'Hello, Essex!' or 'How I met a Dalek and lived to tell the tale'

As regular readers of this blog will know, last Saturday I was fortunate enough to be invited along to Grays Library in my capacity as a Doctor Who author and play second fiddle to a Dalek. (I was fully prepared for this and my suspicions turned out to be well-founded; everyone knew who the Dalek was whereas there were a fair few comments aimed in my direction along the lines of 'So, who are you then?') In fact, when I arrived the queue to meet the alien fiend was already out the door and half way down the street!

The hordes queue up for the chance to be exterminated.

Borders Books were there as well, with tables heaving with Doctor Who merchandise which the patiently-queuing fans were snapping up. I got to sit behind a table laden with more copies of The Horror of Howling Hill than I have ever seen together in one place. What was even more pleasing was how much (and how rapidly) the pile diminished during the day.

Author, ready to sign!

As well as the chance to meet a real Dalek, visitors to the family fun day were able to construct their own brilliant model versions and I have to thank Brandon and Kieran in particular for letting me post a picture of their finished masterpieces here. And I was only exterminated the once, which was nice.

Brandon's and Kieran's daleks.

There was also mask-making (Cybermen, Abzorbaloffs and Ood), a Doctor Who-themed library trail, a writing competition and a drawing competition, in which the entrants had to draw what they thought the Horror of Howling Hill looked like. I also got to help choose the winner at the end of the day.

And on top of all that there was live, Doctor Who-themed magic, courtesy of Darren McQuade. Darren even performed a trick on me involving my book, which had me genuinely amazed and delighted!

So I would just like to thank Thurrock Council and the all those involved in organising the event at Grays Library, particularly Rachel and Ann, as well as everyone who came along. A big shout out to Mark, who realised that I had written Bloodbones as well, and to the Dalek, who let me get close enough to have my photograph taken with it.

Author meets alien superfiend - you decide which is which.

And a huge thank you goes to Heather, Abbie and Gareth, from Borders Books' Lakeside store. They were thoroughly charming and made me feel right at home. And they sold lots of copies of my book as well!

Gareth, Abbie and Heather from Borders Books, Lakeside.

And my free frosted green pens went down a treat as well, which was nice.

Just one last thing; Daleks are a lot shorter in real life.

Promotional Pens

Following in the footsteps of fellow writer-cum-blogger Alex Milway, who has had some badges made, I have had my own personalised biro made - or rather around about 1,000 of them!

They really couldn't be simpler - green, frosted pens, with my name and blog address printed on them - but I'm feeling quite proud at the moment nonetheless.

I'll be giving the pens away at events and book signings so, if you fancy one, why not pop along to Grays Library tomorrow?

24 hours to D-Day (Dalek-Day, that is)

Just in case you missed the earlier post, tomorrow, Saturday 26 April, I shall be appearing alongside a Dalek as part of Borders Books' Dalek Day, taking place at Grays Library, close to the Thurrock Lakeside shopping centre.

I'll be there signing copies of my Doctor Who Decide Your Destiny adventure The Horror of Howling Hill and visitors will also be able to have their photograph taken with a genuine Dalek from the TV series.

The organisers of the event have designed a 'Draw your own Monster' competition sheet to tie in with my book, and there will also be opportunities to win prizes throughout the day.

So, if you're in the area, why not come along? The fun starts at 10.00am.

Maybe see you there.

Meet a Dalek... and me!

Next Saturday, 26 April 2008, I will be appearing at Grays Library (near Thurrock Lakeside shopping centre), taking part in a Dalek event arranged by Borders Books.

I will be appearing alongside (read: playing second fiddle to) a genuine Dalek from the Doctor Who TV series. Visitors will be able to see the alien war machine up close and get their photo taken with it.

Borders will be there too, selling Doctor Who books, toys, magazines and DVDs. And I'll be there, in my capacity as the author of the Decide Your Destiny adventure 'The Horror of Howling Hill'.

So, as well as meeting an inhuman, warmongering, megalomaniac killing machine, you'll also get the chance to meet a Dalek! Only kidding. You'll have the chance to meet me as well.

The fun starts at 10.00am and there's no need to book - just turn up on the day. I look forward to seeing some of you there.

