United StatesChildren of the Neon Bamboo-- Best retro video game related book since Ready Player One. While not completely devoted to retro video games, they drive the tone of the book, from the atmosphere around the dog days of summer, sitting around playing the same Nintendo games over and over, the awesome nights playing their new Sega Genesis, and how one character in the book’s quest to play Phantasy Star II drives the whole plot. Hell, there are even narrator asides about Sega’s push into America in 1990 and its harkening of the age of grunge.
It's roughly in the genre of humorous American fiction, but the humor is slyer and more understated, not slapstick. A wink to the absurdity of our lives. The atmosphere of 1990 is almost surreal and dreamlike. Vaporwave lit, kinda.
It's from an Indie press.
Childrenoftheneonbamboo.com
Children of the Neon Bamboo: B. Glynn Kimmey: 9798988054115: Amazon.com: Movies & TV
Official copy from publisher
Wryly surreal— Funny and serious at the same time, a Gen-Xer stumbles through his retelling of the wild, summer adventure of 1990 when in the pursuit of the new Sega Genesis he and a friend entangle themselves in a cross-country fight over a long-lost ancient samurai sword, connecting memorable characters from across history with the aesthetics of the era. Refugees, ninjas, nerds, musicians, soldiers, Dungeon Masters, karate instructors, and beauticians come together for a curious blend of 80s Japanese influenced pop culture and Mid-American grunge. Mountain Dew Moby Dick, literary vaporwave, high-topped Hunter S. Thompson, Taco Bell Tom Sawyer.
Driven by history, nostalgia, atmosphere, interesting characters, eccentricity, sentimentality, and a love for the enduring human spirit, Children of the Neon Bamboo is a wild, meandering, chill, and exhilarating story that bobs and weaves across the human experience, always with a sense of humor, never taking itself or the world too seriously.
Muno Mato. Cameroonian film. Find it if you can.