I learned there is a new cozy mystery book/series where 90 year old Elizabeth II turns amateur sleuth ala Miss Marple.
I'm not saying, "Absolutely go read this!"
I'm not saying, "Never ever ever read this!"
I'm saying, "WTF?!?!"
I've not read the author. Maybe she will fill these books with delightful whimsy and sly humor. I hope so. For her sake and for her readers.
I planned to post something about this on Facebook, but was interrupted before I could log on by a patron looking for "those books where you can pick which way the story goes." So I showed her the old Choose Your Own Adventure paperbacks, which was exactly what she wanted for her kid. When I got back to the desk coworker D and I started talking about CYOA and we agreed we really want adult CYOA books. We think thriller, mystery, and romance could really work in this format.
(Actually, I think I see ads for kind of "you choose" kind of game apps, mostly romance and palace intrigue, but those may just be the genres some ad generator has decided I'd be interested in.)
Coworker S says we need to write them. <eye roll> I bet if she heard us complaining about catching a cold she'd tell us to get to work developing a cure. She's such a mom.
(Coworker S is a mom, but she's also only a few years older than me and very clearly not like my mom.)
(Should I create aliases for the people I mention in this blog? I feel like that would sound better than "coworker S" and "sciencey friend". What do you, my nonexistent readers, think? I'd have to remember what I "named" my "blog characters". And if they, the real people, ever do read this blog because I finally tell people I'm doing a blog dislike the name I've given them so I have to make a point of explaining that "sciencey friend" who I named "Kitsune" will now be known as Dr. Madd the Vexed Scientist, which is actually an awesome alias for her and I'll have to tell her but how do I without explaining about the blog and the vaguely descriptive descriptive names into first alias into updated alias yadda yadda. And what if she doesn't like Dr. Madd the Vexed Scientist? Dammit! it was her suggestion.)
So D and I expanded on our "choose" ideas. D offered the most ingenious option ever: the guaranteed-100%-safe-you-will-live-to-the-end-of-the-book series of options of basically . . . doing nothing.
If you chase the fleeing thief, go to p.12.
If you check the office for clues, go to p. 82.
If you poke your head out to see what all the excitement was about but then go back in your room, go to p. 232.
It's brilliant! No more dying or being horribly maimed or otherwise completely incapacitated on your second choice and having to start over and then dying (again) on your fifth choice and so on because, as in real life, you (meaning me) make bad choices.
(I really love Dr. Madd the Vexed Scientist. The name, altho I am quite fond of sciencey friend, too. I'm adding a tag for it. I can't imagine how I'll ever use it again, but it's just too too awesome.)
Comments