He first published The Settlers of Catan in his home country of Germany in 1995. It won the Spiel des Jahres that year, and would go on to becoming on of the most influential board games of all time. Many, myself included, credit it with jumpstarting the modern boardgame industry. 

I was first introduced to Catan (the game was later rebranded to just the one word, but most people I know continue to refer to it by its old title) in 1996. I was living in Santa Rosa, California, at the time. I didn’t really know many people there, but there was a game shop about 2 blocks away. Every Wednesday night the owner, Andy, would let 4-5 of us show up at 8pm and play board games until the wee hours. One night, he said that his distributor had sent him a new game out of Germany that had won some awards and was generating a lot of buzz and asked if we wanted to try it. He had a print-out, I’m guessing from the distributor, of an English translation of the rules and the cards. I was immediately hooked. Came back the next day and offered the buy the game from him. That copy is still my go-to copy of the game–I wouldn’t own an English edition until just a few years ago. I have older games, there’s no question that Die Siedler von Catan was the game that turned me into not just someone who played board games, but a collector. And without that, I might have never started writing for GeekDad.

It’s been widely reported that the game has long been popular in the locker room of the Green Bay Packers. It’s made many appearances in movies and TV shows–just this week, in fact, my family and I were watching Reacher on Amazon Prime, and there’s a scene with a family hiding out from the bad guys, and the mom is shown playing Catan with her young children. 

In their statement on the official Twitter account for CATAN Studio, the company Teuber eventually founded with his family to manage the run-away success of the game, they say that “While Klaus’ contributions to the board game community are immeasurable, we will remember him most as a kind and selfless human being.” It asks us all to “honor Klaus’ memory by being kind to one another, pursuing your creative passions fearlessly, and enjoying a game with your loved ones. Klaus’ impact on the world of gaming will never be forgotten.”

Rest in peace, Mr. Teuber. Thank you so much for all you gave us.

Rob Huddleston

Like so many others, I was ushered into the world of modern board games by the Big Three: Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, and Ticket to Ride. I had moved to Portland and some new friends invited me over for game night, and from then I was hooked. I had never played anything quite like Catan before, and it made me hungry for more, leading me to discover the rabbit hole of BoardGameGeek and the thousands of other amazing games out there.

Whether you’re a fan of CATAN or not, or even whether you’ve even played it at all, if you play board games now, there’s no denying that Klaus Teuber has had an impact on you. CATAN ushered in a new era of board games, making designers and publishers everywhere sit up and take notice. It’s hard to imagine what sorts of games we would be playing now—certainly it’s hard to imagine that you’d find titles like Wingspan or Gloomhaven at your local Target.

In the years since, I’ll admit that I’ve played CATAN a bit less because of the sheer volume of other games (and I’m a bit of a sucker for trying new things), but that explosion of other games owes a lot to Klaus Teuber and his innovative design. I don’t think you can overstate the impact he had on the gaming industry.

So, next time you sit down at the table to play some games with your friends and family, raise a glass to Klaus Teuber!

Jonathan H. Liu

I enjoyed tabletop gaming with my friends in high school as well as in college. However, once I started a full-time job and was married with small children, I no longer had as much time for gaming and my friends had changed. Then in the late ’90s, I came across a new game called Settlers of Catan. While I cannot remember when I first heard about it or even where I purchased it, I do remember poring over the rules. This was my first Euro game and I could not wait to play it. Since my wife and her friends would have a ‘girls night’ every month, we husbands would respond with a ‘guys night’ where we usually watched a movie. One night I convinced them to try Settlers and we were hooked. We soon added the Seafarers and Cities & Knights expansions. I even got the card game so I could play a two-player game. 

For me, Klaus Teuber provided a re-entry back into tabletop games. In fact, I believe he actually helped bring many people into the world of tabletop games and showed them that there was more than the common board games such as Monopoly. He brought quality games from a very niche market out into the mainstream. As a result, tabletop games became more popular and the increased market allowed for many other game designers to bring their creations to light. 

When Catan Junior, also designed by Klaus, was released in 2011, I had to get it to play with my younger children and we had a lot of fun playing it. This actually led me to play the original Settlers of Catan with my older children. One time a few years later, my oldest daughter asked me if I would send my copy of Settlers to her so she could play it with her friends at college. There was no way I was letting my original copy of the beloved game be played in a college dorm, so I bought my daughter her own copy which she still has to this day. 

While have have not played Settlers of Catan in a few years, I have always had a good time when I have played it. The fact that it is still popular and has many expansions and spinoffs is a testament to its designer. In fact, if it had not been for Klaus Teuber and his games, I most likely would not be writing for GeekDad. Thank you, Klaus, for hours and hours of enjoyment with my friends and family. 

Michael Knight

Lindsey Stirling is an accomplished violinist, dancer, singer, and cosplayer. Using all those skills, she puts on a show to remember in her Snow Waltz Winter Tour. My husband has been a fan of her music for a few years now, and while I also appreciated her skill with the violin, through TikTok I learned to appreciate her skill with costume-making and just being a joy to watch as a person.

My husband and I were lucky enough to attend her show in Orlando, Florida at the Dr. Phillips Center this past week, and it was an hour and a half of our lives we will not soon forget. While the Walt Disney Theater is not as big as I thought it would be, it made for a far more intimate show, and every seat was a good one from the front row to the highest balcony.

Lindsey isn’t just an accomplished violinist and dancer, she also has aerial skills and showed them off more than a few times during the show. It hurts my head trying to figure out how someone can do aerial moves while playing the violin (and upside down no less). I’ve seen her TikToks where she is trying to convince the people in charge to let her do aerial work while playing her violin. It was amusing to watch, and seeing the final product in person was just… *chefs kiss*. The finale (I won’t spoil it for you) was my favorite of the aerial numbers. (Especially the last minute of it—WOW!) 

Speaking of TikToks, she filmed one during the show, and it was an interesting experience. She said that she’s known for her TikToks and people will make mention if she didn’t do one at a show. I haven’t seen Orlando’s go up on her page yet, but, hopefully, it will at some point in the future. 

Throughout the show, Lindsey takes little breaks for water and tells stories of her battles with stage anxiety, how she overcame it, as well as her faith. (Don’t worry, there is no preaching, but you are at a Christmas-themed concert, so… what do you expect?) The story she told about believing in angels and her father, to me, was the most touching story she told that night.

I can’t give you a set list—because I was enjoying the show too much to write them all down—but two numbers stood out to me. My favorite was “Angels We Have Heard On High” followed closely by “Carol of the Bells.” Both had beautiful costumes and inspiring choreography to go with them. 

The costumes of all the on-stage crew were a wonderful addition to the music. Lindsey did at least nine costume changes herself. The first one she admitted was done with magnets, of all things.

Speaking of the crew, my favorite member hands down was Eric Jackson who played the part of in-between-numbers comic relief. He got more than a few laughs throughout the show.

Lindsey couldn’t do it all alone and with that said, I’d like to take a second to give a shout-out to her amazing dancers and band.

Her dancers include Addison Byers, Taylor Gagliano, Jessica Flemings, and Kailyn Rogers.

The multitalented band includes Drew Steen on drums and Ryan Riveros on keys, guitar, and saxophone. She mentioned that Drew has been with her since the beginning, and I could see a friendship between them when they interacted on stage (kind of like a brother/sister kind of thing). It added a warmth to the night.

There were plenty of antics that I wasn’t expecting including a mid-song boat race (#3 won!) and a miniature concert with Ryan playing a child-sized piano and Drew on equally small drums. Lindsey played a super small violin she named “Pickles.”

I would like to issue a warning to anyone who has problems with strobe effects. There is a giant ring light that is center stage that goes off a few times about 20 minutes into the show. I had to miss the numbers where this light was used because it was too strong for me. I still enjoyed hearing Lindsey play, even if I couldn’t watch for those few minutes.

If you have a chance to catch Lindsey Stirling in person, I can’t recommend it enough for all ages. She is beyond a wonderful violinist. She also has a fun quirky personality, a beautiful singing voice, and puts on a show that will leave you with memories for years to come. You can find available tickets to Lindsey’s Snow Waltz Tour on her website including VIP meet and greet package options.

Disclaimer: GeekDad was given tickets to this show.

Today’s column is a big stack of picture book biographies! I like these for the way they offer a snapshot into the lives of people who have accomplished some amazing things, and often show young readers a little bit of what things were like when they were kids. Some of these are about well-known figures, and some are folks that I hadn’t heard of until I read these books!

Code Breaker, Spy Hunter: How Elizebeth Friedman Changed the Course of Two World Wars written by Laurie Wallmark, illustrated by Brooke Smart

Elizebeth Smith Friedman was a codebreaker who helped decipher messages; she set up the United States’ first code-breaking unit during the first World War, and also set up the first cryptography department for the Office of Strategic Services (now the CIA) during World War II. Her team also managed to crack the German Enigma code (at a the same time as Alan Turing’s British team, though they didn’t know because of wartime secrecy). Her work was classified as Top Secret Ultra, and she wasn’t even able to tell her own family—this information was only declassified in 2015, 35 years after her death.

This picture book tells the story of how Elizebeth—an English literature major—became interested in codes, and shares some of the cases that she worked on. There’s also a section at the end of the book that goes into some more detail about codes and ciphers, and offers a couple of codes for readers to crack. It’s a really fascinating story about an unsung hero, and could spark interest in codes and ciphers for young readers.

The Stuff Between the Stars: How Vera Rubin Discovered Most of the Universe written by Sandra Nickel, illustrated by Aiméee Sicuro

Vera Rubin grew up looking at the stars and studying how they rotated in the sky. When she went to college, she was discouraged from studying astronomy, but persisted. And as she continued to study the night sky as she raised a family, her theories about how galaxies moved were rejected or ignored by the male-dominated world of astronomers. Eventually, though, Vera got a job at the Carnegie Institution in California, where she had access to more powerful telescopes, and made a surprising discovery about how galaxies spin. Her observations helped to prove the existence and prevalence of dark matter. Because of the way that Vera was pushed out to the edges of the discipline, she noticed things that been overlooked and ended up having a huge impact on astronomy and our understanding of the universe.

The Fabled Life of Aesop written by Ian Lendler, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

While I’ve long been familiar with Aesop’s fables, I had not really known much about the story of Aesop himself. This picture book uses the story of Aesop to bookend several of his more well-known fables. Historians aren’t sure whether Aesop actually existed as a real person, but as the story goes, he was a slave who earned respect for his wisdom, often conveyed in these stories about animals, and eventually even won his freedom. Whether that is actually true or not, this story of Aesop resonated so much that it, and his fables, have lasted thousands of years.

One of the things that this book illuminated for me was that his stories weren’t just lessons about being virtuous or kind, but were also about how to survive in a world where you are powerless among the powerful. As a slave, Aesop had to be very careful about expressing criticism of his master, and the fables were one way to give advice without causing offense. It’s a perspective about the fables that I hadn’t actually heard before, and I appreciated the way this book taught me a new way to look at these old stories.

Mary Blair’s Unique Flair: The Girl Who Became One of the Disney Legends written by Amy Novesty, illustrated by Brittney Lee

Mary Blair is perhaps one of the most well-known Disney artists, both for her work on some of the early films but particularly for the “It’s a Small World” ride. This book shares her story—albeit in a much-abridged way—and celebrates her style and love for colors. The illustrations are made with cut paper, much like many of Mary’s own work, and are in a style that really reflects hers.

The Sweetest Scoop: Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Revolution written by Lisa Robins, illustrated by Stacy Innerst

Mmm, who doesn’t love ice cream? This book tells the story of Ben and Jerry and their ice cream company—from their childhood friendship, to their failed pursuits after high school, eventually leading to their teaming up to make … bagels? Fortunately for the world, bagels were more expensive to make than ice cream, so they pivoted to an ice cream shop, and the rest is history. The book talks about both the ice cream itself as well as Ben and Jerry’s commitment to social and environmental justice, and the way that they’ve used their ice cream to celebrate and promote causes that are important to them. Oh, and there’s also a good number of silly jokes spread throughout the book, as a callback to Jerry’s goofy jokes from a summer spent driving an ice cream truck.

With Great Power: The Marvelous Stan Lee: An Unauthorized Biography written by Annie Hunter Eriksen, illustrated by Lee Gatlin

Although there are many people responsible for the superheroes in the Marvel comics universe, Stan Lee has long been the face of the company. From his signature motto “Excelsior!” to his cameo appearances both in the comics and in the movies, Stan Lee looms larger than life in the story of Marvel—which has now become a huge part of American pop culture.

This picture book tells the story—or at least, a version of the story—of how a poor kid from the Bronx named Stanley Lieber became the Stan Lee. With a mix of creativity and lucky timing, Stan became the editor of Timely Comics (eventually Marvel), and teamed up to create some of the most well-known comics superheroes. The illustrations in this book are fantastic, with Gatlin’s own takes on the colorful comics.

Dressing Up the Stars: The Story of Movie Costume Designer Edith Head written by Jeanne Walker Harvey, illustrated by Diana Toledano

Edith Head was a Hollywood costume designer who still holds the record as the woman with the most Oscars. But her road to costume design was not at all straightforward. She grew up in a small desert town and made costumes for her dolls and pets, and she was originally hired as a sketch artist despite having very little drawing experience. Eventually, though, she was able to overcome various hurdles and became an expert in costume design. I didn’t know much about Edith before reading this book, and I imagine most kids won’t have heard of the movies that she won awards for, from the 1940s and 1950s, but it’s still an inspiring story about pursuing your creative passions.

