![\"Ross](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/9561E169-3852-4AA3-880C-C84CB3BAAE40.jpg\")
Ross E. Lockhart<\/p>\nRoss E. Lockhart<\/p>\n
Humans play games. It\u2019s one of our defining features.<\/p>\n
This is the thesis of Johan Huizinga\u2019s 1938 book of theories on play and games, \u201cHomo ludens\u201d (which roughly translates to \u201cplaying man\u201d). Gaming dates to antiquity, from Knucklebones \u2013 a predecessor of dice games originally played with the talus bones of hooved animals (c. 5000 BCE) \u2013 to the Ancient Egyptian board game Senet (c. 3100 BCE) to Mesoamerican ballgames (c. 1650 BCE) up to today.<\/p>\n
We enjoy play. And play informs our humanity.<\/p>\n
Wargames develop in Prussia in the early 19th century with the development of Kriegsspiel \u2013 initially a tool for military leaders to learn battlefield tactics \u2013 but soon becoming a source of recreation, particularly once author H. G. Wells publishes his \u201cLittle Wars,\u201d a collection of rules for toy soldiers in 1913. Board games experience a golden age in the 1880s with the rise of mass production, leading to the publication of such stalwarts as Monopoly in 1935 and Candy Land in 1949.<\/p>\n
In the early 1970s, what game historian Jon Petersen calls an \u201cElusive Shift\u201d occurred, and in 1974 wargamers E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson created and published the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Sometime thereafter, the mechanics, statistics and ideas of D&D and other RPGs become incorporated into a new type of game \u2013 video games. Experience points, skill points and hit points would become an integral part of a player\u2019s gaming experience in games including Rogue (1980), Wizardry (1981) and Ultima (1981), and would soon cross the ocean in Japanese RPGS like Sword & Sorcery (1983) and Final Fantasy (1987).<\/p>\n
Eventually, literature and RPGs would begin to cross paths.<\/p>\n
Andre Norton\u2019s novel \u201cQuag Keep\u201d (1978) was based on the author\u2019s experiences playing D&D. \u201cThe Warlock of Firetop Mountain,\u201d a Fighting Fantasy gamebook that combined Choose Your Own Adventure-style storytelling with RPG statistics, would be published in 1982. Official D&D tie-in novels would be released throughout the 1980s and \u201990s, including the popular Dragonlance books by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis beginning in 1983. Ryo Mizuno would begin publishing his \u201cRecord of Lodoss War,\u201d a serialized recounting of his own D&D campaign in Japan\u2019s Comptiq magazine in 1986, which would lead to manga and anime adaptations as well as the RPG Sword World.<\/p>\n
By the early 2010s, Russian fantasy novels and online publications such as \u201cClan Dominance: The Sleepless Ones\u201d (2012) by Dem Mikhailov would begin to incorporate RPG statistics and in-game progression into their narratives, and the term LitRPG would be coined in 2013 to refer to this new form of storytelling.<\/p>\n
Today, LitRPG is largely a self-publishing market in the United States, with works published through venues like Royal Road and Amazon\u2019s Kindle and Audible programs. But that\u2019s starting to change as larger publishers take notice. In 2024, Ace Books picked up Matt Dinniman\u2019s popular \u201cDungeon Crawler Carl\u201d series for publication in hardcover, and more LitRPG is on its way.<\/p>\n
Have you played any good books lately?<\/p>\n
If you are a fan of such publications, or now have your curiosity piqued, you\u2019ll want to know that on from 1-3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12, J. J. Walsh, the San Francisco-based author of the LitRPG novel \u201cLazarus\u2019 Kool-Aid\u201d will be visiting the Word Horde Emporium of the Weird & Fantastic for a meet-and-greet signing. Come on by and chat him up about LitRPG, pop-culture references \u2013 and be ready to discuss whether-or-not the universe is a simulation.<\/p>\n
The Word Horde Emporium will also be vending at Petaluma Pride at the fairgrounds on National Coming Out Day, Saturday, Oct. 11. We\u2019ll be there from 12\u20135 p.m., and we hope to see you there, too.<\/p>\n
Also coming up, the Word Witches Book Club will be meeting at the Word Horde Emporium to discuss \u201cThe Annual Migration of Clouds\u201d by Premee Mohamed. That\u2019s at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 16.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, since we\u2019re talking about book-themed events, Copperfield\u2019s will be hosting Jean Schulz and Jamy Wheless in support of the book \u201cAndy: A Dog\u2019s Tale,\u201d adapted from the made-in-Petaluma short film promoting the work of Canine Companions. That will be at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17.<\/p>\n
Also at Copperfield\u2019s, you\u2019ll have a chance to meet John Freeman, author of \u201cCalifornia Rewritten: A Journey Through the Golden State\u2019s New Literature\u201d at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 17.<\/p>\n
With all of those events now carefully registered on your calendar, here\u2019s what Petaluma readers have been picking up at local bookstores.<\/p>\n
Copperfield\u2019s Adult Fiction and Non-Fiction<\/p>\n
