by Wil Wheaton
First published 2003
Wil Wheaton returns to empty rooms where childhood once lived. In these five true stories, he searches through what remains when families move on. A simple game of hide and seek with neighborhood children becomes a portal to his own past games and the friends who played them. He remembers being fifteen and meeting another teenager briefly, a connection that left behind sweet memories and an unexpected gift of a Car Wars game set. He steps outside into falling rain and finds a moment of pure joy in the movement of his body. Throughout these experiences, Wheaton grapples with his complex relationship to Star Trek, the franchise that shaped his early career. Each story captures a specific moment when memory collides with present experience. The empty house holds more than absence. The children's laughter carries echoes of his own childhood seeking and hiding. These fragments of life reveal how the past never truly disappears but waits to resurface in unexpected moments of connection and recognition.
Genres: biography, literary-fiction, coming-of-age, memoir
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, nostalgia
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
Paperback · Monolith Pr