Nonsense! The Curious Story of Edward Gorey written by Lori Mortensen, illustrated by Chloe Bristol

Edward Gorey’s unsettling stories and scratchy pen and ink drawings look like something from long ago, so I remember being surprised to learn of his passing back in 2000 while I was in college. I had just assumed he was somebody who had long been dead, not somebody who had still been alive and publishing new books up until then. His art style is instantly recognizable, and his stories are bizarre and often inexplicable, without a simple moral to tie everything together at the end. This picture book tells his story using fanciful language and illustrations inspired by his own drawing style (though the people’s heads aren’t quite as rounded and squashed).

How to Hear the Universe: Gaby González and the Search for Einstein’s Ripples in Space-Time written by Patricia Valdez, illustrated by Sara Palacios

This picture book takes a lot of complex science and compresses it into a bite-sized portion for kids. It starts off with an introduction to Albert Einstein and some of his theories, including his idea of gravitational waves, which he concluded would be impossible to detect on Earth. Then we get the story of Gaby González and her love of physics and the stars. Eventually, she became involved with the LIGO (Laser Inferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) project, which was trying to listen for these waves, and the challenge was to filter out background noise caused by everything else. The experiment was a success in 2015, detecting the waves caused by two black holes colliding, finally confirming Einstein’s theory a century later.

Curve & Flow: The Elegant Vision of L.A. Architect Paul R. Williams written by Andrea J. Loneey, illustrated by Keith Mallett

Paul Williams was an architect who designed thousands of buildings all over the world, including many historic landmarks and celebrity homes in Los Angeles. But because he was a Black man, for a long time he wasn’t even allowed to own or enter many of the buildings he had designed. This picture book about Paul describes the challenges he encountered just to become an architect, and the way that he curved around obstacles to become so exceptional that everyone would want to hire him. The book celebrates the way that dreams can come true, even while depicting the ugliness of racism and the difficulties that Paul and other Black people faced in owning homes or buildings in Los Angeles.

A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice written by Jasmine A. Stirling, illustrated by Vesper Stamper

Reading Jane Austen’s story, I think I was perhaps most struck by how much support and love she got from her family, who encouraged her to study and write and gave her the space to do so. The author does make a note of this in her afterword as well, sharing Virginia Woolf’s statement that genius needs time and space to flourish, and without these we may not have had Jane Austen’s contributions to English literature. Her story also includes pain and grief, though—having to move from her childhood home and then losing her father—and this book shows how all of those pieces fit together to give Jane her unique voice.

My Current Stack

This week I’ve mostly been reading Prime Deception by Valerie Valdes, the next book after Chilling Effect. Watch for more about this series later (probably after I read the third book!).

Disclosure: I received review copies of the books covered in this column. Affiliate links to Bookshop.org help support my writing and independent booksellers!

This weekend, Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away, leaving a vacancy on the Supreme Court and—despite her small stature—some really big shoes to fill. The media (social and otherwise) has been filled with messages about her: debates about how quickly her seat should be filled, comments celebrating her legacy or decrying her stances, and lots of images of her signature collars. I particularly appreciated a post by Molly Conway on Facebook, explaining the Jewish phrase “May her memory be for blessing,” as well as the idea of a tzaddik/tzaddeket, somebody who passes away on Rosh Hashanah. Conway describes Ginsburg as somebody who worked tirelessly for justice; whether you agree with her judicial opinions or not, she has had an undeniable impact on our nation through her work both as a lawyer and as a Supreme Court Justice. Personally, I recognize that her battle for equal rights for men and women is an important factor in why I’m able to be a stay-at-home dad myself.

So I’ll start today’s Stack Overflow with this trio of books about the “Notorious RBG,” which I’ve covered in previous Stack Overflow columns. Becoming RBG by Debbie Levy and Whitney Gardner is in a comic book format, and has room for more detail than the other two, which are picture books. It follows Ginsburg through her childhood, education, law career, and eventually to the Supreme Court, showing many of the obstacles in her way and how she overcame them. Ruth Objects by Doreen Rappaport and Eric Velasquez is a highlights reel of Ginsburg’s life, with special focus on a few landmark cases; it also features some stunning artwork. I Dissent by Debbie Levy and Elizabeth Baddeley encourages readers to speak up for what they believe in, using a lot of fun typography to illustrate the ways that Ginsburg dissented or objected throughout her life. Check out these books, or watch the RBG documentary from 2018 to see what made Ruth Bader Ginsburg such a remarkable figure.

In honor of RBG, today’s stack includes books that teach kids about equality, voting, and being a good citizen.

Equality’s Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America written by Deborah Diesen, illustrated by Magdalena Mora

This picture book uses rhyming verse to tell the history of voting in America, starting with the founding of the nation, illustrated as a teacher talking to kids. It shows how “consent of the governed” was important, but that many people were still left out of that equation, from Blacks to women to poor people. The book repeats this refrain several times: “But we heard in the distance/Equality’s call:/A right isn’t right/Till it’s granted to all.” Each time, more people are pictured joining a march, as voting rights were extended and new barriers like poll taxes or tests were erected.

At the back of the book, there’s an appendix that lists some legislation related to voting rights, as well as a list of voting rights activists (highlighting those who are pictured throughout the book). The book is optimistic, showing progress toward equality, but also note’s that there’s still work to be done.

The President of the Jungle by André Rodrígues, Larissa Ribeiro, Paula Desgualdo, Pedro Markun, translated from Portuguese by Lyn Miller-Lachmann

This picture book explains, through a simple story, what an election is and how it works. The lion, king of the jungle, rerouted the river to make himself a swimming pool, and the animals are upset. When a protest march doesn’t change the lion’s mind, Owl suggests they have an election, and explains how that works; the list of rules includes “Candidates cannot eat their opponents” but the rest are pretty similar to our human elections. Several animals run for president of the jungle, each with their own campaign poster and platform. They campaign and debate (and, yes, sometimes say wild things about each other), and then there’s a secret vote.

The book does a good job of explaining the basics of democracy in a way that’s easy to understand. It doesn’t focus too much on negative campaigning, but doesn’t ignore it entirely. It also doesn’t pretend that the election means a happy ending for everyone: it shows how the winner can learn some lessons from their opponents, but also that not everyone will be happy with the results, and that they’ll have a chance to vote in the next election. It’s a nice way to explain the idea of elections to younger kids without getting into a lot of specifics.

Grace Goes to Washington written by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by LeUyen Pham 

Grace’s class is going to Washington DC for a field trip and she’s very excited to see the memorials and government buildings like the Capitol and the Supreme Court. But, despite what you may expect from the title, the book isn’t primarily about that field trip—it’s about what’s happening in the student council. Grace and the other kids in the student council can’t agree on how to spend the proceeds from the bake sale: books for the library, sports equipment, or instruments for the music room. The field trip to DC and explanations of the branches of government help Grace to see how their school has a parallel structure, with the student council as the legislative branch, the principal as the executive branch, and the media-center teacher (who takes notes at the meetings and helps to settle arguments) as the judicial branch. The trip, which ends with a visit to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, also inspires Grace to think about how to make “a finer world to live in.”

While the story ends on a happy note (unlike The President of the Jungle, everyone is happy with the results of the vote), this picture book does explain the branches of government in a way that may be easier for kids to envision, and the bake sale makes a good example that is concrete and shows how a decision might be made. The Author’s Note in the back of the book includes a closer look at the three branches of the US government, and also some steps kids can take toward becoming involved citizens.

Sofia Valdez, Future Prez written by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts

Sofia Valdez is the latest kid in the Questioneers series, which also includes kids like Ada Twist, Scientist and Rosie Revere, Engineer. These picture books have fun rhyming verses, and depict kids taking on big challenges. In this case, Sofia wants to convince her town to change a local landfill—where her Abuelo gets hurt one day—into a park. When she goes to City Hall, she learns that it’s not necessarily an easy process, but her persistence and passion help her to speak up, which inspires others to follow. I really enjoy this series—the words are fun to read, and the illustrations are adorable. Sofia’s community is diverse, as is her classroom, and I’m sure we’ll get to meet some of the other kids eventually. The Questioneers has branched out beyond picture books, too: there are now chapter books about these kids, as well as project books if you want something more interactive.

The Next President: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of America’s Presidents written by Kate Messner, illustrated by Adam Rex

This book is a fascinating one, and takes a look at the presidents of the USA through a different lens: how many future presidents were already alive at a time? For instance, when George Washington became the first president, there were nine future presidents already alive at the time, and the book shows where each of them was at the time. William Henry Harrison, the ninth president, was only a teenager at the time, but when he took office in 1841, there were fourteen more future presidents out there. Since you have to be at least 35 to become president (though none of our presidents have been that young), there are always a number of future presidents already alive: this book says that at least ten of our future presidents are alive now, probably some of them serving in the government already, one in college or the military, and at least three who are still kids.

Throughout the book there are some snapshots of a few specific presidents with some trivia about them. The illustrations are sort of a montage of the various future presidents at the time of inauguration of the current president, with a meandering line that follows along in their order of election. There’s also a bit of framing that shows a diverse group of people in a sort of presidential museum, looking at portraits and statues of the presidents, with the implication that some of them might be future presidents as well.

The Constitution Decoded: A Guide to the Document That Shapes Our Nation written by Katie Kennedy, illustrated by Ben Kirchner

The Constitution is the founding document for the United States: it’s the ultimate benchmark for laws as interpreted by our courts, and it’s the responsibility of the president to “preserve, protect and defend” it. Because of its status, it’s important to understand what it actually says, and this book is here to help. It includes the text of the Constitution and the Amendments, side by side with easy-to-understand translations of key phrases. While some parts of the Constitution may seem obvious, a lot of it uses English that is no longer in the common vernacular. The book also includes a lot of “Did You Know?” and “Constitution in Action” sidebars that explain more details about how our government works or historical trivia. The text of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation are also included in the back of the book, though without the side-by-side translations. It’s a handy reference book that I think both kids and adults could benefit from reading.

Facts vs. Opinions vs. Robots by Michael Rex

How many robots are there? What color are the robots? Which robot has the best dance moves? This is a silly book, but an important one: it shows the distinction between facts and opinions. It also explains how we can have differences of opinions, but that we can’t argue about facts. Of course, that’s not entirely true: people do argue about facts all the time, because there are such things as misinformation and insufficient information, but also because it can seem like not everyone knows the difference between facts and opinions. Maybe they should read this book. (That’s my opinion.) It’s pretty cute, and easy to understand. (Also an opinion.) There are robots and several examples of facts and opinions, as well as a couple illustrations of resolving differences in opinion. (That’s a fact.)

Shirley Chisholm Is a Verb! written by Veronica Chambers, illustrated by Rachelle Baker

In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman ever elected to Congress. In 1972, she announced a run for president—the first Black person to do so—and although she did not win the nomination, her actions and words helped to pave the way for both other women and other Black people to run for office. This picture book tells her story and shows how she was a doer, highlighting the verbs in the story where Chisholm took action and helped people. The title of the book was inspired by a line from 2004 documentary, Chisholm ’72: Unbought & Unbossed, which follows her historic presidential race.

Lift as You Climb: The Story of Ella Baker written by Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

Ella Baker was deeply involved in the Civil Rights movement, helping to establish the Souther Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. She worked alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. and mentored many like John Lewis, though she didn’t always agree with King and challenged him to reach not just the elite and middle class, but the poorest as well. She worked from the bottom up, getting people registered to vote, and asking the question: “What do you hope to accomplish?” Her mantra, taught by her mama, was “Lift as you climb.” She pulled herself up, and pulled others with her. This book tells her story and doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable topics. For instance, I don’t know that I’ve seen many kids’ books that don’t put Martin Luther King, Jr. on a pedestal; although Baker worked with King and supported him, we also see here a few places where she disagreed and felt he should take a different approach. Ella Baker’s story is inspiring, and ends again with her repeated challenge directed to the readers:” What do you hope to accomplish?”

You Matter by Christian Robinson

Big or small, young or old, you matter. That’s the simple message of this book, which is filled with delightful (and sometimes amusing) illustrations—a dinosaur being bit by a mosquito, an astronaut in space thinking of her kid (while the kid thinks of her), old friends sitting on a park bench, young children chasing a lost dog. Short, sweet, and something we could all stand to hear.

The Wall: A Timeless Tale written by Giancarlo Macrì and Carolina Zanotti, illustrated by Mauro Sacco and Elisa Vallarino

No, this picture book is not about that wall. There might be some similarities between the king in this story and the current president, but it’s a broader fable about diversity. The king notices a lot of people who don’t look like him (in this case, he and his advisor are blue faces) and decides to get rid of everyone else—so then the blue faces are on one side of the book, and everyone else is on the other side. He decides to build a wall (which then becomes a pop-up wall in the center of the book) to keep everyone separate—but to do so the advisor has to call back the wall-builders. And as the king makes other requests, the advisor has to invite others to return as well. The different colored faces make up these features: grey faces form roads, yellow faces make a statue, green faces form the gardens, and so on. Eventually, that side of the book becomes so crowded that the king decides to tear down the wall to make more room for everyone to spread out, returning the book to its original state. The king is pompous and silly, but in the end he comes to appreciate the mix of talents and abilities of the people in the kingdom (while still being pompous and silly). The story, while simple, is a good lesson in appreciating our differences and the strengths of a diverse community.

