A very disjointed reclist. If you know me personally it is also very predictable, probably.
Web originals:
(2017): Can't even explain this without spoiling it. It's sci-fi of some kind.
Birgworld: Cute fuzzy aliens and their cultures.
Blightseed: My favourite fantasy setting at the moment. A low fantasy setting with super in-depth cultures and some specbio.
Mystery Flesh Pit National Park: Found footage sci-fi/analog horror. An eldritch abomination is found beneath Texas, and turned into a tourist destination and mine. Consequences ensue.
Comics:
(2024-): Hard sci-fi slice of life about an alien aerospace engineer from Jupiter. Go read the worldbuilding writeups and the older comics, too!
(2013-): A cyborg wakes up with no memories, surrounded by corpses in the middle of the desert.
The Priestwife (2022-): a fantasy/horror comic.
Sakana (2010-): a slice-of-life rom-com set in the Tsukiji Fish Market.
Dungeon Meshi (2014-2023): Hungry dungeon spelunkers eat the dungeon.
Raruurien (2017-2024): a fantasy slice-of-life about a small family dealing with a recent loss.
(2015-2019): Scientists on Mars confront internal seas both literal and metaphorical.
Scenes From Imagined Films: Snapshots of everyday life.
Video games:
Mouthwashing (2024): A cargo spaceship crashes into an asteroid, and things get much worse from there.
Terraria (2011): A sandbox classic!
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017): An open-world classic! (Is eight years long enough to be a classic?)
TV shows:
Babylon Berlin (2017-): Weimar Germany! Haunted detectives! Political drama! Great characters! Amazing set and costume design! The most immersive historical drama I've ever seen! WATCH IT NOW
BBC Merlin (2008-2012): A loose adaptation of Arthurian legend. I have fond memories of it.
Stranger Things (2016-): 80s kids on bikes, interdimensional beastes, and D&D, among other things.
What Did You Eat Yesterday? (2019-2023): A fortysomething gay couple navigates work life, their relationship, queer culture and identity in modern Tokyo, and delicious recipies. Apparently this started as a manga, but I saw the show first and liked it more so I'll put it here.
Books:
David Crystal - How Language Works (2007): Nonfiction. An accessible overview of a wide range of linguistics topics. This book got me into linguistics so it will always have a special place in my heart.
Rebecca Wragg Sykes - Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art (2020): Nonfiction. A detailed description of Neanderthal culture, and how scientists reconstruct it.
Erich Maria Remarque - All Quiet On The Western Front (1929): (Semi-autobiographical) fiction. WWI from the perspective of a German soldier, and how the war changes him. Also, it has some of the most beautiful prose I've ever read.
