Realms Podcast

Hello and Welcome to Realms Reviews!

Whether you’re new or not, Realms is a fantasy / sci-fi newsletter. As such, I consume plenty of sci-fi and fantasy media and contents!

Here’s how reviews work:

Every review has a bit of a summary - no spoilers - my take on the story and why you should consider reading it. And then I’m going to give a rating. I’m stealing my rating system from fighting video games. From best to worst: Z, S, A, B, C, D. 

Z means whatever I reviewed is the absolute best of its kind and will leave you wishing you had more.

S is for media that is excellent, but not quite earth shattering. 

A is for very good. Something that is worth your time. 

B is good. Just good. 

C is best summed up as “Meh” - it will make no difference in your life and is probably worth skipping.

D is a definite no. Skip it. Avoid it. 

That said, take the time to review the media yourself, if it catches your eye (or ears.) I mostly review amazing media, so you don’t have to worry about it wasting your time.

Today, I’m reviewing the video game Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for Nintendo Switch, which I’ll refer to as TOTK from now on because that’s a ton of words. A lot of you might not be gamers, so I’m going to make sure you can have a solid grasp of this game. I want to give you something valuable even if you don’t play video games yourself.

Legend of Zelda is a series, if you didn’t know, and it lives in almost every gamer’s head rent free. I bet every gamer in the world has played or watched one of these games. 

Why are they so special? It starts with a simple story: A demon king steals a princess and a courageous knight must save her. Every game runs with this plot line, but explores it in new ways. That’s what makes TOTK so interesting - it’s a sequel to Breath of the Wild. Sequels doesn’t very often in the Legend of Zelda universe. So, within two games, the creators had to find a way to spin the same storyline.

How did they do this? By building new layers inside the previous world. It was already a massive open-world game where you could go anywhere and do anything. In TOTK, the developers added flying islands and an underground expanse spanning the entire above-ground map. Size matters, as they say, but so does quality.

In TOTK, you spend time with a cast of characters as wild and ridiculous as real life. You do quests with satisfying stories and extremely fun mechanics. You get lost in a world so picturesque and mysterious that you’ll long for real life. That’s what happens to me every time I play. I get lost in vast lands, and then I’d turn to my window, look outside and appreciate what lies out there all the more. Take this in contrast to the neverending iterations of shooting, military, or combat games, and TOTK stands to give players a meditative experience. 

It’s also just darn fun to play. You can use your powers to combine shields and weapons with every item around. Put a bouncy mushroom on a sword. Put a spring mechanism on a shield. Create a  towering robot to rain fiery death on your enemies! You can do all of that in one game. It’s like Minecraft and Zelda made a beautiful baby together. 

TOTK takes the open-world gameplay style to its furthest extent, too. It doesn’t force any sort of linear experience on the player, which I can imagine is tough to create from the narrative side of things. You can start a quest, ignore it for hundreds of hours, and go back to it whenever you want. It’s liberating and true to its form, but it’s easy to forget what you’re doing if you’re chasing butterflies or hunting beasts or fighting Bokoblins along the way.

There’s so much more I could say, but seeing is really believing.  

So, here’s a link to a TOTK play-through without commentary, where you can watch someone play the whole game.

And here’s another link to see some of the wackiest things players have built in the game.

My rating for Legend of Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom: Z. It’s the best of its kind and is absolutely worth your time (dozens of hours of playing) and money ($70 price tag, not including the Nintendo Switch.)

Now, normally I do notable quotes from whatever I review, but this game doesn’t have those. I have incredible moments. 

Take this one: I was pursuing a mission to find the last Sage and completely got lost in flying islands covered in storms and lightning. I stumbled around for hours till I found the sage. Turns out I did the whole thing wrong and skipped at least two other quests, but because this game is so open world, it still worked!

Another favorite moment is flying as high as I can, then skydiving all the way to the ground. I usually build a hot air balloon-plane thing and enjoy the view as the sun advances through the sky and the sky islands float further away. When my vehicle runs out of juice, I jump and find something interesting to skydive toward. It always amazes me that there’s no loading screen or pauses from descending to the ground. It’s a seamless, beautiful experience, and might even be perfect.