I’ll close with this: if you’re of voting age, be sure you know how to vote in your state! In case you don’t check out How to Vote in Every State, which has a video for each state explaining how to register, how to request a ballot, and so on. Even if you’ve already been registered, it doesn’t hurt to check your registration status with your state, because voter purges (which are done to remove people who have moved away or died) can sometimes erroneously remove active voters.

Disclosure: I received review copies of these books. This post includes affiliate links to Bookshop.org, which helps support independent booksellers and will also 

Comic books are a fascinating medium for biographies, and I love the way that they allow for different approaches to illustrating somebody’s life. Whether they’re literal or metaphorical, they can convey personality and spirit in a way that can be hard to capture in words alone. Today’s stack includes five biographies: four are about artists, and the last is about a scientist. (I’ll note that these particular biographies are mostly more suited to adult readers than kids.)

Kusama: The Graphic Novel by Elisa Macellari

I hadn’t actually heard of Yayoi Kusama until a few years ago, when she had an exhibit in Seattle. My wife was able to take our older girls to see it, so I learned a bit about her secondhand—but even that was primarily about her contemporary art, and I didn’t know much about her background.

This comic book provides a broader look at her life, particularly in the way that her artwork is tied to her struggles with her mental health and sometimes served as a way to battle her fears. Macellari uses a lot of fanciful images, incorporating things like polka dots and repeated patterns drawn from Kusama’s artwork as visual metaphors, and switching between realistic and imaginary scenes.

The book begins by showing Kusama’s difficult relationship with her parents, who did not want her to leave Japan for the United States and felt that art was not a suitable profession for a woman. In New York, her career took off and she rubbed elbows with the likes of Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalí. In addition to her paintings, she also orchestrated performance art that often involved body painting and sex—another phobia that she used artwork to overcome. But then she returned to Japan due to her health, and it seemed like America forgot her for nearly 20 years. Meanwhile, she checked herself into a psychiatric hospital, where she continued to make artwork.

Kusama’s life is compressed in this book—we just get glimpses of a few periods throughout her life—but it is enough to show the way that artwork has been a constant part of her life. Since I didn’t know much about her background, it was a fascinating introduction to her story, and the comic book medium allows Macellari to show us the world through Kusama’s eyes, at least a little. Kusama will be available in September 2020.

Dalí: Art Masters Series by Baudoin

Here’s another artist with a fascinating story: Salvador Dalí. I knew a bit more about Dalí, but this particular comic book tells his story in an unusual way. The book incorporates a lot of Dalí’s symbolism in its illustrations: ants, grasshoppers, crutches, and so on, and is a bit surreal itself. A lot of the text is a conversation between a man and a woman on the beach, telling each other about Dalí, while scenes from his life play out before us. In some instances, we see how various elements that appear in his paintings are tied to events from his life. There are also places where the book’s artist inserts himself into the conversation as well, discussing the way that he is creating the book that you’re currently reading.

Most of the book is black and white, but there are bursts of color at times, too. Although Baudoin uses imagery from Dalí’s works, his style is not the same: it’s less smooth and polished, and instead looks scratchy and rough. It doesn’t present the story in a straightforward manner; it’s dreamlike and surreal. That seems appropriate, of course, but can also be somewhat disorienting. I think it makes a good introduction to Dalí’s character and personality, and may inspire readers to look up images of Dalí’s work while they read.

Rembrandt: Art Masters Series by Typex

Here’s another book in the Art Masters Series, a biography of a Dutch artist written and illustrated by another Dutch artist. Typex also created the comic book biography of Andy Warhol that I wrote about a couple years ago, and this book is comparable (though not quite as long): it has gilded edges, and the cover is made to look like a black leather book with a partially torn paper dust jacket. The illustrations are an homage to Rembrandt’s style, with a lot of earth tones, sometimes finished illustrations and sometimes black-and-white sketches.

Rembrandt is divided up into various chapters, most focusing on a specific person in Rembrandt’s life (though there is one chapter about rats). That means the book jumps around a little chronologically, but instead shows us this artist largely through his relationships and interactions with others. For instance, there’s a lot about Rembrandt’s fraught relationship with his father-in-law, who felt that he mismanaged his money. The dialogue is written using modern vocabulary so it can feel a little anachronistic, but that also makes it easier to just read the story and not get caught on unfamiliar language.

You get a portrait of a man who is a brilliant artist but not a great salesman, and he seemed like he was generally an unpleasant person to be around. It’s not a very flattering picture, but it is not entirely unsympathetic either. If you’re looking for a book about Rembrandt that focuses more on his life than his specific pieces, this may be just the thing.

Mozart in Paris by Frantz Duchazeau

In 1778, Mozart made his way to Paris. He was 22 years old, but everyone still thought of him as a child prodigy. He turned down an offer to be an organist, hoping to find work composing—preferably an opera. But Mozart, despite his musical brilliance, was not a society man, and he had a hard time adapting his art to the trends at the time. It actually reminds me a little of Rembrandt (above): Mozart seemed to be constantly in debt, scrambling for a way to earn an income.

This book is pretty short, and although the time period covered in it is brief, it’s also quite eventful. Mozart is depicted as a short man with a bulbous nose, a bit more cartoony than the rest of the people around him. But at times, he’s also shown as a giant child, reinforcing the way that the world still thought of him. The story often draws from letters between Mozart and his father. There are also scenes that are dreamlike, exploring Mozart’s imagination and his fears of being forgotten or not taken seriously.

This book, like the others I’ve written about so far, show how difficult it can be to be an artist: it’s hard to earn a living, but it can be even harder to live with the demons that often come with a creative mind, whether it’s insecurity or egomania.

Hawking written by Jim Ottaviani, illustrated by Leland Myrick

We wrap up today’s stack with a comic biography of the amazing scientist Stephen Hawking. Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick also collaborated on a biography of Richard Feynman several years ago, and they have a knack for translating complex science into a more easily digestible form. Even so, Hawking’s research can be hard to grasp even when the mathematical equations are left out, so I have to admit that I have only a basic understanding of what he was doing most of the time. This book is appropriate for perhaps middle schoolers and up, though a lot of it may still go over their heads.

But Hawking isn’t just about his theories and papers (though the section headings are often based on his publications); it’s about his life and career, his marriages and divorces, his illness, his sense of humor. As his muscles weaken over time and he has trouble communicating vocally, some of the words in his speech bubbles appear in grey, then more and more of them as people begin to have trouble understanding him. When he switches to his speech synthesizer, his speech bubbles switch to a more boxy typeface. Myrick uses a somewhat cartoony style that captures Hawking’s mischievous grin.

One thing that Hawking has in common with some of the other subjects in today’s stack is that he was a virtuoso in his field, devoting all of his thoughts to his work, with less attention to other things. There are a number of times in the book where his first wife, Jane, tells him to “stop doing physics” when she realizes he’s not said anything to anyone for a while at a party or social event. Hawking was also not great at marketing himself: before A Brief History of Time, his books did not sell particularly well, and he needed a lot of help and editing to publish “the kind of book sold in airports.” That book, of course, was a huge success, and brought Hawking a lot of fame that he wasn’t always comfortable with. He did use that fame to continue to share his excitement and enthusiasm for discovery, for trying to figure out how our universe works.

I wanted to end with Hawking because, of the biographies I’ve shared today, it’s probably the most optimistic. The rest of the stories are remarkable, but also feel full of tragedy. Despite Hawking’s illness, he was able to continue doing the work that he loved, and eventually achieved financial success with it, which was not the case with all of the others, and he seemed happy with his life. I’m happy to make some room on my shelf next to Feynman for this excellent biography.

My Current Stack

I’ve continued to read the Dystopia Triptych anthology, but have been skipping around in the three books because I realized that there are several stories that carry over across the three volumes. There are some really fantastic stories here, and I’ll share more about them when I’ve gotten a little further. I’ve also been making my way through my comics shelves—Betty & Veronica, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Donut the Destroyer, among others—so you can probably expect another comics grab bag soon.

In the meantime, our elementary school is collecting books to distribute to kids since our building will still not be open yet this fall, so I’ve been putting together a big batch of picture books and middle grade books from the review copies I’ve accumulated over the years to donate. That’s been a big project, but maybe soon I can reclaim some of this floor space that’s covered in boxes of books!

Disclosure: I received review copies of the books covered in today’s column.

Grant Imahara: electrical engineer, robot-builder, co-host of ‘Mythbusters,’ and all-around good, geeky person, has passed away too soon.

I am at a loss. With all the other terrible things going on in 2020, this one has hit me like a sucker-punch. Grant Imahara was a geek, through and through, and by all accounts, just a really nice person. I had the honor of interacting with him a few times. Back in the heyday of GeekDad and GeekMom’s relationship with Wired and our larger platform, we had a connection with the Mythbusters folks. I tried to get Grant to participate in the second GeekDad book, but he begged off due to the huge number of projects he had going, but he made it a point to say he was also a big fan of GeekDad, which was very kind. I was able to get him tickets to the Maker Faire in 2013, and got to hang out with him as he met up with the droid-builders showing off their work. He obviously took great joy in making things, and seeing the amazing things others could made as well.

It’s just shocking and saddening to lose someone so suddenly due to something so random (he passed as the result of a brain anneurysm), in the midst of everything else going on this year. And he was younger than me, which is sobering itself. Our condolences here at GeekDad and GeekMom go out to his family and friends.

Here’s the idea:

Here’s the background:

Since its initial release in 2007, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has become a phenomenon in the world of children’s literature. The first thirteen entries in the series have been published in 74 editions and 62 languages, with more than 200 million copies sold and a constant presence on bestseller lists. The fourteenth installment in the series, Wrecking Ball, was released earlier this month (you can read our GeekDad review here). With the release, author Jeff Kinney embarked on a tour of several Midwest cities, where he hosted an interactive show themed on the new book. Jeff Kinney graciously made time recently to sit down with this GeekDad writer and my daughter (GeekYoungLady) for a quick telephone question-and-answer session:

GeekDad: Who are the Wimpy Kid characters based upon (especially Greg)? Are they autobiographical, or based on anybody that you know?

Jeff Kinney: Yeah, I’d say that the characters are sort of a fun-house mirror version of my own family members. Everybody’s been put through the fiction blender quite a bit, but Greg is the closest to me. He’s a character who has lots of flaws, lots of imperfections, and those are all my flaws and imperfections but just exaggerated and amplified.

GD: Sure. What about some of the supporting characters, like his brother Rodrick or even his parents or best friend Rowley?

JK: Yeah, so my older brother also [like Rodrick] was a drummer for a heavy metal band, who lived in the basement. But past that, that’s where the similarities start to dissipate a little bit. But, you know, everybody has at least a kernel of recognizable truth to them, including the mom and dad and Greg’s best friend. So I would say that some real people were the starting point for these characters, but, you know, I’ve been writing about these characters for about 20 years, so most of what they do is out of my imagination, especially these days.

GD: I was also curious about the theme, the storyline from the new book, Wrecking Ball. My daughter described some of the other books to me that she had read, and some of the main premises behind them, like the snowball fight in Meltdown [the previous installment in the series]. With Wrecking Ball, what was the inspiration behind the home improvement, or perhaps I should say “home destruction” story?

JK: Yeah, the home destruction storyline comes from my own current home renovation project. We’ve been out of the house for almost a year and a half. What started as a simple kitchen remodel just cascaded and got out of control and turned into a massive job. Hopefully we’ll be back in the house in about six months. But we’re living next door, so we’re really living this book’s plot, in a way.

And speaking to a story about a hot tub, there’s a moment in the book where a hot tub is lifted over the house with a crane, and I won’t say what happens, but even that is based on the truth.

GD: How do you work through transitions in the different storylines? For instance, this book began with Greg cleaning out his closet. How do you come up with the transitions where a closet clean out moves into an impromptu yard sale, then to the death of a family member, then the home renovation? With all the non-sequitur of that, is that just imaginative?

JK: Yes, I spent a lot time trying to figure out how to open this book. And I eventually settled on the yard sale, because I thought it was…well, the overall theme of the book is Greg letting go of his childhood home, and I thought it would be neat to have the book open with Greg letting go of his childhood possessions. And that opening actually follows the arc of the whole book. So the whole book is basically right there in the opening twenty pages.

But each Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, the better ones, starts off with a complete comedic vignette. Because I’m always cognizant of the fact that, you know, some kids who pick up this book may have never read a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book before. And so I can’t really rely on the past readership or any familiarity with an earlier book. So I have to try and grab the reader, and make sure that I keep them.

GD: Personally, Wrecking Ball is the first Wimpy Kid book that I’ve read. In some ways, Greg Heffley reminded me of another popular cartoon boy from when I was young: Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes). They have several similarities. But I’m curious, what do you think is the appeal of characters like Greg, or like Calvin, these rambunctious young boys with wild imaginations and a propensity for getting into trouble?

JK: I’ve never heard that comparison made before, but I’ve thought about it from time to time. I think they’re similar in some ways…yeah, I think we like reading about flawed characters. You know, there are plenty of heroes in children’s literature, there are plenty of heroes out there. And heroes are good to have around as role models, but they can be kind of boring too. So I think we like to read about people who are a little bit worse than us in some ways and who get into a little bit more trouble. Because they serve as like a stand-in – we want to see what it’s like to live like that, and it’s good to have these characters around who get into trouble and learn their lesson and then carry on.

GD: Who are your cartooning and writing influences that appeal to you or inform your work?

JK: Yes, I’m like any artist or writer who likes to think that their imagination was sprung from whole cloth, but of course we have influencers who directly influence us and then the ones that did it indirectly. I think that Judy Blume is probably my biggest influence because she wrote fictional, realistic stories that were also humorous, and that have stood the test of time. And I think that the characters in her books weren’t…they didn’t have magical powers or they weren’t really special in any way, they were ordinary people. And I think that’s the reason that kids are still reading those books today.

