Conference noted::sf

284.0. "4-D Funhouse" by GUIDO::RAVAN () Mon Nov 18 1985 15:25

"The 4-D Funhouse"
by Clayton Emery and Earl Wajenberg 

I had quite a time deciding where to post this. FRP? BOOKS? SF? All of
the above? Whatever you're reading now must have been one of my
choices, anyway. And, yes, that's DEC's own Earl Wajenberg as
co-author. (Emery used to work for DEC too, and was in one of my
dungeons for a time; I admit that a burning curiosity to see what the
two of them had cooked up was largely responsible for my buying the
book in the first place.) 

"The 4-D Funhouse" is published by TSR, as one of a series called
"Amazing Stories." Yep, like the TV series, although I've no idea if
the books are going to be televised or not. But there's a little black
banner on the cover of the book that says "Watch the NBC series" or
some such thing; go figure. 

"The 4-D Funhouse" is one of those choose-your-own-path books, but
with some differences. For one thing, it is written for an older
audience than are the majority of books of this type. (The cover art
and the "Amazing Stories" line gave me the impression that the book
was for children, but I should have known better!) Another difference
is that the actual choices available are few and far between, though
most of them are highly significant. This has the advantage of 
allowing the story/stories to be more elaborate, since there are fewer
paths to follow. 

And elaborate they are. (I say "they" as it seems there are about
three different stories all sprouting from the same beginning.) We
begin with the narrator, an 18-year-old boy, on his way to his
uncle's house while fleeing from his parents' disintegrating marriage.
The narrator soon reveals that his uncle is a mad-inventor type who
has created a bizarre funhouse in which to test some of his
inventions, and who turns out a patent or two periodically to fund the
whole process. We also learn that the scientist is diabetic, a fact
that makes his disappearance all the more sinister, especially when it
appears that he has left his insulin behind... 

The turns that the story takes from there get more and more
incredible, yet I had a you-are-there feeling throughout. The book
wanders agreeably between near-nightmarish suspense and wacky
other-worldliness that I thought reminiscent of a cross between "The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and "If I Ran the Zoo." (The book
is, not coincidentally, dedicated to Dr. Suess.) 

All in all, it was lots of fun, and I recommend "The 4-D Funhouse" for
an entertaining read.

-b 

There is no connection (other than the name) between TSR's AMAZING
STORIES and the tv show. The entire first season of the show is made
up from story ideas by Spielberg. The only reason that there is any
"connection" between the magazine and the tv show is because Spielberg
decided it was better to pay TSR for the rights to the name "Amazing
Stories" when he found out from TSR's lawyers that the name was trade-
marked than it was to come up with a new name.

--- jerry

Re .1:

It figures. Too bad; "Funhouse" would have made a nifty episode or three.
I suppose part of the deal was that the publishers had to put an ad for
the TV show on the cover...

[Do you think a "choose your own ending" TV show would work? "If you want
to go through the red door, tune back in at 10:15; if the green door,
stay tuned!"]

-b

Columbus, Ohio's innovative QUBE cable television corporation had (has?) a
little gizmo that let you send signals back to the cable company.  They ran a 
mystery series, I believe, that had the audience vote on which course of 
action the hero should take.  They then broke for a commercial of sorts, and 
played the most popular ending after the break.  I'm not sure how popular it 
was, but there were a *LOT* of SF stories about the blandness of television 
after audience voting became an established fact at about that time.

There was also a story (author and title escape me) about a somewhat different 
scenario.  TV didn't get bland - it spiced up.  Kinda like the way the Roman 
arenas spiced up the life of the average guy on the dole.  Seems the networks 
were always looking for new stars.  Sadistic torture and constant plastic 
surgery to repair the damage kept driving the old professionals out of the
business...  The story is about the actions of a programming director who
falls in love with the girl who is going to be the next heroine of a spy 
series.  

- Chris 

re:.2

I suspect that the deal was more like the publishers *can* put a blurb
about the tv on the covers. The magazine AMAZING STORIES doesn't sell
all that well, and they're obviously hoping that people will like the
tv show enough to buy the magazine thinking there's a connection.

--- jerry

At least in Maynard, the theory worked out.  The Paper Store is consistently 
out of Amazing Stories...