Little Oracles

Welcome back to another Johnversation, wherein I sit down with graphic artist and game designer (and my partner) John Harper! This season, we're digging into aesthetic and mechanical iteration: John takes us through his process for creating art, playtesting his games, and co-running a food lab in our home kitchen. I love talking with John about creative practice and process, and I'm sure...

It's Little Reviews time, and today we're talking about dissonance — you know, that feeling of dissolution from the self; from memories; even from reality. I've got three books on the roll today:  The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa (trans. Stephen Snyder) The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine Hong Kingston, our ABC pick for May (including a reference to The Ti...

Pass the popcorn, because it's time for some hot takes! While these takes might not cause any cultural schisms, they nonetheless represent a couple of convictions I hold about creativity and creative practice, as illustrated by cornhole, solarpunk quilting RPGs, the movie Tombstone , AND crucial plot-points in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It’s kinda wacky! And bildungsroman-y! And sentiment...

Welcome to another Creative Chat, featuring a true Renaissance woman: artist and game designer Sabrina Sims. As a New York–based experimental media artist, Sabrina works across genre and media, including zine-making, fiber arts, installation work, live coding, games, synth music ... you name it, she probably does it. I was so thrilled to sit down with Sabrina to talk about her creative practice an...

It's time for some Little Reviews, featuring four books steeped in nostalgia and that late-summer feeling of looking back.  Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?   by Lorrie Moore Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid A NOTE ON CONTENT & SPOILERS I highly encourage you to look into content warnings for every book I discu...

What do Transcendentalism, the goddess Athena, and compliment sandwiches have in common? Find out in this episode about the duality of the critic (as informed by 19th-century journalist Margaret Fuller), the gravity of practice, and the holism of evaluating your own creative work. PLUS! September Asynchronous Book Club theme and picks! As always, take care, keep creating, and stay divine. Resource...

It's time for another Creative Chat, this time with one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I've ever met: writer and game developer Nychelle Schneider. Nychelle and I sat down for a wonderful conversation about her creative backstory (which includes Remote-Operated Vehicle builds!), and also: how she fell in love with writing (and is now getting an MFA in it); how her Pacific Northwe...

It's Little Reviews time, and today we're talking about fallout: the space of personal crises in post-crucible societies.  I've got four books on the docket, all of them book club picks: Harrow by Joy Williams, an ABC pick for June How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu, an ABC pick for July Space Invaders by Nona Fernández (trans. Natasha Wimmer), an ABC pick for June Mrs....

This week’s Creative Chat guest might be my new bestie: Craig Shipman, the fellow behind all the tabletop gaming content coming out of Third Floor Wars , including the luminous and illuminating Tabletop Talk podcast (one of my favorite listens, to be sure). After guesting on Craig’s show (you can listen to our conversation here ), I immediately asked Craig to join me on Little Oracles — and dang:...

We're talking dopamine delivery! From fashion and decor to your creative brain, we're digging into the origins of pop culture's obsession with dopamine; existential nihilism and radical happiness; and how you can generate joy in just 10 minutes with a little creative challenge.  Plus, our ABC picks for August, themed Bliss This Mess. ;) As always, take care, keep creating, and stay...

Welcome to another Creative Chat! This week, we're talking with Suzanne Wallace, the founder and creative director of IndieBard , a creative studio that specializes in small-scale storytelling: specifically, trailers for video games. Just so you know, Suzanne has it all: she's warm, funny, fabulous, and so dang insightful about the world of video games — particularly indies — and how to...

It's Little Reviews time, and today we're talking about bonds, and bonding, and the links we have to what we love and what we've lost. We're digging into three books today: With Teeth by Kristen Arnett Chouette   by Claire Oshetsky The Transmigration of Bodies by Yuri Herrera (trans. Lisa Dillman), and one of our ABC picks for June A NOTE ON CONTENT & SPOILERS I highly enco...

In which I share a new Constitution, discuss the value of creative biodiversity, and get real about vacuums. Plus! A bunch of reading recs that helped me detach my sociocultural blinders, and July's book club picks, themed Bonfires & Bricklayers: The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner; Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley; and How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu.  Take care, keep creat...

