Satanic Panic Meets Fighting Fantasy

The Telegraph recently shared an article about Sir Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. Did you know that, around the time of release, it caused a scandal?

In the early 1980s, a clergyman in the U.K. became aware of the Fighting Fantasy books and was appalled by the inclusion of demonic elements. He and a group of others not only threatened to chain themselves to railings outside of the Penguin Books headquarters, but they also published a scathing document warning of the 'dangers' of the series.

 

"The Evangelical Alliance published an eight-page warning guide about Fighting Fantasy, saying because you're interacting with ghouls and demons, you're just bound to get possessed by the devil," said Sir Ian Livingstone. "And there were petitions sent in by parents wanting them banned. I remember a housewife in deepest suburbia phoned a local radio station saying that, having read one of my books, her son levitated. All the kids were thinking, 'Great, we can fly.'"
 

The sensational Fighting Fantasy books went on to become a worldwide phenomenon, selling millions of copies over the past 40 years. Perhaps some of those sales can be attributed to the Satanic Panic surrounding the original release!