość

2008 / Hardback / 32 pages

**

It doesn't look like this story, whatever it's about, was ever released in English, but fortunately the library had the Polish version for 25p so our collection can be worryingly comprehensive.

Stephen Tucker and Nick Sharratt, The Three Little Pigs: A Lift-the-Flap Fairy Tale

2016 / Preschool book / 24 pages

***

A nice idea that I can't believe took until 2016 to execute.

Marta Altés, Little Monkey

2020 / Preschool book / 32 pages

**

Titch with animals.

Alrightreads: More Trek Books

James Van Hise and Hal Schuster, Trek: The Unauthorized Story of the Movies – From The Motion Picture to Generations

1995 / Ebook / 260 pages

****

Basically a self-aggrandising 90s fan blog, but with more typos.

Diane Carey, Star Trek: The Next Generation – Ghost Ship

1988 / Ebook / 258 pages

***

Early instalment weirdness has a special charm, and while these noble explorations beneath the surface of the poorly-defined ensemble would inevitably be contradicted in time, they didn't give her much to work with.

Kitty Glitter, Wesley Crusher: Teenage Fuck Machine

2012 / Ebook / 16 pages

*

Presumably a parody of objectively, obliviously worthless self-published fanfic, but done so well in that regard that it's hard to tell.

Wil Wheaton, Memories of the Future, Volume 1

2006-09 (collected 2009) / Ebook / 138 pages

****

Infinitely more valuable than some random nerd's musings on the show, but as commendably frank. I eagerly awaited the original blog posts at the time and was disappointed that he didn't continue, even if the pop-culture Tourette's and Crackedspeak are a little grating now.

Various, Star Trek Graphic Novel Collection: Dreamworld

1977-85 (collected 2018) / Ecomics / 160 pages

***

Further alternate universe voyages aboard Kirk's Excelsior and Spock's Surak, with more conventional eras mixed in along the way.

Alrightreads: Beerlight

Steve Aylett, The Crime Studio

1994 / Ebook / 156 pages

****

Quick-fire scenes from a violent soap, defamiliarising genre and description.

Faves: 'Motorcrash,' 'Back and to the Left,' 'Ambient'

Steve Aylett, Slaughtermatic

1998 / Ebook / 153 pages

***

The first Crime Studio movie, now with borderline incomprehensible cyberpunk trappings. The author's determined that every page will make you laugh and/or think, but the short stories were a lot easier to digest.

Steve Aylett, Toxicology: Stories

1999 / Ebook / 141 pages

****

Scattered shells from the ongoing crime soap and more liberated experiments in satire, substances and something or other.

Faves: 'Jawbreaker,' 'Sampler,' 'The Idler'

Steve Aylett, Atom

2000 / Ebook / 137 pages

**

I lost my grip and found nothing substantial in the elusive wiseguy conversations to grab onto. Not my favourite fictional detective.

Couldn't be bothered with the last one.

Top VII Final Fantasy 7 themes

I don't know whether Final Fantasy VII is the best game in the series or has the best soundtrack, I've only played about 2½ of them, but as a late landmark of my gaming childhood, it's always had a special place in my heart.

I've often listened to Nobuo Uematsu's soundtrack as background music over the years, which kept the dimming memories flickering, but a recent nostalgic playthrough with the next generation restored the missing visuals and brought the music back to life, like when you use the Phoenix summon.

Here are some of my favourites, why not.