Sunday 30 January 2011

Jonathan Green at the SFX Weekender 2

Just a quick update about the SFX Weekender 2, taking place this Friday and Saturday at Pontins Holiday Park, Camber Sands.

I will be there from lunchtime Friday until about lunchtime Sunday - signing at the Abaddon Books stand and suchlike - but on the Saturday afternoon, from 2.00 - 3.00pm, I and m'colleagues Rebecca Levene, Scott Andrews and Al Ewing will be hosting the Abaddon Pub Hour in the Queen Victoria Bar.

Maybe we'll see you there...

The finer points of copyright explained

When you write copy you have the right to copyright the copy you write. You can write good and copyright but copyright doesn’t mean copy good – it might not be right good copy, right?

Now, writers of religious services write rite, and thus have the right to copyright the rite they write.

Conservatives write right copy, and have the right to copyright the right copy they write. A right wing cleric might write right rite, and have the right to copyright the right rite he has the right to write. His editor has the job of making the right rite copy right before the copyright would be right. Then it might be copy good copyright.

Should Thom Wright decide to write, then Wright might write right rite, which Wright has a right to copyright. Copying that rite would copy Wright’s right rite, and thus violate copyright, so Wright would have the legal right to right the wrong. Right?

Legals write writs which is a right or not write writs right but all writs, copied or not, are writs that are copyright. Judges make writers write writs right.

Advertisers write copy which is copyright the copy writer’s company, not the right of the writer to copyright. But the copy written is copyrighted as written, right?

Wrongfully copying a right writ, a right rite or copy is not right.

Right?

Copyright 1991 Shelley Herman S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A., Whittier Chapter.
Adapted and Appended by Scott Simmerman. If you wish to copy or write
this as copy, please be certain to copy right the copyright — contributed to
Swenny’s E-Mail Funnies by Carter Olson, St. Paul, MN

Consider yourself well and truly warned

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Did ye ken...?

After Queen Victoria and Christopher Columbus, Robert Burns has more statues dedicated to him around the world than any other non-religious figure.

You can find out more about Burns and the impact of his life on Scottish culture in Scottish Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Scotland the Brave, by Jonathan Green.

Thursday 20 January 2011

The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus (Vol.1) - review round-up

The first omnibus of my Pax Britannia novels has been getting some good press of late - better than some of the books that appear within it received when they first came out. (Go figure.)

Anyway, here are just some of the very nice things some very nice people are saying.*

First up there's this from the Midwest Book Review:

The Ulysses Quicksilver series is a land of a unique world with many twists. "The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus" will prove an excellent way to break readers into this series, a steampunk world where Queen Victoria is nearing a two century reign, diving into the deep sea is a vacation, and where even the thieves are a bit off kilter. A riveting read of three novels that should definitely prove quite fascinating, "The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus" is a volume that will prove very hard to put down and very highly recommended.

And then there's this the Falcata Times:

Having been a fan from the beginning of this quirky character, I really couldn't help but rediscover the joy of this dashing dandy of a secret agent in Steampunk Victoriana glory. After all that's what this title is all about and to be honest whilst some may not be the biggest fan of this literary hero, he's got a hell of a lot to offer the modern reader in a similar sort of way that Moore brought when he did his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to the screen.

Add to the mix that this is an omnibus and you know that it has value for money built in. It's an ideal stocking filler if you love action and when backed with a hero that readers will just love to hang out with alongside the full extent of everything from Darwinism gone wrong, a touch of reanimator and a whole host of interesting supporting cast and it really is a spiffy read.


If you need to get up to speed with the Pax Britannia series before picking up either Evolution Expects, Blood Royal or Dark Side, you can pick up a copy of the omnibus here.


* And if you're one of those nice people, sorry for using the adjective 'nice' to describe you. It's been a long day and I'm right out of other adjectives. My cupboards are metaphorically bare. Sorry.

Tuesday 18 January 2011

Public Lending Right loans - 2009/2010

Yes, it's that time of year again - my Public Lending Right statement for the year July 2009 to June 2010 has just come through.

Once a year I, like other registered authors, receive a statement from the kind people at PLR (Public Lending Right) informing me how many people have borrowed my books from libraries over the past year. For each loan I earn a few pence which, at the end of the day, add up to a fair few pounds (now that I've established a bit of a back catalogue of publications).

The idea behind the PLR is to reimburse authors for what are effectively lost earnings, as a result of people borrowing books rather than buying them. There is a limit to how much an author can receive from the PLR (it's £6600 if you're interested) so that the likes of Terry Pratchett and J K Rowling don't wipe out the total fund.

