This page is dedicated to a gamebooks(meaning reader has a choice which way to go) series called Be an Interplanetary Spy which was written in the mid-'80s. The words "BETTER THAN A VIDEO GAME" emblazoned on the back cover, along with "YOU track down the villain!" gracing the front assured me that this series was for me. Indeed, I loved it, but my copies of the books vanished(along with the quantity-over-quality and largely random Choose Your Own Adventure) some time in the late Eighties, but thanks to the Internet I've been able to fork over some dough to start a new collection. The strength of these books is the variety of weird pictures, loopy names, and creation of an exciting galaxy in relatively few words, and although the writing can be schmaltzy("You're in trouble now, Interplanetary Spy!" is one of the more amusing examples) the books have far more imagination than most "gamebooks." There are no dice to roll or statistics to memorize. It's all futuristic action.

There are 12 books in the Be an Interplanetary Spy series. To see details about them, click below or, if you can't decide, try a Find the Kirillian!

  • Galactic Pirate
  • Robot World
  • Space Olympics
  • Monsters of Doorna
  • The Star Crystal
  • The Rebel Spy
  • Mission to Microworld
  • Ultraheroes
  • Planet Hunters
  • The Red Rocket
  • Skystalker
    Most recent update: 5/14. Added some more pictures. I also have backup copies of all twelve books now, except Skystalker, which is being mailed.
    Internal links:
    Grid of book ratings
    Interplanetary Spy dictionary
    Key to tables in above links
    Special pictures of puzzles/errors.
    Scanned Spanish pix
    Other Pictures
    Where I found 'em
    **This space for rent** :)
    Interplanetary Whimsies
    External links:

    A very amusing review of The Star Crystal, with some really cool pictures.
    Demian Katz's page of Interplanetary Spy stuff. He's also got a more general gamebooks page that is very extensive. He's also started a gamebooks newsgroup on eGroups.com that is constantly evolving. Join it. It's fun!
    Brett Easterbrook's Interplanetary Spy covers, or most of them, anyhow. Here's Planet Hunters, the one he doesn't have. His main page is here.
    An Interplanetary Spy-inspired puzzle.
    An unofficial Interplanetary Spy home page.
    An amusing spoof of gamebooks.

    In addition, the first seven books were translated into Spanish. Here are the titles in Spanish; they are in order and if you forget the order the names are also very similar to the English ones!
    Some of the names are different but they are detailed on my Spanish pictures page.

    1. !Captura al Kiriliano!
    2. El Pirato Galactico
    3. Robotlandia
    4. Olimpiada Espacial
    5. Los monstruos de Doorna
    6. La estella de cristal
    7. Espia rebelde
    Back to my home page.

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