A gloriously vibrant gramiller should be just the ticket for when you’re cooking over coals, though when it comes to rosé, darker, stronger styles work best

One of the things that pops up like clockwork every summer is the focus on barbecues as we approach the Fourth of July. I don’t get it myself. How many of you host a flag-waving all-American barbecue with a stars and stripes cake? Any self-respecting griller has been at it since April, at least – well, maybe not this sodden spring, but on the odd occasion the rains have let up – and will carry on doing so well into the autumn.

As those of you who are enthusiasts will know, cooking over coals lends itself to all sorts of flavours and techniques, far beyond burgers and bangers. It might be a fishy feast with prawns, squid and scallops. It might be cauliflower steaks with a spicy dressing and all manner of grilled veg. It might be Middle Eastern, it might be Thai …

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Enlarge / Zork running on an Amiga at the Computerspielemuseum in Berlin, Germany. (credit: Marcin Wichary (CC by 2.0 Deed))

You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building.

That simple sentence first appeared on a PDP-10 mainframe in the 1970s, and the words marked the beginning of what we now know as interactive fiction.

From the bare-bones text adventures of the 1980s to the heartfelt hypertext works of Twine creators, interactive fiction is an art form that continues to inspire a loyal audience. The community for interactive fiction, or IF, attracts readers and players alongside developers and creators. It champions an open source ethos and a punk-like individuality.

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