And then, I think Charles Schulz (who wrote Peanuts), he influenced every cartoonist who came after him in some way, I think. So I think I’m using tools that Charles Schulz created long ago.

GD: Switching gears to focus more on the tour, this is the second year that you’ve done a themed tour. Last year’s Meltdown tour was the first time you’d done a style like this where the tour is more interactive rather than just book signings?

JK: Yeah, we’re doing a whole show, it’s really elaborate. It’s totally randomly generated, so I never know what’s going to happen when I get on stage. Things get kind of crazy. And it works really well with the construction theme, the idea that you don’t know what’s going to happen. But it’s fun! We have a big wheel that looks like a table saw, and we spin that and wherever it lands, that’s what we do. We’ve got some fun activities like dumpster diving, and a construction worker dance-off, and kids can draw with me. We have trivia challenges and lots of other things as well.

GD: What do you hope fans get out of the show?

JK: I hope they are entertained. I think that with authors, you tend to get into the same pattern, which is to tell the story about how you became an author to begin with. And that’s good for the first two or three years, but then you start to die a little bit inside because you can’t change your origin story. So then you need to try to dress it up in some other way or repackage it, and that becomes a challenge as well. So I decided to just, you know, totally change the format. And it’s been going really well so far.

GD: Are you doing anything differently with the Wrecking Ball show this year than you did last year with the Meltdown show? Any lessons learned, or anything you felt could have been done better that you’re trying to incorporate this year in the Wrecking Ball show?

JK: Yes, we’ve added some more wild moments, like we have a running gag where someone’s car is in the parking lot and eventually gets destroyed by a wrecking ball. We show it on the security camera. And then we have a port-a-john on stage, and somebody wanders on stage and goes into the port-a-john. So, fun stuff.

GK: The tour is visiting several cities in the Midwest, but I understand you’ll be taking the tour international. Have those dates been announced?

JK: Those dates, I don’t know that they’re out in the world yet. But we’re heading to Italy, Germany, France, Greece, Bulgaria, Spain, and Portugal.

GK: Wow! Do you have to tailor the show differently for an international audience, or will it be pretty much the same?

JK: Just a little bit. You know, we don’t have as much staging as we do in the United States. But we have, we’re able to bring a lot of the elements over there. So it’s mostly the same.

GK: I also wanted to ask you a quick question about your bookstore in Massachusetts, An Unlikely Story. From your perspective, what’s unique about your bookstore? If someone were to visit, what would you want them to experience?

JK: Well, I’ve been hundreds of bookstores around the world and I’ve tried to take the best of each of them and put them into my bookstore. Walking into the doors, I want you to feel like this is how a bookshop should be. I want to create a feeling of magic and a feeling of discovery. Also, we have something kind of unique in the store: on the third floor is the Wimpy Kid studio. We give tours and we let people poke around the studio, sit at my desk, and all that. It really is a unique place.

GD: If you don’t mind now, my daughter (GeekYoungLady) just had a couple of quick questions for you to wrap up.

JK: Sure!

GeekYoungLady: This is the fourteenth book in the series. Do you have any favorites? Or were any of the books more memorable?

JK: Yeah! I like this one very much right now. I think it’s probably my best-written book. I’ve gotten better at writing because I’ve been working in film for a few years. But I think the first book will always be my favorite, because it was special – it was the first one.

GYL: One last question: do you think you’re going to continue writing more books for the Wimpy Kid series in the future?

JK: Yes, I definitely do want to do that. I think it’s a lot of fun to live this life year after year. I get to do so many unique things. And I’ll be really sad when this ride ends. So, I’m going to hold on as long as I can!

For more information on the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, visit WimpyKid.com.

Portlanders love books. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s grey and drizzly for roughly half of the year? Whatever the reason, Portland, Oregon, is a book lover’s paradise, and this weekend is one of the ways we celebrate. The Portland Book Festival (formerly known as Wordstock) is an annual event run by Literary Arts, and it’s being held this coming Saturday at the Portland Art Museum and some surrounding buildings.

Tickets are $15 for adults, and FREE for kids 17 and under (or with a high school ID). That’s one aspect that I love: there’s a whole slate of events for kids! I’ve taken all three of my kids to the event over the years, and they’ve gotten to see some of their favorite authors and illustrators in person, sharing the books they’ve created.

Check out the huge author lineup for this year! (I do wish this particular page had a short bio about each person rather than just the name and photo, but you can click through to find out more about each one, as well as their event schedules.) Some that we’re particularly excited for are writers and illustrators of some of our favorite comic books: Raina Telgemeier, G. Willow Wilson, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Molly Knox Ostertag, and Faith Erin Hicks, for instance. The two big events this year (which cost extra if you want guaranteed seating) are Macolm Gladwell and Ambassador Susan Rice.

And in case you can’t attend in person, many of the talks are recorded and can be accessed at the Archive Project on the Oregon Public Broadcasting website. (Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to include the children’s programming.) If you enjoy listening to authors talk in depth about their work, it’s well worth a listen.

Alas, this year I won’t be able to spend as much time at the festival myself because of some family scheduling conflicts, but I’m hoping I can sneak over for at least part of it, because I always enjoy the events I’ve been able to attend.

Disclosure: I have received a media pass for the Portland Book Festival.

GeekDad interviews Mathieu Cote of Behaviour Entertainment about the past, present, and future of the asymmetrical horror game Dead by Daylight.

Previously I have covered the recent release of the Stranger Things DLC for the game Dead by Daylight. Since then I have spent a multitude of hours playing the game and trying out all the new hardware I have received to push the limits of my survival skills. So when I was given the opportunity to sit down with Mathieu Cote of Behaviour Entertainment at NYCC 2019 and have a discussion about the game, I could not pass it up.

In case this is your first time hearing about Dead by Daylight, it is an asymmetrical multiplayer horror game where five players are needed. You have four survivors (that rarely survive) and a stalker. All five players are trapped in one of several settings in the game and the goals are twofold. The survivors must fix broken generators to power up the main gates so that they may leave the arena or find an escape hatch. The stalker must try to disable the generators, capture the survivors, and offer them up to the Entity, the overlord in charge of this entire hellish scenario.

Both the survivors and stalkers level up and get abilities and items through the use of a skill tree called the Bloodweb. Each survivor has his or her own special abilities and can teach the abilities to the other players when they are past level 30 (which may take a while to get to if you are a casual player like myself).

Being a fully online multiplayer title, there is no single-player experience (which is hard to ignore when I find myself sitting in a lobby for an extended period of time). After playing the game on PC and all other consoles, I have to say that the PC lobbies are the most populated and, thus, the fastest. You may want to consider this if you are looking to jump into the game and are deciding where to spend your hard-earned dollars.

Now that you’ve read that primer, here is my interview with Mathieu Cote of Behaviour Entertainment and Dead by Daylight.

I hope you enjoyed this interview and will give Dead by Daylight a try this Halloween season. It is by far the best horror game that you can play with a group of friends!

The game is currently available on all consoles and PC and can be purchased from $19.99.

A copy of Dead by Daylight: Stranger Things was made available by Behaviour Entertainment.

To read my previous articles and interviews, click here.

In the first part of our interview with Greg Kasavin, we discuss how Supergiant games, the company behind

Sean
Can you introduce yourself and introduce Supergiant Games?

Greg
My name is Greg Kasavin. I’m creative director at Supergiant. We are here at PAX showing primarily our latest game, Hades, which is a roguelike dungeon crawler that is now in early access. We launched the game in early access in December of last year, but we are showing it at a public event for the very first time here and letting folks get their hands on the latest version.

We’re also celebrating our 10th anniversary as a studio, which kind of snuck up on us. I’d like to think we’re an industrious small team. We like to just keep working on our games. We’re like, “Dude, it’s our 10-year anniversary. We should probably do something about it if only out of respect for all our players who’ve stuck with us over the years.” So we have some fun events here at PAX in recognition of that.

Sean
Let’s talk a little bit about the studio’s history. How did Supergiant get started?

Greg
Supergiant started with my colleagues Amir Rao and Gavin Simon. The three of us were working at Electronic Arts in Los Angeles and on the Command & Conquer series, and we were making real time strategy games. But in 2009, we were really inspired by the kind of burgeoning independent game development scene. What was happening there with these games like Braid and Castle Crashers and Plants vs. Zombies and World of Goo… They were totally different games, each made by really small teams and made with a great deal of heart and a great deal of quality and felt very fresh. And we were playing these games while working on a much bigger team going, “Wow, it’s amazing what can be done by a small group of people.” And that’s when we started thinking about, “Maybe we could give this a shot ourselves.”

Amir and Gavin left their jobs, dropped everything, and moved into Amir’s dad’s house and started working on Bastion, our first game. And then we formed our team of seven over the course of that game’s development. And the seven of us have been there ever since for 10 years, through our subsequent games Transistor and Pyre, and now Hades.

We’ve grown a little bit; we grew to 12 people for Transistor and stayed that size through Pyre, and now we’re up to 17 people, but that’s still, I think, relatively small. And staying small is really important to how we operate. But we’re so lucky to have some fresh blood on the team to offset us grizzled, old-timers who’ve been at it for a while. I think we just really value creative chemistry that we have on the team.

We try to create an environment where we do the best work that we’re the most excited about, and to jam our games full of that work, and see what comes out the other side, and hope our players enjoy it, and thankfully they have thus far and that’s why we’re still here.

We self-funded Bastion back in the day, and the success of each of our games has paved the way for the next. We are at a size where we can only kind of work on one major game project at a time, so it’s made the 10 years go by almost in a flash it seems, reflecting back on it now.

Sean
One thing we spoke about several years ago was the development of language in your games, and, in particular, the language in your game Pyre. I was surprised to learn that Pyre has its own functional spoken language in the game. Could you talk a little bit about how that came about?

Greg
For sure. For Pyre, we created an imagined language called Sahrian because the characters from the game come from a country called the Commonwealth of Sahr. And the origin of it is a couple of things. Pyre is a pretty narrative-rich game, but we knew that there was no way we were going to be able to fully voice all the story content in the game because it has all of this procedurally generated story content, where the characters in events, like aspects of them such as their race or their backstory, all of that is pulled together in the way that the narrative is presented. We did the math and there are 200 million different permutations of the epilogue of the game alone. So we were not about to voice record all of that, as you can imagine.

So with voice recording everything off the table, it was still really important that we give this cast of characters in Pyre a voice and a personality because we were trying to make this big character-driven game where you get to know these characters and get to grow attached to them, and having a voice there is so important. We developed this language so that you can have these little snippets of stuff that sounds like words to give them that sense, to make them come alive in that way, especially since the game has different characters of all shapes and sizes and some fantastical races and stuff like that. Just hearing really different types of voices could enhance these different characters.

So that was one reason we wanted to do it. The other reason is that we actually did a little bit of it on our first game, Bastion. Late in that game you encounter a faction of characters called the Ura. We start you off fighting these things that you don’t really care anything about, arguably semi-mindless seeming kind of basic monsters or something, but by the end of the game, you’re fighting people, and they had to seem like they were people who have that sense of agency and so on.

It was a well-regarded aspect of Bastion. So with Pyre we decided to go all in on it, and that meant coming up with internally consistent rules around pronunciation and starting to like come up with specific terms that could be used throughout the game, as little touchstones to make you feel like it was a real language instead of just straight up gibberish. There are games that use gibberish really well, The Sims is the classic example, but it’s not meant to sound like real words in that game. Whereas with Pyre, we wanted it to sound like actual words that people were saying.

I have a broad fascination with languages. My first language is Russian, though English is the language I know by far the best. I think growing up I was exposed to different languages, so I just kind of love the sound of them. I was pulling together different ingredients from different languages. And the main one on Sahrian, the language of Pyre, was Latin because we wanted this kind of ancient feeling world. And I think so much of it is kind of encoded in our minds, but when you hear Latin, it just feels old. Just automatically, it just seems ancient and medieval or whatever. So if it sounds kind of like Latin, it’ll just make you feel like you’re in an ancient world just automatically. That was kind of the starting point for the vibe of it.

To add more dimension to it, we have different characters from different parts of this country. Essentially, we had to come up with sub-dialects of this language, for the equivalent of a Boston accent or an Alabama accent or a California accent or whatever.

With this character, who is much more educated, and this other character, who’s much more lowbrow, how do they sound different? And some of that is in the performance, but some of it is also in the writing. We have these subtle little differences in some of the words.

Sean
Could you give us an example of that?

Greg
Oh man, off the top of my head? Your character in the world of Pyre is called The Reader. Reading in the world of Pyre is forbidden: it’s a world of characters who are largely illiterate, but your character has this forbidden knowledge of how to read, and it’s an ability that holds great power. So, we establish this term in Sahrian, the term for reader is “Ligaratus.” So, many characters just call your character “ligaratus,” and you hear the term ligaratus used by those characters, you’re like, “Oh, hey, that must mean reader,” as you hear it a few times.

But then you meet a character called Pamitha who is this harpy-type of character. She’s part of a wicked race called the Harps, and she has a more informal way of talking to you. In the writing she refers to you as the “Reader Darling.” She almost has kind of a femme fatale quality. So she’ll say, “Reader Darling, how you doing?” And you hear her say Ligaramis instead of Ligaratus. And it’s just a small twist on it. You hear it. It’s mostly similar. You see “Reader Darling” written, you hear Ligaramis said, and it’s like, we absolutely don’t expect players to notice that, but we hope that they feel it.

