Review of Graham Nelson's _The Craft of Adventure_

Infocom games like "Trinity" and "Plundered Hearts" rather than the more rococo offerings of writers like Steve Meretzky or Magnetic Scrolls' Michael Bywater, (two of my own all time favorites). He shuns historical anachronism and self-reflexivity with a vehemence that makes one long to write about a medieval toaster salesman who makes wisecracks about the weakness of a game's parser. Even when he's giving rather questionable advice, though, Nelson never fails to sound sage and amusing, and his remarks have a rather quaint air of finality that occasionally remind one of a favorite grandparent who was full of wit and wisdom but never quite got over the advent of punk haircuts. Certainly, there isn't a single text in existence that does a better job of giving practical advice to the new writer of IF, and those of us who've been doing it for a while would benefit from going back to TCOA at least once every year for a refreshing reminder about How Not To Suck.

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