Just like the year before, July 2008 - June 2009 saw an increase in the number of my books being borrowed, because I've continued to have more books published. However, one book more than any other made a huge difference to my loans and hence my earnings, bringing in more than my total PLR earnings for last year all by itself!

For those of you who may be interested, here are my top ten most borrowed books for July 2009 - June 2010 (with last year's placing in brackets):

1. (1) The Horror of Howling Hill (Mar 08)
2. (-) The Official Doctor Who Annual 2010 (Aug 09)
3. (2) Howl of the Werewolf (Sep 07)
4. (-) Crisis on Coruscant (Jan 10)
5. (8) Human Nature (Jan 09)
6. (-) Stormslayer (Sep 09)
7. (5) Leviathan Rising (Mar 08)
8. (4) Unnatural History (Feb 07)
9. (6) Curse of the Mummy (Apr 07)
10. (7) Bloodbones (Sep 06)






This book was borrowed from libraries 6,607 times last year!

So, you wanna be a writer?

If the title of this blog post applies to you, and you've done a little more than just talk about how much you want to be a writer and have actually written something, and what you've written is a science-fiction, fantasy, horror or genre-crossing alien-invasion, faerie-living in the London Underground, crime-thriller mash-up but you've never been able to get it in front of an editor because your work is unsolicited and you don't have an agent - (breathe!) - then this might just be for you.

Marc Gascoigne (one-time editor, co-writer, landlord and publisher of mine) is opening the big airy Open Submissions window in the Angry Robot Books office just for you. You can find out more about this initiative on the AR Submissions page here, and at the Literary Project here.

And all that there remains for me to say is - "Good luck!"

Sunday 16 January 2011

Human Nature at the Sacremento Book Review

It's been up a while, but I've only recently come across this review of Human Nature, posted on the Sacremento Book Review.

Equal parts Sherlock Holmes, Oliver Twist, Edgar Allen Poe, and Frankenstein, this Victorian-flavored fantasy manages to cobble together a helter-skelter collection of gas lamp thriller inspired themes into a rollicking modern take on the good old-fashioned penny dreadful.

Set in late 1990s Magna Britannia, an alternate England enveloped in the Smog and closely resembling the set of a Dickens novel, Agent of the Empire Ulysses Quicksilver and his unflappable manservant, Nimrod (a close literary relative of Lord Peter Wimsey’s Bunter and Bertie Wooster’s Jeeves), battle criminal monkeys, crazed vivisectionists, and lousy ale as they attempt to uncover the truth behind the theft of an alleged mermaid specimen in the seaside town of Whitby.

To read the rest of the review, click here.

Saturday 15 January 2011

London 33 West (and East) at the Museum of London

Family Green visited the Museum of London today (as Master Green is studying the Great Fire of London at school this term) and on the way out - just like Doctor Who - we visited the little shop. And I was surprised and delighted to discover this on sale.


My short story I [Love] Richmond appears within 33 West and is told entirely via Twitter. If you've not picked up a copy yet, you can purchase it here.

Thursday 13 January 2011

Pax Britannia Lego

As long time readers of this blog will know, I have a certain fondness for Lego and recently ran a competition challenging Pax Britannia fans to create a steampunk Lego scene inspired by the forthcoming Anno Frankenstein.

Well now I've gone one better, by creating some original Pax Britannia Lego kits inspired by already published books in the series. So far there's Ulysses Quicksilver's Rolls Royce Mark 4 Silver Phantom, the lunar rover Copernicus (from Dark Side) and Oddfellow's Sphere (from the climax of the same book).

The Silver Phantom

The Copernicus

Oddfellow's Sphere

If you think you'd like to own one of these kits yourself, drop me a line via info@jonathangreenauthor.com.

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Pax Britannia at Graeme's Fantasy Book Review

Graeme Flory of Graeme's Fantasy Book Review has faithfully reviewed all of my Pax Britannia adventures published to date. And they've all received very favourable reviews.

Here's a round-up of his reviews along with rankings based on the scores he gave each of them (out of 10).

1st - Blood Royal (9.5)
2nd= - Unnatural History (8.5)
2nd= - Dark Side (8.5)
4th - Human Nature (8.25)
5th= - Leviathan Rising (8)
5th= - Evolution Expects (8)

I'm intrigued to discover how Anno Frankenstein fares when it's released later this year.

Gamebook Adventures in the Guardian

I am very excited to be able to announce that Tin Man Games gamebook apps Gamebook Adventures have been mentioned in an article on 'interactive fiction in the ebook era' in The Guardian.