You can buy the game here: https://zelda.nintendo.com/tears-of-the-kingdom/

That’s the review for Legend of Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom.  If you like this game or know someone who does, please share it and help Realms grow. 

You can subscribe and get these reviews right in your inbox! 

And if you’re a fan of this game, or not, let me know in the comments!

Welcome to Realms, a monthly newsletter that takes you to new worlds. Enjoy sci-fi and fantasy short stories, and reviews - both as text and audio, every month!

While you can find Realms on your favorite podcasting app, subscribe with the button or link to make sure you get stories right in your inbox, which is far more convenient!

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Links featured:

Are You Not Entertained? Prey Review

Realms reviews the Red Rising Series by Pierce Brown

Leave a comment!

zacharyroush.substack.com/a-leaky-fountainhead-podcast-version

Hello and welcome to Realms Reviews!

Whether you’re new or not, Realms of Roush is a fantasy and sci-fi newsletter. As such, I consume tons of sci-fi and fantasy media that I think everyone should know about. In these two genres, I’ll be reviewing books, video games, podcasts, films, and TV shows.

And just like Realms’ short stories, you’ll get reviews once a month. Never on the same week as a short story.

That said, this rating system will be subjective. Any of my reviews should be taken with a grain of salt and also be the subject of your own consumption and consideration.

And without further ado, my first review is for the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown. 

Here's what the society looks like: https://red-rising.fandom.com/wiki/Color

Red Rising">You can find the Red RisingRed Rising"> series here on AmazonRed Rising">. This is an affiliate link.

Make sure you subscribe today to get the next story or review right in your inbox.

Subscribe here.

Next month, I’ll be reviewing Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, a video game! Even if you’re not a gamer, you’ll want to hear about this fantastic game.

Until next month, Realm Walkers.

CW: Before we begin, I want to make readers aware that today’s story is a historical fiction piece that has elements of violence and racism. 

Welcome to Realms of Roush, a monthly newsletter that takes you to new worlds. Enjoy sci-fi and fantasy short stories, and the occasional personal essay - and soon reviews! - both as text and audio, every month!

While you can find Realms of Roush on your favorite podcasting app, you can make sure to get stories right in your inbox, which is far more convenient.

zacharyroush.substack.com

Something I’m trying to do is connect with more writers on Substack and beyond. Today, I want to shout out a writer and project I’m really enjoying: is writing a new serialized series called Marredbury. 

Here’s a summary!

In a near-future city haunted by its own dark history, evil lurks beneath the surface. Enter Marredbury, a chilling serial anthology that weaves together a tapestry of haunting tales from the past and a contemporary digital nightmare.

Carla Bird, an unsuspecting IT professional, is thrust into a strange project involving the decryption of files from the abandoned Colby Corp site in Old Town Marredbury. Little does she know that these files hold the eerie stories of the town's namesake. From Gigi Talcon's peculiar gardenias to the unforeseen consequences of a night of recreational drug use, Carla can't dismiss these narratives as mere fiction, especially as she witnesses unsettling occurrences in her new surroundings…

I loved part I of Marredbury so much. It’s so atmospheric and jumps right in to the weirdness. If this piques your interest, read part I here:

https://reinacruzwrites.substack.com/p/marredbury?r=y7t5u

Welcome to Realms of Roush, a monthly newsletter that takes you to new worlds. Enjoy sci-fi and fantasy short stories, both as text and audio, every month! While you can find Realms of Roush on your favorite podcasting app, you can make sure to get stories right in your inbox, which is far more convenient. Click the link!

https://zacharyroush.substack.com/

Realms is a monthly newsletter that sends you to strange realms, typically in sci-fi and fantasy. This newsletter deals with the realm of reality, which is mysterious enough.

The Darkness is Real

You remember the very first time you felt depressed.

You were a sophomore in high school. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and you were listening to Bon Iver in your bed, playing the Minecraft beta when a stomach-dropping emptiness stole over your entire existence. It was something stronger than the typical angst of those teenage years. It was something clinging, waiting, and alive, dragging you down to a place without reason, where neither words nor friendship provided succor.

