The Gamesmaster

My Life in the '80s Geek Culture Trenches with G.I. Joe, Dungeons & Dragons, and the Transformers

By: Flint Dille

Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer

The Gamesmaster is a narrative memoir chronicling the life and career of Flint Dille. And while he isn't exactly a household name, you almost certainly know his work - which includes credits from some of the most important and successful entertainment franchises throughout the world across the cartoon, film, video game, and comic book industries and beyond.

Dille started his career writing and producing Saturday-morning television shows, including Transformers and G.I. Joe, while also writing interactive novels with Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons & Dragons. From there, he'd go on to work with the likes of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Frank Miller, Jack Kirby, and a raft of others as a writer, story editor, showrunner, and/or producer of iconic entertainment in almost every medium.

Dille's memoir is an entertaining blend of pop culture, social history, and reportage about the exciting, groundbreaking 1980s and the parts he and his colleagues, collaborators, employers, and friends played in making it a genuine Golden Age.

©2020 Flint Dille (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Great book that’s ultimately about the creative process

Really interesting factoids set in the center of geek culture. Also, has pearls re the creative process.

Great Lessons Learned

The book is so much more than just reminiscing about the 1980’s era games and cartoons. From each vignette Dille draws valuable lessons about creativity, working with/for media executives, collaborating with colleagues, understand audiences, and how to live life. It is very well-written and a fun listening adventure. Kudos to both the author and the narrator.

I learned so much about Flint

Flint has lead and continues to lead a wonderful career. I recent had a chance to meet him and wished I had known all these things before our running into eachother. Flint has had his hand in so many wonderful things in the 80s and 90s. well done and Thank you Flint.

Stories & creative insights into '80s geekdom

I enjoyed every chapter of this book, which is no surprise given my fascination with the cartoons, comics, books and games that the author helped create during his early career. If you are looking for behind-the-scenes stories and always fun reminiscing about how some of the most iconic geek properties came to be, you will not be disappointed. The author's style is conversational and rich in detail, leaving the reader/listener feeling like they are in the audience for a panel at a fan convention, not reading some dry book. The narrative skips around a bit, assumes the reader has knowledge of properties without introducing them, and repeats itself at times. But this adds to the charm, as each retelling adds something new, and the associative presentation of information (vice a strict chronological retelling) helps the reader to understand the connections between the projects that the author worked on. The effect is more like being in a conversation than reading a book.

I was surprised at how many valuable creative insights there are, sprinkled throughout the narrative. Anyone looking to launch a career as a creative will find practical advice on everything from getting your first break to managing your career transitions and evolving with changes in the market. I also appreciated the author's honesty in sharing his challenges & setbacks, and the strategies he used to overcome them and go on to do something even more amazing. The end result is a book that you can reread again and again, enjoying the author's retelling of his early career hijinks and absorbing the lessons he learned along the way that helped launch a very interesting career.

The narration by Michael Summerer felt just right. He does a great job of capturing the conversational tone of the author's writing, and he effectively injects some emotion into his reading at appropriate points which adds to the impact of the words.

Unique insight into some of your favorite childhood cartoons

I really enjoyed the book, but I felt there could have been a lot more depth on the shows he worked on. I'm sure he could write a longer book just about his time with Transformers and I really hope he does.