Back around the turn of the century, while pondering an approach for my annual 3-Day-Novel contest entry, I hit on the idea of writing a choose-your-own-adventure. For research, I visited my local neighbourhood used bookstore -- and was utterly stymied in my efforts. So I got a second opinion, and exhausted my search without any success. The hot literary franchise of the '80s had assumed the used-books status of old editions of university textbooks, unsellable and forbidden from the shelves.
Fast-forward a decade, to a place with a new partner and her second-hand hawk family -- cruising garage sales and especially thrift stores weekly. In order to make the exercise one in which I actually participated, I had to come up with some species of vintage specialty good to collect. Gamebooks, done! And, well, perhaps the earth had split open and vented the contents of the landfills, because... I found a ton. Then I started finding solitaire adventures...
Now that I have them, what am I going to do with them? Analyse them? Critique them? Accumulate them? All I know is that having once wanted them and found them unavailable, I feel irrationally obligated to hoard any I find. It doesn't make much sense.
Fast-forward to the present-day. I have a kid and a half now, and they're basically fated to be readers. As it so happens, I'm sitting on a massive collection of YA lit of the interactive variety. Likely I will end up reading them -- someday -- with my kiddlins (and, who knows, probably making new ones with them) and reporting back.
Until then, please enjoy this placeholder page! Thanks to the CRPG Addict's review of Tunnels & Trolls for leading the way. (ETA: Here, some pictures of my actual collection. Not quite as neatly arrayed as the one I poached.)