You didn’t have the words for what was happening to you, and your only outlets for expressing this emotional state were hasty thoughts and impulsive behavior. Everyone in that time brushes with depression at some point. There’s just too much change and chaos and confusion; you’re a half-formed, hormonal human larvae that demands complete independence - it’s a weird place to be. 

For some, teen depression is mild and doesn’t return. For you, the depression stuck. Ever since that day, and probably before then, depression comes and goes according to the unknowable seasons of your subconscious. You’ve had more dark nights of the soul than you care to admit.

In fact, you’re going through one right now.

You say this so they know you’re trying to help. You want to help someone get through their dark nights, whether it’s on the horizon or clouding their bright sunny day right now. You’re hoping to toss a lifeline from the deep to anyone who wishes to grab on.

Maybe you can help pull them up. Maybe you can help them feel more seen.

Being depressed is incredibly lonely. There’s a certain sort of survival required to make it through each day. You have to learn how to fake a smile. You have to pretend to be a positive person. You have to find a way not to let the smallest failed human interaction derail you. You have to reach deep inside and squeeze your heart out for every drop of confidence and extroversion possible. To make it, you tell yourself that what’s happening to you isn’t real. You tell yourself:

It will pass. It will pass. It’s just a phase. 

This is in your imagination. You’re actually happy and grateful for everything in your life. 

Your life is so good you have no reason to be depressed. 

And what’s actually crazy is how horrible it is to say these things to yourself over and over and expect a different result. After being depressed for so long, you can’t lie anymore. 

Your feelings and experiences are real. Your depression is real.

The Darkness is Sacred

There’s something terrifying about someone easily accepting your depression. You doubt the depth of their understanding. These days, it’s rote to say “I have depression.” Everyone has it!

But then you wonder how many people really do understand that when the darkness hits, it sucks you down, keeps you pinned to the bed waiting until the last minute to get up. It’s all-consuming.

It feels like nothing is sacred in those moments. Life is an abstract thing happening to someone else. It doesn’t matter what you believe or want. It’s a divorce between who you know you are and the real world, stuck behind a veil of water.

And you just hope to God or whoever is out there pulling the strings that you get to the other side of it, when it feels like everything is sacred. When every ray of sunlight, strand of hair, drip of coffee, speck of dirt in your sandals, smile from your dog, or story from your partner can be so beautiful you could die happy while appreciating their inherent, atomic sanctity.

You live every day in a different position on the continuum of sanctity. You feel sorry that the people in your life don’t know what version of you they’re going to get. You wish you could always give them the everything is sacred side of yourself.

When you’re really down, you always strive to remember that the opposite of your darkness is true. It even helps to think that somewhere, someone is seeing life as the beautiful, sacred thing that it is. This thought reminds you that the dark, low place is not forever, nor is it the true reality.

Reality has many shades and even though depression casts a pall, you do know light. Avoiding any platitudes like “the shadow proves the sunshine” or that you need darkness to appreciate the light (honestly, does anyone?), you are learning to give the depression its due. You’re giving your shadow love and appreciation no matter what. You’re giving your light love and appreciation no matter what.

Nothing is sacred. Everything is sacred.

You Must Love the Darkness

You’re so sensitive that strangers you just met have a direct line to your identity and self-worth. This has impacted all of your relationships and career opportunities. Where some people brush over things, you can’t help but zero in and obsess, whether it’s a colleague’s misunderstood joke or a critique. You often feel like an open sore, having, for some reason, stuck someone else’s sword right in your gut.

Depression loves to take any word and lie and twist, telling you it’s your fault you don’t defend yourself and don’t toughen up; it’s your fault you feel so bad and so deeply, for others and yourself. But it’s not like you can’t joke around. You can be “normal.” But it’s not on tap or as easy as flicking a switch.

There are millions of thoughts swirling in your mind. Good, bad, benign, vile, righteous, petty, prideful, merciful, etc. How many of those things do you try to push away? Repress? The more you lock away, the less you can interact with your strange ideas and let them go. You want to express, not repress.

