Fantasy gamebook series
Lone Wolf is a series currently consisting of 31 gamebooks, created by Joe Dever and initially illustrated (books 1–8) by Gary Chalk. Dever wrote the first 29 books of the series before his son Ben, with help from French author Vincent Lazzari, took over writing duty upon his father's death. The first book was published in July 1984 and the series has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide.
The story focuses on the fictional world of Magnamund, where the forces of good and evil are fighting for control. The main protagonist is Lone Wolf, last of his caste of warrior monks known as Kai Lords, although in latter books the focus shifts on one of his pupils as the main character. The book series is written in the second person and recounts Lone Wolf's adventures as if the reader is the main character.
Original publication (1984-1998).
Development and popularization.
Joe Dever was seven years old when he became a fan of the British comic series The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire, which appeared in the magazine "Look and Learn". He built armies of Airfix Roman soldiers and converted their spears to laser rifles, long before he was introduced to fantasy. Dever was introduced to "science fantasy" by his high school English tutor. He was the first and possibly only British person to compete in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Championship of America, which he won in 1982.
Dever has stated that his earliest inspirations for Lone Wolf were medieval classical texts such as "Beowulf", "Gawain and the Green Knight" and "Le Morte d'Arthur". In his teenage years Tolkien, Moorcock and Mervyn Peake along with military history and Norse mythology all contributed to the creation of the Kai. He also used travel books to discover images of "exotic places".
Dever developed the world of Magnamund from 1975 to 1983 as a setting for his "Dungeons &amp; Dragons" campaigns. Originally called "Chinaraux", the world consisted of only northern Magnamund. The Kai lords are like "psionic rangers with special powers bestowed upon them by their gods". An individual book took 9 weeks to write, with three for mapping and plotting, and then 6 weeks of writing the story, creating an average of 12 entries per day.
Dever was originally contracted by London-based publisher Hutchinsons for four books, despite having planned out at least 13 for the series. When the first books proved to be popular, Dever was allowed an extension of contract and went on to write 20 books with Lone Wolf as the main hero, and 8 more featuring a new Kai Lord. He also developed the character Grey Star during this period, and four books were written using this character by Ian Page.
Dever also wrote "The Magnamund Companion", in which all countries of the Lone Wolf world are described in some detail; readers are also given details on the Darklords and a trainer course in the Giak language. There are two games included, a Ragadorn Tavern Board game, and a short solo adventure that takes place immediately prior to book one, putting the player in the role of Banedon, a young magician who goes on to become a recurring character in the Lone Wolf books.
Novelizations and canon problem.
With the help of Joe Dever, Paul Barnett, whose pen name is John Grant, wrote twelve novelizations of the Lone Wolf books known as the Legends of Lone Wolf, several of which were heavily edited before publication. They have received mixed reviews from fans. Barnett was the creator of the characters Alyss, Qinefer, and Thog. Random House stopped publishing the novelizations after the twelfth book because "the books weren't selling," though the truth of this statement is contested. Barnett entered discussions with an Italian publisher about reprinting the books unedited in Italian, this finally occurring with some editing of the original text. In July 2009, he announced on his blog that Dark Quest Books would republish an upgraded version of the series in English beginning in 2010. Only three omnibuses, containing the first eight novels, were released before the publisher ceased operation in the second half of 2016.
There has long been uncertainty amongst fans as to which version of the series is canon. Joe Dever has stated that as the game books precede the novelization, they are the "authoritative" versions. There is still some cross over between the novelizations and the gamebooks, however; most notably in the form of Alyss, an original character of John Grant's who plays a significant role in the final books of the Grand Master series.
Only the first four volumes of the Legends of Lone Wolf were made available in the United States (though "Sword of the Sun" was divided into two separate volumes, "The Tides of Treachery" and "Sword of the Sun").
Decline of the genre, launch of Project Aon.
During the latter period of writing, Joe Dever and publisher Red Fox were at odds, and Red Fox ceased publishing the Lone Wolf series after book 28, "The Hunger of Sejanoz", citing lack of interest in the interactive gaming genre, despite hundreds of requests for the reprinting of several Lone Wolf books that had gone out of print. This left the series unfinished, as Dever had 4 other books planned. He first did plan on releasing these books in some form after completing his collaboration on the new Lone Wolf RPG.
In the United States, only the first 20 of the core Lone Wolf gamebook series were made available, the last 8 books were never printed in the US. It should also be noted that the American editions of books 13-20 were abridged versions and thus are shorter than the UK editions. The original color maps were also rendered in black and white for these books.
Although the series ceased publication and went out of print in 1998, a fan-operated organisation called Project Aon was established in 1999 which has subsequently converted many of the books to HTML format. Joe Dever first gave his permission for Project Aon to distribute the Lone Wolf books (1 to 20) online via the internet before eventually also giving the rights for the New Order series (21 to 28). However, a strong interest in Lone Wolf outside the English-speaking world, particularly in Italy, Spain, and France where the books were republished between 2002 and 2006, still existed.
