Nightmare Fuel is the official newsletter for fans of my work. Thank you for subscribing. Please share it with others if you think they might be interested!
I love how solo gamebooks weren't just entertainment, they almost felt like your first experience co-authoring a story. Looking back, do you think those books influenced the way you structure horror now? Your stories often have that same feeling of "every decision just led to a different kind of nightmare."
That actually makes a lot of sense. I suppose once you've spent years thinking in terms of "what happens if the character chooses this instead?", you start seeing multiple paths through every story problem. 😊 Has there ever been a point where one of your characters surprised you by taking a route you hadn't originally planned?
The CYOA books were an early dive for me as well. Never saw the Sorcery books (to my recollection. Although this reminds me of the old Wizardry game where the rule book had the spells listed, but if you lost it (which I may have done) then you had to try and recall what they did. DIOS and BADIOS for the Priest and getting to where the Wizard could do MAHALITO.... I need to go play the emulator!) One thing that always sticks out to me, to this day, are the covers to the D&D ones. That linen cover was the first time I had experienced that. This book literally felt different than anything I had ever read. Years later I had the same experience with the White Wolf books (pretty sure that is the right line.) While not the "choice" style of books, these books were paperbacks that weighed about twice what they should. Normal size books, but it felt like you picked up a brick!
I love how solo gamebooks weren't just entertainment, they almost felt like your first experience co-authoring a story. Looking back, do you think those books influenced the way you structure horror now? Your stories often have that same feeling of "every decision just led to a different kind of nightmare."
Solo gamebooks and role-playing games definitely influenced how I write… especially how I deal with roadblocks and story problems.
That actually makes a lot of sense. I suppose once you've spent years thinking in terms of "what happens if the character chooses this instead?", you start seeing multiple paths through every story problem. 😊 Has there ever been a point where one of your characters surprised you by taking a route you hadn't originally planned?
If you need a story for Tales From the Magician’s Skull.. let me know…
The CYOA books were an early dive for me as well. Never saw the Sorcery books (to my recollection. Although this reminds me of the old Wizardry game where the rule book had the spells listed, but if you lost it (which I may have done) then you had to try and recall what they did. DIOS and BADIOS for the Priest and getting to where the Wizard could do MAHALITO.... I need to go play the emulator!) One thing that always sticks out to me, to this day, are the covers to the D&D ones. That linen cover was the first time I had experienced that. This book literally felt different than anything I had ever read. Years later I had the same experience with the White Wolf books (pretty sure that is the right line.) While not the "choice" style of books, these books were paperbacks that weighed about twice what they should. Normal size books, but it felt like you picked up a brick!
Yes! I shoulda mentioned the cover stock on the Endless Quest books. I was sad when they went to a more traditional finish.