The Wall of Books

Ah, time for a post to reveal just how much of a fan collector I am (although this is probably nothing on Jamie's collection).

Top row: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (wraparound cover - 1st edition); Puffin #1~7 (coloured star versions); Puffin #1~24 (zig-zag versions) with a second copy of The Citadel of Chaos with the Ian Miller cover and a copy of House of Hell without the excised illustration. There follows Puffin books #5, 6, 8~21 (Golden Dragon versions with number on front cover).

Second row: Golden Dragon with number cover versions continues with books #22~36; then the Puffin versions with no numbers in the Golden Dragon format with books #4, 7, 10, 13, 15, 21, 24, 27, 30, 37~39; then the Golden Dragon versions with the number only on the spine for books #1~3, 7, 9~12, 15, 16, 18~24, 26, 28~30.

Third row: The Puffin Golden Dragon number only spine versions continue with books #31, 33, 35~51 along with a second version of Master of Chaos with the map by Leo Hartas. The comes the final Puffin editions which are the Golden Dragon format without the foil for which I have books #1~4, 10~14, 17, 22, 24, 33, 42, 44, 46~58.

Fourth row: The final Puffin book Curse of the Mummy; followed by the Clash of the Princes box set; the coloured star and Golden Dragon with foil versions of Fighting Fantasy – The Role-playing Game; and the zig-zag version of The Riddling Reaver. The follows Wizard Books versions from "Series 1" beginning with the "Sample Version" of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain; and continuing with the "Standard Editions" of books #1~6, 8~10, 15, 17, 20, 21, 26; then the "Special Editions" of books #3~12, 16, 18, 19, 22~29; and then the 25th Anniversary Edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. The row ends with the foil version of the first three novels from Puffin.

Bottom row: The UK versions of all 4 Adventures of Goldhawk and the US version of book #2 The Demon Spider; then the 10th Anniversary Yearbook; the Sorcery! boxset of The Shamutanti Hills and The Sorcery Spell Book; followed by the "coloured triangle" version of The Shamutanti Hills and the edition of the Spell Book that was sold seperately; with the zig-zag versions of all 4 Sorcery! books next. There follows the B5-sized versions of Out of the Pit and Titan and the three Advanced Fighting Fantasy books (the first two being the foil versions). My only novel from The Zagor Chronicles quartet is next along with the Deathtrap Dungeon Card Game. Then is the Wizard Books "Series 2" editions of which I have books #1~9, 11~16. Winding up this post and the final row is the paperback and hardback versions of The Tasks of Tantalon, the A4-sized editions of Out of the Pit and Titan and Warlock magazine issues #1~13.

Coming Soon - Issue 6 (Other Items of Interest)

Well, what else do we have lined up for issue #6?

We have "Turn to Paragraph 400" Part 2, the second half of the 2010 survey results. Find out who was voted favourite author and favourite artist. Which book would you most like to see reprinted and who would you want to pen a new Fighting Fantasy adventure? Plus, who did YOU vote as the most important contributor to the series?

We also have Chapter 2 of Ian Brocklehurst's ongoing tale Aelous Raven and the Wrath of the Sea-Witch, Part 4 of Ed Jolley's continued investigation of the books for morals in "Everything I Need to Know I Learnt from Reading Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks", the "Chronicle of Heroes" by Adrian Young covers A Shadow Over Blacksand, and "Fighting Dantasy" gets to grips with Forest of Doom.


Forest of Doom is also reviewed in the new reviews section, "The Arcane Archive", alongside Curse of the Mummy, Armies of Death, and Appointment with F.E.A.R. Ian Brocklehurst appears again to kick off a new irregular column called "The Magic Quest" which deals with memories of how people became fans of the series, Andrew Wright wrangles some more monsters in a new edition of "Out of the Pit", Guillermo Paredes rounds up the latest Fighting Fantasy and gamebook news, Jamie Fry looks at gamebook hunting in his column "Fighting Fantasy Collector", and the new letters page kicks off.

Finally, with more details to come in a later post, the issue features a new competition...

It's a Small World After All

Just a post to highlight some of the wonderfully diverse people that have contributed to/supported Fighting Fantasy since it was launched in 2009.

As mentioned in an earlier post we have Michael Wolmarans from South Africa and Sunil Prasannan (ex-UK, now in the USA). But we also count among our many contributors (not all are listed here, just a few to show geographic diversity) Julien Meneldur (France), Aida Rintarou (Japan), Andrew Wright (ex-Australia, now in Thailand), Brett Schofield (Australia), Jamie Fry (UK), Demian Katz (USA), Ian Brocklehurt (ex-UK, now in Greece), Guillermo Parades (Mexico), Dan Satherley (NZ), and Natalie Gingerboom (UK).

Additional to this list, the survey reveals we also have readers from places like Sweden and Ireland.

Escape from the Sorcerer - Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek from the art and text of the mini adventure for issue #6.

You open the door into a very high-ceilinged room. You realise the reason for the spacious accommodations when a huge, twenty-foot long Cobra rears its head, hissing menacingly and trying to bite you!

This is Escape from the Sorcerer by Sunil Prasannan (now a resident of the USA) and illustrated by Michael Wolmarans (of South Africa):

The kingdom of Alkemis has come under repeated attack from neighbouring Agra. Unable to hold back the hordes of Lizard Men and chaotic Asuras led by the evil sorcerer Grudar Kreshnel, YOU and a few dozen fellow survivors were captured. One by one your fellow countrymen have been brutally executed, until only YOU remain. Will YOU be able to escape from the Sorcerer?

Coming Soon - Issue 6

We're well on the way to getting the next issue done and dusted, so to help wet your appetites we present the cover for the forthcoming issue. The fantastic cover art (and the interior art for the mini adventure) this issue is done by new contributor Michael Wolmarans (you can find out more about him and his art at his website: Tenebrae Studios).

And as you can see from the cover, some of the contents will be:

• The mini adventure Escape from the Sorcerer by Sunil Prasannan
• "The Fact of Fiction" focusses on The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
• Interview #1 is with Leo Hartas
• Interview #2 is with Steve Luxton

What else can we promise you? Come back in another week and I might have some more details...

Letters to the Editor

Yes, Fighting Fantazine has succumbed to a blog. Just another nefarious tool to promote the Fighting Fantasy fan magazine of choice!

Beginning with issue #6, the magazine will feature a letters page entitled "Mampang Mailbox" which is open to letters (via email obviously) and posts on the Facebook page (marked [MM] to indicate that they are allowable for publication in the letters pages). The page is willing to entertain letters about the magazine itself or anything Fighting Fantasy or gamebook related.