Review of "Techniques for 21st Century Fiction by A. S. Glassner", A. K. Peters, Ltd., Natick, MA 511 pages. ISBN 1-56881-221-3. $35.00.

For centuries, people have enjoyed both stories and games. As a result, a form of entertainment that combines storytelling with game-playing seems a great idea. It has the potential to be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the road to this entertainment form is long and complicated and many difficulties must be overcome. Andrew Glassner, in his new book Interactive Storytelling: Techniques for 21st Century Fiction , does an excellent job identifying these difficulties. He analyzes games and storytelling, and describes the principal problems that developers face in merging these two activities into an interactive form of entertainment.