The trailer for a new indie video game based on the literary works of Franz Kafka has been released. You can watch it here below.

Titled The Franz Kafka Videogame, the game incorporates elements and themes from the 20th century author’s popular writings like The Metamorphosis and The Castle, and promises absurdity, surrealism, and puzzles.

The Franz Kafka Videogame comes from Russian developer Denis Galanin, whose previous game creation was inspired by William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and is described as “A classic adventure game based on twisted Franz Kafka’s novels.” In the upcoming game, players go on a distant journey of uncertainty with a man named K and if it’s true to Kafka’s works, there will be plenty of melancholy, existentialism, and bureaucratic labyrinths of frustration incorporated into those puzzles.

Because we here at Geeks of Doom are just absolutely mad about Doctor Who – and also because it’s one slow news day – I present to you a short film written and directed by none other than the newest actor to take up the mantle of the avuncular Time Lord from Gallifrey, Peter Capaldi.

Capaldi made Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life in 1995 with the cooperation of the BBC. The 22-minute feature was the actor’s first time calling the shots on his own film and later shared that year’s Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film with Peggy Rajski’s Trevor. You can watch it here below.

“I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.” “• Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates Franz Kafka on what would have been the writer’s 130th birthday.

The Doodle is a tribute to one of Kafka’s most famous works, the novella The Metamorphosis.

Born on July 3, 1883, Kafka’s The Metamorphosis was published in 1915 and tells the tale of the young Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman who awakens one morning to find he’s been mysteriously transformed into a huge insect. While the Google Doodle depicts the main character as a hat- and sunglasses-wearing, briefcase-carrying bug happily returning from work, George actually greatly dislikes his profession and becomes even more miserable once he morphs into an insect that’s loathed and alienated by his frightened family members. The Doodle also includes an apple, which plays a sad part in the story.

The Meowmorphosis
By Franz Kafka & Coleridge Cook
Paperback | Kindle
Quirk Classics
Release date: May 10, 2011

I’m a big fan of the Quirk Classics line of literary mash-ups and every time I’ve reported the news on another new title being released, I’ve done so with great enthusiasm. It all started with their insertion of zombies into Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and it’s been the infusion of humor, absurdity, preposterousness into otherwise serious, dramatic stories that has keep me coming back for more.

What also keeps me intrigued with this imprint is how they reveal their new titles. It all starts with just the name of the upcoming book — when you hear a title like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, you immediately think, “I have to check this out!” Then, they hit you with the book’s cover, and while you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, let’s face it, the cover is a big part of what grabs your attention.

Last year, when I read that their new offering would be called The Meowmorphosis, I thought, “Uh-oh, are they putting cats into Kafka’s The Metamorphosis?” and as it turns out, that’s just what they did.

Back at Christmastime, I mentioned there was a book I was looking forward to checking out — the new offering from Quirk Classics, The Meowmorphosis, which is a take on Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis.

As with previous Quirk Classics titles like Night Of The Living Trekkies, the publisher has released an amusing trailer for the book, which was co-written by Cook Coleridge. Watch the trailer, directed by Justin Lutsky, here below.