Book Club 78: The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain

[Dave Bradley]

Yes indeed! We're taking a slight break from weighty literary matters to enjoy the Fighting Fantasy gamebook which started it all (it's the 30th anniversary, y'see):

In SFX 225 novelist Jonathan Green will be writing about Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's much loved tome The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain.

Wikipedia entry

Amazon

The deadline for your remarks is 12 June 2012.

Get your dice and pencils ready! Thanks, Dave

[hammard]

OMG! OMG! OMG! I don't want to sound like a screaming fan (too late) but I love you guys for doing this. Along with seeing the full Green Arrow trailer you have made my day.

Gonna crack out the book, the dice and a my map book. May our stanima never fail!

[Dave Bradley]

This might be my favourite post ever, hammard.

Confession: my favourite FF book is actually Deathtrap Dungeon (no wait! I mean House Of Hell. Or City Of Thieves) but Warlock is a classic.

[hammard]

Originally Posted by Dave Bradley

This might be my favourite post ever, hammard.

Confession: my favourite FF book is actually Deathtrap Dungeon (no wait! I mean House Of Hell. Or City Of Thieves) but Warlock is a classic.

Ah, I'm a City of Thieves man myself, but Warlock is the one I played the most as a kid (it was published before I was born but my dad had a very early copy which I now own) and I think all the first 11 are excellent (yes, even Scorpion Swamp!). In fact I still remember the way through the first few corridors, the amount of times I fell down the pit or got bitten by the bloody snake!

[count_libido]

It's a book, a game and a puzzle all in one. It's a literary Kinder Egg! I loved these books and there was always a race between my friends as to who could complete it first and who had the latest book.

[Ville]

Nice one! This book kicked off a lifetime adventure in gaming that turned into a career and has taken me all over the World...Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone...if you're reading this: Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

-Ville

[fonz]

I absolutely love the FF game books. Absolutely, totally, bloody love them. City of Thieves was my first and probably remains my favourite of the Allansia based books, but my all time favourites are the horror themed House of Hell and the frankly amazing superhero caper Appointment With F.E.A.R. TWOFM, as iconic as it undoubtedly is, was actually one of my least favourites in the series. It started off great but the whole "Maze of Zagor" bit at the end always used to annoy the heck out of me. It was like the FF equivalent of the yawn-inducing padding in a Doctor Who 6-parter. I dunno, maybe I was just rubbish (I was terrible at Creature of Havoc - I think that's the sole FF book that I never, ever managed to complete).

I going to have to go dig these books out now. I know I've still got them somewhere

[kevinj]

Searched through the enormous amount of these that came into the shop a couple of weeks ago and found a copy, now all I have to find is a dice.

[Clown Asylum]

Oh my steaming Jeebus! Thank you for this! I spent most of my late teens reading these, and at one point was utterly obsessed with them. I bought the monster guide, Out of the Pit, and I got the guide to the world, Titan, and read both of them so often the covers fell off - and that was when I wasn't working my way through the FF books themselves.

I'm undecided as to whether they actually deserve the title of "Literature", but won't fight it if such is applied - the FF world was one you could get lost in, and feel a part of.

I honestly can't say which was my favourite, but I must give a shout out to the Sorcery! four-parter, just for opening up the world of Allansia so much. Me and my brother bought all four between us and swapped 'em as necessary.

Warlock, Citadel of Chaos, Deathtrap Dungeon, Forest of Doom, Appointment with F.E.A.R.... all made entirely of Win.

Favourite though has to be Creature of Havoc, because it seemed to delve that bit deeper into the mythos of the world, you got to be a monster, and also because it was completely bloody impossible. Even when I cheated like a bastard.

[Pinky and Perky are SciFi]

Ah the book that evolve finger gymnastics! One finger at the page you were reading, the others flipping to the options. You'd never die! Did spoil the fun mind...