Find Your Fate

Stoo

Well-known member
whipwarrior said:
FYF #10 and 15 feature a female Indy-type character named Morgan Swift, obviously designed to appeal to girl readers. Based on my research, the Swift books are somewhat rare, but worth collecting simply for their obscurity.
I knew that there were a couple of non-Indy books in the series but never heard about this Morgan Swift character before. Good on you for seeking them out to get the complete collection.

So cool that you managed to get new mint editions!(y) I'm very happy for you but very jealous at the same time. Will you be keeping your oldies for nostalgia's sake?
Edward the Head said:
These books are very rare,
I'm wondering if they are so rare because the age group they were intended for weren't concerned about keeping these books. As for myself, I only had one (#1, "Curse of Horror Island") and it was too much of a kiddie book for me at the time so I didn't care for it much and eventually lost it somehow. Kicking myself for that because now I don't have any.:(

Or are they rare because they didn't sell well and bookstores ripped off the covers to send back to the publisher to collect the return money (and threw the coverless books in the garbage)? This was a common practice in the past but I'm not sure if it was still being done in the '80s.
 

Plaristes

New member
Edward The Head said:
These books are very rare, though it seems the price has come down in the past few years. When I went looking for mine years ago they were running 30 or more.
Really? I was able to buy each of them (except for Mask of the Elephant) over the last several years for only pennies each on ebay, amazon marketplace, etc.
 

whipwarrior

New member
There's a lot of Indy FYF books on eBay right now, mostly in the $30-$45 range, except for Mask of the Elephant, the one I'm looking for. Meanwhile, FYF #15 arrived: Morgan Swift and the Treasure of Crocodile Key. It's in great condition, considering that it's a hardback ex-library book, which wasn't mentioned in the sale ad. Now I'll have to track down a paperback copy that fits in with the rest of my set. And yes, I will definitely be keeping my old FYF books because they were the very beginning of my Indy collection, and thus irreplaceable. I just wanted a new set to read without damaging my original copies.
 
Plaristes said:
Really? I was able to buy each of them (except for Mask of the Elephant) over the last several years for only pennies each on ebay, amazon marketplace, etc.

Sorry, I was talking more about the Mask of the Elephant being rare, not really the rest of them. I had such a hard time finding mine too. I tried to buy a couple only to have one lost in the mail and another destroyed in the mail.

I have plenty of copies of the other books, all of the Indy books really, because I was trying to get complete sets in good condition years ago. Mask of the Elephant and Irish Rebellion were the two hardest to get.
 

whipwarrior

New member
Thanks. FYF #17 was always one of my favorites as a kid, particularly because the authors wrote the story with a sense of humor. Even the bad endings are funny, so the reader at least faces their mortality with a smile. :D
 

Davidblue

New member
These books are an interesting topic. I think it's important for every collector of Indiana Jones. I buy from Amazon the first nine books. On arrival I give my opinion here.
 

Davidblue

New member
Finally came the books I ordered. They are very nice and although they are intended for a child or youth groups, are prized collectibles items for every fan of Indy. In the upper left corner of my "Curse of Horror Island" and "Eyes of Fates" is an inscription that says "Special Book Club Edition" I did not see before in any of the books in this collection.
 

whipwarrior

New member
The Book Club Editions were sold at book fairs back in the 80's. My original copy of FYF #4, purchased at the Scholastic book fair in elementary school, has the same notation on the cover, while the copy in the boxed set does not. Otherwise, the interior of both editions is exactly the same.
 

whipwarrior

New member
I finally scored a near-mint copy of Mask of the Elephant on eBay! While I paid more than I consider the book to be worth, it's so rare (in ANY shape, let alone like-new) that I just had to grab it to complete my Find Your Fate Indy display collection. I'll post a picture of the entire set when the book arrives. :whip:
 

whipwarrior

New member
Here, at last, is the entire Indiana Jones FYF series, including the ultra-rare Mask of the Elephant and equally obscure Morgan Swift books:

15121664522_c1eb5e3546_b.jpg


The collection is now complete. :hat:
 

Stoo

Well-known member
Congratulations, whip warrior, on getting a near-mint copy to replace your tattered one. Mazel tov!:hat:

Are you going to keep the old one?
 

whipwarrior

New member
Yes, I'm definitely keeping my old books because they have a lot of sentimental value; I spent many happy hours of my childhood adventuring through the pages of the Find Your Fate books with my hero, Indiana Jones. I gathered up this new set to enjoy reading without subjecting my vintage books to further damage (I actually read the cover off Cup of the Vampire as a kid, and had to literally re-attach it with tape!). Cult of the Mummy's Crypt and Mask of the Elephant endured similar damage, also repaired with scotch tape. Ballantine really should've made those little books more durable to endure obsessive use by rabid Indy fans!
 

CharronThanas

New member
Hey you guys,

I just love those Find your Fate books. And they are usually the hardest to get......I collect Star Wars and Dragonlance as well...and it took me years and years to get all of those....(y)

I have one question regarding those Morgan Swift books...do they have anything to do with Indy (sorry for that...I really don't know :confused: )

And if someone is looking for Cup of the Vampire...I do have a spare one...and also I have a spare of the cluebook from the Infernal Machine.
 

whipwarrior

New member
No, the Morgan Swift books are an entirely different property, unrelated to Indiana Jones. I just picked them up to fill in the gap in my collection. The stories aren't very exciting, not as many choices to make. The Indy stories are much better.
 

Duaner

New member
I enjoyed the FYF books. I was always a big Choose Your Own Adventure fan, so naturally when you had Indy books following the same format, I would be a fan. I remember there being a rack of paperback books in my local library. They had a bunch of movie tie-in books on the rack. They had four of the FYF books: Cup of the Vampire, Curse of Horror Island, Cult of the Mummy's Crypt, and Lost Treasure of Sheba. (I remember the rack also had the three Han Solo books by Brian Daley - loved those too!) I almost always had one of the FYF books (sometimes all four of them) checked out. I recently stumbled across a copy of Lost Treasure of Sheba at a used book sale for 50 cents. Of course, I bought it!
 

Raiders Remake

New member
I own a few of these Find Your Fate books. They're pretty okay for the most part, but here's a question. In Gold of Genghis Khan, a snow leapord is mentioned. Is it even in the book? :confused:
 

Indy Black

New member
Went back and read through this thread from the start, fascinating. Because when I was in 8th grade (1989), I picked up "Curse of Horror Island". Loved it because it was two of my favorite things, choose your own adventure with Indy. But I thought there was only one book. And all this time thought there was only the one book. My only issue with the story was, I died or was sent home. :dead: Seriously my luck was horrible.
 
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