Reading is for losers, but we’ll make exception for Marty Beckerman’s ’90s Island: A Novella. It’s a ridiculous tale of using Kickstarter to fund the recreation of the ’90s and even has an era-appropriate promotional website.
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If 98/100 Buzzfeed posts have taught us anything, it’s that people are obsessed with nostalgia to the point of stupidity. Now imagine you could actually go back to the days when flannel shirts weren’t for hipsters and Big League Chew was the gum of choice for kids pretending to dip. That’s the world created in Beckerman’s ’90s Island.
In it, twin brothers start a Kickstarter campaign (obviously) and raise enough money to recreate the ’90s on an island. It’s the ideal place for those who long for the fictional world of Portlandia to be real. Life is nothing but Pogs and Goldeneye until one of the brothers goes all Farenheit 451.
’90s Island is a more immersive nostalgia experience than could gained by reading every “25 ‘xyz’ from the ’90s posts” in succession. You should absolutely check out the website, 90sIsland. It’s a perfect replica of the finest hosting platform of the decade, GeoCities. Click just about anywhere to get to the Amazon page for the novella, or you could just buy it here. I don’t know about you, but I feel dirty for reading a book about the ’90s on my Kindle. It’s only $3 though, so eff paper.
On the eve of their thirtieth birthday, twin brothers Jake and Zack Hind—bankrupt from the recession and obsessed with the lost golden era of the 1990s—drunkenly create a Kickstarter crowdfunding page for ’90s ISLAND, a tropical commune dedicated to recreating that beloved, carefree decade. When they wake up, Generation Y has collectively pledged millions of dollars. At first it’s a thrilling return to the twentieth century: ’90s fashions, ’90s music, ’90s slang, ’90s video games, even ’90s junk food…but the fun turns to horror when Zack seizes dictatorial power, banning everything from modern books to medicine. Jake must stop his brother—but first he must conquer his own nostalgia.