March 2024 Newsletter

We've rounded out another month here at RT headquarters, which means it's time for another monthly newsletter telling you all about what we got up to in "the Short Month" of February! No need for all this hemming and hawing, let's get right to it.

First of all, Danni and CMRN stepped up to the plate and did a classic Monthly Podcast, and if that's not enough D+C for you, did you know that MAGES & MURDERDADS is going again? That's right, CMRN and Danni have returned to the roots of uhhh the current D&D zeitgeist to play through award-winning dating simulator Baldur's Gate 3, with episodes covering some sidequests, some goblin mischief, and the Underdark. M&MD also boasts a free podcast feed for the intrepid adventurer on the go.

Meanwhile, on GAME STUDIES STUDY BUDDIES, the book Michael and CMRN covered this month was Carlos Gabriel Kelly Gonzalez's READY PLAYER JUAN: LATINX MASCULINITIES AND STEREOTYPES IN VIDEO GAMES, an brief but interesting dedicated look at an aspect of video games and gaming culture that has received little attention thus far. Next month, we'll be covering PLAYER VS. MONSTER: THE MAKING AND BREAKING OF VIDEO GAME MONSTROSITY by Jaroslav Svelch, which has been added to the relevant list on our Bookshop page.

JUST KING THINGS delved into the world of monsters this past month (or did it??) with the brief psychological survival novel THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON, a welcome respite from the customary doorstopper, even if it does talk too much about baseball. The bonus episode on the TV movie adaptation of DESPERATION is mercifully free of such things, but the film is unmercifully Not Good At All otherwise. Next month, they'll be tackling Steve's 60s epic HEARTS IN ATLANTIS and the film adaptation of the same name, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

And SHELVED BY GENRE saw the guys joined by Austin as usual to continue discussing Ursula K. Le Guin's EARTHSEA stories, completing A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA and then covering THE TOMBS OF ATUAN, a book they really liked. In terms of bonus content, they also found time to watch and chat about the 1986 puppet fantasy classic LABYRINTH, and all these episodes and more were shepherded to the world by our wonderful producer Jordan Mallory. Next up, we'll be reading THE FARTHEST SHORE and continuing the puppet fantasy theme with THE DARK CRYSTAL.

And there you have it! It was a short month and yet we STILL released multiple episodes of multiple shows totalling many hours of entertainment and joy for people far and wide. That's just how we do things here at Ranged Touch, and presumably will continue to do them in March, foregoing any lamb- or lion-related catastrophes. Catch you then!