Episode 108 - Visual Novels Book Club for Masochists: a Readers’ Advisory Podcast

This episode we’re discussing Visual Novels! We talk about what visual novels are, whether they count as books, reading novels we’re much too young for, being unable to suspend our disbelief, watching videos at 2x speed, monetization, watching vs playing, linear vs divergent stories, and more! Plus, this episode is like 75% tangents!
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In this episode
Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards
Things We Read (Played?) This Month
Bury Me, My Love Dungeons & Lesbians Stream with Matthew and RJ Serre - “A visual novel about a girl and an alien drinking tea and falling in love!” Stream with Matthew and Meghan Speed Dating for Ghosts Order a Pizza: A Visual Novel Stream with Matthew and hosts of Finish It! Podcast All the streams on YouTube! Our Twitch channel Matthews list of (more) Visual Novels he enjoyed playing
A Mortician's  Tale - “a story-driven death positive video game where you play as a mortician tasked with running a funeral home.” Arcade Spirits - “a romantic visual novel that follows an alternative timeline where the 1983 video game crash never occurred.” Don’t Take It Personally, I Just Don’t Like You: The Camping Trip - “a lo-fi relationship dramedy about camping illegally on government property in the chill of early autumn, having public anxiety attacks in crowded shopping malls, the people we choose to be with, and what we do when they don't choose us back.” The Night Fisherman - “A short tale of inhumanity in the English channel." The Outcast Lovers - “Driving home late one night you encounter a refugee in distress.” (Sequel to The Night Fisherman.) Us Lovely Corpses - “a short surreal-horror-romance visual novel about helping a friend.” Watch Me Jump - “a digital story of scandal and betrayal, played out in four quarters.” Mission: It's Complicated - “a visual novel about getting superheroes to fall in love, and the shenanigans that happen along the way.” Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator - “a game where you play as a Dad and your goal is to meet and romance other hot Dads.” Other Media We Mentioned
Choose Your Own Adventure (Wikipedia) Doki Doki Literature Club! (Wikipedia) Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess (Wikipedia) Tusks: The Orc Dating Sim Orcs that RJ drew! More orc(cupation)s that RJ drew Radical Dreamers (Wikipedia) Butterfly Soup - “A visual novel about gay asian girls playing baseball and falling in love.” 2064: Read Only Memories (Wikipedia) Now Kiss! YouTube Playlist of visual novel streams by Kathleen de Vere Finish It! Podcast Rise of the Videogame Zinesters: How Freaks, Normals, Amateurs, Artists, Dreamers, Drop-outs, Queers, Housewives, and People Like You Are Taking Back an Art Form by Anna Anthropy  Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death by Caitlin Doughty Ask a Mortician Signs of the Sojourner - “a narrative card game about relationships and connecting with people.” Links, Articles, and Things
Bingo Sheets for podcast Visual novel (Wikipedia) Gamebook (Wikipedia) Text-based game (Wikipedia) Interactive fiction (Wikipedia) Point-and-click adventure games (Wikipedia) Twine (software) (Wikipedia) Pandemic (board game) (Wikipedia) RJ’s itch.io page Pricing Hobby Games: An argument for pricing your small independent games. How One Gameplay Decision Changed Diablo Forever Why So Few Violent Games? Visual Novel Maker Says It Will Replace Its Striking Writers Visual Novel Writers Win Pay Raise After 21 Day Strike Visual Novels (TV Tropes) 5 Visual Novels (and 1 amazing resource) by People of Colour
Blerdy Otome: this episode’s list would not be possible without Blerdy Otome, who reviews otome games, visual novels, and related media! Check out the Blerdy Tribe page of her webs