Pax Britannia Competition

When you read of Ulysses Quicksilver’s latest escapades, do you see yourself there alongside him, partaking in a bit of derring-do? When you read of the empire of Magna Britannia or its capital, Londinium Maximum, do you imagine yourself there, immersed within this retro-Victorian steampunk world? If so, then how would you feel about actually appearing in the next Pax Britannia adventure?

Well, here’s your chance. All you have to do is enter our Pax Britannia competition and, come this December, you could see your name in print, as one of the characters in the next Ulysses Quicksilver adventure Human Nature.

To enter, you simply need to find an interesting way to help promote the current Pax Britannia novel Leviathan Rising, published by Abaddon Books. It could be a review for a magazine or a website, it might be in the form of a photograph, something you manage to arrange at a local bookshop, or it could involve you making a model or even dressing up as a character from the book (if that’s your sort of thing).

Obviously, we can’t condone anything illegal or immoral but, as long as you stay within the bounds of the law (and common decency), pretty much anything goes. You can also enter this competition more than once; after all, we’re going for blanket coverage here!

The important thing is that whatever you do, you have to have evidence, and evidence that can be emailed. This might be in the form of a link, a digital photograph, a video clip, etc.

There are no age restrictions for this competition, but bear in mind that the final novel would probably receive at least a 15 rating at the cinema!

You need to send your competition entries, via the ether, to paxbritannia@hotmail.co.uk by Saturday 31 May 2008.

By submitting an entry – be it a video clip, a photograph or a text review, etc. – you thereby give permission for to it being used as we see fit on any blogs or publicity material, for free, and waive copyright to it. The copyright will then belong to Rebellion A/S.

The winner will have their name used as that of a minor character in Human Nature and will receive a signed copy of the book on publication.

There may also be some runner-up prizes in the form of signed books and a general lauding of their work on this blog.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your thinking caps on and come up with something original. We await your entries with eager anticipation.

Good luck!


Important note: Abaddon Books, the Pax Britannia setting, all text and artwork from the novels are © & ™ Rebellion A/S and reproduced here with kind permission.

We also reserve the right to change the rules of the competition should is become necessary and as we see fit.

Enter the world of Pax Britannia

If you follow this link, you will find your way to the new Pax Britannia blog.

This has been set up to provide readers with all the latest news about the Pax Britannia series, including background on the existing books and short stories as well as news about upcoming stories.

Orbital 2008

On Good Friday I went along to this year's Eastercon, the annual British National Science Fiction Convention. This time it was held near Heathrow and the M25, hence Orbital 2008.

I was there as part of the Abaddon Books team and took part in an author signing as Leviathan Rising (my latest steampunk novel) was literally there hot off the presses.

You can read more about Abaddon and Orbital by clicking on this link.

Déjà vu all over again?

As I mentioned in my first post, I'm not entirely new to this blogging lark. I do in fact already have three other active blogs.

The first of these is Unnatural History, which I started eight or nine months ago when I gave up full-time work to make more of my writing. The result of that particular risky move is that it is now in my interests to give myself a more formal Internet presence - hence JonathanGreenAuthor.Blogspot.com. You can look at it for yourself here.

The second of my blogs can be found at www.matchwits.co.uk and has been set up to support the publication of my next book, called - funnily enough - Match Wits with the Kids. Rather than give away everything here, following this link to find out more.

And then there's WhatIsMyrrhAnyway.Blogspot.com, which is another book blog. This one's for What is Myrrh Anyway? a book about everything you wanted to know about Christmas - but were afraid to ask! Click here to have your appetite whetted about this cracking little stock filler.

And then there's JonathanGreenAuthor.Blogspot.com, through which you can access all the others.

Enjoy.

Testing, testing... Is this thing on?

Greetings.

Welcome to JonathanGreenAuthor.Blogspot.com, the new and improved online presence of the writer Jonathan Green.

That’s me, by the way.

You may have visited my old blog, Unnatural History, in the past. If so, welcome to the new site. If you haven’t read my blog before (in any shape or form), then simply welcome.

As you will see over the next few days, JonathanGreenAuthor.Blogspot.com is about to become the premier site for up-to-date information about the books I’m currently working on, upcoming projects, personal appearances and more.

So drop by again soon to see what’s new.

And until then…