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Tuesday 3 September 2013

Virtual Reality gamebooks return as Critical IF

Lots more Way of the Tiger news coming up over the next couple of months, but first here's a peek into the near future. There'll be four Critical IF paperback books (with covers by the awesomely talented Jon Hodgson, interior art by Leo Hartas, Russ Nicholson and William Harvey) and at least one of the four is out in revised Kindle and paperback editions that you can get right now (see below). The rest are coming in just under a month.

Feel free to spread the word and please, please, please circulate the image above everywhere you can. The more people who hear about it, and who review it on Amazon, the more chance we have of bringing back other classic gamebook series like Blood Sword and Falcon.
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17 comments:

  1. Efrem Orizzonte3 September 2013 at 10:49

    I'm spreading the word on some Italian forums, Dave. Gamebooks were part of the childhood of so many people, and many of them still enjoy a good one. And frankly, they don't get much better that Heart of Ice :)

    The Kindle price is a steal. I already got my copy, and I may also get the paperback this time. This is one book you can't have too many copies of!

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    1. Dave Morris3 September 2013 at 17:00

      Thanks, Efrem. I'd really like to have bundled the ebook and paperback at one price, but Createspace isn't set up for that - yet.

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    2. Yaztromo10 March 2014 at 15:13

      I got the paperbacks.
      I already had Heart of Ice from Panurgic, so I bought the other three in a single bundle.

      Delete
    3. Dave Morris18 March 2014 at 19:52

      In which case you should be able to get the Kindle versions at a much reduced rate - or possibly even free - having bought the paperbacks, thanks to Amazon's Matchbook service.

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  2. Johann3 September 2013 at 10:53

    Nice! I didn't read/play this back in the day, so it's good to have the chance to do it now, especially since the Internet seems to agree that the book is great. And I like that there's a digital edition (I probably wouldn't have bought it otherwise).

    A couple of minor problems:

    1. On Amazon, the Kindle edition seems to be linked to the old paperback edition, not the new one. I.e., if you look at the page for the new paperback edition, it says that there's no kindle version, and the kindle edition points to the old paperback edition in the alternate formats box. I don't know if you have any control over that, but if you do you probably want to change it.

    2. On my device (kindle paperwhite; book bought from Amazon US), the font size is one size smaller than my other books. So if my font size is normally set to 3, I need to switch it to 4 in Heart of Ice to have the same actual size on the screen. Pinching to change the font size only takes a second, so it's not the end of the world; still, books that mess with my choice of font / font size / line spacing are a pet peeve of mine, so if you ever have to update the kindle version, it'd be nice if you could remember to fix that as well.

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    1. Dave Morris3 September 2013 at 17:04

      Hi Johann - I hope it lives up to the hype.

      I've contacted Amazon about linking the new pb and Kindle editions. They are in the process of doing so, but unfortunately that has lost the 5-star reviews that the old edition had. So if you enjoy the book and you have a minute... Those reviews on Amazon really help ;-)

      Wrt font size - thanks for letting me know. It's tricky to check these things. I have a regular Kindle, a Paperwhite and a Kindle app on my iPad, but with all the proliferating platforms there are going to be glitches. I'll try and fix it on the next iteration.

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    2. Junior13 September 2013 at 06:05

      This is fantastic! Can we expect "Coils of Hate" and "Green Blood" soon as well?

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    3. Dave Morris13 September 2013 at 08:21

      Those would take a bit of editing. I suspect the next Critical IF books will be Keep of the Lich Lord, the Bloodsword series, and Way of the Tiger - not necessarily in that order. Then Falcon. Coils of Hate and Green Blood... maybe one day.

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  3. Chris13 September 2013 at 05:47

    Just a little confused, the "Once upon a Time in Arabia" is a Virtual Reality series book? I was not aware of this book, am I missing something here?

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    1. Dave Morris13 September 2013 at 08:15

      I think I did cover this in an earlier post, Chris, but can't blame you for missing it. Once Upon is the revised version of Twist of Fate, a title I always thought was a bit weak. Another option was The Thief of Baghdad (or The Best Thief in Baghdad) to reflect the book's origins as an FF pitch, but I decided against that as it railroads the player too much.

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  4. MALthus Dire26 October 2013 at 12:09

    Hey Dave. Is Twist Of Fate going to be re-released as well by any chance?

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    1. Anonymous26 October 2013 at 23:36

      As far as I know, it has already been re-released, but under a new name : "Once upon a time in Arabia". Hope it helps.

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    2. Dave Morris27 October 2013 at 15:28

      That's right. Once Upon A Time In Arabia is now on sale and it is indeed Twist of Fate only with a new prologue:
      http://fabledlands.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/your-wish-is-my-command.html

      Delete
  5. Anonymous26 October 2013 at 23:32

    Dear Dave,
    I've just started reading Heart of Ice and I've stumbled rather quickly on what seems to be an inconsistency (at least to me) :
    When in Kahira, one is given the opportunity (entry 95) to find out about Baron Siriasis, Chaim Golgoth, or the Sphinx, as if one had previously heard about each of them. The problem here is that, if one come to Kahira via Old Marsay (subway station), one may never have previously heard about Baron Siriasis, Chaim Golgth or the Sphinx, and it seems a bit odd to be given the option to investigate on these subjects.
    Did I miss something ?

    Best regards,
    Yves-Arnaud.

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    1. Dave Morris27 October 2013 at 15:32

      Hi Yves-Arnaud, that's a good point and I did think about adding extra keywords that would have checked if you had previously heard anything about each character. In the end I figured that everybody would logically be aware of the Sphinx as a famous local landmark, and that maybe Siriasis and Golgoth were well-known enough that you had heard of them at some earlier point in your career before the adventure started. But the more I think about it, the more I think you're right - it should be handled with keywords. That's something for the third edition.

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  6. Anonymous27 October 2013 at 16:14

    Thanks for your answer Dave.
    I was indeed wondering if it was legitimate for my character to investigate these subjects and had scruples about reading the corresponding entries. Since you're ok with that, I will consider that these subjects are well-known rumors (or common knowledge) and will resume my reading.
    By the way, my kudos for your dice-less system : death is much more tolerable when the luck factor is not involved ^^.

    Thanks again.

    Best Regards,
    Yves-Arnaud.

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  7. Dave Morris28 October 2013 at 15:21

    Thanks for taking an interest. It's nice to know that books I wrote 20 years ago are still being enjoyed today.

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