This wasn’t an aspect of the game that we expected to stand out necessarily. It’s just there to add to the flavor of it and make it feel more lifelike, but it was really cool to see some players pay attention and notice, and feel that we did put some, I guess, some effort into it as it were. Because we had to write, even though it’s technically, even if you could call it gibberish, there’s always a subtext.

I had to write it in English and then translate it into Sahrian and make both versions available to the actor, because the actor reading each of these lines, they need the subtext of the line. Because while they don’t know these words, they need to know that this line means “I’ll get you back, you SOB” and read it that way. So I would write it in English that way and say, “Here’s the translation, and here it is phonetically, here’s the rules of pronunciation. So now do this.” We would record hundreds of these lines for each actor and then they would fumble the pronunciations, so we had to discard quite a bit and only use the ones that sounded good to us to fit the specific moment in the story. It ends up feeling, hopefully, cohesive in the context of the game, even though we left so much on the cutting room floor.

Sean
How does having the different language reduce the number of combinations you needed to record? You have your original English text, and the translated Sahrian, but you still have all the procedurally generated combinations. How does that help?

Greg
That’s a good question. Even though I wrote all these lines with specific subtext, in many cases, I did not care about what the intent of the line was when hooking them up in the game. I would just listen for the one that felt right for what was written, because we wrote and recorded the Sahrian, in many cases, months before the actual game writing was complete. It was never meant to be one-to-one because again, it would be hundreds of millions of lines. If it was one-to-one with everything, we weren’t going to do that. It had to be a little bit more reusable than that. And then even with many lines, we’d say like, “Give us a … ” If a line has the subtext of like, “what the hell?”, give me a, (questioning) “what the hell?” as well as an (angry, frustrated) “what the hell?” And then I can maybe use both of those inflections in different situations.

I had a library of tonal material for each speaking character in the game, and I would go through all their story content scene by scene, and hook up an appropriate line. There are many scenes in the game. For example, so there are many scenes in the game where nine different characters can be in the scene depending on the circumstances of the game. And in those scenes, I had to do this work times nine essentially for all the different playable characters.

Sean
So, even with the procedural generated story, you still had to assign this positive-sounding intonation with this positive line, all by hand?

Greg
This process was fully manual. You chose this path, so this character is with you in game; that’s the procedural part, how it chooses the character. But then, for each permutation I had to manually construct the mapping, since I have to manually write their dialogue anyway, how does this character react in this situation and so on? That sort of thing.

I think I said it on a panel earlier today – someone asked how do we feel about Pyre in hindsight? For me, I think Pyre contains a lot of the best work I personally I’ve ever done. It felt like this was my shot.

Each of the games I’ve worked on here has been my shot at one thing or another, but Pyre was my first opportunity to create a game with a big cast of characters with intricate relationships, where I was really concerned with making sure each of these characters had a really distinct personalities, distinct motivations. As part of that, they had to have a distinct voice. That’s why this Sahrian thing—it both benefited the specific characters and then it benefited the world building to make the world feel like it was real.

I should mention we use English extensively in the game as well. Whenever you get into one of these rites, these ancient rituals where your freedom is at stake, there’s this announcer voice presiding over the rite who speaks in English to you, in an almost snotty, often humorous kind of insulting way.

We wanted to play with the role of language in the game. You, as the reader, can read English. It’s nothing to you, but playing as your character, reading this stuff is second nature to you, but something that you uniquely can do. So, while you can understand this English-speaking character, in the same way, Sahrian, the foreign language to the player, that’s the normal language to everybody. That’s the language everybody understands. English is the language that you uniquely understand. English represents a forbidden language that’s like Latin to us.

And the game has since been translated into other languages. I refer to English because we’re speaking in English. It’s also in German and French and stuff like that.

Sean
Did localization have any kind of impact on how you handle language?

Greg
Localization was extraordinarily challenging on Pyre because of the procedural generated nature of the story. The construction of sentences is based on assumptions of English grammar and sentence structure.

Sean
Can you give an example of that?

Greg
One of the first characters you meet is named Hedwyn. Let’s say the game has a sentence, “Hedwyn says he wants to go West,” but Hedwyn may not be in your party. Maybe Hedwyn has already ascended and returned to the Commonwealth. So, in this situation, the game will choose Jodariel, who’s a demon. And it will be, “Jodariel says she wants to go West.” Male, female pronouns, the subject-verb structure of English is unique to English. Different languages have different rules around pronouns, different rules around sentence structure. And German does not work the way English works, and French does not work the way English works and so on, so we have to fundamentally reconstruct the dialogue. The languages don’t all follow the same rules so we have to rewrite the rules of the sentence construction for each language, and that made it really difficult.

Sean
Did you localize Pyre yourselves or did you outsource the work to another team?

Greg
We worked with an outside team to localize the content, but we had to work with them to do the part where it becomes coherent. Like, the game does not have just a script, it just has these sentences that are filled with bits of data that are almost like a Mad Libs. If you think of a Mad Libs, it’s just like a bunch of blanks, so they have to translate these things that only end up making sense once you put them through the game and the blanks are filled in, so that made it very challenging.

Sean
As a writer, how did that compare to something like Bastion or Transistor which was a much more linear, straightforward narrative?

Greg
Bastion and Transistor definitely had branching as well. In Bastion, the narrator will say in the very first level, as you’re running away from something collapsing, the narrator says, “Kid just keeps running.” But if you’re tumbling around, he’ll say, “Somersaulting like crazy.” And he only says, “Somersaulting like crazy,” if you’re actually somersaulting. In Pyre, it was just like exponentially more material. It made things exponentially more complicated, but it was an exciting challenge.

This is part one of a two-part interview. Part two, which focuses on Supergiant’s latest game, Hades, and working with early access, will be up next week.

At New York Comic Con this past weekend, I got to interview popular all-ages cartoonists Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, often known as Art and Franco. DC staples for over a decade, they’ve been responsible for popular series Tiny Titans and Superman Family Adventures, a crossover with Lil’ Archie, Dark Horse books like Itty Bitty Hellboy, and original works like the superhero comedy Powers in Action (out now from Action Lab). They just made their graphic novel debut with the DC Kids OGN Superman of Smallville (review here) and have the upcoming Arkhamaniacs coming in 2020. They’re also owners of a comic book store in Skokie, Illinois.

They were kind enough to take ten minutes out of their busy day to share their thoughts on Superman of Smallville with me, and give some insight on what might be next for this version of Clark Kent and for their DC work.

Ray: So, it’s great to meet you. Superman of Smallville is the original graphic novel out for DC Kids now, and my first question is – honestly, I’d be very intimidated to retell Superman’s origin at this point because it’s one of these stories that’s timeless and there have been so many great takes on it – Frank Miller’s doing one right now with John Romita Jr. But I really did feel like Superman of Smallville stood out and had its own feel. So my question is – what did the two of you want to emphasize in this all-ages take that sets it apart?

Art: I think what works is that the character is discovering Clark’s origin at the same time he is, so you’re on his journey with him. On page two or three, he already says he’s Superman, so he’s Superman from the beginning of the book. But as he’s going, he learns about his spaceship, about the mysterious dog in the woods, all kinds of things like that. What we always thought was that what’s cool about the Kents is – how would they ever know about Krypton? They would know less than Clark does. So that was our approach – you find out about Clark’s origin as he does.

Franco: Yeah, we’ve basically taken his origin down to its basic elements and put him in middle school, so any kid can look up to him and go “If he can be Superman (at that age), I can be Superman.” It’s a new beginning for him.

Ray: So you’ve been doing DC books for a long time – I’ve been following your work together since Tiny Titans – but this is the first long-form project. Some of those books, like Superman Family Adventures, had ongoing plots but they were also very episodic. So I’m wondering, how was it different writing a long-form graphic novel compared to these one issue stories?

Art: That was the biggest challenge, I think, because we’re so used to our “long stories” being twenty pages. We’re so used to writing that way for monthly comics and short cartoony gags. Now we had to plan it out and outline it – we knew we wanted something to happen, but we had to set it up and save it for chapter three, for instance. So that was the biggest challenge we face. It wasn’t difficult, we just had to adjust the way we write the stories a little bit.

Franco: Yeah, basically, it’s just adapting it to the form – instead of wrapping it up every twenty pages, we had to organize all the beats in each chapter to make sure we got there.

Art: It’s cool, because sometimes we can stretch out different scenes and we don’t have to end with a gag. Maybe a two-page story can now turn into a five or six-page scene. It’s easier to do that – there were a lot of panels where we could slow down a scene or speed it up. The scenes are longer. Like in the scene where Clark goes home and talks to his parents – we had a lot more room to breathe. As long as the words flow through your story, it seems to work okay.

Ray: I noticed that. There were scenes where the story was allowed to breathe more, particularly the scenes in the woods, with the alien-hunting gang. And that brings me to my next question, which is – I noticed that this story didn’t really have any villains in it. Lex Luthor was there, but he wasn’t really a bad guy yet – just a kid who was a little too smart for his own good.

Art: He’s very suspicious!

Ray: I thought we were getting Brainiac, but it turned out to just be Krypto’s ship looking for him! So I was wondering how you came to the decision to not have any famous Superman villains in the story.

Franco: We actually did the opposite of that! When we found out we were going to do this book, we threw everything and the kitchen sink in there. We had everything in there, and when we talked to them a little more about what they wanted to do with these books, we kind of stretched it out – again, this longer narrative, and that applied to the story too. So those other things we wanted to do are being saved possibly for book two or three.

Art: Yeah, we said “Let’s concentrate on one thing, like Krypto.” When doing a 120-page book, it’s really like writing a six-issue miniseries, so that’s how we approached it originally. At first he fought a different villain in every chapter, and DC told us “That’s too much, guys!”

Ray: And that sort of answers my next question, which was – I was wondering if we could look forward to a volume two?

Art: I hope so, man.

Franco: I mean, that’s really up to you guys out there who are reading it out there – if you like it, let them know.

Ray: I know particularly my co-reviewer, Corrina Lawson, is particularly hoping to see a certain teen reporter come to Smallville to investigate.

Art: Oh, yeah, we have plans for her! We have plans for Lois, Brainiac, Bizarro – we’ve got plans for all these characters, and hopefully it’ll come. We already know what’s going to happen in the second book, and we have enough story for at least four volumes. If they want to go past that, I’m sure we can do it.

Ray: The only original character I saw in this book – that I didn’t think had a comic book counterpart – was Brad, the school bully. Was he an original?

Art: Brad was in the Christopher Reeve movie! In that one scene – Brad is the football kid who tells Clark to clean up his mess, and Clark later says to his dad, “That Brad, I want to tear him apart.” That’s Brad. He’s also in Superman 3 – the guy who married Lana, and Clark sneezes and knocks over his pins while bowling. So that’s where we got Brad.

Ray: That was a deep cut!

Art: Yeah, we’re into that stuff. And did you see Richard Donner was in the pet store? John Byrne is in there as a professor. I also put a bunch of my friends in there in crowd scenes – like when the robot is throwing people around. We have fun with it, and if you know me and Franco well, you’ll get all the references but they’re not essential to read the story.

Ray: I had completely forgotten about Brad from the movies. I just thought we all have a Brad in our lives.

Art: And Pete Ross has been in a lot of the lore too – we used the Pete Ross from Smallville.

Ray: Yeah, I’ve been following the comics since the 1990s, and there Pete Ross is the tall blond guy who was Clark’s friend, but I remember the African-American version from Smallville.

Art: Yeah, I like that character. And here we get to see them meet for the first time early in the comic.

Ray: So speaking of future projects, do you think there’s other DC characters that this style of ground zero, all-ages origins could work for?

Art: I think all of them, man. I know Franco likes characters like Hawkman and Blue Devil – all the weird guys. We’re currently working on a book called Arkhamaniacs with Joker, Harley, Killer Croc, and Bruce Wayne. So we’re trying to get that one going next.

Ray: I think I saw some preview art of that – it looks a little more influenced by your Tiny Titans work.

Art: Yeah, it’s Tiny Titans style sort of – but it’s also long-form like Superman of Smallville. They’re all small with no noses like I did with Tiny Titans – you’ll see. It’s going to be good, man.

Ray: So my final question is about something you did a few years back – I remember there were these miniseries for Dark Horse, with properties you wouldn’t expect to see get the Tiny Titans style treatment, like Hellboy and The Mask, with titles like Itty Bitty Hellboy. So I was wondering, are there any properties in pop culture – DC or WB properties, or really anything – that you’d like to see done in that style – where it shouldn’t work because of the content, but somehow it does?

Franco: I would love to do a Buffy the Vampire Slayer story in this style.

Art: I’d love to do “Little Etrigan”. Everything I draw comes out that way, but I love to draw superhero-style action, like my new book Powers in Action (from Action Lab). They’re superheroes, but they’re in the middle between that and my more cartoony style. I’d also love to do more Hellboy. I think anything can be adapted if you do it the right way. I’m always a fan of the big, giant guys – the big monsters, sasquatches, Darkseid.

Ray: I think kids really like those monsters with a heart of gold characters – DC Kids just put out Secret Spiral of Swamp Thing by Kirk Scroggs. Thanks for your time, guys – I look forward to seeing what you have cooking next for DC.

