Thursday, October 22, 2020
8 to 10 PM EST / 5 to 7 PM PST

Some of the funniest and most charismatic authors we know—John Darnielle, Leah Johnson, Daniel Lavery, Amber Sparks, and R. Eric Thomas—join Dungeon Master Matt Lubchansky for this classic tabletop role-playing game with a literary twist. The publisher of Lightning Bolt Literature has been murdered, and they’ll have to solve puzzles, fight monsters, and maybe even battle a god to get to the bottom of things. If you’ve never played D&D before, don’t worry—most of our players haven’t either.

John Darnielle is the leader of the band The Mountain Goats and the author of Universal Harvester and the National Book Award-nominated Wolf in White Van.

Leah Johnson is the author of inaugural Reese Witherspoon book club pick You Should See Me in a Crown (and a former Electric Lit employee!).

Daniel Lavery is Slate’s Dear Prudence, a founder of The Toast, and the author of Texts from Jane Eyre, The Merry Spinster, and Something That May Shock and Discredit You.

Amber Sparks is the author of the story collections The Unfinished World, May We Shed These Human Bodies, and And I Do Not Forgive You.

R. Eric Thomas is a humor columnist at Elle and the author of the essay collection Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America.

Dungeon Master Matt Lubchansky is a cartoonist and illustrator, associate editor of The Nib, and coauthor of Dad Magazine.

Swords Out: A Dungeons & Dragons Murder Mystery, Presented by Substack