Hey, y'all! A special treat bonus episode for your American holiday week needs. Yup, there will be a regularly-scheduled episode on Friday, but here's an extra treat!  I was a guest on Talking Simulator discussing...romance in video games. Isn't it weird when a topic puts itself in front of you so many times? Here's the description from host Jordan Webber. Enjoy!  ... Sarah Wendell is the co-founder of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, a website for readers of romance fiction, and host of their podcast Smart Podcast, Trashy Books. When she's not reading, she loves to play video games, so Jordan invited her on the show to talk about how games approach her area of expertise: romance. For this whistlestop tour through how romance is written in the kinds of games Sarah plays (Dragon Age, Mass Effect, The Witcher, Stardew Valley...), she and Jordan discuss the male gaze, indecision when faced with an abundance of love interests, happily ever afters, whether or not romanceable characters should have their own preferences, and what romance novels Sarah would like to see adapted into a game. Sarah has also discussed this topic with her cohost Amanda and with Laura Nash from The Short Game podcast. That Twitter thread about the male gaze that lived rent free in Sarah's head is from @kyalbr.