I have a strange and complex relationship with Pride month. There’s always a part of me that says, “If seeing a Coke ad with a rainbow flag makes some young kid feel accepted enough to come out, then it’s not a bad thing.” At the same time, I feel it’s also become a time where people pat themselves on the back for being ‘allies,’ for caring so much about the queer community, without ever really understanding what being an ally entails. Worse, I’ve started to feel that those same people, the ones that tell us on Twitter that they’re an ally because they placed a rainbow emoji after their name, are the reason we aren’t making more progress.

I acknowledge that’s quite the claim, and I promise I’ll explain, but, if you’ll allow me a moment, I want to talk about the difference between a good and bad ally. A good ally should use their power, their platform, their voice to help focus on the voices of others, while a bad ally focuses themselves, and talks about how much of an ally they are. This is an important but often subtle distinction, so let’s look at a clear example:

Consider a producer of a popular show, or another person who has a decently sized follower count (let’s assume 15k or higher) and can affect change in a work of media (hey, I write about media, so I’ll work with what I know). Look at the following tweets:

“Happy Pride! I care about LGBT voices in my work!”

“Happy Pride! We’re working to be more inclusive at our studio!”

If you look at these tweets, you’ll notice they are both about the author, not about gay people themselves. While the gesture is nice, this is someone who could, with just a few more words, be a real ally:

“As we celebrate pride, I’d like to discuss some of the improvements we’re making at our studio to ensure queer voices are represented. Here are some specific policies we plan to enact…”

“As part of pride, I’d like to share this tweet from one of my queer friends, who has written on issues affecting the gay community. I hope you’ll all take a moment to read it over.”

These tweets, instead of focusing the straight creator, focus on queer people. The person is using their platform not to elevate themselves, but instead to elevate others.

Not everyone needs to do this. Being a proper ally takes effort, and it’s not required. And nice sentiment is still nice (it’s certainly not harmful). And, as I said, there’s something to be said for normalized and broadly visible displays of acceptance.

I understand many straight people don’t really know what to say, so they chose the safe, easy option. And that’s fine too – no one is born with an innate knowledge of these issues (nor do you magically gain knowledge of these issues when you realize you’re gay, a fact even queer people sometimes forget).

But, if you care about this, if you really want to claim to be an ally, is it really that much harder to ask your gay friend, or coworker, or neighbor, “Hey, how can I be a good ally?”

And that frustrates me to no end; the amount of effort to go from “nice gesture,” to “ally” isn’t all that much. It’s easy to slap a rainbow on your news site, but it’s not that much harder to invite a queer writer to pen an article or two. It’s easy to write a vacuous tweet about how you stand with the gays, but it’s not that much harder to share a link to an LGBT charity. More effort? Certainly. Significantly more? Often no.

And, if you’ll forgive the generalization, it’s often these people, the ones that pat themselves on the back for doing the barest minimum, the ones who brag about their care of queer issues, who slow our progress. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King wrote a passage in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail that I come back to often:

I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”

As a gay person who reports on media, I spend a lot of time wondering why we don’t see more gay people on TV, why gay portrayals are often so hurtful, and the answer is often simple: Dr. King was right.

The problem isn’t the overt homophobe, who hopefully isn’t welcomed by most, but the quiet one, the one who almost certainly believes they are a good ally, the creator who says “gay people, we see you,” only to remind us that change takes time. The person who doesn’t want to rock the boat. The person who could make it better for us, if they only lent us their voice, and allowed it to be used in our service instead of theirs.

So, I have some issues with this month, because I find, more often than not, the conversation isn’t focused on gay people like me. It’s about people who aren’t gay telling other people who aren’t gay how much they care about gay people. But it’s not hard to do better. This pride, take a moment and speak to a gay person. Read about an issue affecting us. Endeavor to learn something, and share that knowledge. Use your voice to help us. Then you’ll be a real ally.

Following up from last week’s books for Women’s History Month, here are several more stories about women. As always, I find myself with more books to read than I can finish, but here are the ones I’ve gotten to so far!

Her Fearless Run: Kathrine Switzer’s Historic Boston Marathon by Kim Chaffee, illustrated by Ellen Rooney

Kathrine Switzer always loved running, even at a time when many people thought girls were too weak or fragile for sports. She later joined men’s running teams in college because there wasn’t a women’s running team. When she learned about the Boston Marathon, she knew she had to try it. Her application to the 1967 Boston Marathon was accepted and she received a number—the first time a woman ran the Boston Marathon with a number—because officials had just assumed that “K.V. Switzer” was a man. They tried to stop her once they saw her running, but she completed the marathon, and went on to run over thirty-five marathons.

This book shares the story of Switzer’s love of running, up to her triumphant moment finishing her first marathon; you have to read the Author’s Note to find out some more details, like the fact that she was then expelled from the Amateur Athletic Union, or that she later organized the first Avon International Women’s Marathon. Switzer’s first marathon run was just a year after Bobbi Gibb snuck into the race (without a number), a story that was told in Girl Running (see this Stack Overflow).

Gloria Takes a Stand by Jessica M. Rinker, illustrated by Daria Peoples-Riley

Gloria Steinem is a feminist icon, which also means she’s been a controversial figure. This book takes a look at her life starting from her early childhood up until the present day. It’s interesting to see the various places and ways that she learned about the world, the challenges she faced, and that paths that she took throughout her life. She fought for women’s rights, but was also involved in the civil rights movement, particularly in making sure that women of color were also heard. Whether you agree with all of her views or not, it’s a thought-provoking look at a woman who challenged the status quo.

A Celebration of Beatrix Potter: Art and Letters

This book celebrated Beatrix Potter’s 150th birthday … though I’m two years late myself. Thirty-two artists contributed their own memories and illustrations to this book, which also includes some of Potter’s stories and illustrations throughout the book. While this, I suppose isn’t technically history, I included it because of the way that Potter clearly influenced so many children’s book illustrators with her work.

Have You Heard About Lady Bird? Poems About Our First Ladies by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter

If you enjoyed the book about First Ladies in last week’s Stack Overflow, here’s another one: in verse! Organized in chronological order by presidents, each First Lady from Martha Washington to Melania Trump gets a poem to herself (some short, some longer) that highlights what she was known for. The poems have various types of meter and rhyme, so you don’t get stuck in iambic pentameter for 45 poems, which is nice—though it also means I stumbled a little the first time through. The illustrations are well done, though it does seem like they start off a little more cartoony and end up more realistic—probably based on the availability of reference photos, I would guess. The back of the book includes brief biographies of each woman, plus a quotation (usually from the First Lady herself, but occasionally from others). This book is a follow-up to Rutherford B., Who Was He?, a collection of poems about the presidents.

When You Grow Up to Vote by Eleanor Roosevelt with Michelle Markel, illustrated by Grace Lin

Speaking of First Ladies, this book is an updated version of Eleanor Roosevelt’s 1932 book that explains in a kid-friendly way how the government works. Despite the title, the book doesn’t actually begin with voting. Instead, it starts in what might seem to be an unusual place: firefighters. Then there are police, then garbage collectors, and then the mayor (and city councils), who are responsible for managing things like fire departments and police departments. After that, it explains how governments are organized—city, county, state, and national—and then how people come to be in the various positions, from senators and representatives to judges to secretaries to the president. Then, finally, after you’ve seen how these pieces fit together, there’s a message about voting.

Eleanor Roosevelt felt it was important for kids to understand how the government works, so that when they became voting adults, they would have both a sense of responsibility and the knowledge to make wise decisions. This book (which has been modernized and updated by Michelle Markel) is a great place to start, and Grace Lin’s illustrations are a nice addition as well.

Becoming Madeleine by Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Léna Roy

Becoming Madeleine is a biography of Madeleine L’Engle, written by her granddaughters. It’s written at a middle grade level, and begins with a little bit about L’Engle’s parents and marriage, up through the publication of A Wrinkle in Time and its reception. The book includes photographs and reproductions of correspondence and journal entries, so that you get to hear L’Engle tell parts of the story in her own voice. It’s clear that Voiklis and Roy really loved their grandmother, but they’re also not afraid to write about some of her faults, either.

I was pleased to see a photo of L’Engle with Touché, the dog who “wrote” the picture book The Other Dog (mentioned in last week’s column); there’s a brief story about Touché but then not much more, alas. For kids (or adults) who are fans of A Wrinkle in Time, this book is a window into the circumstances that made L’Engle who she was.

The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua

I, uh, meant to read this when it was first published in 2015, which also happened to be Ada Lovelace’s 200th birthday … and clearly I missed it by several years. Well, I’ve finally gotten around to reading it and every bit of it is wonderful, from the story behind the comic to the comic itself to the curated selection of primary sources in the appendix.

Ada Lovelace is often called the first computer programmer, because she wrote programs for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine. The catch is that this Analytical Engine was never actually constructed: Ada Lovelace died at age 36, and Charles Babbage never stopped tinkering with his design. Sydney Padua was encouraged by a friend to draw a webcomic about Ada Lovelace, became fascinated with their story, and felt that Lovelace and Babbage deserved a second life. So she created a “pocket universe” in which Lovelace survived, Babbage completed his vast steam-powered computer, and the two of them were charged by the Queen to fight crime … though their definitions of “crime” may be a bit stretched at times.

The book is thoroughly—I might even say obsessively—researched; even though the plot is fiction, a lot of the dialogue is taken from letters and books. Lovelace and Babbage encounter many famous contemporaries (many of whom interacted with Babbage in real life), and go on a lot of curious adventures. The comic strip includes entertaining and illuminating footnotes, which in turn have endnotes … which occasionally have footnotes of their own! There are also a few instances where the characters interact with the footnotes.

Padua even has an extensive explanation of the Analytical Engine: when she went looking for a visual explanation of how it worked, she was surprised to find that nobody had ever made a visualization of the whole thing, so she drew it herself. The subsequent breakdown of how the machine would have worked (if Babbage had ever gotten around to building it) is really fascinating.

The book touches on a lot of different subjects pertaining to math and computing: finances, Boolean logic, four-dimensional geometry, and even automated spell-checking. But it also paints a vivid picture of both of its main characters, who both led incredible, noteworthy lives. I had a blast reading this book, and highly recommend it (four years late). My only hesitation about including it in this column is that most of the source material is about Babbage rather than Lovelace, for several reasons (among them, that Lovelace was a woman and that she died young).

Prison Island by Colleen Frakes

McNeil Island in Puget Sound was home to a prison for roughly 130 years, and when it closed in 2011 it was the last prison in the United States that was only accessible by water or air. Colleen Frakes and her family lived on the island for about a decade, and this comic book is a memoir of her time there. The book jumps back and forth between her time living on the island and the present, when she returned to the island with her family for the closing ceremonies.

It’s an interesting story, perhaps as much because living on an island presented certain difficulties as because there was a prison there. There were a few prison escapes in their time there, but it’s only a small part of the story. Taking the ferry to the mainland for school, the difficulties of ordering pizza, and then the odd feeling (when the island closed) of seeing homes and community centers that were simply abandoned, some left unlocked.

Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi is well-known for her 2-part graphic autobiography Persepolis, which described her childhood growing up in Iran. It’s an unflinching look at life during the Islamic Revolution, particularly the way that it affected women and girls. Embroideries also portrays the lives of Iranian women, but this time with a focus on a different topic: their sex lives. Satrapi sets the scene with her grandmother, mother, and various aunts and neighbors and friends, having an afternoon drinking tea and talking. The women share stories about themselves and others: how the grandmother helped a friend fake her virginity on her wedding night (with some absurd results), comparing notes about European men, affairs and failed marriages, and more. This book, unlike Persepolis, is intended for adult readers, and offers a different sort of glimpse into life in Iran. Some stories will seem familiar and almost universal, like a debate between marrying for love or marrying for convenience; others feel specific to these women in this place at this time. At any rate, it’s entertaining and illuminating.

My Current Stack

I wish I had even more time, but in my stack I’ve got a few other biographies of authors, a graphic novel about Zora Neal Hurston, and a middle grade book about how American women won the right to vote. Maybe next week! In the meantime, here’s what else I’ve been reading this week.

I picked up the first volume of Man-Eaters by Chelsea Cain et al. at the store; I’d heard some good things about it (including from GeekMom writer K. Tilden Frost, in case you don’t mind some spoilers), but I hadn’t read it before. The brief synopsis is that toxoplasmosis has mutated, causing some girls to turn into giant, vicious cats when they menstruate. The government responded by spiking water with estrogen to prevent menstruation, and there’s also a specialized Strategic Cat Apprehension Team (SCAT) that responds to big cat incidents. Volume 1 collects the first four issues, so it’s still sort of building out the world and setting up the story, but there are some interesting (though not always surprising) reveals along the way. There’s also a lot of material from Estro Corp, because of course somebody’s making a lot of money from this crisis—there are ads for all of Estro Corp’s products (usually for men and boys, who need to be protected from those scary, unpredictable girls), and the fourth issue is actually a copy of their magazine Cat Fight rather than the continuation of the comic book story. It’s scathing, and really funny.

I also read Vei (Book 1) by Sara B. Elfgren and Karl Johnsson, a reimagining of Norse mythology that features the familiar Norse gods, but as antagonists to the people of Jotunheim, who worship the giant Jotuns. It’s gorgeously illustrated and has that strange familiar-unfamiliar feeling to it, where you recognize bits and pieces but they’re arranged in a different way. More on this one in the future.

And currently I’m reading Crowded by Christopher Sebela et al., another comic book I picked up at the store on a whim. It’s set in the future, with a gig economy that has extended beyond ride-sharing and home-sharing to pretty much all aspects of life. Crowdfunding has also gotten darker: a site called Reapr allows people to contribute to a hit-job campaign, and Charlotte Ellison has just found herself the target of one. She hires a protector (from the Dfend app, of course), but she’s not very good at following directions. I haven’t finished it yet, but I’m enjoying the skewering of social media and the internet economy.