If you missed it, you can read it here instead.

The David Gemmell Morningstar Award

The David Gemmell Morningstar Award is bestowed upon the author who has made the Best Fantasy Debut within the last year - and my friend and editor Jon Oliver is up for the award, for his fantastic The Call of Kerberos.

You can buy the book (if you haven't already done so) here, and vote for Jon here.

Night of the Necromancer

Night of the Necromancer has been out for almost a year now and in that time it's garnered plenty of praise:

Another great addition to the Fighting Fantasy series.

Green is also keen to strike a balance between appealing to older and younger audiences. This doesn't suggest that he is unsure of who to aim the book at, but indicates his capability as a writer to craft a work so as to be of interest to a broad spectrum.

Overall, I would highly recommend Night of the Necromancer, well worth the purchase.

If you've had a go at the adventure yourself but you're getting a little bogged down, you can find a very concise solution here.

To Tweet or not to Tweet?

I'm not sure if I've posted this link, but if you've not seen this before, and you want to make it as a writer, then you should read, inwardly digest and act on it today!

SFX Weekender 2

I'll be attending the SFX Weekender 2 at Pontin's Holiday Park Camber Sands, on Friday 4th and Saturday 5th February. I'll be stopping by the Abaddon/Solaris stand from time to time and propping up the bar the rest of the time (probably), along with my fellow Abaddon authors Scott Andrews, Rebecca Levene and Al Ewing.

I've even made it onto the official guest list over at the SFX site, and I've heard a rumour that I might even be taking part in a panel at some point over the weekend.

Monday 10 January 2011

New Forum Added

If you're a regular follower of this blog, or new to the site today, I know what you're probably thinking right about now, and that is, "Where can I chat with other like-minded individuals about the works of author Jonathan Green?"

Well, have no fear, for you can now visit the official Jonathan Green, Author forum by clicking on this link (or the one in the sidebar to the right).


As well as discussing everything from Sonic the Hedgehog in Theme Park Panic to the latest Pax Britannia release, over on the forum you'll also find news on event appearances and book signings. There will also be exclusive competitions for forum members from time to time, so why not register today? It only takes a minute and doesn't cost a thing.

Maybe I'll see you over there some time soon.

Friday 7 January 2011

To blog or not to blog?

I spend a lot of time maintaining my various blogs but it's not often that I get positive feedback to know that all my hard work really makes any kind of a difference.

So I was very pleased to stumble across this the other day. Scroll down to number 8 on the list and you'll find this:

He [Green] maintains several blogs, all of which are worth reading, particularly when he talks about, and links to other writers talking about, the process and method of being a full-time professional writer. Recommended!

Thursday 6 January 2011

Pax Britannia: Dark Side at Graeme's Fantasy Book Review

You may have read this fantastic review of Pax Britannia: Blood Royal by Graeme Flory on my blog recently.

Well, having enjoyed Blood Royal so much (I still can't get over the fact that Graeme awarded it 9.5 out of 10!) he didn't delay in picking up a copy of Dark Side. As you'll see from this review, he didn't enjoy it as much - but 8.5 out of 10 is still a very respectable score, if you ask me.

I particularly liked this part:

Green attacks the plot with his usual zest and vigour, giving us a story that rockets along with a mix of heady spectacle... and murderous intrigue. Mysteries abound and Quicksilver has to solve them all; the plot moves far too quickly for the reader to have any choice left but to come along for the ride and what a ride it is. There is plenty going on but Green has no trouble keeping everything in the air and ticking along nicely. And what a cliff-hanger ending!

Pax Britannia: Dark Side - SFRevu's best cover of the month

Ever since it was first released, Mark Harrison's fantastic cover for Pax Britannia: Dark Side (that pays homage to Georges Méliès Le voyage dans la Lune) has caused a bit of a stir. Some hate it (or rather are disturbed by it), but most love it.

And science fiction and fantasy review site SFRevu loved it so much they proclaimed it best cover of the month!

Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein

Abaddon Books have released their catalogue for 2011, which includes a page promoting my next Pax Britannia adventure Anno Frankenstein.


You can download the catalogue for yourself here.


Saturday 1 January 2011

JG's White Dwarf articles

During the late 90s and early noughties I wrote a number of articles for Games Workshop's White Dwarf magazine. Bizarrely a couple of these have now cropped up online.

Enter the Dragon is all about dragons (funnily enough) in the game of Warhammer. Meanwhile, Warpstone! was a Warhammer campaign I wrote to accompany a piece called Civil War! about same races armies battling one another.