Author Lois Winston on Cozy Mystery Books vs. the Mind-boggling World of Minecraft
By Lois Winston
Image by InoxyBuild from Pixabay
There was a time when I enjoyed fantasy, science fiction, and even some horror. The summer before ninth grade, I discovered The Lord of the Rings trilogy and read all three books within a few weeks. The books of Ira Levin, Arthur C. Clarke, and Tom Tryon filled my spare time throughout high school and into college, in-between assigned literary works like Moby Dick and The Bell Jar.
I also like to think that I have a decent knowledge of current events and trends, although I have no interest in following most of those trends. I can still kill it on Jeopardy most nights, though I’ll admit, the answers aren’t coming at the same rapid speed they once did. The brain is a muscle, and with the inevitability of growing old, all muscles, no matter how much you exercise them, start slowing down with age.
But then there’s Minecraft. My eight and ten-year-old grandsons are obsessed with it. They play it as much as they’re allowed, and when they’ve used up their screen time for the day, they either read Minecraft books or talk about Minecraft incessantly.
And I just don’t get it. Not their obsession. I get obsessions. I had plenty of my own throughout childhood and even into adulthood. My obsessions haven’t ceased. I recently became obsessed with West Wing, a show I had never watched back in the day, but I spent hours binge-watching the entire seven seasons in the autumn and early winter of 2024.
What I don’t get is Minecraft. I’ve tried. I’ve watched my grandsons play and listened to their explanation of the rules. I’ve read aloud chapters in their Minecraft books. But try as I might, I can’t wrap my brain around what strikes me as very random and odd rules concerning assorted worlds, cauldrons, emeralds, ores, ender dragons, wizards, witches, elder guardians, blocky animals, trees that don’t look like trees, and mining fatigue. And those are just a few of the oddities. It’s enough to make my head spin. It really bothers me that I seem completely incapable, even after hours of tutelage, of grasping the most rudimentary aspects of Minecraft. 😵💫
Perhaps Minecraft makes perfect sense to the pre-pubescent brain because they’re more open to wonderous possibilities. After all, they still believe in Santa Claus. It’s probably best that I stick to my own imaginary world of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. The murder and mayhem I throw at my reluctant amateur sleuth in my cozy mystery books makes far more sense to me than the pixelated world of Minecraft ever will.
What about you? Is there something about modern culture or trends that leaves you stymied and scratching your head? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free download of any of the currently available Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery audiobooks.
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USA Today and Amazon bestselling author Lois Winston began her award-winning writing career with Talk Gertie to Me, a humorous fish-out-of-water novel about a small-town girl going off to the big city and the mother determined to bring her home to marry the boy next door. That was followed by the romantic suspense Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception.
Then Lois’s writing segued unexpectedly into the world of humorous amateur sleuth mysteries, thanks to a conversation her agent had with an editor looking for craft-themed mysteries. In her day job, Lois was an award-winning craft and needlework designer, and although she’d never written a mystery—or had even thought about writing a mystery—her agent decided she was the perfect person to pen a series for this editor.
Thus, was born the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, which Kirkus Reviews dubbed “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” The series now includes fourteen novels and three novellas. Lois also writes the Empty Nest Mysteries and has written several standalone mystery novellas. Other publishing credits include romance, chick lit, and romantic suspense novels, a series of romance short stories, a children’s chapter book, and a nonfiction book on writing, inspired by her twelve years working as an associate at a literary agency. Her latest release is Seams Like the Perfect Crime, the fourteenth Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery.
Learn more about Lois and her books at www.loiswinston.com where you can find links for her other social media sites and sign up for her newsletter to receive a free download of an Anastasia Pollack Mini-Mystery.
I share your love of obsessions — especially the writing kind.
LOL, donalee!
I’m also baffled by Minecraft. Great minds….
Nice to know I’m not alone in my confused state, Saralyn!
