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| Language: | English | Publishers: | Bantam -- United States iPicturebooks -- United States (eBook) | Categories: | Complexity Level : Basic (No Game System) Complexity Level : Intermediate (Some Game Elements) Format : Paperback Game System : Inventory Management Genre : Historical Fiction Genre : Science Fiction Target Age Group : Older Children Writing Style : Present Tense Writing Style : Second Person | Translated Into: | Časovni stroj (Slovenian) Du er rejsende i tid (Danish) Időgép-regény (Hungarian) Kraj po vaša želba (Macedonian) Le Livre qui fera de vous le voyageur du temps (French) La máquina del tiempo (Spanish) Maquino do tempo (Portuguese) Merlins Zeitmaschine (German) Taimu mashin [タイムマシン] (Japanese) Tidsmaskinen (Norwegian) Time machine (Italian) Vremenski stroj (Serbo-Croatian) Wehikuł Czasu (Polish) |
This series, developed by Byron Preiss (the group also responsible for Be an Interplanetary Spy and Explorer), offers a balance of education and entertainment. The reader is a time traveler, and each volume offers a different mystery that must be solved by exploring a particular historical period (or, in the case of one book, the future). Each book begins with the rules of time travel and a mission briefing explaining the period to be explored, and some also require the reader to select one or more items to bring along. Whether or not the reader's decision is involved, an equipment list is provided. The adventures are each structured with only one ending, so the challenge is not in surviving but simply in reaching the conclusion as efficiently as possible; unfortunately, in some of the adventures requiring inventory selection, it is possible for an ill-equipped player to get stuck in an infinite loop and never be able to complete the book. The series has an appealing visual design, with each set of choices looking like an instrument panel with buttons; as a nice touch, some choices have hints associated with them, and a special icon on the buttons indicates when the reader may check the hint page.
The first twenty-four volumes of the series were printed as numbered silver paperbacks and were released fairly regularly; the twenty-fifth book was released more than a year after the final silver book and was a slightly longer unnumbered "special edition." In the midst of its run, the series also spawned a spin-off for younger readers called Time Traveler. After more than a decade out of print, all but two of the books (but not the Time Traveler spin-off) were re-released as downloadable eBooks in 2001.
Structure Diagrams
Time Machine # 1 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.Time Machine # 3 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.Time Machine # 4 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.Time Machine # 5 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.Time Machine # 7 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.Time Machine # 8 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.Time Machine # 9 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.Time Machine #10 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.Time Machine #11 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.Time Machine #12 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.Time Machine #15 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.Time Machine #17 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.Time Machine #19 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.Time Machine #22 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.Time Machine #24 Map
Thanks to Julien Peter Benney for contributing this map of the book's structure.
Carol Gaskin - Editorial Alchemy
This page offers editorial service from Carol Gaskin of Forgotten Forest and Time Machine fame.
http://www.editorialalchemy.com/frame/index.html (last verified: 2004-06-09)Jim Gasperini's Page
Time Machine author Jim Gasperini maintains this page to keep track of his various projects and interests.
http://www.well.com/user/jimg (last verified: 2004-06-09)Marc Kornblatt's Page
A former Time Machine author, Marc Kornblatt is still writing books for children.
http://webpages.charter.net/mkornblatt/ (last verified: 2004-06-09)
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Demian's Gamebook Web Page (c)1998-2010 Demian Katz.