What's On Your Bookshelf?: Forbidden Solitaire's Nick Lives

Hello Reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to What's On Your Bookshelf? - Jank's twice monthly chat with a selection of game makers about books. Please do not be alarmed by the way your flesh putrefies around the succulent and shining gems recently fused with your hand meat like searing hot globs of jam jumping out from the pan during your latest failed attempt at creating rustic Christmas gifts. That's just how things work around here, Night Signal's Nick Lives assures me. Cheers Nick! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

What are you currently reading?

I’m currently trying to finish two books. I tend to switch between fiction and biographies whenever the mood strikes me. For fiction I’m making my way through Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. I’m coming at it from a fan of the more horror-tinged elements of that story and so far the book is no slacker in that department. It’s presented more like a mystery at the start, weaving several disparate narratives from multiple perspectives throughout, letting you piece together the bigger picture. I find it incredibly compelling. I’m kind of struggling now that the book has seemingly settled into more of an adventure novel routine after the shit hits the fan, but the first half was good enough that I owe it to Michael at this point to finish it.

The other book I’m making my way through is Roger Corman’s autobiography, How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime. From that title you might gather that I have a vested interest in how scrappy creatives get by without bankrupting themselves, and Roger Corman was apparently the king of making the most of what he had. I haven’t seen many Roger Corman movies to be frank, Little Shop of Horrors was my main introduction. But the book is full of anecdotes that feel highly relatable for a scrappy indie, and I feel a kinship toward filmmakers like that. One of my favorite anecdotes so far is Roger demanding the sound guy create a last-minute monster costume for Creature From The Haunted Sea, who is in no way equipped to create a monster, so he puts together what he can with ping pong balls, pipecleaners, moss and a wetsuit. Ironically, very inspirational for the kinds of things we make.