Back in the days of early computers, I enjoyed a video game called King’s Quest. It was pretty straightforward and fun to enter that imaginary world. These days I don’t have much spare time and when I do, I’ll either read or watch Hallmark movies on TV.
A different form of escape for different times, right, Nancy?
LOL. I totally wasted so much time on King’s Quest! I’m not sure I ever actually won though.
Way back when, I couldn’t wait to play a computer game, Myst. I actually ponied up money to buy it because of how people were raving about it. And, like you, I never could get the gist of it. I was heartbroken and questioned my intelligence level. Then, I moved on to something else. :).
Debra, knowing your background, I’d never question your intelligence level! I’ve come to believe that some of us just don’t have enough left-brain bandwidth to deal with Minecraft and other modern video games. That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it! ;-D
Ohh, you must give Myst another try, especially now that they’ve reissued it with free-roaming graphics! Back when that game first came out in the mid-1990s, I picked up this game (newly divorced, in my mid-thirties), and my four young kids and I would crowd around our computer to play it. They’d pull up chairs to watch and take turns with the mouse, while the baby sat on my lap. We started a spiralbound notebook with clues and stuff we needed to remember later in the game. Some weekend nights we stayed up WAY too late playing this game together. It was a crazy bonding experience for us at a time that was otherwise difficult for me/us.
The company that made Myst (Cyan Worlds) has made many games since. They’re a small operation but are fabulous at creating games you can get lost in. We originally played in the days before “walkthroughs” and hints were available, so maybe using a hint-oriented website could help you get into the game. I admit we were a tad confused at first, too, but once we caught the gist of the game, we were hooked.
My eldest sons are now 40 and 38, and we still play Cyan games and talk about them together, thirty years later. Okay, I’ll shut up now. 😀 😀
I enjoy really really hard crossword puzzles (the one in the Financial Times of London is 10 times harder than any in the NYT), but I have no patience for Wordle, which seems very popular. Anything that keeps me staring at screen feels like work to me, but filling in squares on an actual sheet of paper seems to relax me.
Gay, I can’t start my day without solving Wordle. It gets my brain going first thing in the morning (well, that and coffee!) I also enjoy crossword puzzles. For Christmas, my younger son gave me a book of NY Times crossword puzzles. Unfortunately, the font is so small, it’s an eye-strain inducer. I find I much prefer working crossword puzzles on my iPad.
Okay, I’m the odd man out here, I guess. I’m a 63-year-old grandmother of four, and I love Minecraft. (I play it on the Peaceful setting, though, so I don’t have to encounter the critters of the night.) My now-grown kids got me into it years ago, and I still venture into the game to build new worlds or explore one of my old ones. Two of my kids constructed a huge world with lots of fun elements, statues, mine cars and roller coasters, and they let me “visit” a few times. (They were in their own houses, and I was in mine–they were adults by this point.) Now my six-year-old grandson plays, and I can’t wait till we can play together the next time he visits.
One incident reminded me, though, that I’m a fluke. Husband and I were waiting in line at a restaurant, and a family behind us included a young boy, probably no older than eight or nine. He was eagerly yammering in their uninterested ears about something he had just built in Minecraft. Well, I couldn’t say NOTHING, so I turned and told him I played too, and we started an excited conversation about Minecraft that lasted till we were called to our table. I noticed his parents (who were probably twenty years my junior) looking at me during this entire conversation, probably stunned and little wary of this odd older woman who was discussing the pros and cons of playing Minecraft in Survival mode.
Lesson learned: not everybody shares this odd obsession. 🙂
Linda, I’m in awe of you for understanding that game. I’m afraid I’ll always be clueless when it comes to Minecraft. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
I have a 22 year old and 20 year old who still play Minecraft. It’s a pretty awesome game, bit like virtual Legos but with more interactive elements. The thing I’ve never fully comprehended is Snapchat!
LOL, Melissa! I never even tried to comprehend Snapchat. It just seemed too weird to me. But I’m an outlier when it comes to social media in general. I don’t even have a Facebook page.