Laura Coronado Birlew encouraged her husband, Dan, to pursue a career in video games. He's written 43 strategy guides, including the two below.

Every now and then, a teacher will tell students to write letters to their favorite authors. And sometimes, they write to Dan Birlew.

He's written 43 books in six years, each of which is a hefty strategy guide that helps gamers battle ogres, demons, space ships and zombies.

He was cornered into this life by his wife, Laura Coronado Birlew, back in the late 1990s. They were living in Austin, Texas, at the time. He was a newspaper delivery man who would throw papers, then go home and play "Tomb Raider" and "Resident Evil" until she woke up. But his obsession grew, and so did her frustration at the time and money he was blasting away.

"Laura really wanted us to get serious about our careers," he says now from the living room of the two-story house, in a gated Las Vegas community, that his game-playing pays for. "She said, 'You should stop messing around with this video game thing -- or make it a career.' "

Laura remembers being tough on him: "I wasn't so much encouraging him to go into the industry as giving him an ultimatum."

Birlew then wrote a mock strategy guide for a game, e-mailed it to Brady Games publishing, and was immediately hired. Since then, he's become one of the world's most recognized guide writers. Strangers used to call him all the time just to chat about games. Now that the Birlews have an unlisted phone number, fans have to chat at danbirlew.com.

The Birlews don't have kids, but they do have jobs kids would envy. Laura works as a product information coordinator for the shoe and handbag retailer Zappos.com, which means she checks out shoes and handbags all day, while her husband plays games 10 to 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

Like a lot of couples, they game together. She's fond of cooperative games, the ones such as "Champions of Norad" that let them go on tandem adventures.

"What's fun for me is when, somewhere along the line, I get better and better," she says. "And I'll save him from an orc."

Dan has good recommendations. His favorites of all time: 1) "Call of Duty" for PC, a shooter with good levels, artificial intelligence and well-designed missions; 2) "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" for PlayStation, the Japanese version of this platform jumper; 3) "Resident Evil 4" for GameCube, a shooting action-adventure horror title; 4) "Metal Gear Solid 3" for PlayStation 2, a stealthy spy game; and 5) "Final Fantasy X" for PS 2, the "best strategy game ever."

Dan has played parts of games coming out this year. He advises us to keep an eye out for these: the James Bond "From Russia With Love" for all game systems; "Gunstar Superheroes" for Game Boy Advance; "Okami" for GameCube; "Castlevania Glue" for Nintendo DS; "Metal Gear Solid 3" re-release for PS 2; "24" based on the TV show; a "Kingdom Under Fire" sequel; and "Final Fantasy 7: Dirge of Cerberus," a shooter based on the role-playing game.

He can't promise that playing these games with your mate will help your relationship. But it's working out for him and his 12-year marriage.

"Now we play video games" as a team, Laura says. "As long as we're together, I'm fine with it."