1. I wrote this thing, “The Perils of Rosella.” It’s part processing a death. It’s part cracking open the chest of childhood. Its part figuring out who I am now.

2. There’s a home for this piece and it’s a mag called Cartridge Lit. I believe in what they’re doing, investing time and energy into storytelling influenced by games. Because it’s a part of our narrative. In 50 years almost no one will remember a time without this frame of reference. It’s a brilliant concept — dedicating a place for those stories.

3. It’s a piece I was terrified to write, then terrified to finish. Sometimes playing with format can burn a writer badly. But this came out burning, so it turned out to not matter so much. I read an article this morning postulating that the responsibility of any essay to make sense lies within the reader. I hope, then, that you’ll read this mixed bag of game and genre and reality and recounting of this thing and I hope somewhere deep inside it reverberates in you, dear reader. Maybe you, too, will remember a story like mine or like Amanda Miska’s tiny, gorgeous piece, FA6-DBB-4CI, or like Brian Oliu’s chilling Goonies II. These stories are in all of us, even in a game of solitaire. May we all look deep enough to find them. xo