Consider the Consequences!
1930 American interactive romantic novel
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Consider the Consequences![a] (published 1930) is a romantic novel in the form of an interactive novel or gamebook[b] by the American writing partnership[c] of Doris Webster (1885–1967[3]) and Mary Alden Hopkins (1876–1960[4]).[1] It is the earliest known gamebook, and has 43 different endings.[1][5]
- Doris Webster
- Mary Alden Hopkins
dust jacket of the original hardback edition | |
| Author |
|
|---|---|
| Genre | Romance |
| Publisher | The Century Company |
Publication date | 1930 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Text | Consider the Consequences! at Wikisource |
Publication
The 146-page hardback was published by The Century Company in the United States, priced $1.50.[2][5]
The book's central characters are Helen Rogers and her two male suitors, Jed Harringdale and Saunders Mead.[2] The reader's first decision is which of the three characters' viewpoints to adopt.[5]
The book was favorably reviewed, among others, in The Tampa Times,[6] the Santa Ana Register (who called it "a freak book"),[7] the Detroit Free Press,[8] The San Francisco Examiner,[9] and The Salt Lake Tribune.[10]
Legacy
On July 6, 2018 the book was read on air on KZSC radio in Santa Cruz, USA, by James Ryan, who has researched the book and its authors, and his wife Nina, with choices made by the station's listeners.[11][12]
A copy was made available on the Internet Archive in August 2023.[13][14] A transcription was published on Wikisource in January 2026, days after the book's US copyright expired.[15]
In October 2023, the game was ported to TWINE and made available for online play at itch.io.[16]
Notes
- The title page has Consider the Consequences!, with an exclamation mark, but its original dust jacket (pictured) has none.[1][2]
- A gamebook, or "choose your own adventure", is a story in which readers choose which of various alternate paths the plot should follow.
- For a list of their collaborative works see Mary Alden Hopkins § With Doris Webster.