Unlike many in my generation, after high school I didn’t really gravitate back to gaming. I sometimes buy a new console and games, but I always end up giving the console away or reselling it. That’s what just happened with my PlayStation 4 Pro and my NES Classic Edition, because I played both of them maybe twice each in the past year. I sometimes download games on my iPhone, but I never stick with those, either. I do enjoy text-heavy point-and-click games on my laptop, especially gay-themed ones like Newfound Courage and the steamy My Ex-Boyfriend the Space Tyrant! and Coming Out on Top, but that’s because they’re pretty simple and I can breeze through them in a few hours, maybe once a year when I’m bored with everything else.

I have fond memories of playing video games when I was young and I would love to game, but since I never stuck with it, never practiced the necessary skills, and don’t have the time, I’ll just never be a gamer, probably not even after I retire.

All that to say, I really appreciate the trend of literature inspired by video games, and the online literary magazine Cartridge Lit is one of its best showcases. I don’t read Cartridge Lit regularly, but when I do, I’m always impressed and inspired. And now Dana Diehl‘s latest flash fiction piece titled “Forever Baby” and inspired by the game Stardew Valley is available on Cartridge Lit in the new “The Double Click Temple Issue.” Her story is awesome, sad, allegorical for so much, and you don’t need to know anything about Stardew Valley to appreciate it.

Continue.