Mission Statement: To enchant established interactive fiction fans while enamoring fiction book readers of every genre with totally immersive works of fiction that satisfy even the most discerning fiction fan.

Howard Sherman

Chairman, CEO, President & Implementor

Not stopping with the awesome responsibility being one of only three active Implementors of Interactive Fiction in the world, Howard also oversees all day-to-day operations of Malinche itself and keeps a strong, steady hand on the wheel.

Coming from a strong corporate background and armed with college degrees in both accounting and management enables Howard to run a 21st century company in addition to creating the very titles the company sells.  It is often wondered how Howard balances such extreme "left brain" and "right brain" activities simultaneously and not lose his mind altogether in the process.  It is more often marveled that Howard fully leveraged his dual heritage of creativity and business acumen to drive Malinche forward into the future.

Perhaps even more noteworthy is Howard's leadership in guiding Malinche to successfully compete against video game developers and fiction book publishers that dwarf Malinche in size.

How Did it All Begin?

Howard's affinity for interactive fiction began with his very first experience with a computer altogether. In 1982, at the age of 12,  Howard walked over to a TRS-80 Model III on display at a Radio Shack store in Brooklyn, New York.  Reading the screen of riveting text he was instantly captivated. The game was Zork.  Howard volunteered his time to work in that Radio Shack store in exchange for computer time. While most, if not all, labor laws of the time were broken in the process, Howard did indeed get all the time he wanted to play Zork and other games he discovered. One of his crowning achievements that year was making the rank of "Junior Adventurer" in Zork.

Some months later, Howard had the good fortune to receive not one but two computers as gifts.  From his parents, God bless them both, a Commodore 64.  And from his Uncle an Epson QX-10. (Please don't go "huh?" - it was an incredible machine at the time running both MS-DOS and CP/M!) Throughout his teenage years Howard expanded his collection of computers to include a Texas Instruments 99/4A, and several models of Atari computers.  His collection of Infocom games expanded accordingly. His parents continually chided him for the ever-expanding clutter of equipment and computer games in his room yet an uneasy peace was maintained. Howard came into his own as a young man as he continually explored the world of BBS'es (Bulletin Board Systems).  Then girls.  Then alcohol... and well, we'll just stop there.

On the whole, Howard's parents were relieved to see their son evolve into something other than a pure geek. His predilection towards computers and Infocom games aside, he turned out to be a rather well-rounded fellow with a rich set of experiences behind him.

A New Implementer is Born

In 1997, Howard and tens of thousands of other people still loved the classic Infocom games although the Infocom everyone knew and loved no longer existed. Turning to the Internet, Howard found other fans of Interactive Fiction and an amazing set of development tools collectively called Inform that empowered him to recreate the magic Infocom first created. Then and there, a new Implementor was born.

Being the entrepreneur that he is Howard quickly realized that he, and countless other fans, craved more games in the Infocom tradition and immediately realized he was in the unique position of satisfying that craving. Asking himself a "What if...?" question, our beloved Implementor began to think.  Howard had the tools, the inspiration and the market demand.  And so Pentari: The Prequel was born; a free game to introduce First Light which he had then started.

Enter...Malinche

Alas, Howard's blossoming professional career got in the way of his passion for First Light and the project was shelved. As a divisional vice president of a nationwide Internet and telecommunications company at the time, there was no spare time for Pentari. The fall of 2002, nearly five years later, a seasonal lull in activity brought Howard back to his labor of love. Having ascended the corporate ladder to the rank of President & COO, all the demands that came with the job did not deter him. Dead set on finishing the game and releasing it, Howard created Malinche Entertainment and committed himself completely to finishing the project. And so he did.  Howard dusted off the original source code for Pentari: First Light and picked up where left off in the promenade underground in the city of Delphin.

And here we are today -- twenty-five years after Howard first fell in love with the legendary Zork.

Howard's game design philosophy is simple; immerse the player in the story while evoking emotions through the story itself. Before and during game development, extensive research is conducted in pursuit of gathering all the sensory details necessary for the immersion process.