Happy reading!

Disclosure: Except where noted otherwise, I received review copies of the books in this column.

March is Women’s History Month, and while it’s never a bad time to read about inspiring women, I wanted to devote one of my Stack Overflow columns this month to stories about women.

Wilma’s Way Home: The Life of Wilma Mankiller by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Linda Kukuk

Wilma Mankiller was the first woman chief of the Cherokee Nation, and her leadership helped to empower the Cherokee people. This picture book tells her story, from her childhood in Oklahoma and San Francisco to the beginnings of her activism to her work as chief. There’s also a brief explanation of the Trail of Tears, explaining how Native Americans had been forcibly removed from their lands in the past, and linking it to the forced relocation of Wilma’s family when she was young. I really didn’t know that much about Wilma Mankiller before reading this book, so I appreciated this history lesson for myself!

The Other Dog by Madeleine L’Engle

This picture book has a funny story behind it, because it is about Madeleine L’Engle and written by her, but it’s from the point of view of her dog, Touché. The story itself was written after L’Engle’s first daughter, Josephine, was born—and she is the “other dog” in the title. As Touché tells it, this new “Jo-dog” is very bizarre: she needs to be fed several times, doesn’t get to go out for walks, and has to sleep in a froufrou bed. But, eventually, Touché warms up to the new dog, particularly since it seems very attentive to whatever Touché has to say.

And, despite the fact that the book does focus a lot on Touché, it does tell a bit of the story of L’Engle herself. The Author’s Note at the back gives even more context, giving a glimpse of L’Engle’s life before she’d become the well-known author of the Wrinkle in Time series.

Rebel Voices: The Global Fight for Women’s Equality and the Right to Vote by Eve Lloyd Knight and Louise Kay Stewart

This boldly illustrated book traces the history of women’s voting rights, highlighting key figures who championed the cause. The book is arranged roughly chronologically, jumping from country to country in the order that women gained the right to vote; in some cases it also explains when minorities were granted voting rights as well, because many times those didn’t come at the same time.

The illustrations are spattery, poster-like artwork that often look like posters, and they’re really stunning. I learned a lot from reading this book, particularly about the wide range of tactics that suffragists used, from petitions to marches to riots. In some instances, the fact that women were already working alongside men in particular jobs—often during times of war—that helped make the case for equality. In others, it was the sheer number of determined women who wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. Even so, the amount of time it often took between the initial demands and when voting rights were finally granted was sometimes extremely long.

Of course, the right to vote doesn’t immediately bring equality on other fronts, but it’s a start. This book is both an inspiration and a challenge, to continue making progress both at home and abroad.

Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation by Ari Folman, illustrated by David Polonsky

Here’s a confession: I actually haven’t read Diary of a Young Girl—somehow it was never on a school reading list when I was growing up, and I never picked it up as an adult as non-required reading. So although I knew who Anne Frank was and have certainly heard about her story, I had never actually read it in her own words, nor gotten a lot of the details. This graphic adaptation is abridged, because the entire book would have been too much to illustrate in this form, but Folman worked to capture some of the significant moments, while also preserving some day-to-day entries that showed Anne’s humor and wit. I was struck by the juxtaposition of the stressful moments of survival and hiding with more banal moments about day-to-day life.

The illustrations are superb, and one of the reasons is the way that things are not always illustrated completely literally. When Anne imagines her fellow Jews in work camps, the illustration is styled to look a little like Egyptians working on pyramids; when she describes the residents of the Annex eating supper, the illustration shows them all as different animals. Some sections reproduce entire entries with just some background illustration, as a way to let her voice really shine through. While I don’t consider this a substitute for reading the book it’s based on, it is an excellent, thoughtfully made introduction, and I highly recommend it.

Hidden by Loïc Dauvillier, Marc Lizano, and Greg Salsedo

While this graphic novel is fictional, I think it’s a fitting pairing with Anne Frank’s Diary. Dounia Cohen tells her granddaughter about her childhood in France during World War II, when the French government began to collaborate with Nazi occupiers. When Dounia’s parents were arrested, they hid Dounia in an armoire, where she was discovered by neighbors and then hidden from the Nazis.

What makes this book particularly significant is that, since Dounia is telling the story to her young granddaughter, the events of the Holocaust are told in a way that is intended for young children to read. That doesn’t make it easy, and there are certainly things that are frightening and disturbing, but it also focuses on the people who helped Dounia and her family. Young kids have the capacity to be kind or cruel, and this book doesn’t hide the prejudice that some had toward the Jews, but it also shows how we are able to stand up against injustice.

How to Build a Hug: Temple Grandin and Her Amazing Squeeze Machine by Amy Guglielmo and Jacqueline Tourville, illustrated by Giselle Potter

Temple Grandin is known for her work with animal behavior and for speaking about autism, which wasn’t well understood when she was a child. She was particularly sensitive to touch, and found it very difficult to be hugged, even though she wanted to experience the comfort that others seemed to get from hugs. Eventually, she invented a “hug machine,” inspired by the squeeze chutes used to help cows stay calm during exams, and she discovered that being able to control the timing and pressure of the hug made it work—and even that it eventually allowed her to enjoy hugs from people as well. Her hug machine has inspired devices that are used for autistic people now.

This picture book tells Grandin’s story in a way that is easy for kids to understand, explaining what her autism was like, both her hypersensitivities and the way that her inventive mind looked at the world. It’s interesting that the story portion of the book doesn’t even use the word “autism”: instead of using a label, it just describes what Grandin was like. The Authors’ Note at the end gives a little more of her background and how her autism manifested, as well as more about her work with animals.

Secret Engineer: How Emily Roebling Built the Brooklyn Bridge by Rachel Dougherty

The Brooklyn Bridge was built using a new technique learned from Europe: caissons, large inverted boxes that captured air inside them so that workers could excavate at the bottom of the river. When Washington Roebling, who took on the building of the bridge from his father, got caisson sickness (now known as “the bends”), he was unable to continue work. Emily Roebling, his wife, took over as his eyes and ears, reading construction reports to Washington and writing letters and instructions that he dictated. Uncomfortable with the messages that she didn’t entirely understand, she began to study bridge engineering herself, and continued to oversee and champion the project since Washington remained ill during construction.

I hadn’t known anything at all about Emily Roebling before this book, and had only known a little bit about the Brooklyn Bridge’s construction. I like the way that the book explains the bridge construction with diagrams and illustrations, and it’s an inspiring story about a woman who wouldn’t give in to societal pressure about what she could and couldn’t do.

Little Dreamers: Visionary Women Around the World by Vashti Harrison

Little Dreamers is a follow-up to Harrison’s Little Leaders, which focused on Black women (mentioned in this Stack Overflow). This one features 40 more stories about women from around the world, from well-known names like painter Frida Kahlo to many that were new to me, like virologist Flossie Wong-Staal. Each story is just a single page long, accompanied by an illustration. The faces are all mostly the same (a few are in profile), using the same features and closed eyes, but each one is customized by the clothing and a background that includes a lot of little details taken from that woman’s story.

Limitless: 24 Remarkable American Women of Vision, Grit, and Guts by Leah Tinari

Leah Tinari was inspired to make these portraits after making posters of US Presidents for her son: “I had just spent months painting and researching men and only men.” When Carrie Fisher passed away shortly after that, she made a portrait of Carrie Fisher, which then kicked off this project to paint other iconic women. (The restriction to American women for this project seems to be primarily as as parallel to the presidential portraits.)

Each portrait, like Carrie Fisher’s on the cover, is in black and white with one highlight color, surrounded by stenciled text highlighting the subject’s passions, accomplishments, or quotes. The portraits are paired with a quote—usually by the woman, but sometimes from somebody else close to them. The subjects come from various fields: actors and writers, cooks and hoteliers, singers and scientists.

A section at the back has a list of the women, with their birth and death dates, along with a powerful moment for each one. I really liked the striking portraits, which would make great posters. The book is primarily the artwork, though, without as many details about each of the subjects.

The Story of Barbie and the Woman Who Created Her by Cindy Eagan, illustrated by Amy June Bates

When I think of Barbie dolls, I have to admit that mostly what comes to mind is debates about unrealistic body image and the “pink aisle” at the toy store. But Barbie’s origins are actually inspiring: Ruth Handler noticed her daughter playing with paper dolls of grown-ups rather than her baby dolls, and pitched the idea of a doll who looked like a teenager instead of a baby. Mattel rejected the idea, but Handler decided to push ahead anyway. When Barbie was introduced at the 1959 To Fair, she was a hit.

Handler’s goal was to create a doll that let girls see themselves as adults, in roles that they dreamed of having one day. Of course, some of those careers may seem like gender stereotypes now, but Barbie’s career aspirations advanced with the times, too. And, while my own kids have never really gotten into Barbie dolls, I did appreciate this lesson about Barbie’s history, and about her forward-thinking creator. The illustrations for the book have a 1950s vibe and are excellent.

What’s the Big Deal About First Ladies by Ruby Shamir, illustrated by Matt Faulkner

This book was actually published back in 2017 and I’ve just missed covering it. Starting with a quick introduction that explains who the first lady is (not all of them have been the president’s wife!), the book explains what the first lady’s job is, what it’s like living in the White House, and provides lots of fun facts about the things that various first ladies have done throughout American history. Scattered throughout the book are little text boxes filled with trivia, some funny and some serious. The book explains how being the first lady is an important job, one that many people may not really think about that much compared to the presidency, and shows how first ladies have made a big difference.

Reach Higher: An Inspiring Photo Collection of First Lady Michelle Obama by Amanda Lucidon

Speaking of first ladies, this photo book by former Official White House Photographer Amanda Lucidon captures Michelle Obama in the many roles that she played during Barack Obama’s presidency, from planting a kitchen garden at the White House to her “Let’s Move” fitness campaign to advocating for education for girls around the world. Like Pete Souza’s photo book of Barack Obama (mentioned in this Stack Overflow), this collection is adapted for kids from Lucidon’s larger photo book, Chasing Light. There are short passages of text explaining Michelle Obama’s role as first lady, along with occasional quotes.

That’s all I have time for today, but I probably have enough books left for another column next week, so stay tuned. In the meantime, if you want some more stories about amazing women, here are two more Stack Overflow columns on the subject!

Stack Overflow: 11 True Stories of Amazing Women

Stack Overflow: Women Who Changed the World

My Current Stack

I just finished reading an advance reading copy of Queen of the Sea by Dylan Meconis—it’s an upcoming graphic novel “loosely based on the youth of Queen Elizabeth I.” I hadn’t noticed the “loosely based on” when I started reading it, thinking it’d be a good fit for today’s column, but then I was just drawn into the story and went ahead and finished it anyway—even though the advance copy is in black and white (and half of it isn’t even shaded—it’s just outlines). You’ll definitely hear more about this one closer to its release date in June.

I also bought a really fun comic book called Invincible by Jousselin. The English translation is only available digitally for now, but it’s about a superhero who can interact with past and future frames of the comic strip, which effectively works a bit like a form of time travel. Along the way, there are some other characters who can manipulate perspective or cross through pages, and other really fascinating ways to use the comic strip medium. I really enjoyed it, and hope that the next volume gets translated soon as well.

Disclosure: Except where otherwise noted, I received review samples of the books covered in this column.

Today we say farewell to one of our long-time GeekDads: Dave Banks is stepping down this month from his role as Games Editor and game reviewer, after about a dozen years of contributing to the site. He’s seen the site go through a lot of changes and outlasted many writers who have come and gone over the years, but now that his kids (triplets, in case you weren’t aware!) are nearing the end of high school, he wanted to savor the time with them a bit more before they head off to college.

Dave has been a huge part of making GeekDad what it is today, particularly in our coverage of tabletop games. He took the initiative to build our tabletop review index and to establish our Game of the Year process, and he even got our GeekDad Approved seal off the ground. He started up our weekly “Re-Roll” tabletop roundup, giving us a place to share industry news as well as the games we’ve been playing. I’ve gotten to know Dave well over the years, from attending PAX in 2010 to running our Gaming with GeekDad events at Gen Con to hanging out and playing games whenever I managed to get to Kansas City. I’ve always enjoyed spending time with Dave, whether we’re talking about games or our kids or anything else.

I’m going to miss having Dave around, reading his board game coverage and making Gen Con plans, though I expect I’ll still hit him up for his opinions about new games from time to time, or stop by for some games on my occasional visit to Kansas City. Knowing Dave, I think it won’t be long before he’s found a new project to dive into.

Dave, thanks for everything, and enjoy your “retirement”!

John Booth

Dave was one of the first fellow GeekDad writers I met in person, back at PAX East in 2010, for the first GeekDad panel. Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of attending six straight Gen Cons with Dave as part of the GeekDad team. His enthusiasm for discovering and sharing and teaching tabletop games is infectious, and it’s a blast every year. And unless you were there to see him at work, it’s almost impossible to comprehend the effort and organization and hours he put annually into communicating and meeting with game designers and companies and demo teams, all to try and share every possible bit of gaming enjoyment and useful information and reviews with GeekDad’s readers. He was also one of the driving forces behind Gen Con’s Gaming with GeekDad events the past few years. Thanks, Dave—hope we’re sitting at a table again sometime!

