Ghosts in the Machine

by Lana Polansky (Editor, Contributor, Intro), Brendan Keogh (Editor), Ashton Raze (Contributor)

Ghosts in the Machine is an anthology of 13 original short stories that each look at the imperfections of life through the imperfections found in videogames, be they bugs, exploits or design flaws, love, death or loss. Edited and organized by Lana Polansky and Brendan Keogh, Ghosts in the Machine features superb original works by Lana Polansky, Ashton Raze, Denis Farr, Alan Williamson, Shelley "Big Shell" Du, Matt Riche, Rollin Bishop, Ian Miles Cheong, Aevee Bee, Ryan Morning, Dylan Sabin, Alois Wittwer and Maddy Myers. Also featuring beautiful cover art by Max Temkin, creator of "Cards Against Humanity."

Genres: Video Games, Fiction, Anthologies, Games, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Game Design

112 pages, ebook

First published August 23, 2013

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

What if our video game characters were self-aware? Or what if we lived inside a video game? It's a theme that has surprisingly long legs, as evidenced by the quality of the 13 stories that compose this anthology.

I found myself most enjoying the stories that clearly referenced specific games or genres — especially Alois Wittwer's "A Perfect Apple", examining life in the town of Animal Crossing. Also notable are Ian Miles Cheong's "The Hierarchy of Needs", which parodies the fruitlessness of achieving a high score in a game like Galaga; Shelley Du's contemplation of free will in a fantasy RPG, "See You on the Other Side"; and "Patched Up", Ryan Morning's look at MOBA character types hamstrung by bugs and glitches.

Although the anthology starts and ends weak, there are enough gems in the middle to raise the sum of the parts above average. What a bizarre and enjoyable collection.

[Modi123 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this as part of the 'video game 3.0' storybundle.com bundle. I am depicting a pattern with their books, and this just fills in more of graph. It is a series of short stories from the video game character perspective, and the overwhelming opinion is - they are not good. I bailed on the book halfway through with the hope to re-appropriate my reading time to something more interesting.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had some really cool stories in it and being written from the perspective of game characters by game developers was definitely interesting.

[Krzysztof · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, though some of it was too "artsy" for my taste. There are a few stories here that are a cool take on "conscious computer programs" as it were.

[Jair Ibarra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Este libro me vino en algún storybundle, por la temática estoy seguro de eso. Algún día escribiré mis puntos de porque los videojuegos no son arte(al menos hasta el momento) y ahí mencionaré esta colección.
No niego que es una idea noble hablar sobre la vida desde el punto de vista de videojugador; el primer cuento es GDD es tan grande que me hizo tener expectativas muy altas sobre el resto de la compilación, sin embargo todo se fue a pique a partir de ahí, historias que se sentían como fanfics, como de amateurs(se supone que lo escribieron gente dedicada a escribir).
Me deja un muy mal sabor de boca y reafirma mi idea que los videojuegos son sólo un nicho más aislado de lo que creía.

[Carly K · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few of the stories are less engrossing than others, but over all this is an anthology of bizarre, haunting stories set around a really provocative premise.

[nattropaic · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some earnest misses, but you can see the digi-hypnotic cliffs of Jeff Noon from standing at, say, Aevee Bee’s “Good Losers Are Pretty” (the closer, my fav).

[Kalin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here, the story that spoke the language of my own emotions was Shelley Du's "See You on the Other Side". I'll hurt a bit differently next time I play a JRPG.

[pluton · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish the book. The stories, written as if from the inside of games, are very weird. Games should be games, books should be books, and they do not correspond much.

[Katy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story collection themed around the concept of bugs in video games. Interesting idea but variable in execution. The Sims-based story was really boring.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

(2.5*)