The Haunted Generation

You are the hero!

Well, you might not be. You might already have failed dismally in your quest to return the missing warhammer to the Dwarves of Stonebridge, or to displace the infamous skeletal tyrant Zanbar Bone from the crime-infested streets of Port Blacksand. But even so, well done on at least having a spirited crack at one of the brilliant Fighting Fantasy gamebooks – a range currently celebrating its 40th anniversary.

The books of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone not only inspired a generation to wild adventure, but also to unfettered creativity. And among a legion of would-be scribes creating their own Fighting Fantasy gamebooks in the 1980s and ’90s was Cian Gill, who bore more than a passing resemblance to Zanbar Bone himself…

Over to you, Cian…

“Here’s House Of Horror, one of my many childhood attempts to create a Fighting Fantasy imitation. In the early 1990s, our city library in Cork had a large number of (already pretty old) Fighting Fantasy books, and every week I would religiously take one out, alongside one other ‘normal’ book. I was utterly captivated by the fantasy elements – the creatures, monsters and otherworldy lands, as depicted in the artwork of legends like Russ Nicholson and my favourite, Ian Miller. I was also captivated by the ‘choose-your-own-path’ mechanics, and imitated this endlessly in school copybooks for several years, probably starting around the age of eight. And, unlike many similarly inspired kids, my enthusiasm didn’t peter out after the initial brainstorming. I made meticulous maps, flow-diagrams, and paragraph lists, and completed a small number of short gamebooks.

Being a big fan of everything ghostly and supernatural, I was particularly taken with Steve Jackson’s House of Hell. I recall writing elaborate rip-offs of his book, with stats, hundreds of paragraphs, and very convoluted haunted house layouts. House of Horror is a pretty stripped-down take compared to those efforts, with no stats and a small number of paragraphs. Many elements are taken directly from Jackson’s book, including the zombies, the vampire and the paintings with moving eyes. Other elements show the influence of Harry Price and Borley Rectory, something I knew about from the Usborne Ghosts book: the spirit writing on the wall, and the ghostly horse and coach. Absent from my book are the Satanist elements. As a kid, I had no idea that Jackson’s book owed a debt not only to Hammer movies and Dennis Wheatley novels, but also to the tabloid Satanic panic, ongoing when House of Hell was written back in 1984.

My father typed the book out for me on his early Mac computer, and we got it bound at a small shop – which still exists – near the University College Cork campus. Afterwards, I drew in the illustrations with good old felt-tip pens. Around the same time, I also produced a rip-off of the Fighting Fantasy book Robot Warrior, set on a desert planet with giant robots and dinosaurs.

But I couldn’t find that one the last time I visited my parents…”  

Thanks Cian! And he has very graciously allowed the Haunted Generation site to replicate the entire gamebook, so we can all have a go at House Of Horror ourselves. May your stamina never fail, everyone…

Felt Trips is a collaborative effort. If anyone wants to contribute their own childhood drawings from the era, I would be utterly delighted – please drop me a line using the “Contact” link at the top of the page. A good quality scan would be perfect, but – if not – then a clear photo of your artwork, lying flat, is fine. And maybe a few words of explanation, too: when the drawings were done, how old you were, what inspired you to tackle those particular subjects? Thanks so much.

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