Oh, you’re going for the interesting questions, huh? Well, fine.
I’ve talked before about how I was an odd child. I really was. When I was growing up, there were a bunch of books called something like the Great Illustrated Classics. They were exactly what they sounded like: abridged, illustrated versions of classic books. From Robin Hood to Treasure Island to The Three Musketeers. They came in two sizes: big hardcovers and tiny, fat paperbacks. I think we had maybe one or two hardcovers, but mostly I had the small fat ones. And when I say small, fat paperbacks, these weren’t even the size of trade paperbacks. They were as thick as fantasy paperbacks, but these were maybe half the height of a trade paperback. These were square and flimsy. They were 2 for $1.
I ate them up as a kid. As a result, I was the 10-year-old who knew the plots of a lot of Dickens and Dumas. I knew Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe, Heidi, and Jekyll & Hyde. That was just for starters. Being overly familiar with these books had me going into more advanced reading and English classes as a teen. I’d already read the 9th grade classics for the year— granted, I knew the abridged versions, and class was reading the unabridged— so when my teacher gave me a basic plot pop-quiz on the two books for that year, I had no problem answering. Great Expectations and The Count of Monte Cristo were favorites of mine. I knew the stories well. So my teacher, Mr. Dodd, had me read along with his 12th graders at the time: Les Miserables and Ivanhoe.
In short, as a child, the classics were my favorites. I discovered The Hobbit at age 10 or so and read the entire The Lord of the Rings trilogy by the time I was 12. I even tried The Silmarillion around that time… yeah. No. I’m 41 now and just tried that one again like last year and STILL no.
As a kid, I’d say Dickens and Dumas were my favorites. The Count of Monte Cristo remains one of my favorite stories to this day, and I just love Dickens anyway. I think David Copperfield was one of my favorites.
But I don’t know that I’d have called any of those classics “my favorite book as a child.”
No, that honor goes to a book I randomly picked up at a Scholastic book fair when I was around 11 or 12, maybe. It’s a book that was published in 1993, so I was 9 when it came out. I might have gotten it pretty quick on release, but I doubt it.
Anyway, the book was Gemini Game by Michael Scott. It was a middle-grade-aged sci-fi novel set in the early 21st century, centered around a pair of teenagers who created VR video games. One of their games started causing people to go into comas, and the police were after them. To prove their innocence, the two teens— twins named BJ and Liz— had to go into their own game and find out what the problem was.
Keep in mind, this again was in the early 90s. Mainstream video gaming was still in its early years, with the SNES and Sega Genesis ruling the roost. The N64 and PlayStation were still a few years away. I, however, had already become very video-game obsessed. That started young, when we got our first Nintendo Entertainment System. By the time Gemini Game appeared in my world, I was hungry for books about video games. And this one, where players went inside the game, was a dream book made real.
I want to say I reread it at some point in my 30s. It’s not long, but thing is, I read it so many times in my youth that I remember a great deal of it even now. I even still have my original copy of it. The cover has been taped back into place where it came off, but it holds a very special place on my bookshelf.
How fitting that I’m finally writing a LitRPG story of my own. Only took 3 decades.
I’ve talked before about how I was an odd child. I really was. When I was growing up, there were a bunch of books called something like the Great Illustrated Classics. They were exactly what they sounded like: abridged, illustrated versions of classic books. From Robin Hood to Treasure Island to The Three Musketeers. They came in two sizes: big hardcovers and tiny, fat paperbacks. I think we had maybe one or two hardcovers, but mostly I had the small fat ones. And when I say small, fat paperbacks, these weren’t even the size of trade paperbacks. They were as thick as fantasy paperbacks, but these were maybe half the height of a trade paperback. These were square and flimsy. They were 2 for $1.
I ate them up as a kid. As a result, I was the 10-year-old who knew the plots of a lot of Dickens and Dumas. I knew Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe, Heidi, and Jekyll & Hyde. That was just for starters. Being overly familiar with these books had me going into more advanced reading and English classes as a teen. I’d already read the 9th grade classics for the year— granted, I knew the abridged versions, and class was reading the unabridged— so when my teacher gave me a basic plot pop-quiz on the two books for that year, I had no problem answering. Great Expectations and The Count of Monte Cristo were favorites of mine. I knew the stories well. So my teacher, Mr. Dodd, had me read along with his 12th graders at the time: Les Miserables and Ivanhoe.
In short, as a child, the classics were my favorites. I discovered The Hobbit at age 10 or so and read the entire The Lord of the Rings trilogy by the time I was 12. I even tried The Silmarillion around that time… yeah. No. I’m 41 now and just tried that one again like last year and STILL no.
As a kid, I’d say Dickens and Dumas were my favorites. The Count of Monte Cristo remains one of my favorite stories to this day, and I just love Dickens anyway. I think David Copperfield was one of my favorites.
But I don’t know that I’d have called any of those classics “my favorite book as a child.”
No, that honor goes to a book I randomly picked up at a Scholastic book fair when I was around 11 or 12, maybe. It’s a book that was published in 1993, so I was 9 when it came out. I might have gotten it pretty quick on release, but I doubt it.
Anyway, the book was Gemini Game by Michael Scott. It was a middle-grade-aged sci-fi novel set in the early 21st century, centered around a pair of teenagers who created VR video games. One of their games started causing people to go into comas, and the police were after them. To prove their innocence, the two teens— twins named BJ and Liz— had to go into their own game and find out what the problem was.
Keep in mind, this again was in the early 90s. Mainstream video gaming was still in its early years, with the SNES and Sega Genesis ruling the roost. The N64 and PlayStation were still a few years away. I, however, had already become very video-game obsessed. That started young, when we got our first Nintendo Entertainment System. By the time Gemini Game appeared in my world, I was hungry for books about video games. And this one, where players went inside the game, was a dream book made real.
I want to say I reread it at some point in my 30s. It’s not long, but thing is, I read it so many times in my youth that I remember a great deal of it even now. I even still have my original copy of it. The cover has been taped back into place where it came off, but it holds a very special place on my bookshelf.
How fitting that I’m finally writing a LitRPG story of my own. Only took 3 decades.
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