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Post by CharlesX on Sept 15, 2021 21:26:39 GMT
Has anyone else here read this rare adult-orientated gamebook? I was able to obtain it on EBay or something (it wasn't expensive, as I recall) 10 years ago. I found it an experience, but I wasn't a fan, I found it melodramatic and boring, if interesting. Give me the 'kids stuff' any day.
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,458
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Sept 15, 2021 22:25:31 GMT
Yeah I have it. Not a bad concept but as far as I recall, the decisions have much bigger consequences than you might think. Which I guess is Newman's point but it makes it feel a bit random. It also has weird things like being able to magically change to a new life completely which seems at odds with the concept. It also has a very conventional view of success in life.
Since this is one of the few adult-centred non-genre gamebooks, it's a pity it's not better.
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Post by a moderator on Sept 16, 2021 12:50:41 GMT
But is it really non-genre? As I recall, the sections that can't be reached by playing the gamebook suggest that what's really going on is a bit SF-ish.
The sad thing is, for all its weaknesses, LL is probably the best of the adult-targeted gamebooks I've read.
My copy is a first edition, and the section numbers given at the end of 230 seem to be the wrong way round. I know there are some situations in the book where external factors result in your getting the opposite outcome to the one you sought, but in this one there are no evident outside influences to compel you to lie when you want to tell the truth or vice versa. Does anyone have a later edition, and if so, has that apparent mistake been changed?
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Post by CharlesX on Sept 16, 2021 13:49:21 GMT
My copy is a first edition, and the section numbers given at the end of 230 seem to be the wrong way round. I know there are some situations in the book where external factors result in your getting the opposite outcome to the one you sought, but in this one there are no evident outside influences to compel you to lie when you want to tell the truth or vice versa. Does anyone have a later edition, and if so, has that apparent mistake been changed? Life's Lottery wasn't particularly commercially successful, at least compared to CYOA and FF, so I don't know if there even were reprints or how many. My copy is dated 1999 and has the same error as yours (I'm pretty sure it wasn't intentional). Unfortunately, gamebooks seem to be a bit sloppy about technical things, and if this were an FF or CYOA work it'd probably have more than one error. |
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Post by a moderator on Sept 16, 2021 16:35:28 GMT
At a bare minimum there was the hardback, the paperback, and the Kindle version. No idea if any of them got more than one print run, but I thought it worth asking just in case someone here knew - or if those variants differ in any meaningful way.
There are transposed section numbers at one point in John Sladek's 'programmed adventure' (i.e. mini-gamebook) The Lost Nose, and there is actually some critical debate over the question of whether it was a mistake or a deliberate subversion of the reader's wishes.
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Post by CharlesX on Sept 16, 2021 17:15:38 GMT
At a bare minimum there was the hardback, the paperback, and the Kindle version. No idea if any of them got more than one print run, but I thought it worth asking just in case someone here knew - or if those variants differ in any meaningful way. There are transposed section numbers at one point in John Sladek's 'programmed adventure' (i.e. mini-gamebook) The Lost Nose, and there is actually some critical debate over the question of whether it was a mistake or a deliberate subversion of the reader's wishes. That might be possible, since I'm neither very good at, nor like, subtext. At one point in Life's Lottery: There's guys smoking, and it's presented as though the guys who are addicted are having a laugh, and if you prefer not to smoke with them, you'll get addicted. Of course, it's the other way round. |
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,458
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Sept 16, 2021 18:06:14 GMT
But is it really non-genre? As I recall, the sections that can't be reached by playing the gamebook suggest that what's really going on is a bit SF-ish. Interesting, don't think I ever tried reading it cover to cover. Victoria Hancox's stuff seems pretty good.I'll check next time I'm up in my roofspace, though mine is hardback so guessing it's got the same error. |
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Post by CharlesX on Sept 17, 2021 17:00:05 GMT
Victoria Hancox's stuff seems pretty good. I remember reading her Nightshift. While I enjoyed it, for her literary, erudite style, and dark atmosphere (definitely darker than S. King), it required a tight linear 'true path', which I eventually lost patience with. |
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Post by dragonwarrior8 on Sept 17, 2021 18:05:22 GMT
Heroes of Urowen is advertised as a gamebook for adults and has gotten some pretty good reviews. Especially with the second edition apparently cleaning up a lot of translation errors that plagued the initial release. Its another one I havent gotten to yet but it looks kind of like the author was trying to replicate the feel of The Witcher video games in gamebook format.
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Post by CharlesX on Sept 27, 2021 4:47:54 GMT
But is it really non-genre? As I recall, the sections that can't be reached by playing the gamebook suggest that what's really going on is a bit SF-ish. The sad thing is, for all its weaknesses, LL is probably the best of the adult-targeted gamebooks I've read. My copy is a first edition, and the section numbers given at the end of 230 seem to be the wrong way round. I know there are some situations in the book where external factors result in your getting the opposite outcome to the one you sought, but in this one there are no evident outside influences to compel you to lie when you want to tell the truth or vice versa. Does anyone have a later edition, and if so, has that apparent mistake been changed? I thought I sent a reply to this yesterday but it seems to have disappeared.. I have no record of it in my activity and I couldn't imagine why moderators would have removed it (spoilers?). My point was you were being asked if you'd lie to the police, or tell the truth, and the legal world like parliament do not work on the premise\basis people lie (period full stop etc.). The references like LL are nuanced and contain evidence which suggests it was the author's intention to transpose the references, like it or not. |
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kieran
Baron
Posts: 2,458
Favourite Gamebook Series: Fighting Fantasy
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Post by kieran on Sept 27, 2021 9:58:54 GMT
My copy is a first edition, and the section numbers given at the end of 230 seem to be the wrong way round. My copy has the same error - but it turns out I have a first printing so I guess that's unsurprising! |
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Oct 31, 2021 5:15:01 GMT
I don't own this book, but the mention of the apparent error brought out my researcher's instincts and I dabbled around on Google Books for a bit trying to find the answer. However there isn't a proper preview for this work and I couldn't find the whole sequence. Then I just forgot about it anyway. Does the following shed any light?
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Post by CharlesX on Oct 31, 2021 5:55:57 GMT
I don't own this book, but the mention of the apparent error brought out my researcher's instincts and I dabbled around on Google Books for a bit trying to find the answer. However there isn't a proper preview for this work and I couldn't find the whole sequence. Then I just forgot about it anyway. Does the following shed any light?
<button disabled="" class="c-attachment-insert--linked o-btn--sm">Attachment Deleted</button>
That's about it. Kim Newman probably doesn't like\accept the concept the reader would lie (effectively perjury) with the police. |
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Post by a moderator on Oct 31, 2021 14:02:46 GMT
Kim Newman probably doesn't like\accept the concept the reader would lie (effectively perjury) with the police. Then why would he make choosing to tell the truth lead to your character lying unconvincingly and getting the worse outcome, while deciding to state a falsehood results in telling the truth and having things turn out marginally less badly? |
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