Epic space battles. Monsters. Fantastic worlds and faraway lands. Family life and work struggles. All of this is the stuff of great literature. It is also the stuff of the stories in this book.

Every week on the podcast ATARI BYTES, I present an original (very) short story inspired by a classic video game. Many of those stories are now regurgitated here in new-fangled BOOK form. Ah, technology!

Been a long time since you played video games? Don’t even like video games? Fear not! The games are just a springboard to dive into many classic themes - family relationships, the workaday world, self-doubt, war, our competitive nature, fear, hope and longing. Also, monkeys with paint rollers. (Yes. Really.) Those themes are presented through a variety of genres like science fiction; fantasy, contemporary fiction, 1980s super spies, poetry, and, in one case, even 19th century, Victorian era erotic literature.

So put down that joystick and pick up this book. Then when it’s Game Over for the book, as we say on ATARI BYTES, go play some old games. They’ve missed you.