As of December 2020, 29 of the 31 Lone Wolf gamebooks, the World of Lone Wolf series, the Magnamund Companion, and several other Lone Wolf related written works are available for download on the Project Aon website.
Republication and expansion (since 2007).
The Collector's Edition.
In 2007, Joe Dever announced that a revised and expanded version of the original series, called the "Collector's Edition", would be published. Plans were also made to publish the final four books of the series for the very first time. However, several issues led the author to transfer the rights to various publishers over the years, with each publisher only releasing a part of the series.
Mongoose Publishing (2007-2013).
In 2007, Mongoose Publishing, editor of the "", announced that the Lone Wolf books were going to be printed again. Mongoose Publishing planned to publish all the original 28 gamebooks of the series plus four new ones that were originally outlined by Joe Dever before the cancellation of the series by the end of 1990s. Mongoose republished 17 of the gamebooks from July 2007 to February 2013 before the termination of the partnership with the author.
Mantikore-Verlag (2013-2015).
In February 2013, after Mongoose had released 17 of the 28 original books, the publication of the rest of the series was transferred to a German publisher, Mantikore-Verlag. The deal only include the republication of the last eleven books of the original series (18-28) and did not include the first publication of the new four books (29-32).
On 1 April 2015, it was announced that book 29 would be first published in Italian by Vincent Books in November 2015, and then in English by Mantikore-Verlag the following month. However, the English version was not published as the rights transferred once again before the publication, after Mantikore had released books 18 to 22.
Cubicle 7 (2015).
Since April 2013, Joe Dever had made a partnership with Cubicle 7 to work on the series, which led to the publication of a new version of the role-playing game. In December 2015, Cubicle 7 Entertainment announced that they would be publishing the entire series of Lone Wolf gamebooks, including the English version of Lone Wolf 29, only to come back on their decision the following month.
Holmgard Press (Since 2016).
On 1 April 2016, Joe Dever announced that he would publish the remaining Lone Wolf books himself with his own imprint, Holmgard Press, starting with the publication of book 29 later the same month, which was finally published on 13 May 2016, 18 years after the publication of book 28. This included the publication of the four gamebooks that were never published before (29 to 32) and the republication of the gamebooks that were neither republished by Mongoose or Mantikore (23 to 28).
Following Dever's death in November 2016, his son Ben and longtime fan Vincent Lazzari were tasked to complete the series, a decision that was difficult for Ben who had not read the books when he was a child. Book 30, "Dead in the Deep" was published in Italian in 2018 with plans to publish it in English in 2019, along with book 23, "Mydnight's Hero". Both books were released on June 27 of that year.
As of November 2022, Holmgard Press has published books 23 to 28 in a "Collector's Edition", 29 to 31 in a "First Edition" and has started republishing the whole series in a "Definitive Edition", with the first five books currently available.
In February of 2024, Holmgard Press released The Huntress series, a spin-off prequel featuring the eponymous Huntress. This trilogy was written by Jonathan Stark, co-host of the Journeys Through Magnamund Podcast, and is a self-contained series featuring a mercenary seeking the truth of who she is. It addresses some major lore questions fans of the series had held for years but which Joe never released answers to. A prequel to this series is available to play for free online.
Megara Entertainment (2014).
In September 2014, the publisher Megara Entertainment announces the publication of a spinoff, "Autumn Snow", approved by Joe Dever and written by Martin Charbonneau, and calls for a crowdfunding to finance original illustrations from Gary Chalk. This is the adaptation of a work from Martin "The Oiseau" Charbonneau previously published in French the webzine "Draco Venturus" by the non-profit publisher Scriptarium. Two books were published, "The Pit of Darkness" and "The Wildlands Hunt", before the publisher ceased operation.
Megara also republished the first book of The World of Lone Wolf series, written by Ian Page, "Grey Star The Wizard".
The Definitive Edition.
In June 2021, it was announced that Holmgard Press would make a second reprint of the whole series called the "Definitive Edition", leading to the publication of the last story of the series, "Light of the Kai", which will be split into two volumes. On October 31, 2021, it was announced that the first three books of the "Definitive Edition" were to be launched together in January 2022, but delays pushed the release to March 2022. The first three paperbacks were published in the US in January 2023.
As of June 2024, the first twelve books have been released.
Reprint edition details.
Extended version of "Flight from the Dark" and "The Hunger of Sejanoz".
When "Flight from the Dark" was released by Mongoose Publishing in the Collector's Edition format, it was partially rewritten and extended by Joe Dever to 550 sections instead of the original 350. It features a retcon of the opening of the book, where instead of Lone Wolf waking to find everyone at his monastery dead, he joins the fight. Dever has stated that, since he has the chance, and considers himself a better writer, that this is a good opportunity to make a better beginning. Longtime fan and assistant Jonathan Blake said of the retconning that overall, despite his love of the original, the surprises, grittier illustrations, and better writing have "won him over". As of 2023, Holmgard Press offers both the original (as a softcover) and extended (as a hardcover) versions of this book in the Definitive Edition format.
"The Hunger of Sejanoz" had only 300 sections when it was