Curated by Gabe Durham, founder/editor/publisher of Boss Fight Books
Usually, when I have an idea for something I think should exist, a quick Googling informs me that it already does exist. I ask Youtube, "Is there a superedit of Kanye going, 'HUH?'" "Why yes," says YouTube. "Take your pick of these half dozen."
In 2013, I had an idea for series of short critical, historical, and personal nonfiction books about individual video games. So when I googled "33 1/3 for video games," I was confused to find that this particular idea didn't exist. At least, not yet. "Well," I thought, "why not me?" I was already a writer and editor, and I'd already logged thousands of hours of gaming in my lifetime. And so I began developing a project that became Boss Fight Books.
Since debuting our first book, EarthBound by Ken Baumann, in December 2013, I've been heartened to see just how many people have been hungry for the same thing I was. In a GameSpot article about our press and EarthBound, Maxwell McGee wrote, "Great games, whether they're AAA blockbusters that reached millions of people or fan-made efforts that touched only one person, deserve this sort of recognition. They deserve not to be forgotten or overlooked in the endless stream of new releases."
We're not here to deliver the vast sweeping industry histories readers have already read, but to tell many smaller stories about the people who make games and the people who play them, about how we received games as kids and how they hold up as adults, about what happens when we take the critical tools that have for so long been applied to books, music, and film, and to apply those tools to a younger, hungrier art form.
This month, Boss Fight is at a critical point. We're hoping to fund the release of five new books in a Season 3 Kickstarter running right now alongside this StoryBundle. We've just come out with our best-loved book yet, Spelunky by Derek Yu, and are about to release our 12th book, World of Warcraft by Daniel Lisi.
But we also want to take this opportunity to reach out to people who are just discovering our press for the first time, or people who have read a few of our books and are interested in reading more. That's why, for the first time ever, we're offering up an all-Boss Fight Books StoryBundle.
During the month of this StoryBundle, you can instantly get digital copies of our first TEN books for just $15.
That's EarthBound (#1), Chrono Trigger (#2), ZZT (#3), Galaga (#4), Jagged Alliance 2 (#5), Super Mario Bros. 2 (#6), Bible Adventures (#7), Baldur's Gate II (#8), Metal Gear Solid (#9), and Shadow of the Colossus (#10) for just $1.50 per book — plus a copy of our book of essays and short stories, Continue? The Boss Fight Books Anthology. Our catalogue may never be this cheap again.
Part of each StoryBundle purchase goes to Pixelles, a great Montreal-based nonprofit "dedicated to empowering more women to make and change games" through workshops, mentorship programs, game jams, and more. We're proud to team up with a cool organization like Pixelles that's so dedicated to enlivening the future of video games.
As an added bonus, when you buy our StoryBundle, you'll receive an exclusive discount code to get 10% off anything from bossfightbooks.com while the StoryBundle is running. So if you want paperback versions of some or all of these books, you'll be saving some cash.
This bundle is only available through May 26, so the time to jump on this offer is right now. Thanks so much for picking up this bundle, sharing it with your friends, checking out our upcoming books, and supporting Boss Fight Books. With your help, we'd love to keep making great books about classic video games long into the future. – Gabe Durham, founder/editor/publisher of Boss Fight Books
For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you feel generous), you'll get the basic bundle of five books in any ebook format worldwide:
If you pay more than the bonus price of just $15, you get all five of the regular titles, plus six more:
The bundle is available for a very limited time only, via http://www.storybundle.com. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get multiple DRM-free formats (.epub, .mobi and .pdf) for all books!
It's also super easy to give the gift of reading with StoryBundle, thanks to our gift cards – which allow you to send someone a code that they can redeem for any future StoryBundle bundle – and timed delivery, which allows you to control exactly when your recipient will get the gift of StoryBundle.
Why StoryBundle? Here are just a few benefits StoryBundle provides.
StoryBundle was created to give a platform for independent authors to showcase their work, and a source of quality titles for thirsty readers. StoryBundle works with authors to create bundles of ebooks that can be purchased by readers at their desired price. Before starting StoryBundle, Founder Jason Chen covered technology and software as an editor for Gizmodo.com and Lifehacker.com.
For more information, visit our website at storybundle.com, tweet us at @storybundle and like us on Facebook. For press inquiries, please email [email protected].
