Stephen J. Wolf has a new fantasy choose-your-own-adventure book out: Garinor’s Adventure.
A prophecy, and a boy who needs your help to complete his destiny…
Fourteen-year-old Garinor is taken from his home with no idea why, but things go badly right away. He needs your help to figure out what he should do in the journey that lies ahead. Garinor’s destiny and the fate of the kingdom rest in your hands.
Will he go to the castle? To Kallinoria? Will he enter into a battle? Will he travel with the prince? Will he spend time on a farm? Will he get lost in a labyrinth? Will he fulfill his ultimate destiny? Or will he die trying?
The choices are yours to make.
Guide Garinor through the land in this choose-your-own-adventure novel with over three dozen endings, some better than others. Many different paths await our young hero. Can you guide him safely?
If you want to dip your toes into Garinor’s Adventure without taking the full plunge, you can obtain one of four Path novellas. These pre-selected pathways each take you through one of Garinor’s journeys to his destiny.
Garinor’s Adventure Landing Page
Excerpt
Garinor felt weary and in need of a rest, so he decided to hide in the forest and wait for the hunters to tire of their pursuit and head home. He considered retracing his steps to the staggered trees and hiding there, but he held to his original decision of leaving that place for his friends.
He glanced around, thinking of all the places he had hidden during his childhood. Some of them had concealed him for hours on end and he needed those places now. Scanning left and right, he sought out the three he knew to be nearby.
The first was located near an old gnarled tree. The branches were thick and wrapped closely together, so it was easy to climb up into the sky. Three years ago he had gotten himself stuck near the top. He had been so high up he couldn’t see the ground through the lower branches and leaves. He gazed up at the tree now and considered making the climb, but he realized the inviting branches would also attract the eyes of the hunters. They would think it was easy to climb and they might simply go up after him. And if they did, he had nowhere to go but a long drop down.
To throw off the pursuers, he climbed a few limbs anyway and then jumped through to the other side, landing on the soft ground. He kept going until he came to an oversized boulder that countless storms had uncovered many years ago. Three trees swarmed over the stone and created a darkened shelter under which he had once fallen asleep. His friends had searched for him all afternoon but hadn’t discovered the location on their own. Garinor wondered if it would suit him now. He crawled inside and brought his knees up to his chest. Peering around, he realized he could see too much on either side of his location. Surely something had changed about the landscape to have reduced its concealment.
The next location was his favorite spot. It was a bit of an overhang of earth, under which he and his friends had piled innumerable sticks and branches and leaves. He could bury himself underneath it, pull the earthy mash on top of him, and be tucked safely away for a long time.
He chose this spot to wait out the events around him. He looked around, making sure no one was watching, then he leaped over the ledge and dropped down the slight fall, turned around, and dove inside. It was a matter of minutes wriggling around before he was able to settle himself. He pulled a mass of leaves over every part of him, including his head, leaving a little gap so he could breathe.
The only problem now… he was hungry. He tightened his knees up to his chest and tried not to think about food. Of course, that made him think about it even more. Instead he tried to ponder the events of the day.
What was the secret behind the king’s letter? Who was the soldier who had brought it? Did he have a family he’d now left behind, poor man, trying to defend a boy who didn’t want to be taken from his home? Who were the hunters who were chasing him so relentlessly? What of his friends? Were they okay? He remembered Besfa’s echoed shout of pain and he worried something dreadful had happened. But other such shouts hadn’t followed the first, and Garinor hoped that meant his friends had managed to escape without much trouble.
After all, it would be all his fault if they were injured. Even though they had chosen to defend him on their own, it was still his life they were risking themselves for.
What was so important about him anyway?
Author Bio
Stephen J. Wolf earned his PhD in science education in 2006, and has worked as a middle school science teacher since 2001. His passion for chemistry and physics was inspired by watching Mr. Wizard’s World as a child, and learning that many of life’s biggest and most fascinating mysteries could be explained through science.
When he isn’t helping his students discover logic and wonder in the classroom, Wolf enjoys spending time with his husband Kevin, and watching Doctor Who with their three cats, Merlin, Monty, and Shadow. Wolf currently resides in New York.