Gauntlet Reading Club Quarterly: The Genesis of Misery/Beamsaber (Sundays January-March)

OnlyAnAlligator · November 2, 2022, 4:15am

For the months of September and October, the Gauntlet Reading Club will be reading The Genesis of Misery, the first book in Neon Yang’s Nullvoid Saga, paired with Beamsaber by Austin Ramsay.

The first session will primarily be used as a book discussion group for The Genesis of Misery and will likely run shorter than the scheduled length.

Content Warnings for The Genesis of Misery: Depictions of theocracy, holy way, violence, sex, torture, mental illness, psychic manipulation. References to body horror that occurs off-camera.

It’s an old, familiar story: a young person hears the voice of an angel saying they have been chosen as a warrior to lead their people to victory in a holy war.

But Misery Nomaki (she/they) knows they are a fraud.

Raised on a remote moon colony, they don’t believe in any kind of god. Their angel is a delusion, brought on by hereditary space exposure. Yet their survival banks on mastering the holy mech they are supposedly destined for, and convincing the Emperor of the Faithful that they are the real deal.

The deeper they get into their charade, however, the more they start to doubt their convictions. What if this, all of it, is real?

We’ll be drawing on the thematic inspiration of The Genesis of Misery rather than specific plot points, and will have a discussion on tone and content before play, as well as establishing Lines & Veils to provide a comfortable play experience.

We’ll be using Zoom to discuss and play, but the sessions will only be recorded and posted publicly with everyone’s enthusiastic consent.

This game will take place under the Gauntlet Community Code of Conduct and the safety tools Script Change and X-Card will be in use. I will aim to get in touch with participants through either the Gauntlet Slack or email a week in advance of the game to confirm attendance and provide play materials. A seat has been reserved for a player who has not yet been able to participate in the reading club.