Jenny Bristol

I believe I first met Dave Banks, along with his son, at the first Maker Faire I went to, back in 2009 (wow, 10 years ago!). GeekDad had a booth, and Dave and I, among others, were there to staff it. Dave was confident, quick to jump in and volunteer, and friendly. From that positive beginning, Dave has only improved upon longer acquaintance. He is thoughtful, generous, capable, and thorough. He is quick to volunteer for tasks he’s well suited for, and he makes himself available to those who could benefit from his help. Dave has even gone out of his way to do something nice for me personally. It’s been a pleasure to know Dave and to work alongside him at GeekDad.

Jim Kelly

The writers of GeekDad are scattered across the globe, but occasionally we manage to get some face-to-face contact. That was the case for me, four Gen Cons ago, when I met Dave Banks. Dave was a whirlwind of a game player, immediately pulling out a copy of Imhotep (I believe) for our group to play and then proceeding to another… and another… and another. I’ve always enjoyed reading Dave’s game reviews, and I cannot count how many games I’ve purchased over the years based on his suggestions. He is a true gamer’s gamer, and if you ever get the chance to meet him and talk about games… be prepared to walk and talk. Dave makes the rounds of Gen Con with a purpose, and you have to be a true multitasker to keep up with him. He’s always smiling, and you’ll be surprised at how many people know him from GeekDad (probably second only to Jonathan Liu).

It’s tough to hear that Dave is leaving us at GeekDad, but like most of us… he has a family that is growing up and he wants to spend some more time with them. I get that, and I wish him all the best in his future endeavors. I also hope that I will run into him at future Gen Cons because it’s hard to imagine Gen Con without him in the mix introducing us to new games and new developers.

All the best, Dave… and thanks for all you’ve done for GeekDad over the years, the introductions you’ve made for me (and others), and the great game introductions.

Robin Brooks

As a UK-based GeekDad, chances to meet up with other members of the clan are distinctly limited. Dave is the only one I’ve met face to face. We met up whilst he was on vacation in London. We had a morning in which I could show him around. It’s funny how when you need to show somebody around your home turf, thinking of stuff to do suddenly becomes extremely difficult. Even in a city like London.

In the end, we settled for a walking tour, taking in a cup of coffee at Covent Garden at the end. My one ace card, it turns out, was a stop at the “Orc’s Nest,” a long-running games store in the heart of the city. Dave was like a kid in a sweet shop; I don’t think I ever imagined someone could become so excited over a copy of Cottage Garden!

I was blown away by the depth and breadth of Dave’s game knowledge, and how many of the people, who to me were just names on boxes, he’d met, played games, and talked design with. It was a real eye-opener, how well-respected and loved Dave and GeekDad were amongst the gaming community. In the space of one morning, Dave’s passions for games and his desire to make GeekDad the home of consistently excellent tabletop coverage shone through.

It was through many of Dave’s reviews that I came to love GeekDad. I hope the rest of us can continue building on his strong foundations and hope that one day he returns with his incisive reviews and his eye for an excellent game. I’ll miss having Dave at GeekDad, but my bank account may breathe a small sigh of relief.

Gerry Tolbert

Here’s to Dave—after bonding over late night board games and discussing the best place to get KC barbecue, I find it highly improbable that we will not see each other again for more of the same. Enjoy your rest and take every opportunity to spend time with your teenagers. To paraphrase our favorite bearded author: “may you be wise enough to know yourself, and brave enough to BE yourself, and wild enough to change yourself while somehow staying altogether true.”

Michael Harrison

My memory is a little hazy, but I’m pretty sure I first met Dave at the first ever PAX East convention in Boston, back in 2010. We played old school Dungeons & Dragons in the hotel lobby (our characters all died), attempted a run through Mansions of Madness while sitting on the floor of an ill-lit conference room (our backs and legs died), and pushed our way through a massive line of people on our way to the first ever GeekDad Parenting Panel (we all nearly died when we found out it was our panel they were waiting for). Dave is always welcome at my gaming table, with his sharp, sardonic wit, his excitement for all things ludic, and his natural curiosity. GeekDad will miss him dearly.

Rob Huddleston

Like others here, I first met Dave in person at Gen Con, although I had gotten to know him a bit virtually thanks to Slack before that. Attending something as big as Gen Con for the first time can be a bit overwhelming, but Dave immediately made me feel welcome and a part of the team. Later, I was honored to be invited to join Dave and Jonathan in Portland for a weekend of intense gaming while we decided on the first GeekDad Game of the Year, but what really stands out in my mind about that weekend was the Sunday morning that he and I sat in the Liu’s basement and talked for a few hours about our other shared interest: we are also both the fathers of Boy Scouts and involved as adult leaders ourselves, and it’s always great to compare notes.

I will definitely miss having Dave around on Slack to chat with, and future times when we GeekDads get together won’t be the same without him.

Ken Denmead

First, let me say that I really, really hope this is a hiatus, and not a final farewell, because Dave has been such an important part of the life of GeekDad, it would be a shame to lose what he’s brought to the venture over the nearly 12 years we’ve been going. Here’s a bit of trivia that folks might not know about Dave, from something he mentioned in an email to me way, way back: “I was the one who wrote Chris and encouraged him to spread out and bring more people on board—I felt GeekDad was (at the time) too San Fran-centric.” Yeah, way back in 2007 it was Dave who suggested to Chris Anderson that he expand GeekDad’s roster, which is when things really got rolling for us. Ever since then, he’s been the best example I’ve seen of someone taking their geeky passion and turning it into something even more, as part of their relationship with GeekDad. His advice over the years on business issues has been invaluable, and the support he’s given the blogs via his other resources has been immense. Whatever the future holds, it has been an honor to work with him, to play games with him at conventions, and know him as a friend. In every way, Dave Banks is:

Childhood friends Joe Mailander and Justin Lansing have made a name for themselves (and won a Grammy in the process) with their rustic, modern take on traditional American roots music. Their return to Symphony Space as part of the Just Kidding Kids series drew a near-full house of rapturous fans who seemed to know the words to their favorites, from “Slumberjack” to “Blankets of Snow.”

The OG OD’s avoid making audiences OD on messages. There is a gentle conservation theme through their material regarding the magnificence of nature. Videos played behind a few of the tracks also celebrate participation, whether it involves water and boats or boots and forest snowfalls. Like icicles slowly melting on a pine tree, the hour-long concert was over before most young observers realized. And back into the rain (although not the cold) they went.

Joe and Justin have dedicated the most recent CD, Winterland, to their beloved and endangered winters, which are warming fast as a result of climate change. To help ensure their fans can enjoy a lifetime of snowy winter exploration, the Okee Dokees are donating 10% of all Winterland sales to Askov Finlayson’s Keep the North Cold initiative, which supports leading-edge climate solutions in the North and across the country. Read more about their important mission here.

The Just Kidding Kids series continues with “Beats, Rhymes, and Breaking” (featuring breakdancing performances) on Saturday, January 12 at 11 AM and 2 PM (click here for tickets) and “Go Home Tiny Monster,” a puppet play about a family of monsters on Saturday, January 19 at 11 AM and 2 PM (click here for tickets).

Every year on Veterans Day in the U.S., we on GeekDad and GeekMom like to take a moment to remember our American veterans. We ordinarily deal with far less serious matters, but as many of us are American, we feel it is important that we remember all those who have given part of their lives in service to their country’s military. (Though Veterans Day was yesterday, November 11, we’re observing it today.) This year was also the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, marking the end of World War I, in which over 16 million died. As we reflect on the “war to end all wars,” may we continue to work toward peace.

While we are grateful to all those who have served, we would like to specifically mention some who are particularly important to us. These include well-known geek celebrities (that is, people whom geeks consider celebrities–not necessarily people who are/were geeks themselves) of all sorts, and also family members of ours (and the several contributors who are themselves veterans). It is almost certain that we have missed people who should have been on the list; if you are aware of any, please let us know with a comment. Also, if there are members of your own family (or you yourself) whose service you would like to mention, please leave a comment about them.

We American GeekDad and GeekMom writers would like to express our profound gratitude to all those who have served or are serving now in our country’s armed forces. Please join us: thank a veteran today!

Geek Celebrity Veterans (in alphabetical order)

Isaac Asimov (served nine months in the Army just after WWII)

Robert Asprin (Army in Vietnam, 1965-6)

Hal Clement (Harry Stubbs) (flew 35 combat missions in a B-24 over Europe in WWII)

Myke Cole (three tours in Iraq)

L. Sprague de Camp (Navy, Lt. Commander, served in WWII at Philadelphia Navy Yard with then-civilians Heinlein and Asimov)

Steve Ditko (Army in post-WWII Germany, drew comics for an Army newspaper)

David Drake (Army in Vietnam)

Harlan Ellison (Army, 1957-9)

Theodore Geisel (Army Air Force, WWII – GeekMom Jenny’s grandfather served with him)

Joe Haldeman (combat engineer, Army in Vietnam)

Rondo Hatton (Army, “Mexican Expedition” and WWI)

Robert Heinlein (served in Navy from 1929-34)

Frank Herbert (Navy Seabees as a photographer in WWII for six months)

James Earl Jones (Army, Ranger, 1953 – 55)

Robert Jordan (James Oliver Rigney, Jr.) (two tours in Army in Vietnam 1968-70)

DeForest Kelley (Army Air Corps/Force in WWII, 1943-6)

Jack Kirby (WWII, service in Europe after D-Day)

Keith Laumer (Army in WWII, Air Force 1953-6 and 1960-5)

Stan Lee (WWII stateside service from 1942-45, Signal Corps)

Tom Lehrer (Army, 1955-7, achieving the rank of Specialist Third Class: “Corporal without portfolio”)

Mark Lenard (Army during WWII, 1943-6)

Elizabeth Moon (Marines, 1968-71)

Leonard Nimoy (Army, Sgt., 1953-5)

Edgar Allan Poe (Army, 1827-9)

Fred Pohl (served about 2.5 years in the Army from 1943-5, stationed primarily in Italy)

John Ringo (four years active duty in the Army)

Gene Roddenberry (Army Air Corps/Force in WWII, 1941-5; flew 89 combat missions in the Pacific Theatre)

Kurt Vonnegut (turned POW experience of Dresden firebombing into antiwar sci-fi classic)

Gene Wolfe (Army in Korean War)

Ed Wood (Marines in WWII, was in the Battle of Tarawa)

GeekDad and GeekMom Family Member Veterans (also in alphabetical order)

Harold Bair, Jenny Bristol’s maternal grandfather (Army Air Force in WWII 1941-1945)

Jim Banks, Dave Banks’s paternal uncle (Navy in Vietnam)

Louis A. Banks, Dave Banks’s paternal grandfather (Navy in WWII)

Tom Banks, Dave Banks’s father (Navy in Vietnam)

Irwin Blum, Matt Blum’s paternal grandfather (Navy in WWII)

Richard E. Booth, John Booth’s father (Air Force, from 1968-72)

John Charow, Corrina Lawson’s maternal grandfather (WWII veteran, served in the Italian campaign)

Harry Chew, Dave Banks’s maternal grandfather (Army in WWII)

Ned Denmead, Ken Denmead’s paternal grandfather (Army Air Corps in WWII)

James Ferrell, Dave Banks’s father-in-law (Army in Korea)

Alvin Fox, Patricia Vollmer’s grandfather (Army in WWII)

Timothy Fox, Patricia Vollmer’s father (US Navy, 1965-1998)

Roger Garrison, Jenny Bristol’s paternal grandfather (Army Air Force in WWII 1941-1945 – Worked in Hollywood with Theodore Geisel writing propaganda for the war effort)

Charles F. Hart, Lisa Tate’s father (Air Force 1958-1962)

Don Hughes, Jim MacQuarrie’s brother (Navy, on the USS Constellation in the mid-1980s)

Joseph Hughes, Jim MacQuarrie’s father (Army paratrooper in Korea, 82nd Airborne)

Cliff Joseph, Matt Blum’s wife’s paternal grandfather (Marines in WWII)

Joshua LaCasse, Corrina Lawson’s nephew (Vermont Army National Guard in Afghanistan)

Corrina Lawson, herself (Coast Guard, from 1983-85)

Gilbert Richard Lawson, Corrina Lawson’s paternal grandfather (WWII veteran, served in the Italian campaign)

Roger Gordon Lawson, Corrina Lawson’s father (Navy from 1962-1966)

Hazel Levy, Matt Blum’s paternal great-aunt (WAVES in WWII)

Joy Liu, Jonathan Liu’s sister-in-law (Navy in Middle East)

Bob Musetti, Ken Denmead’s father-in-law (Navy in Vietnam)

Elmer Slavey, Randy Slavey’s grandfather (Army in WWII)

Elmer Slavey (junior), Randy Slavey’s paternal uncle (MISTY fighter pilot in Vietnam)

Richard Tate, Lisa Tate’s husband (Army 1985-1989)

Jerry Tolbert, M.D., Gerry Tolbert’s father (Army, 2001-present)

Dave Vollmer, Patricia Vollmer’s husband (USAF, 1996-present)

Patricia Vollmer, herself (USAF Reserves, 1995 – present)

Photo by Branson Convention and Visitors Bureau; released under CC BY 2.0

GeekDad was allowed to participate in a roundtable discussion with the cast, crew, and minds behind Mars season 2.

The first group GeekDad chatted with were renown scientists Michio Kaku and Lucianne Walkowitcz. The discussion revolved around the science of going to Mars but also the logistics and how commercial industries will affect the trip.

The following is a recording of that discussion.

I look forward to seeing the rest of Mars season 2. It is a wonderful combination of science fact and science fiction and has the pedigree to be a legendary series.