Super Shell Monster Story (Daikaijuu Monogatari)

In the World of Shelldorado, the elder Hermit Crab of the village of Shell summons the Fire Shell Hero from another dimension and tells him of the sealed-away demon Fat Badger, who was sealed in the Aura Sphere and sunk into the ocean. But a meteor hit the ocean and the Aura Sphere was catapulted into the village. The tsunami created by the meteor also swept away the other three elemental shells that empower the rest of your party (that Babu, Kupi and Poyon are searching for). The Aura Sphere must be returned to deep underground, via Dorado City. But then the boat to the mainland sinks, and the hero wakes up in Prickly, home of the Cactus Tribe. Prickly is attacked by monsters that turn everyone into shells and suck them up into a spaceship. Yeah, it's that kind of a game.

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Overall: I think, especially given that there are a slew of games that do something a little new and different with the concept, I'm just not feeling the bog-standard repetitive jrpg right now. Which isn't a slam against this game, which has some clever ideas and is definitely a solid step into the SNES era of jrps (I may even revisit it eventually), but I'm not feeling it.

"Only Begotten Daughter" by James Morrow

When a daughter is born (via “inverse parthogenesis” and an artificial womb) to reclusive lighthouse keeper Murray Katz, she demonstrates miraculous abilities and knowledge that her mother is God. Her path then takes a number of twists, turns and mutilations as she decides what divinity means to her and “her mother’s oldest friend” Mr. Wyvern calls the shots.

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Overall: I fear to reread Blameless in Abaddon now, which I loved when I read it in late high school. Because this is clearly trying to be profound but is mostly just a frustrating tease. If you want to do theological worldbuilding, you need to own up to it and actually do it. If God has a daughter, you owe it to your readers to at least address the issue of why.