You want to sift through your mind and explore the negative situations that repeat again and again, without judgment. This Shadow Work is revolutionary. It’s freeing. It’s giving yourself the ability to pull the dark things out of the ego and hold them, grant them a name, and then let go. In this, there is no slippery slope. In this, there is true, unconditional self-love. 

You’re sensitive and that makes you kind. 

Your kindness is not a weakness. 

It’s not your fault there are people who mistake kindness for weakness.

You have to love who you are or you will be controlled by everything.

The Darkness Dislikes Company

Depression breeds loneliness because it robs you of the energy to engage with people. People require energy, and when you’re low, it’s very easy to blame others for the sadness you feel. There’s a lie you’re trying to forget, that if you fix yourself and your depression, you’ll finally be perfect. And when you’re perfect, people will never be able to hurt you again.

There’s no way around it. People are a double-edged sword. They are the pain and joy of life. They embody the absurdity of never being known and yet having brief glimpses of being known. People are the divorce and the grace you need; the tug-of-war in the pursuit of meaning in your life. There’s so much to say about how your day and age is the most connected and disconnected of all time, and the answer to this crisis has always been this: only you can save someone else. Only someone else can help you discover your values, challenge you, enrage you, make you laugh, be your shoulder to cry on, and show you life from a different set of eyes.

People keep you alive in every way that matters.  

People are the curse and cure.

Are You the Darkness?

You’ve brought up a number of different fears. But the scariest thing is wondering whether or not your depression is who you are. For so long, you tacitly accepted that depression, your sensitivity, and your shyness with people meant that something was inherently wrong with you. That, maybe, through therapy and healthy relationships you could finally discover the source code of your absurdity. But the deeper you’ve delved, you’ve begun to wonder: 

What if there’s nothing wrong with you?

You’re afraid of this idea. Perhaps your depression is a symptom of being a human on this crazy spinning rock orbiting inside a spinning galaxy flying through an expanding universe filled with endless potential for chaos and life.

What if there’s nothing wrong with you?

There’s something sick in the world that requires you to optimize. You must conduct internal witch hunts to zap away all of your human faults, from errors in communication to your fears. You are familiar with the word “sin” and have caught yourself believing that everything is, at the subatomic level and beyond, divorced from its true expression.

Yet there is power in the question: What if there’s nothing wrong with you?

You don’t see how you can live with an identity of irreversible wrongness anymore. You know it’s not all bad. So many people go around believing that they and the world are forever touched by evil and that belief encourages them to bring goodness to their lives. But for your sake, you lean more toward a sense of potentiality, where everyone exists on the continuum of nothing is sacred and everything is sacred, and your power lies in how you choose to express the sanctity of life. In between the extremes, there’s a large, liminal space where how you live and what you do is simply gray. 

What if there’s nothing wrong with you?

Your Darkness is Neverending as Light

Where do you land with all this? You know you’re still falling (with style), but yet you do know where you are in the air and where you came from. You’re reaching out with both hands to the people that ground you. You’re trying to see your depression from as many angles as possible. You’re trying to live whimsically and according to the strangeness that you are learning to love.

You will fail. You will fall prey to doubt and depression. And it gets to you that you don’t know what this internal struggle is for. Nor do you believe that you will finally, ultimately, actually land on some certain ground and finally be free.

Does anyone ever land?

For now, you are content to fly through this life like a satellite, your vision rotating, seeing nothing but darkness and light and beauty and nothingness again and again. You are content to fly, whispering to yourself…

Your feelings and experiences are real. Your depression is real.

Nothing is sacred. Everything is sacred.

You’re sensitive and that makes you kind. 

Your kindness is not a weakness. 

It’s not your fault there are people who mistake kindness for weakness.

You have to love who you are or you will be controlled by everything.

What if there’s nothing wrong with you?

Thank you for reading and listening! You can share this post with this button:

Sources:

“You Are Accepted,” by Paul Tillich

Specifically: “Grace is the reunion of life with life, the reconciliation of the self with itself. Grace is the acceptance of that which is rejected. Grace transforms fate into a meaningful destiny; it changes guilt into confidence and courage.”

