Doctorow is great : This book not so much

Andrew's Brain is about 200 pages. There is one voice - Andrew - talking probably to a mental health professional. The narration is fast flowing , hard to follow and at times it seems pointless. Andrew recounts the death of his first wife, but was that for real?
Once I started mistrusting Andrew's narration, it becomes boring. At least it short! It has some good passages. The master has not lost his touch.

Gossip as Weapon -- bring it on

Sure, why wouldn’t there be a Jane Austen RPG that uses gossip as a weapon?

by Kirsten Reach

Today we introduce you to Ever Jane, an RPG from Developer 3 Turn Productions which stars characters from Jane Austen’s novels who are out to destroy one another. Or at least the other’s reputation. We could just provide weird Jane Austen news for you every day, but then you’d be callous when the really good stuff comes up.

“We want to bring women’s fantasies into video games,” said the game’s creator, Judy L. Tyrer, in an interview with Co.Create. “And I can’t think of a more commonly held fantasy than Mr. Darcy. We want to bring you Colin Firth in a wet shirt.”

Characters have varying levels of traits like kindness, happiness, or duty. In a promotional video, Tyrer explains, “Instead of kill or be killed, it’s invite or be invited.” The game will eventually introduce locations like Brighton and Bath.

In other Austen game news, No Crusts Interactive has recently released a Canabalt-like running game featuring Lizzie Bennet. She runs in heels over the full text of Pride & Prejudice in — what else would you call it? — Stride & Prejudice.

Readers can customize the background color on their iPhones or iPads. The developer says it’s “the first endless runner game to include an entire novel,” and it holds your place in the book each time you die.

I suppose it’s a good solution if you need to reread all of Pride & Prejudice really, really fast.

Kirsten Reach is an editor at Melville House.