It's another Creative Chat, this time with narrative director and DM to the stars, Kate Welch! Kate and I had a ball chatting about her creative backstory, the importance of trust and collaboration in creative team spaces, and, of course, plenty of Nerd Stuff (TM), including dial-up Internet, Star Wars roleplaying chatrooms, and Dungeons & Dragons.  Kate's a real one, and one of my f...

It's Little Reviews time, and today we're whipping through a whopping SIX BOOKS, all of which sit in that emotionally rich and tender space of the aftermath – specifically, the aftermath of the death of a loved one, including:  The Furrows by Namwali Serpell We Are Okay by Nina LaCour In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom Afterglow (a dog memoir) by Eileen Myles Alive at the En...

In the first Everyday Creative audio-essay of Season Two, we're looking at how play works within creative practice; the comic philosophy of Thomas Hobbes; and metaphorical boats. Possibly the most representational episode yet, because YOLO. :) Thanks for being here, and, as always, take care, keep creating, and stay divine!  IG: @littleoracles

We’re kicking off Season Two in an amazing Creative Chat with game designer (and old pal) Andrew Gillis, creator of Girl by Moonlight, an incredible tabletop roleplaying game all about magical girls, in crowdfund at the time of this airing! I had an unmitigated blast talking with Andrew about their creator backstory, what magical girls mean to them, what’s inspiring their work right now … and some...

Welcome to Little Oracles Season Two: Play as Practice, where we'll explore how discovery and experimentation, puzzling and solving, making messes and making magic keep us going as career and casual creatives. We'll dig into creative expression, theory, and perspectives in Everyday Creative audio-essays; keep up that Big Book Energy with Asynchronous Book Club picks, Little Reviews of wh...

And so we come unto the end of Season One with a minisode-length meditation on endings, Roman stonemasonry, and what's in store for Season Two! Thank you all for being here; can't wait to see you next season. Until then, take care, keep creating, and stay divine. <3 Resources Tabletop Talk podcast , hosted by Craig Shipman Creative Chat with  Lindsay Stewart Creative Chat with  Thin P...

It was a dream come true to sit down with writer Peter Gaucys , co-proprietor of the delightful Orcas Paley in downtown Seattle, and my dear friends, longtime mentors, and one of the most brilliant creatives I’ve ever known.  This episode ranges widely (as is our wont), but we kick off with a conversation about conversations , and touch on all kinds of other topics, including eclecticism, multidis...

It's minisode time! Today we're talking about some shorties: Look Alive Out There by Sloane Crosley, a collection of personal essays; Debriefing by Susan Sontag, a collection of Sontag's short fiction; and Galatea by Madeline Miller, a newly-published, standalone short story. A NOTE ON CONTENT & SPOILERS I highly encourage you to look into content warnings for every book I discu...

It's a magical, mystical minisode! Exploring time and trauma response in two novels: The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht and The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki. A NOTE ON CONTENT & SPOILERS I highly encourage you to look into content warnings for every book I discuss before you pick it up; we want reading to be safe for everyone. <3 I refuse to spoil plot, but I do talk about what...

It's our first Johnversation, wherein I chat with my partner, graphic artist and roleplaying game designer John Harper, about creative practice and process. This time, we get into inspiration across media – and specifically how film and television inform John's creative work – plus the power of remixing genres and tropes, and what we're watching lately that's fanning our creati...

It's our first all-poets minisode! We're getting verse-y with it, reviewing The Trees Witness Everything by Victoria Chang, Bluets by Maggie Nelson, and The Crying Book by Heather Christle. AND we're announcing the May reading theme and pick for the Asynchronous Book Club (hint: my Mom is involved). A NOTE ON CONTENT & SPOILERS I highly encourage you to look into content warning...

In Part 2 of this poetry extravaganza celebrating National Poetry Month, we're discussing ways to bring more poetry into your life that *don't* involve sitting down with a book of poems: podcasts, audiobooks, social media presences, performances, and even poetry roleplaying games. Resources Podcasts The New Yorker Poetry Podcast Vs. podcast Poetry Off the Shelf podcast The Poetry Magazin...