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2 Mar 2023

Lone Wolf The Classic Fantasy Gamebook Series By Joe Dever πŸ“–

Fantasy gaming pioneer Joe Dever’s epic gamebook series is back in paperback for the first time in over 30 years

Originally published to huge acclaim and popularity in 1984, with over 12 million copies sold, Joe Dever’s classic Lone Wolf gamebook series have been fan favourites ever since but not widely available.

Author Joe Dever passed away from cancer in 2016. It was his final wish that his son, Ben, complete the remaining unfinished books in the series and bring all of the books back into print for a new audience.

The first five books in the Lone Wolf series are now available in paperback editions featuring bold new covers while retaining the classic interior illustrations by fantasy artist Gary Chalk. Books six and seven in the 32-book series will be published in May with the entire series continuing to be published throughout 2023 and 2024.

The Lone Wolf series has always been loved by fantasy and gaming fans who played them when they were first published in the 80s but now they are now finding a new audience, including the children of the original readers as well as those who have discovered them through the recent revival in the popularity of fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons.

Definitive editions include additional background material and expansions the Lone Wolf fan community contributed.

Welcome to Magnamund!

Before computer games there were gamebooks. A gamebook is an interactive novel where the reader takes on the role of the hero and is given choices that affect the outcome of the adventure. 

Each book can be played many times and new paths can be discovered. First published in 1984, all of the Lone Wolf gamebooks take place in the same fantasy world, Magnamund and each book provides a piece to an overall epic saga. In the 1990s, with the rise of computer gaming, the gamebook craze was over. Joe Dever never had a chance to complete his series. Fans were unable to finish the adventure!

Then came the internet and the Lone Wolf community gathered online. An explosion of new activity led to Lone Wolf roleplaying and video games and Joe Dever got back to work. In 2016 the first new Lone Wolf adventure for 30 years was published by Holmgard Press. Unfortunately, it was during that time that news came of Joe Dever’s battle with cancer. Joe passed away in November 2016. 

He handed his notes for the final three books to his son, Ben, along with the task of concluding the series and bringing the entire series back into print for a new audience. 

Ben Devere and co-author Vincent Lazzari are now working on the final book – The Light of the Kai – in time for the 40th anniversary of the series in 2024.

About the Author

JOE DEVER was the first British winner of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons championship of America in 1982. He first created the fictional world of Magnamund in 1977 as a setting for his Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. In 1984, he released the first book of the Lone Wolf series of gamebooks, which went on to sell over 12 million copies worldwide.

BEN DEVERE is the son of author Joe Dever. While he grew up thinking that it was cool that his father was a writer with legions of fans, he never had any personal interest in the Lone Wolf books or fantasy gaming. That changed when his father, dying of cancer, asked him to complete the final books in the Lone Wolf series. Reluctantly at first, but with growing enthusiasm, Ben eventually left his work as a music event director to immerse himself in the world of Lone Wolf and its community of fans.

Find out more about Ben’s work to continue his father’s legacy here: https://www.magnamund.com/legacy

The Lone Wolf series is published by Holmgard Press. The first 5 books in the series, Flight from the Dark, Fire on the Water, The Caverns of Kalte, The Chasm of Doom and Shadow on the Sand are available now in paperback (£7.99) at all good bookshops and online booksellers.

Find out more at: https://www.magnamund.com

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