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The Big Three
--- Isaac Asimov
--- Arthur C. Clarke
--- Robert A. Heinlein

J.R.R. Tolkien

Lin Carter

Patrick Moore

Philip E. High

Richard C. Meredith

Robert Silverberg

Robert E. Vardeman

Fighting Fantasy
--- Introduction
--- Puffin Books - Early FF Printings
--- Puffin Books - Later FF Printings
--- Puffin Books - Sorcery!
--- Puffin Books - FF Novels
--- Wizard Books - FF Series 1
--- Wizard Books - FF Series 2a
--- Wizard Books - FF Series 2b
--- Scholastic Books - New Series
--- Fighting Fantasy - Boxed Sets
--- Fighting Fantasy - Colouring Books
--- Fighting Fantasy - Comic Books
--- Fighting Fantasy - Other Books
--- Fighting Fantasy - Magazines
--- Fighting Fantasy - d20 RPGs
--- Advanced Fighting Fantasy
--- You Are The Hero

Science Fiction Magazines

Science Fiction and Fantasy Series

SF Universes and Fantasy Worlds

"I don't like the way that all the sentences start 'You.....' "

Those aren't my words! They were written by Mrs. Simms–my English teacher back in 1984. She was passing judgement on my second year story-project - a 22-page epic including four appendices and a drawing of a sword with runic inscription!

"A very imaginative piece of work.  Are all the ideas your own?    B+/A-"

Hmmm.... very perceptive Mrs. Simms. I must confess now, thirty years later, it was a hodge-podge of names and ideas I had liberally stolen borrowed from Fighting Fantasy, Tolkien's Middle-earth and J.H. Brennan's Demonspawn series before adding a few nuggets of my own and thoroughly mashing them together for a romp through The Dungeon of Death.

I dug it out of a box today, along with a several exercise books full of notes and story-outlines detailing a plan to draw together threads from all my favourite fantasy worlds into one great epic set in the Fourth Age of Middle-earth. I am sure that there was once a huge hand-drawn map too, but sadly it is long gone.

Tolkien and Middle-earth have stayed an almost constant obsession ever since, but reading my old stories again brings back that tingle of excitement and reminds me just how inspirational Fighting Fantasy was to that 13-year old boy. YOU are the hero and YOU can decide how the story develops. The natural next step for me was - YOU can write your own tales. I did try my own gamebook too, but it was beyond my meagre talents.

It is now three years since I found my way back to Firetop Mountain and rediscovered the gamebook bug. Building a collection of old favourites and new delights has been a double pleasure: bibliographic list making and of course rolling those dice again, pencil at the ready. Along the way I have visited many websites and found a few copies of old gaming magazines to find anecdotes and snippets of Fighting Fantasy lore, but have always thought that a full and detailed account of the series' history was needed.

Enter Jonathan Green and YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks.

"An Adventure 30 Years in the Making
Fighting Fantasy gamebooks have sold over 17 million books worldwide, in over 30 languages. But when Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone sat down to write The Warlock of Firetop Mountain they had no idea this one book would go on to spawn another eighty or more titles, and have an immeasurable impact on a generation of children growing up in the 1980s.
Part history, part celebration, YOU ARE THE HERO chronicles more than three decades of Fighting Fantasy. Written by Jonathan Green (author of seven Fighting Fantasy titles), this mighty tome will appeal to anyone who ever wiled away a washed-out summer holiday with only two dice, a pencil, and an eraser for company."

Detail from a cover illustration by Chris Achilleos for The Trolltooth Wars

You Are The Hero traces Fighting Fantasy, from the early days of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, through the birth of Games Workshop and their meeting Geraldine Cooke of Penguin Books, to The Warlock of Firetop Mountain being accepted for publication by Puffin Books. All of the original series gamebooks are covered, as are all of the spin-off series, such as Sorcery, Advanced Fighting Fantasy and First Fighting Fantasy, and Warlock, the Fighting Fantasy magazine. The decline of Fighting Fantasy in the 90s and its rebirth with Wizard Books in 2002 are also covered, as are the many non-gamebook spin-offs such as board games and video games. The book closes with an examination of the legacy and future of Fighting Fantasy.

I was introduced to Fighting Fantasy way back in 1983 and was questing across the lands of Titan until about 1986 when fantasy and science fiction novels drew me away. Coming back to FF thirty years later, You Are The Hero is the perfect guide to what I missed. Whether you have the time to read it cover to cover, or just want to dip in to find out more about your favourite gamebooks, You Are The Hero is an indispensable read.
 

Postscript
A supplementary volume, You Are The Hero: Part 2, was published in September 2017 containing material unavailable when the original book was published along with details of developments in the Fighting Fantasy field in the intervening years.
 

You Are The Hero
A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks
by Jonathan Green
Published by Snowbooks, Haddenham, 7 September 2014
Hardback - £40.00 - ISBN 978-1-909679-38-2
Paperback - £25.00 - ISBN 978-1-909679-36-8

You Are The Hero: Part 2
A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks
by Jonathan Green
Published by Snowbooks, Thame, 1 September 2017
Hardback - £40.00 - ISBN 978-1-911390-44-2
Paperback - £25.00 - ISBN 978-1-911390-45-9

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You Are The Hero: Part 2 cover art by Chris Achilleos