Leonard asked Gabrielle Zevin:

I am reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow... Mario didn't ground pound until Mario 64 for the N64. On the NES console he just jumped on their heads.... of course this nitpicky comment is my just being silly. This book has grabbed me from the start and I can't wait to finish it and will definitely be checking out more of your stuff. So, the actual question: can I follow you on any social media?

Gabrielle Zevin You're right. The funny thing about your question is that it reveals a deeper truth about my gaming life. I did not have my own Nintendo console UNTIL the N64. My dad is a computer programmer and thought consoles would rot my brain -- the only time I'd played Nintendo as a kid was at friends' houses. When I finally played the original Mario as research for this book, I killed goombas AS IF I could ground pound, not knowing that I was just jumping. On a semi-related note, there's also a conversation in the book about Donkey Kong's necktie, which does not fully seem to acknowledge the fact that he did not wear a necktie until he became a hero in 1994's Donkey Kong Country. The truth is, I do not like to imagine Donkey Kong without a tie insofar as he feels naked to me. In the end, most of the actual gaming stuff in the book relies on my own flawed memories and experiences across four decades of gaming.

Though I am not a particularly compelling Internet personality, you can follow me on Instagram, subscribe to my intermittent newsletter over at my website, and I occasionally answer questions right here on Goodreads.

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