Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Today
As a way to test out my books link, to provide a bit of insight on the inner workings of the project, and a way to talk a bit about our experiences, I thought that I could talk about a book that I've been somewhat obsessing over for the last couple of months.
For context, as you may have noticed, I'm a horror guy. I love things spooky, scary, cheesy, and monstrous in all of their formats. Generally, once a week my friends and I all gather to have drinks and chat about life, the mundane and otherwise, and whatever things we've consumed since the last time we met. This provides each of us a way to speak to our weekly obsessions as well as recommending things that appear in each of our spheres of influence.
This is all to say that over a wonderful evening with friends and drinks, my friend recommended to me a book that (1) was not a horror book and (2) I had never heard of. As a person that worked in so many bookstores in my youth, I liked to think I still had my finger on the pulse of things that would be in my wheelhouse. But I had never heard of "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow."
The book primarily follows 2 main characters as they navigate their relationship with one another throughout their lives. These characters bond over their shared love for video games and go in and out of each other’s lives as they build games and a development company together. The book has several references to real games, but any time they are mentioned it is more to establish a tether to the world and less a pop culture nostalgia grab. The author clearly spent time digging into the weeds of game design as each of Sadie and Sam’s games that are discussed are incredibly thought out and interesting. The book serves up great discussions about games in general, all wrapped up with complex, relatable, and interesting characters that I absolutely loved.
When I find a book that I like I frequently devour it completely. I remember the night I first read Paul Trembley's "A Head Full of Ghosts" them immediately bought "Cabin at the End of the World" which left me on my back porch at 3 AM turning the final page. When a new book comes in, I will just assume I need to block off an evening to allow for this practice, but Tomorrow was different.
With Tomorrow I frequently sat the book down to devour not just the words, but the feelings that came from each part. For me, being at the start of a development cycle and also reading through a book about fictional game dev was tremendous. The authors ability to constantly relate to things that I thought about, things that happened over the characters over the time-frames of their games, and the terrible things that lay in wait for those that tried to do something THAT MATTERED was incredible. While these characters were fictional, the parallels that they went through within the game space for their company and employees beautifully (and destructively) hits as much as it did when I consistently read similar situations in the news over the last 15 years.
All in all, it was great for me to read something different. This is going to be one of those books that I recommend and gift for the foreseeable future. 2025 looks to be a very fun year for books (prose and otherwise) as a whole and I’ve got a few that I’m very much looking forward to. If you’ve got a recommendation you are dying to talk about let me know!
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls - Grady Hendrix – 1/14
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter - Stephen Graham Jones -3/18
Barstow – Rebekah McKendry – TPB 8/19
Veil - Jonathan Janz – 9/16
Jumpscare – Cullen Bunn – TPB 10/14
Bones of Our Stars, Blood of Our World - Cullen Bunn – 11/11