“The Myth of Sisyphus,” by Albert Camus

Existential Kink, by Carolyn Elliott

Faith After Doubt, by Brian D. McLaren

From Substack writers:

On our pandemic of loneliness:

https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf

Other information tributaries:

Dr. Bob Moorehead: “We have taller buildings but shorter tempers; wider freeways but narrower viewpoints; we spend more but have less; we buy more but enjoy it less; we have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, yet less time; we have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge but less judgement; more experts, yet more problems; we have more gadgets but less satisfaction; more medicine, yet less wellness; we take more vitamins but see fewer results. We drink too much; smoke too much; spend too recklessly; laugh too little; drive too fast; get too angry quickly; stay up too late; get up too tired; read too seldom; watch TV too much and pray too seldom.”

Acknowledgments:

I could not have made these discoveries about my depression without the love and support of many people in my life. Everyone I know is an important piece of my daily existence. There are a few key individuals who have been guides and supporters in this journey: Don, Aden, Michael, and my wife Stephanie.

If you don’t know, Realms of Roush sends you monthly short stories that take you to new worlds. These stories are actually short AND come with an audio version, so you can do dishes or drive and simply escape.

Subscribe here: zacharyroush.substack.com

Check out the Storyletter Xpress Publishing here: https://storyletter.substack.com/

Thank you for reading and listening to The Daughter in the Desert!

Leave a comment and share with this link: https://zacharyroush.substack.com/p/the-daughter-and-the-desert

Until next time, Realm Walkers.

-Zach

Welcome to Realms of Roush - I am Zach Roush, the creator of this newsletter. You can escape the real world for better ones every month. Subscribe today to receive sci-fi and fantasy short stories right in your inbox.

This month's story is called Fetch. It's an animal sci-fi heist. Enjoy!

Subscribe here to get the newsletter and podcast right in your inbox: zacharyroush.substack.com

Join the discussion: https://zacharyroush.substack.com/p/fetch

If you enjoyed this story, leave a dog emoji in the comments! 🐕

Have you ever imagined what your pet would be like if it could talk? What would they say to you?

Until next month, Realm Walkers

Realms of Roush is a monthly sci-fi and fantasy newsletter. Escape the real world through your inbox once a month!

Also, I’d like to highlight a couple of things:

I’m part of this amazing newsletter forwarding community that helps me grow. It’s called The Sample. If any of you are looking to grow just a lil’ bit with your own newsletters, hit up this link: https://thesample.ai/?ref=11c3

Also, I want to shout out Scrivener for keeping all my writing madness together. It’s like Microsoft Word if it went to the gym, took testosterone, and then got a job at Apple and became a tech bro. Scrivener is the best word processor out there. Here’s my link, just for you: https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener-affiliate.html?fpr=zrscriv

Full disclosure - I do get some kickback if you click the links. But these organizations are so solid, I wouldn’t recommend them otherwise.

Thank you for reading and listening!

If there’s a fantasy lover in your life, why not share this story with them? Bonus points if they’re a sibling!

If you liked the story, drop a fire emoji in the comments 🔥

If you have a sibling you would have cursed with fire as a kid, why not share a funny story? I’ll go first.👇

https://zacharyroush.substack.com/p/a-dwarf-a-human-an-elf-and-two-orks

Until next month, Realm Walkers,

Zach

This is a slight interruption of regular Realms of Roush - a short story is forthcoming later this month.

I’ve been simmering on these thoughts for some time. I don’t typically write non-fiction because I need what I say to feel authentic and mildly new. Also, I pre-apologize to my journalism professors because this is going to be more “opinion” and “flighty thought” than a well-structured article. As always, I’ve buried the lede somewhere.

But here goes.

AI has been on everyone’s mind lately, in some shape or form. Some peeps excited and optimistic. Some are rubbing their hands like little mammals, thinking of all the money they can make. And others are lying awake at night, wondering when they will be replaced.

I’m in the lattermost camp. I’m truly afraid of our willingness to dehumanize our world. As a writer, it’s especially terrifying. The internet is already full people churning out words on the cheap...

If you like these thoughts / would also like sci-fi and fantasy stories in your inbox, click that hot link right thur:

zacharyroush.substack.com