True Story: Deborah Lerme Goodman, author of four Bantam-era Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks, went out to dinner at Waypoint in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA. At the end of her meal, the bill was delivered to her inside one of her... own... books! Deborah’s first reaction to receiving her bill tucked inside The Trumpet of Terror was confusion.
“I had no idea why the server handed me my book, and it took me a few seconds of being baffled before I even noticed the check was peeking out,” Goodman recounts. “I was thinking I would ask the server, ‘How did you know this was me?’ But then realized there was no way she possibly could have.”
Or did she? Maybe she wanted Deborah’s autograph?
It's not often that someone spots Goodman in the crowd, all these years later, and then asks for her autograph. So, Deborah waited for the server to return and whips out her driver’s license: “This is me!” she exclaimed.
As it turns out, the chef is a HUGE fan of the series and insisted that all checks be delivered inside CYOA gamebooks. Once he heard that a CYOA author was in the building, he hurried out from the kitchen to ask for Deborah’s autograph.
Ever since, fans have been sharing photos of the books ferrying along diner’s checks. We think the idea is totally priceless.
Fun Fact: One of the revolutionary things about the original CYOA gamebook series was that the series credited authors of its 184+ original titles. Oftentimes, in children's book series publishing, there are many writers writing under one "pen name." CYOA series founder, R. A. Montgomery, felt that it was important for authors to be credited with their own names. Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks became early or first publications for many writers who went on to incredible writing careers. And we at Chooseco continue this practice to this day.
This story came to our attention at quite the chance time, as we are in the midst of working to bring back an exciting title from the Lost Archives. For years we’ve heard from fans that their favorite title from the original series is Deborah Lerme Goodman’s Magic of the Unicorn. And we had to agree. In Magic of the Unicorn, YOU are a totally kick-butt chick that isn’t scared to wrangle beasts with your bare hands… at least that’s what happens in one storyline.
And finally, this coming spring, this fan favorite is set to release!
For titles by Deborah Lerme Goodman and many other vintage CYOA authors, check out our vintage page: http://www.cyoa.com/collections/vintage
