Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

R. A. Montgomery, Creator of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" Books, Dead At 78

Posted by timothy on from the your-codename-is-jonah dept.

Dave Knott writes Raymond Almiran Montgomery, original publisher and author of the incredibly popular "Choose Your Own Adventure" book series for children, the 4th bestselling children's series of all time, has died at the age of 78. In 1975, Montgomery founded a small press and when, in 1977, Ed Packard submitted an innovative book for young readers, "Sugarcane Island", Montgomery immediately saw it for what it was: a role-playing game in book form. He leapt at the chance to publish it, and launched a series, writing the second book, "Journey Under The Sea", himself. When Montgomery went through a divorce and sold his stake in the press to his ex-wife, he took the series, renamed as "Choose Your Own Adventure", to Bantam. The books went on to sell more than 250 million copies across 230 titles in 40 languages. Montgomery's interests also extended to new technology, adapting the series to the Atari console in 1984. He was also responsible for the Comic Creator software on Apple's Macintosh computers. Montgomery died on November 9th. The cause of death was not disclosed.

10 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. "The cause of death was not disclosed" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, clearly he shouldn't have turned to page 78.

  2. Font by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    For those who don't RTFA, it's an obituary on the website of his company, which sells the current incarnation of the CYOA books.
    And the obit's in the same font as the books were.

  3. Got you, Mrs. Sampson by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My 8th grade English teacher told us that books were written in the third person, and sometimes the first person. I raised my hand and asked about books written in the second person. She told me there was no such thing. The next day, I came in with "The Mystery Of Chimney Rock" and got a frown from Mrs. Sampson. She had what I found in later life to be a common reaction from the literati when they encounter an inconvenient truth: she disparaged it as garbage literature and said it didn't count.

    Mrs. Sampson, you really disappointed me. Here was a chance to learn something new, and you refused because it threatened your existing view of what literature is.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    1. Re:Got you, Mrs. Sampson by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      Welcome to reality, where many teachers only care about being seen as the end all source of all knowledge and don't like anybody actually challenging their conventions. I know the feeling as I was nearly pushed to the point of coming to blows and dropping out of junior high because the math teacher had it in his head if you were better at math than him? Well you HAD to be a cheat! It was there I learned public schools are nothing but factories designed to crank out middle of the road drones, anyone that isn't perfectly average in every respect will be turned upon.

      As for TFA I had a couple of pulpy horror books written in the CYOA style, universal monsters in comic style, IIRC one even came with a record and you changed tracks depending on your "choices" but IIRC the choices were "follow the story or werewolf bites your ass" so you quickly learned to stick with the A choice LOL. But back then when the closest you could get to an RPG for single player was Atari Adventure and those of us in the flyover states had better odds of a bag of money falling from the sky into our laps than finding a running D&D game the CYOA books was our first taste of the kind of interactivity we take for granted today. RIP Mr. Montgomery and thanks for the fun.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    2. Re:Got you, Mrs. Sampson by MacTO · · Score: 2

      Either the eraser end or the tip of the pencil. The fact that a high school physics teacher couldn't answer the question doesn't surprise me. It isn't a high school level problem. It also isn't the sort of thing that would cause me to question everything that a teacher says. It simply represents a limit to the teacher's knowledge, rather than a teacher communicating incorrect information. It simply means that you have to take an extra step in learning: either looking for other resources or figure out the solution yourself.

  4. A programming book with the same format by Snotnose · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Back in the late 60s/early 70's my dad brought home 2 books on computer programming. Each page explained a concept, and at the bottom asked a question. The answers were "foo, turn to page x", "bar, turn to page y". If you chose wrong the page explained why you were wrong.
    I wish I had those books now. I asked dad several years ago what happened to them, he didn't know what I was talking about.

  5. No the creator... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Ed Packard submitted an innovative book for young readers, "Sugarcane Island", Montgomery immediately saw it for what it was: a role-playing game in book form. "

    So Ed Packard was the creator.

  6. A good time to stock up on nostalgia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Beware - the wrong option could lead to a bad end!

    Buy a book from a safe, trusted merchant - turn to page 42

    Do an illegal download, like all the cool kids - turn to page 69

  7. Re:Frist 4Sot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    You gaze into the deep fissure with despair. Try as you might to forget the image, your nightmares will be haunted by the gaping abyss.

    Your adventure is over.

  8. Re:Used to love those by narcc · · Score: 2

    That was CYOA #12 Inside UFO 54-40

    --
    Required reading for internet skeptics