It's free game of the month time again at Invisible City Productions. This month's creation is MetalTalon, a space combat wargame in which the battling ships are represented by stacks of coins built from a 26-cent reserve. The rules are short and simple, but the inclusion of multiple races and lots of different ship combinations should make for lasting fun. As always, you can't beat the price (or absence thereof).

Lost Nose Unveiled
Fans of gamebooks may be interested to know that, although the form didn't take off until the late seventies and early eighties, science fiction parodist John Sladek was experimenting with it in the late sixties. His early work with interactive stories is included in Maps: The Uncollected John Sladek, a new release from British publisher Big Engine. Although game content makes up a very small percentage of the book, it is a highly amusing small percentage. To get a taste of it, you can read one of the stories, The Lost Nose, online in its entirety.