Greeked Text

> disables a new AI feature that was turned on by default

> opens my email

> disables a new AI feature that was turned on by default

> launches a software

My computer offered me a “remove background from photo” feature that would take MORE clicks to complete accurately than me simply doing it myself in traditional image-editing software.

*closes the jar*

But then I ran out of hearts. And I wasn't finished with violence yet, so I decided to turn on my own music.

"What are you doing" say the youths. I shrug.

The youths begin to bop along ironically.

"They hate this," I think. "I am winning."

"Hang on," says a youth. "What is that."

I realise something is going wrong but not what to do about it. "It's Italian," I mutter

"Are you Italian?"

"No, I just speak it."

"Oh shit. This goes hard actually," says a youth, whose bopping along no longer appears to be ironic "Is that rap? There's Italian rap? Whoa. Took me a second"

"What's it about?" says another youth.

My inner Public Transport Etiquette Absolutist and my inner Italian Music Evangelist are now at war. Fatally poised to decide the balance is the fact that I am a middle aged woman who has just had her musical tastes flattered by Youths.

"It's called Arresto Cardiaco, which obviously means cardiac arrest, and it's about a panic attack," I say. They lean over to peer at my phone.

"He must have some bad panic attacks," says the first youth thoughtfully.

"Maybe he gets them all the time," agrees another.

Somewhere along the way, and I realise I don't know when it happened, they turned off their own music and are now bopping along to mine.

I can't bring myself to turn it off.

Other passengers stare at me with open loathing. They are right to do so.

some quilts by Jonathan Shannon (1938–2016) photographed at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles

Canciones de Mi Padre, 1989

From My Garden of Earthly Delights, 1992

Amigos Muertos, 1994. Rejected from the American Quilter's Society show due to the inclusion of Shannon's red AIDS ribbon (left skeleton). Shannon had won Best in Show the year before. Shannon organized protest letters as a result and made some impact on the issue of censorship in quilting.

[video description: a screen recording of flipping pages, showing a few spreads from shadow / giant 2e. end VD]

shadow / giant 2e is coming to print !!!

Following in the legacy of Lone Wolf and Cub-inspired media such as The Mandalorian, Telltale’s The Walking Dead, Birds of Prey, Logan, The Last of Us, Arcane, and more … Shadow / Giant is a tabletop RPG for two players eager to create their own wolf & cub story.  Their journey will be filled with dangers, outbursts, exploration, discovery, and entirely unexpected devotion. One player takes the role of the Shadow: a traumatized youth with powers unfit for their world. The other player is the Giant: an adult who swore they'd grown too jaded to ever care again, until the Shadow crashed into their life. There are tales of somewhere they can go—a Safe Place, far away, where the Shadow will be protected. To make it there, the pair must outrun, outsmart, and outfight the Threat that's hot on their trail. No matter the specifics of the Threat's sinister plans, they cannot be allowed to catch up and take the Shadow away. And they won't—not if the Giant can help it.

shadow / giant 2e is a 2 player TTRPG supporting games from 1 to ~12 sessions. it uses dice and playing cards, with alternate rules for rolling digitally or only using d6s. each session plays out for 2-4 hours

the two character playbooks - the shadow and the giant - are asymmetric. they have different core builds and different rolling mechanics

the giant uses a yahtzee-like mechanic: rolling and re-rolling pools of dice to try to make good combos. they always have to balance the potential for a better and rarer combo but risk total failure versus playing it safe and stacking up complications

the shadow, on the other hand, builds dice towers and knocks them down. they have to balance force and gentleness - leaving some dice stacked creates issues, but so does knocking them onto the floor. they compare their results against a sliding number representing their fantastical powers versus their natural youthful skills

the 60-page zine is full to the brim with examples, pick-lists, roll tables, and oracles that make GMfull play a breeze. you can carefully craft your world and characters or just roll for everything and jump right into play

accompanying players through the gamebook is The Narrator, a cosmic being whose sole purpose is to guide new Shadows and Giants on their journeys, along with a collection of absolutely gorgeous art by @prose-n-scripts (seriously, people can't stop raving about the art)

shadow / giant 2e was designed with accessibility in mind from start to finish:

the game is written and laid out to ease the cognitive load of learning and setting up a new game, as players can read each section out loud (or listen to it from a screenreader or future audiobook version) and follow the steps as they go. each section has summaries as well as visually distinct pick-lists and examples. even new ttrpg players should be able to jump into play within an hour of picking up the book

all the main text is in inclusive sans, and the pdf includes bookmarks and human-written image descriptions. the layout colors balance the need for contrast and any potential color blindness while remaining comfortable to look at on screens. the most-used oracles are at the very back of the book for easy reference

did i mention the amazing art by @prose-n-scripts ?

you can pre-order a print copy now from plus one experience!! the game drops in june of 2026 !!