Review of the Year - 2016

On New Year's Eve last year I posted a review of 2015. I'm a little earlier this year, seeing as nothing major is going to happen writing-wise between Christmas and New Year, so here's my review of 2016.

Last year I had an unprecedented nine books published. This year there were only four books, and one video game that I worked on, that saw the light of day. The first of those was a re-issue, but the second was a brand-new Doctor Who gamebook, Night of the Kraken!

Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu - funded via Kickstarter - was a concept I thought couldn't fail, and yet it has yet to really find a committed readership, which is a shame.

Of course the number of projects published this year doesn't reflect the work I've done this year that is yet to see print, such as The Wicked Wizard of Oz or a brand new Pax Britannia short story.

And there were other things that happened this year that have made a big impact on my writing/career.

For one thing, I took on the mantle of Warlock for www.FightingFantasy.com and have started planning Fighting Fantasy Fest 2 which is taking place on Saturday 2nd September 2017, to mark the 35th anniversary of the publication of the very first Fighting Fantasy gamebook, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

I was also editor on the new Freeway Fighter comic that is coming out from Titan Comics next year.



I was invited to write the novelisation of Robin of Sherwood: The Knights of the Apocalypse at the end of 2015 and met some of my childhood heroes (or at least their 20th century counterparts) in 2016.

With some of the cast of the audio drama Robin of Sherwood: The Knights of the Apocalypse. (I'm the one second from the left, dressed like an estate agent.)

And there were two more projects that I worked on that won't see the light of day until 2017.

Talking of 2017, I have a few projects in the pipeline already, including SHARKPUNK 2 - a second anthology of killer shark stories - and a new novel, which I am outlining at the moment. I also hope to start work on YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2, also to mark Fighting Fantasy's 35th anniversary. And then there are yet more projects that either I can't talk about yet or which may still come to nothing, or both!

I attended fewer conventions than ever before this year - although I did attend the European premiere of Fantastic Beast And Where To Find Them - mostly because they clashed with other commitments.

Among the many celebrity deaths this year, sadly 2016 will also be remembered as the year that Joe Dever, creator of the Lone Wolf gamebook series, passed away.

Joe Dever - 1956-2106

One of the biggest things for me writing-wise in 2016, in terms of its importance to me and also, hopefully, bringing my work to a new readership was the Robin of Sherwood gig, so I think 2016 will be listed in my autobiography as The Year of Robin of Sherwood.

But what will 2017 be remembered as?

We will just have to wait and see...