About Derek Ex Machina

Hi! I'm Derek L.H., an editor and author, and this is Derek Ex Machina. In my years pursuing a Creative Writing degree, I realized that I had an undying passion for writing essays about things that mattered to me. While I was able to dip my toes into writing essays about media that really mattered to me, I felt that I was held back from extensively writing about what mattered to me.

After graduating, I decided to put together Derek Ex Machina - a blog to host various essays, reviews, and analyses about the two forms of media that are most important to me - video games and film. My life has been significantly enriched by video games, however I feel that the current landscape of writing the dissects and analyzes video games is frustratingly barren. Inspired by other content creators such as Hamish Black's Writing on Games YouTube channel, and Lindsay Ellis' various film video essays, I wanted to begin creating thoughtful essays that could help foster more intellectual conversations around video games and film.

On Derek Ex Machina, I will be writing essays that that concern games and films that I feel are worth talking about - not necessarily games or films that are popular at the moment. My essays will be focused on the likes of video game design, narrative, and narrative design, and any opinion pieces on a video game or film that's on my mind.

My favorite video games are Role Playing Games. I'm basically the world's biggest fan of the Xenoblade Chronicles series. Some of my other favorite games include the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona franchises, the Super Smash Bros. series, Final Fantasy IX and X, and Life is Strange.

As for film, I love anything science-fiction. I'm also a huge animation nerd, especially when it comes to Studio Ghibli. Some of my all-time favorite films include Interstellar, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner 2049, and Kiki's Delivery Service.