Sidequest Article on Fantasy America

I often write about Japanese culture in video games, so I thought it might be fun to explore how Japanese games represent American culture. I’m a fan of thematically curated lists, which can help draw parallels and comparisons that invite deeper investigation.

Here in February 2025, it’s a weird time in the United States. To say that we’re living through a crisis of national identity feels like an understatement. The piece I wrote for Sidequest isn’t political, but I still found it interesting and meaningful that Japanese fantasies of the United States are incredibly diverse. In fact, I might even say that “diversity” is a major aspect of the appeal of America as a video game setting.

You can check out the piece on Sidequest here:
🍔 https://sidequest.zone/2025/02/10/five-japanese-games-set-in-fantasy-america/

The Smile of the Mountain Demon

Liam is a budding content creator who specializes in guided meditation videos. Seeking to grow his following, he jumps at an Airbnb listing for a spiritual retreat in the Adachigahara mountains of rural Japan. At the end of a long journey, the stylish cabin enclosed within a verdant forest is everything Liam could hope for. The beautiful young woman who manages the property offers a warm welcome, but there’s something strange about her smile…

I was extremely honored to contribute to this year’s 13 Days Advent horror anthology. My story, “The Smile of the Mountain Demon,” is about a 21st century yamauba who entraps a YouTube influencer with Buddhist pretensions by using Airbnb and the language of New Age spirituality. The young man is looking for a scenic “spiritual retreat” to use as a source of content, and the yamauba is looking for a tasty snack.

This story is based on the medieval Adachigahara folktales in which a cunning yamauba entraps a less-than-devout Buddhist priest, as well as Minako Ohba’s beautiful and heartbreaking short story “The Smile of a Mountain Witch.”

If you’re interested, I’ve posted my story on AO3 (here), and you can download a free digital copy of the anthology via its page on Itchio here:

🌟 https://13daysadvent.itch.io/13days-demons-divinity

The illustration that accompanies my story was created by the brilliant dark fantasy artist Maxyvert, who posts strange and ethereal paintings on Tumblr (here), on Instagram (here), and on Twitter (here). This artist takes commissions for both digital and physical watercolor portraits (here), and it was an amazing experience to work with them.

Article about Ender Lilies on Sidequest

I got to write my dream article for Sidequest about Ender Lilies, one of my favorite games! Here’s the opening paragraph:

In Binary Haze’s 2021 Soulslike Metroidvania Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights, a young girl named Lily navigates a hostile postapocalyptic world with the help of grotesquely mutated undead monsters. As the game progresses, Lily becomes increasingly reliant on her monstrous companions as she becomes more monstrous herself. Ender Lilies functions as an intriguing model of mutual aid, especially in relation to its gradual descent into fungal horror. As the world changes around us, Ender Lilies asks, is it really so horrific to develop radical new relationships with the environment?

You can read the full piece on Sidequest here:
https://sidequest.zone/2024/09/05/ender-lilies-fungal-horror/