Is there anyone else out there who is weirdly excited by the news that Ian Livingstone has written a new Fighting Fantasy book, his first for ages? Blood of the Zombies is intended to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the series which started in 1982 with The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, and ended (bar one brief reappearance in 2005 with Eye of the Dragon) in 1995.

I haven't read any Fighting Fantasy since the 1980s, but I have fond memories of hours spent rolling a dice and desperately trying to reach a favourable conclusion, in many a "thrilling fantasy adventure" in which I was the hero: Deathtrap Dungeon, Island of the Lizard King, etc. Of course, as with Choose Your Own Adventure, I'd cheat, but there was immense satisfaction when I would (rarely) manage to legitimately kill the various monsters who'd attack. I have to admit, though, to nearly always massaging my initial skill, luck and stamina scores – what sort of warrior would set out on a quest with a measly skill of seven? (If you have no idea what I'm on about, you'd determine your scores at the start of the book by rolling the dice).

I even have a copy of City of Thieves at home today, and looking at it takes me back: "Terror stalks the night as Zanbar Bone and his bloodthirsty Moon Dogs hold the prosperous town of Silverton to ransom. YOU are an adventurer, and the merchants of Silverton turn to you in their hour of need." Irresistible.

Livingstone is clearly aware of my ilk as a potential market; talking
to MCV about Blood of the Zombies, he predicted its purchasers to be "a line of 38-year-olds masquerading as 10-year-olds, or claiming 'It's not for me, it's for my son.'" I don't think I'll be one of them: I'm nostalgically intrigued by the book, but I've plenty to read without getting involved with "insane megalomaniac Gingrich Yurr", who is "preparing to unleash an army of monstrous zombies upon the world".

Instead, I shall satisfy my nostalgic yearnings with this, one of the best things you will see all week. It's a collection of "you chose wrong" endings from the Fighting Fantasy and Choose Your Own Adventure books, and it couldn't be more brilliant. Here's a couple to whet your appetite. From Fighting Fantasy #12: "When you offer the fruit to the chief he takes a piece, bites it and promptly falls over dead. The rest of the aliens are appalled, and leap at you with needle-sharp spears; the ferocity of the attack breaches your armour. You collapse under the wave of
bodies, never to rise. You have failed." Disaster! And from Fighting Fantasy #11: "She strikes you down, before helping you to your feet. You walk together into the Valley of Death, where your spirit will wander alone until the end of time." Bleak for a children's book, no? I would have been alright, though, because at this point, I would have flicked back to where my finger held my former page, just in case. I was the hero, after all.