In this week’s blog post, Mark illustrates why the infamous Shamath riddle from Lone Wolf book 16 is truly unsolvable, and in the process addresses some of the “solution theories” that once circulated on the Internet.  Here’s a hint for those that have studied some linear algebra: it has to do with linear dependence. Shamath’s […]

Who is the hero in an interactive novel?  To answer this question, consider these quotes from the back covers of the first entries in four classic gamebook series: “YOU’RE THE STAR!” (Choose Your Own Adventure #1 – The Cave of Time) “YOU become the hero!”  (Fighting Fantasy #1) “YOU are Lone Wolf” (Lone Wolf #1) […]

Editor: You know this four page soliloquy where the main character tells how she got lost in the Ozarks when she was nine and how that is the source of her love of exploration? Author: Yeah? It’s really great, right? A similar thing once happened to me- Editor: Remove it. If you’ve ever gotten notes […]

The cliffhanger is an ancient storytelling device. In The Odyssey, Homer leaves his audience hanging over the fate of Telemachus for eleven books after he walks into an ambush. In One Thousand and One Nights, Sheherezade avoids being executed by her husband, the king, through telling him a story every night that would end in […]