The first thing I ought to say is that these aren't actually the covers they're going to have when they go on sale. I just knocked these up to have handy copies to write in. It beats feeding reams of paper into the laser printer. Instead, I just have to fiddle around on Lulu for a half hour and lo, it's all sorted and some spanking new paperbacks arrive a few days later. The cover design process is quite therapeutic, too, after hours of flowcharting and proofreading.
The eagle-eyed will notice Twist of Fate has a new title. I never liked the original and this one explains what it's about. Mind you, I have yet to find out what our new publishers think. It could be The Thief of Bagshot by the time it comes out.
Ah yes. Our new publishers... Because this is not a Spark Furnace venture, but rather a partnership with a leading international publisher. If you're any sort of a gaming or fantasy nerd, you'll have heard of them - and, if you're like me, you'll have been collecting their books since you were a kid. I'll let you know who it is (assuming you haven't guessed) as soon as the ink is dry on the deal.
As well as these four books, we'll have an all-new gamebook by Jamie that I'm still going to refer to by the irritatingly tantalizing title of Undeadwood just so I'll have something to post about when we're ready to announce what it's really called. And for the sixth book - well, I'm still hoping it'll be the first in the Way of the Tiger series, and the news as of today is that it probably will be. Maybe even two Way of the Tiger books to kick off and we hold back Undeadwood till the autumn. What would your vote be on that?
Way of the Tiger pleeeeaaase, then I'll buy all the rest.
ReplyDeleteThat's what we think, David. And it turns out it was what our publisher partners were thinking all along too, only our lines of communication with them were temporarily munsened by our go-between. That's now been fixed, and I'm hoping that we'll have the first two WOTT books out in the spring.
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeletewhat about the other two Virtual Reality gamebooks?
If you'd ask me, I'd totally plead against a change in the title of "Twist of Fate". The new one sounds horrible for me as on old gamebook enthusiast.
Will Way of the Tiger maybe get a satisfying end this time? I really liked the 6 books but the end was absolutely disappointing.
The other two VR books would take a little bit of work to fix. (Discreet cough.) So we're leaving them till later.
DeleteOur publisher partners aren't keen on most of the titles, actually, but I'm trying to resist changing Heart of Ice or Necklace of Skulls. Twist of Fate, though - does that say Arabian Nights to you? Thief of Baghdad was my original choice - but you might not play a thief.
We have had a brilliant and very detailed proposal by author David Walters for WOTT book 7 that finally gets our hero out of that web - and in a very satisfying way. If the new series is successful, look for that around autumn 2014.
That's the best news I've heard from this genre in a decade!! Way of the Tiger coming back and book 7 in the works!! Woohoo!!
DeleteRemember reading the original series many years ago and they were some of my best memories of playing gamebooks ever.
The Dragonlance trilogy was another series that ended with unanswered questions and came back with a bang years later with Dragons of Summer Flame to the satisfaction of many fans. Similarly I'm pretty sure the WotT series had no lack of devoted fans back in the 80s who would be thrilled to hear of this development so I'm predicting its going to be a mega hit! (yes rose tinted glasses on... can't help it ;p)
So yea in summary, better late than never! Can't wait for autumn 2014 xD
It also gives me hope for my Mirabilis graphic novel series, which is currently becalmed because neither of the two artists who co-own the IP is interested in working in comics. But if WOTT can return after 25 years, anything is possible!
DeleteSorry to ask, Dave but... there is any news for Fabled lands? Or Blood Sword?
ReplyDeleteBTW, Way of the Tiger sounds amazing!
Ikaros
PS: I pledged for the hardcover book of Arcana Agency. Your comments were good enough for me.
We'll be getting to Blood Sword if the series is successful, Ikaros. But (as I discussed in a recent post) those books will take more work, so we're leaving them till later.
DeleteFabled Lands won't be included because - well, those books have already been reissued in print, and are forthcoming as multi-platform apps from Spirit Entertainment, but would be very difficult to do as ebooks.
Yeah, fabled Lands gets exponencial better each new book.
ReplyDeleteIn general I'd agree that we got better as we went on, though I happen to think the high water mark of the series was book 5.
ReplyDeleteIf I can tell you my opinion, I'd rather have something new before anything already published (although unknown for many people, as already mentionend), so I would be pleased to have "Undeadwood" in my hands in a few months and to wait a bit more for WotT 1 and 2.
ReplyDeleteAs for the titles, I simply can't understand why Necklace of Skulls and Heart of Ice should be changed, I completely agree with you, they're perfect titles, both attractive and focused on the setting and the content of the story. Twist of Fate is another story, in Italian I knew it with the title "I misteri di Baghdad" (The mysteries of Baghdad), which is a good title after all, but your new proposal is surely better for a 2013 republished gamebook!
The Mysteries of Baghdad, eh? I like that. But changing titles is a risky business. If somebody buys the book without realizing they already had it, they are justifiably going to feel exploited. Amid all the 5-star reviews for Dark Lord, there are a few 1-star complaints from readers who bought Dark Lord: The Early Years (the US title) on the assumption that it was a different book from Dark Lord: The Teenage Years (UK title).
DeleteI'd have liked to launch with Undeadwood on the list, but it doesn't look as if Jamie will have written it in time. So it's WOTT for next spring, I'm afraid. A pity, as I was really looking forward to some Wild West vampire action, but hopefully the return of Avenger will make up for that.
Twist of Fate was tremendous! It was the first gamebook I played before Fabled Lands that really gave the sense of a wide-open world and epic scale, even if the game mechanics meant that had to be largely illusory. It was only years later that I realized that it was the same creative genius behind both!
ReplyDeleteIt's good of you to say so, Andy. I remember spending a lot more time on Heart of Ice, so that I was up against the deadline with TOF and had to skimp a little on the structural elements. In other words, there are some fun ideas in there but I'm not convinced they made for a fully coherent adventure. Per Jorner or Mrs Giggles would've rightly dragged me over the coals for that if they had ever reviewed this book. This time round, though, I've revised the structure and added some options to make it all work a lot better as a purposeful scenario.
DeleteSo if this is a success might we see any more Way of the Tiger books? Perhaps that take us beyond Inferno!? I've been hanging around on that spider web for about twenty five years :(
ReplyDeleteThen you will be pleased to hear, Richard, that there is already a storyline worked out for a new WOTT book - a really good one, too - and we hope to continue the series.
DeleteI meant to give credit there to author David Walters, who has come up with a very satisfying way to save Avenger from that web, and who is also involved in writing Megara's WOTT roleplaying game.
DeleteJust wanted to say that I'm really excited to hear that Twist of Fate will be re-released again this spring! It's the only one of your Virtual Reality books I haven't read, and given how much I enjoyed all the others (Necklace of Skulls in particular) I'm really looking forward to it.
ReplyDelete