A review by maiakobabe
Chainmail Bikini: The Anthology of Women Gamers by Hazel Newlevant

5.0

This is a fabulous and delightful collection of outsider gamer stories, edited by Hazel Newlevant (who now works as an editor at Lion Forge Comics). The authors explore profound or irreverent connections with games from Dominion, Dungeons and Dragons, LARPing and play by posting to Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Diablo II, Portal, World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero and the Sims. Some go to games for solitude, some for companionship; some relish in their status as female gamers, some explore a female identity denied to them IRL while still others chaff at the forced binary of choosing a male or female avatar. The book as a whole is extremely strong, but a few stories that particularly stuck out to me were "Poppy the Gnome and Friends" by Katie Longue, "Gamer Grrrl" by K.A. Kelly-Colon and June Vigants, "Battle for Amtgard..." by Maggie Siegel-Berele, "Absolute Dominion" by Diana Nock, "The Natural" by Sarah Stern and "Hang in there Peach" by Aatmaja Pandya.