Blue Wizard is About to Die is a book of poems about video games, by Seth 'Fingers' Flynn Barkan. I picked this up nearly a year ago in the Humble Story Bundle - Video games collection #2.
I hadn't cracked said bundle of ebooks in all this time, and I wasn't sure when I would get around to it. However, I just finished 'A Dance of Dragons,' reading about half of it on my cell phone. I had such a good experience, I knew I wanted more books available on my little portable display and telecommunications device.
Then I remember the Story Bundle I had purchased on an impulse, and after a skirmish with my cell phone over the subject of storage space (there's space, my phone just doesn't know how to use it) - I was able to download one of the books: The Blue Wizard is about to Die. So far, so good.
I'm writing my first impressions, because after a delightful series of poems, I've discovered I'm about a third of the way through this book. And, honestly, I'm scared to read the rest, because the enjoyment curve has been so delightful up to this point. Can he keep it up?
Seriously though, this guy gets it. I mean, he gets it! He is approximately my age, and he has played a number of games, been moved by the experience and committed it to poetry. After reading several of his poems, I can't believe this is the first instance of video game poetry I've seen. Certainly the first collection of said theme. And they're great!
I have my favorites so far. Half Life (2?) is definitely a big plus, but his musings on Lag and his silly Mario scenarious are a great time as well. All in all, I'm really glad I started reading this, and I recommend it to people who were playing video games in the 80s, 90s and 2000s. Like me!
-D
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