American literary icon and unrelenting bastion of positivity and self-love Chuck Tingle is mostly known for his bizarro erotica stories, such as Pounded In The Butt By My Book "Pounded In The Butt By My Book 'Pounded In The Butt By My Book "Pounded In The Butt By My Book 'Pounded In The Butt By My Own Butt'"'" and the Hugo Award-nominated Space Raptor Butt Invasion. But he occasionally explores other, more safe-for-work narratives as well, such as his trans-positive Harry Potter satire series and his recent horror novella about straight people.
But his latest offering is something else entirely: an interactive Dungeons and Dragons-esque fantasy set in Tingle's hometown of Billings, Montana that also lets you choose select your own adventure timeline. And, it's safe for work (though you may encounter a handsome ear of corn, there will be no pounding or creaming in this book). Here's the blurb of Dungeons, Dragons, and Buckaroos: A Select Your Own Timeline Adventure:
Hundreds of years before Billings was the thriving metropolis we know today, it was a medieval kingdom a sword and sorcery; a fantastical land where dragons lurked within deep caverns, guarding troves of ice cold chocolate milk, and misplacer beasts roamed the forest as unsuspecting victims misplace their things.
It is within this fantasy world that you find yourself called upon by King Rolo, a sentient twenty-sided die who's heard tale of a great role-player destined to bring peace to the kingdom. He presents you with several routes toward your destiny: like that of a ferocious warrior or a mysterious wizard.
But is there yet another path lying just beyond the fourth wall? Is this fantasy realm your true reality, or is the darkness that sweeps across medieval Billings caused by your role-playing group falling apart on a nearby timeline?
Will you defeat the unicorn necromancer and his army of sentient undead character sheets?
Can you trust the bumblebeeholder who's buzzed into your life with a thirst for battle?
The decision is yours!
Dungeons, Dragons, and Buckaroos is a delightfully meta riff on fantasy gaming as both a genre, and as a hobby. When the book begins in medieval Billings, you the reader are playing a futuristic RPG that imagines a world where people go to boring office jobs and have to deal with lousy bosses, instead of being summoned by velociraptor castle guards to meet with the anthropomorphic 20-sided die king who sends you on a quest to train with a Bigfoot wizard.
Like any choose-your-own-adventure-type story, Dungeons, Dragons, and Buckaroos provides lots of different paths (including some that depend on your character's inventory, just like an actual roleplaying game). Some of these stories are short; some are longer; and it's always easy and fun to see how different choices end up. Some decisions may even lead you from medieval Billings into a modern fantasy world where you lead an unfulfilled life with an office job, relying on medieval fantasy roleplaying games to escape.
But there is a theme that emerges throughout the various storylines, one that resonates with Chuck Tingle's wholesome public persona: it's always better to be a good buckaroo and prove that love is real.
Dungeons, Dragons, and Buckaroos: A Select Your Own Timeline Adventure [Chuck Tingle]
