"Quest for the Fountain of Life" is an interactive novel that places the reader front and center as the hero, from a dying village fraught with draught, on a quest for the illustrious Fountain of Life. The rumors point the way to a large and foreboding castle, the home of several siblings holding together the final strands of the decaying Family Kentaurus. Among them are the lazy card-playing triplets, happy to have you around as long as you provide them sufficient amusement. There's also Deneb, the depressive sister with a penchant for poison, Pollux, the overgrown and violent (not to mention rather stinky) guard, and Achernar, the megalomaniacal brother who will stop at nothing to see his father's legacy carried out. You'll need to be prepared for what trickery might lie in wait for you, with your trusty sword at your side and your wits sharpened. Will you find the Fountain? Does the Fountain even exist? Written in the style of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book, Quest for the Fountain of Life is a fantasy adventure that refuses to take itself too seriously. The reader will have different paths to choose from, and the choices they make will affect the outcome of their story. Each twist and turn requires a decision: Is it better to approach strangers as a friend or with your sword drawn? Do you dare insult the belligerent Pollux by refusing a sip of his repugnant wine? And what is the best way to deal with a pesky dragon, anyhow? The deeper the reader delves into this book, the more that is revealed about the secrets of the Family Kentaurus, including what really caused the twenty year draught that is slowly choking the life out of these lands.
Virginia Roper is a first time author and long-time reader. An avid believer of the potential of the web, she has recently designed an interactive story program called Storypath. This program gives a user the ability to write their own interactive fiction and publish it to the web in a format that makes it easy for others to read it. Virginia wrote Quest for the Fountain of Life as a full-length demonstration of the Storypath program, as well as to fulfill the need to exercise her creative muscles. Virginia also has a background in illustration, and produced the cover for this book.
Virginia's artwork, as well as her other projects, can be viewed at www.varoper.com
Storypath can be viewed at www.writaur.com/storypath/
