Zork
(1980), Zork II (1981), Zork III (1982):“You are in an open field west of a big white house with a boarded front door. There is a mailbox here.” The ultimate text adventure game ever, set in the ruins of an ancient underground empire. I spent hours upon hours playing this on my brother’s microbee computer. Zork was also featured in the novel, Ready Player One
. I’d love to write a text adventure one of these days.You can now play Zork I, II, and III for free. Click here to check it out.
Return to Zork
(1993): There were other zorks before this, including a comic book, but I didn’t play them. Then this one came out. This stepped away from the classic text adventure format and used ugly graphics instead, including videos of real actors. I couldn’t get into it. I mourned the death of text adventures. No graphics could match my imagination. Or so I thought…Zork Nemesis
(1996): At last they got it right. This graphical adventure game was pure awesome. It had atmosphere, great music, fantastic puzzles. They got the immersive experience totally right.
Zombieland
(2009): This is one of the best zombie movies, behind Shaun of the Dead
which is probably THE best. I love the list of rules to survive the zombie apocalypse. Rule number one: Cardio.How would you survive the zombie apocalypse? Have you ever played any of the Zorks or any other text adventure?
Did you survive the A-Z challenge?
Another reminder for tomorrow, Wednesday, 1st May: the Insecure Writers’ Support Group founded by Alex J Cavanaugh, and this month it’s co-hosted by Rachna Chhabria, Mark Koopmans, and Lynda R Young (yours truly)!! To learn more or join up, click here.
#AtoZChallenge #IWSG
(1983): “Us Yellowbeards are never more dangerous than when we’re dead.” I love this silly movie. 
(1988): Okay, so this might not be too geeky, but these guys made westerns cool again. I must confess, I had a mini crush on Emilio Estevez
(1974): You have to be in a silly mood to fully appreciate this movie.
: The films include 
(2000), 
(2003), 
(2006). 
(2011), and there’s more to follow. I didn’t read the comic, but I did catch the Saturday morning cartoon, and the movies were even better. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine was awesome and scrummy all at once.
(1980): Slightly cheesy even in its time, but I enjoyed the magic and the music.
(1995-2001): I love stories with strong women in the lead so Xena appealed.
: my game console of choice. It’s great to away from the computer.
by Kylie Chan (2011): This is written by an Australian author about Chinese gods in modern day Hong Kong. The first series is truly fantastic.
series by Robert Jordan (1990): This massively long series has taken a lifetime to read--or so it feels. The first few books are particularly good.
(1983): “Do you want to play a game?” The size of the computers in this will give you a chuckle. Gotta love this iconic 80s film.
(1981): For the purposes of today’s post, pretend this starts with W-werewolf. This was a horror that got me laughing so hard, I thought my sides would split. I don’t have the same reaction anymore. The surprise factor got me at the time.
(2012): A wonderful animated movie about game characters and what they get up to at night when the arcade closes.
(2004): I’m horribly addicted to this massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) and played every expansion. I currently have four level 90 characters (the highest level you can have in the game at the moment). I generally only play at night now with my hubby after a full day of writing.
(1987): I didn’t actually play this table top game. Instead I painted the miniatures that go with the game. I painted so many Space Wolves I think I went slightly insane.
(2010-), 
(1975-79), 
(1988) 
by Anne Rice (1985): Before Stephenie Meyer, Anne Rice dominated the vampire novels. This is book 2 of the Vampire Chronicles, which follows after 
. Ignore the movie.
(1983) and the 
(2009): Both versions were different from each other, yet enjoyable. The newer one didn’t quite capture the fear element. Maybe the big hair and massive shoulder pads made the original so scary.
(2003): I think the 
(2000): A superhero movie for the modern age. I love it. There’s something special about the Everyman who becomes something more. I would've liked to have seen a sequel of this one.
(1998) and 
(1999): First person multiplayer action. Lots of laughs and running about, and lots of pewpew action.
by Terry Pratchett (1989): A kid’s series, called The Bromeliad, that's so worth reading as an adult. Wonderful. Truly wonderful. 
by Robin Hobb (2001-03): Once I got past the fact it was written in first person, a style I didn’t like at the time for fantasy novels, I thoroughly enjoyed this series. Consisting of 
, 
, and 
, this trilogy continues the life of FitzChivalry Farseer from 
(1995-97).
by Stephenie Meyer (2005): Many people, in particular writers and editors, gave this book a hard time, but I was able to switch off my inner editor and thoroughly enjoyed the whole series. Sometimes it's not about the writing, it's about the story.
(1982): The thought of getting sucked into your favourite computer game? Sheer genius (at the time). The stylizing of the imagery was challenging, but I loved it. I also love the new animated Disney version of 
which looks like it has combined 3D animation and vector graphics. Artistically beautiful and when I watch it, I want to pull out my art again.
(1959-64): I have to say, the black and white reruns from the original series were truly the best.
(1984); 
(1991); 
(1981), yes another time travel story; 
(1982), this is a remake of a 1951 film and is far better than the newer 2011 remake of the remake; 
(1997); 
(1965-66), because the reruns used to freak me out as a kid but my brother loved them. Who wouldn’t be freaked out by dancing puppets?