Interaction rumor mill

[Unknown,Unknown]

I was just on
Link: http://www.larrylives.com(http://www.larrylives.com) 
, and was going through the rumor mill. It reminded me of the section in Interaction entitled the same. Ken, do you remember who used to write that? What ever happened to him? I remember seeing the pictures of him with a duck bill or something.

[Unknown,Unknown]

(re: Interaction rumor mill) The rumor mill was written by my brother, John, under the pseudonym: Johnny Magpie. He had some great rumors in his articles. It was a high-point of the magazine.
-Ken W

[Unknown,Unknown]

(So WHO WAS John Magpie anyway??)

Dunno how many of you will even remember this, but back when Sierra On-Line had it’s magazine (later called Interaction, can’t recall off-hand what they called it before that). There was this guy who wrote a gossip/humor column in the magazine who went by the named Johnny Magpie. According to the editors, his identity was a closely guarded secret as his “scandalous” info would get a lot of people upset at him.

I guess it’s kind of silly, but i still can’t help but wonder if anyone ever found out who he was or if he revealed himself sometime after the magazine was discontinued.

A friend of mine theorized the guy was one of Ken’s children (John, I think) but I dunno if that’s true or not. (The lioe JM once said about get his information from, among other places, “…Ken Williams trash can” was what lead him to that theory.

Boy, amazing what your mind can remember even after all these years…

Mike

(who’s trying to recall exactly what point he ceased having a life)

[Unknown,Unknown]

(re: So WHO WAS John Magpie anyway??) Johnny Magpie was my brother, John Williams, who was the editor of the magazine, and ran our marketing team from time to time.

He did an awesome job with the magazine, and I miss reading his articles to this day.

-Ken Williams

[Unknown,Unknown]

(re: So WHO WAS John Magpie anyway??)

Oh wow… excellent question! I loved the Magpie… I would always save that column for last because it was my favorite part. There was always some tidbit to get you excited; some clue as to an upcoming followup to your favorite series. Those were the days… I loved that freaking magazine!

[Unknown,Unknown]

Wow, Johnny Magpie. I remember breaking a sweat after I read, “…Roberta Williams…is working on a project that…makes a few people around here nervous…It’s like putting a bloody chainsaw in the hands of Dr. Seuss…”

Of course, he was talking about Phantasmagoria. But that was back in 1992 or 93 I think, long before we would ever see it hit shelves as a massive CD project. I didn’t get a CD-ROM until 1995!

Tom.

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