ADVENTURE GAME BOOKS

As a child there were a few series of books that really jump-started my interest in reading.  One was the series Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators.  In them a group of three young adults had their own investigation group and solved many spooky crimes that took place near there home in Rocky Beach, California.  Another series were the Choose Your Own Adventure and Which Way books.  You were the hero of the story in the books, and you were able to make decisions that altered the outcome of the tale. 

For instance, if you entered a haunted house and there were two doors to go through, it would say, “If you choose the door to your right go to page 23, If you choose the door to your left go to page 13.”  Many of the choices would lead to your death, but then you could go back and choose again.  I started off with the Choose Your Own Adventure series but later grew to like the WhichWay books more because they seemed to have more of a horror tint to them.  There were several other great books that fit this mold such as: Grail Quest, Endless Quest, Be An Interplanetary Spy, Plot-Your-Own Horror Stories and Find Your Fate Adventures, which even had a couple of Three Investigator’s themed books.  For this article I will only focus on the first two but I may return to the others at a later date.  Listed below are some of my all time favorite books from the respective series.

 CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE BOOKS:  

1. THE MYSTERY OF CHIMNEY ROCK By Edward Packard (#5) – This was one of the first of these types of books I ever read, and I was instantly addicted.  While on vacation you become interested in a huge, boarded up old house on a hill. Is the creepy old house haunted, or is it something more mundane going on inside?  Only by investigating and choosing wisely will you find out.

2. PRISONER OF THE ANT PEOPLE By R.A. Montgomery (#25) – A fun futuristic sci-fi adventure where you and your allies, Rendoxoll (an R2D2 type robot) and Flppto (a Martian) are combating The Evil Power Master.  You must deal with ant warriors, underground passages and The Evil Power Master himself.

 3. HYPERSPACE By Edward Packard (#21) – You become friends with a new neighbor who turns out to be a brilliant professor delving into the mysteries of hyperspace.  After being zapped into it, you start traveling to other bizarre dimensions.  You encounter several strange denizens of these realms that don’t unearthly realms.

WHICHWAY BOOKS:

1.THE CASTLE OF NO RETURN By R.G. Austin (#1) – This is a wonderfully odd book in which you enter a castle that suddenly appears in the woods behind your house at the same time that all the TV’s in your town become disrupted.  Inside are odd monsters like the Frankenstein-ish beast that wants you to eat a plate of live worms, a ghostly woman who wants you to play monopoly with her forever, and a mad scientist.

2.CURSE OF THE SUNKEN TREASURE By R.G. Austin (#7) – A mysterious green glow wakes you up at night from the fishing village you live in.  When you go to investigate it in your rowboat, you are enveloped and cannot see where you are going except towards the light.  A ship picks you up, and you end up helping them investigate the source.   This story includes sea serpents, ghost ships, werewolves, and aliens.

3.INVASION OF THE BLACK SLIME AND OTHER TALES OF HORROR By R.G. Austin (#10) – A mining town you visit has been infested with a bizarre black slime that changes animals and people into hissing, violent beings.  There are lots of horror-themed things to do in this book with mad scientists, evil people, the black slime, insect swarms, etc., but the best part of the book is the haunted house choice.  You don’t get to make a lot of choices in it, but it is a spooky tale of a haunted house, particularly for one written for young adults.

4.TRAPPED IN THE BLACK BOX (#12) By R.G. Austin – A museum in the shape of a giant black box in which people can travel to other times and places is built, and you have gone in.  Inside you can choose between three different worlds to visit, The World of Fantasy Beasts, The Earth of the Future, or The World of Dreams.  Each is dangerous and depending on what you choose, you could encounter everything from a vampire, a manticore, futuristic “clobots” who want to dissect you, and other things.  This is a really fun read.

5.POLTERGEISTS, GHOSTS AND PSYCHIC ENCOUNTERS By R.G. Austin (#14) – While visiting your uncle, who is a supernatural investigator, you can become involved in several different paranormal investigations.  There is a house with a poltergeist and a phantom wedding among other things.