Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program

Literary Gaming is a fascinating and detailed scholarly exploration of this fairly new field of academic inquiry. The book investigates the rather unique combination of literature, in its broadest sense, and games, especially digital computer games. I was fascinated to learn that the computer games industry has a huge financial turnover: “By the second decade of the twenty-first century, computer games have become a well-established art form represented by a global industry whose turnover exceeds that of both Hollywood and the music industry” (p. 34). Apart from the financial importance of this startling fact, the number of individuals involved in programming, designing, creating and playing all types of computer-based videogames is enormous. This alone justifies the detailed investigation that Ensslin has carried out and presented in Literary Gaming. This book mainly looks at literary video games that combine substantial aspects of both the ludic and the literary. “They employ narrative, dramatic and poetic techniques in order to explore the affordances and limitations of ludic structures and processes” (frontispiece). Ludic, as used by Ensslin, “ranges from the kind of cognitive playfulness exhibited by ludic print literature to ludic mechanics, with the latter operating as an element of a ludic digital ‘book’ . or as the technological implementation of the rules of a literary game proper, that is, an artifact that has to be played, first and foremost” (p. 42). These games are different from conventional literary/word games, such as the long-standing and popular “analogue” game Scrabble—and also from a conventional book that has been reset as an eBook, basically a book under glass. In her research, Astrid Ensslin developed what she calls the “L-L” spectrum by which to analyze and categorize the various and numerous literary video games available as both standalone or online, multi-user applications. Some games concentrate more on the literary side of things, others on the ludic; however, to be considered in this study both of these aspects had to form part of the game. The book is very well written and, despite some of the complex theories (communication, meaning, authorship and so on) discussed, remains accessible to the interested general reader. Literary Gaming is divided into two sections. Part I is an introduction and discussion of the theories and methodology involved. Part II, with seven chapters, analyzes the various aspects of literary video games using a number of actual games as case studies. This analysis includes: hypertext literature; ludic hypermedia fiction; anti-ludicity and ludic mechanics; and interactive fiction. Literary Gaming has a smattering of black-and-white images and concludes with excellent notes, references, glossary and index—very important inclusions in scholarly books. Examples of games discussed include The Princess Murderer, Blue Lacuna, The Path and Loss of Grasp. editor-in-chief Michael Punt . managing editor Bryony Dalefield associate editors Martha Blassnigg, Hannah Drayson, Dene Grigar, John Vines A full selection of reviews is published monthly on the LR web site: <leonardoreviews.mit. edu>. leonardo reviews