Malinche - Past, Present and Future.

Lori and Corey Cole are busy implementing "School for Heroes" which promises to be a fun romp for fantasy adventure fans blending a rich story with humorous moments and engaging characters which will pull the reader in with a new level of interaction never seen in a Malinche interactive fiction title before.  Lori Cole's and Corey Cole's interactive fiction debut is set for Christmas 2008.

Howard is back at the keyboard implementing "A Saint in Sin City", an interactive murder mystery slated for release in August 2008. Read Howard's Sin City Blog, a designer's journal of his time invested in creating his next murder mystery.

Here's a quick preview -- Sin City will feature a "Super Strip" that's ultra exclusive in its unapologetic catering to international billionaires who use Las Vegas as their own personal playground.  That playground turns into a cemetery as corpses start turning up at a super-resort considered the most valuable piece of real estate on planet earth. Here's the big hook - some of the victims are counted as power players on the world's political stage.

Kings, Queens, Prime Ministers and Presidents will be counting on you, the hero in this murder mystery/spy thriller, to set things right.  To keep things interesting, secret agents and spymasters from all over the world are constantly striving to either help you or thwart you. Howard will be leveraging his insider's knowledge of Las Vegas to the hilt to bring this title to light.  Nobody should be surprised if Howard ends up pissing off a country or two in the process just as he did in Endgame.

Pentari: Second Dawn and Pentari: The Apprentice launched this summer with a unique crossover in the plots that's never been tried before in science fiction circles.

Both titles treat players to an expanded Pentari with the reader in command of an entire city where Second Dawn is concerned and as the apprentice to the Grand Sorcerer Rilan in The Apprentice. The Empire faces extreme peril and total annihilation or incredible power and a golden age. It all comes down to you. Whatever happens, players can be sure of a rich adventure filled with challenging puzzles, incredible game play and lots of fun in either game or both.

Calling upon his own extensive travels through Arkansas in 2002, The First Mile draws upon Howard's own impressions in delivering a chilling work of interactive horror fiction. The First Mile was released on July 15th 2005 to more fanfare than his works have ever received before.

In forging Endgame, the Implementor buried himself in schematic diagrams and technical manuals as he viewed hundreds of pictures and watched untold numbers of video clips as he studied every aspect of a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser. Intertwining real-world events with a fictional story, Howard implanted this mixture into the fictional USS Las Vegas. The result is an intense work of suspense fiction that takes the reader (player, really) on a wild ride from the Mediterranean to the Middle East and finally in the Far East on a high intensity mission sure to capture the hearts and minds of every techno thriller fan.

While creating Greystone, Howard visited the real-life Greystone Psychiatric Park in Morris Plains, New Jersey accompanied by a staff member who must remain nameless.  While there, Howard rubbed shoulders with a convicted murderer sentenced to life in Greystone  as he explored the thirty-six buildings of Greystone set on 600+ sprawling acres.  Pictures, notes and maps were furiously generated as Howard soaked in the full range of emotions Greystone generated.  Hitting the books, the Implementor studied the history of Greystone and psychiatric illness itself, legal rights of patients, pharmacology and many other related subjects to deliver the full experience Greystone brings to you.

For Pentari: First Light Howard visited a network of caves in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania and explored a network of man-made tunnels more than 22 miles in length in the suburbs of London.  To implement the castle and Duke's keep, he personally visited The Tower of London as well as Windsor Castle in England.  Going farther, he also spent time at the Palace of Versailles in France walking the same halls and corridors as kings and queens once did.

Howard's impressions and observations are delivered through the Interactive Fiction he writes.  Experience a Malinche game; you will be inside the story.

Howard's business philosophy is even more straightforward; superior products at fair prices with top-notch service.

                 Lori Cole, Implementor               Corey Cole, Implementor 

Contact Information

Email

Howard A. Sherman

Implementor

 

  James Polanco                           Michael Ferrador

      Director of Sales                        Director of Technology