1. \u2018Read This to Get Smarter: About Race, Class, Gender, Disability and More\u2019 by Imani Blair \u2013 A guide to becoming an informed, compassionate and socially conscious person. We could sure use more of those.<\/p>\n
2. \u2018In the Time of the Butterflies\u2019 by Julia Alvarez \u2013 This 1994 historical novel fictionalizes the story of the Mirabal sisters, a trio of political activists known as Las Mariposas (the Butterflies), who opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo and were assassinated by the regime in 1960.<\/p>\n
3. \u2018Project Hail Mary\u2019 by Andy Weir \u2013 From the bestselling author of \u201cThe Martian,\u201d this thriller follows a science teacher who is sent into the deep space to try and save the world. A film adaptation starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller will be released in 2026.<\/p>\n
4. \u2018Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History\u2019 by Imani Blair \u2013 A collection of more than 50 capsule biographies celebrating women, girls and nonbinary people who fought to change their world.<\/p>\n
5. \u2018The Grateful Dead by Jim Marshall: Photos and Stories from the Formative Years, 1966\u20131977\u2019 by Jim Marshall, Amelia Davis and David Gans \u2013 Jim Marshall (1936-2010) is considered to be one of the great rock \u2018n\u2019 roll photographers. This collection documents his time embedded with the Grateful Dead and San Francisco\u2019s counterculture scene in the 1960s and \u201970s.<\/p>\n
Copperfield\u2019s Kids and Young Adults<\/p>\n
1. \u2018The First Rule of Climate Club\u2019 by Carrie Firestone \u2013 An eight grader is inspired to start a podcast and become a climate activist as she rallies her friends to get involved in their local community.<\/p>\n
2. \u2018The Wild Robot\u2019 by Peter Brown \u2013 Illustrated middle-grade novel about Roz, a robot, who must learn to survive on a remote island by adapting to her surroundings and emulating the behaviors of the island\u2019s animal inhabitants.<\/p>\n
3. \u2018Frog and Toad Storybook Favorites\u2019 by Arnold Lobel \u2013 Iconic best friends Frog and Toad have been inspiring children to read in these humorous yet poignant stories for more than fifty years. Whether flying kites, cleaning house or baking cookies, Lobel\u2019s amphibious duo were the epitome of cottagecore long before cottagecore had a name.<\/p>\n
4. \u2018Time for School, Little Blue Truck\u2019 by Alice Schertle \u2013 When Little Blue Truck meets a school bus along the road, he ponders what life as school bus might be. But alas, he is just a little blue truck.<\/p>\n
5. \u2018We Were Liars\u2019 by E. Lockhart \u2013 A taut psychological YA thriller about a group of friends on a private island struggling through a legacy of dark secrets.<\/p>\n
Hot Books at the Word Horde Emporium<\/p>\n
1. \u2018Shadow Zone\u2019 by Barbara Cottrell \u2013 The third book in Cottrell\u2019s Lovecraftian-by-way-of-Agatha-Christie series \u201cShadows of Miskatonic\u201d finds Ellen Logan and Andrew Carter investigating the strange goings-on near Miskatonic University. What begins with unusual activity in a graveyard, weird paintings \u2013 and a mysterious creature stalking an Arkham retirement home \u2013 leads to a house that defies physics \u2026 and beyond. A reference-filled, spooky roller-coaster ride of a book.<\/p>\n
2. \u2018This Inevitable Ruin\u2019 (Dungeon Crawler Carl #7) by Matt Dinniman \u2013 Carl, Princess Donut, Katia and their allies have arrived at the ninth floor of the alien megadungeon built on the ruins of Earth. Here, they lead an army in the Faction Wars, taking on nine armies led by rich and powerful aliens from throughout the galaxy. This time, the Crawlers have an advantage \u2013 the AI has turned off the traditional protections, and aliens killed in the battles will die in real life. Will our heroes survive?<\/p>\n
3. \u2018Alchemized\u2019 by SenLinYu \u2013 A sweeping dark romantasy debut set in a war-ravaged world of necromancers and alchemists. An enemies-to-lovers romance featuring morally gray (very dark gray) characters. This novel began its life as \u201cManacled,\u201d an extremely popular work of fan fiction originally published at An Archive of Our Own.<\/p>\n
4. \u2018The Annual Migration of Clouds\u2019 by Premee Mohamed \u2013 Set in a future wracked by climate disasters and invasive, parasitic fungi, a young woman is given an opportunity to leave the relative stability of her community of survivors to attend a faraway university. Can Reid leave her mother and responsibilities behind? A character-driven hopepunk novella.<\/p>\n
5. \u2018Zomromcom\u2019 by Olivia Dade \u2013 If a grumpy\/sunshine romance about a plus-sized woman in her 30s, her hunky, sword-wielding vampire neighbor, and a zombie outbreak filled with banter, Millennial humor and quirkiness galore sounds like your kind of read, then this is the book for you.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: October 5, 2025 at 5:01 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ross E. Lockhart Humans play games. It\u2019s one of our defining features. This is the thesis of Johan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[457,96,80296,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-181278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-books","tag-entertainment","tag-petaluma-litrpg-dungeon","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}