Question about Joe Dever

[wonderfly]

Just to come out and ask...What was Joe Dever doing inbetween "The Hunger of Sejanoz" (1998) and the the 2007 reboot of "Flight from the Dark"? Why was there nearly a decade long break in Lone Wolf material? 

I know that Project Aon started up around 1999 or 2000 (I remember stopping by the project in it's early days, thinking "Wow, I can't believe Dever's doing this, this is awesome!"). Are the two events (Dever finishing "Hunger of Sejanoz" and Project Aon starting up) tied in any way? Was Dever content to let Project Aon take over the spreading of Lone Wolf material? (granted, the spreading of old material, not new material). So was Dever basically...enjoying retired life? (Not a bad thing to do, after so many wonderful novels). 

[Thomas Wolmer]

After "The Hunger of Sejanoz", the publishers abandoned Lone Wolf (and basically gamebooks in general). So Joe decided to release the previously published books for free through Project Aon to ensure that they wouldn't be forgotten. (Or, as you could say, to "keep the brand alive".)

Joe didn't retire, he continued to work with game design, but for computer/video games. Wikipedia has a list of games he was involved in.

[wonderfly]

Jun 24, 2017 16:32:49 GMT Thomas Wolmer said:

After "The Hunger of Sejanoz", the publishers abandoned Lone Wolf (and basically gamebooks in general). So Joe decided to release the previously published books for free through Project Aon to ensure that they wouldn't be forgotten. (Or, as you could say, to "keep the brand alive".)

So Joe Dever turning to Project Aon is tied in with the crash of the gamebook market? I know that 1998 also happens to be the year that "Choose Your Own Adventure" line of books ended. The "Star Wars Choose Your Own Adventure" books were the last produced, I believe.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Choose_Your_Own_Adventure_books

I know that line of books has since come back, but it's a shame that Edward Packard and R.A. Montgomery kind of went their separate ways. 

I believe the "Fighting Fantasy" books ended in 1995, and TSR's "Endless Quest" books ended in 1996, so "Choose Your Own Adventure" and "Lone Wolf" outlasted those.