Fighting Fantasy was the name the series went under when the gamebooks were published in the USA in the 1980s by Laurel Leaf, the imprint of Dell Publishing.
Popularity[]
Laurel Leaf Editions[]
Laurel Leaf began publishing the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks in the November of 1983. The gamebooks featured a new cover design with the first eleven books using a generic white background, whilst books 12 through 21 had a generic black background. Initially the gamebooks had completely new cover illustrations, by Richard Corben (The Warlock of Firetop Mountain to Island of the Lizard King) and R. Courtney (Scorpion Swamp to Freeway Fighter), until 1986 when with Temple of Terror the original Puffin Books cover illustration were used till the range ended with Trial of Champions. During this run House of Hell was retitled House of Hades.
After Dell was bought out it was, in 1999, merged with Bantam Books to form the Bantam Dell Publishing Group, the largest division of Random House.[1] Laurel Leaf was shifted within the organisation to become an imprint of Random House Books For Young Readers.
Publication History[]
| Title | Author(s) | Illustrator | Cover illustrator | Map illustrator | First published | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Warlock of Firetop Mountain | Steve Jackson & Ian Livingstone |
Russ Nicholson | Richard Corben | NO MAP | Nov-1983 |
| 2 | The Citadel of Chaos | Steve Jackson | Russ Nicholson | Richard Corben | NO MAP | Nov-1983 |
| 3 | The Forest of Doom | Ian Livingstone | Malcolm Barter | Richard Corben | Malcolm Barter(BW) | Feb-1984 |
| 4 | Starship Traveller | Steve Jackson | Peter Andrew Jones | Richard Corben | NO MAP | Apr-1984 |
| 5 | City of Thieves | Ian Livingstone | Iain McCaig | Richard Corben | NO MAP | Jul-1984 |
| 6 | Deathtrap Dungeon | Ian Livingstone | Iain McCaig | Richard Corben | NO MAP | Sep-1984 |
| 7 | Island of the Lizard King | Ian Livingstone | Alan Langford | Richard Corben | Alan Langford(BW) | Jan-1985 |
| 8 | Scorpion Swamp | Steve Jackson (2) | Duncan Smith | R. Courtney | NO MAP | Mar-1985 |
| 9 | Caverns of the Snow Witch | Ian Livingstone | Gary Ward & Edward Crosby |
R. Courtney | NO MAP | May-1985 |
| 10 | House of Hades | Steve Jackson | Tim Sell | R. Courtney | NO MAP | Jun-1985 |
| 11 | Talisman of Death | Jamie Thomson & Mark Smith |
Bob Harvey | R. Courtney | NO MAP | Sep-1985 |
| 12 | Space Assassin | Andrew Chapman | Geoffrey Senior | R. Courtney | NO MAP | Oct-1985 |
| 13 | Freeway Fighter | Ian Livingstone | Kevin Bulmer | R. Courtney | NO MAP | Jan-1986 |
| 14 | Temple of Terror | Ian Livingstone | Bill Houston | Christos Achilleos | NO MAP | Mar-1986 |
| 15 | The Rings of Kether | Andrew Chapman | Nik Spender | Terry Oakes | NO MAP | May-1986 |
| 16 | Seas of Blood | Andrew Chapman | Bob Harvey | Rodney Matthews | Bob Harvey(BW) | Jul-1986 |
| 17 | Appointment with F.E.A.R. | Steve Jackson | Declan Considine | Brian Bolland | NO MAP | Sep-1986 |
| 18 | Rebel Planet | Robin Waterfield | Gary Mayes | Alan Craddock | NO MAP | Nov-1986 |
| 19 | Demons of the Deep | Steve Jackson (2) | Bob Harvey | Les Edwards | NO MAP | Jan-1987 |
| 20 | Sword of the Samurai | Mark Smith & Jamie Thomson |
Alan Langford | Peter Andrew Jones | NO MAP | Mar-1987 |
| 21 | Trial of Champions | Ian Livingstone | Brian Williams | Brian Williams | NO MAP | May-1987 |
Sorcery![]
The Sorcery! series was published by Penguin Books in the USA.
iBooks Editions[]
In October 2003, iBooks of New York began republishing the books beginning first two Fighting Fantasy adventures The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and The Citadel of Chaos.
iBooks was established in 1999 by company president Byron Preiss and was the first trade publisher to simultaneously publish titles in e-book and print formats. They were distributed by Simon and Schuster.[2] iBooks filled for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy on February 22, 2006.[3]