G is for Go Gos

That's right GoGos. What do you mean you've never heard of them? You know, GoGos. A.k.a. Crazy Bones.

Yeah, that's it - GoGos!

I first encountered GoGos in 1996, during my first year as a teacher in London. The kids in my class loved these colourful characters made out of plastic. But if you don't know what they are, they're basically a reincarnation of the classic game knucklebones.

A friend of mine - fellow writer Marc Gascoigne - had written a book earlier in the year (or the year before) about another craze - POGs. I thought there was probably now a market for a book about GoGos and so I approached the editor at Puffin Books who had commissioned my Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. What resulted was this book...

... that I wrote during half term and which came out the following spring. I had never had a project turned around so quickly.

Go Gos Are Go Go! wasn't a big hit - in fact it ended up being pulped! But a few years ago the GoGos craze re-emerged. The new generation GoGos are a much more sophisticated bunch and much better supported. And so I was able to persuade Wizard Books this time to publish an updated version. And this version - Go Go Crazy For Those Bones! - sold much better...

... until a rival publisher complained and it was withdrawn from sale. All I can say is that the 'official' GoGos book isn't a patch on what could have been done if they'd got me to adapt my original. And I know that sounds big-headed, but it's true.

Until next time...