Gamebook Friday: Review of the Year - 2022

It's that time of the year again - can you believe it? - when I like to look back on the past year and look forward to the next.

Despite all the other books I had published this year, 2022 was only ever going to be the Year of Fighting Fantasy, as it saw the 40th anniversary of the publication of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

However, I didn't expect to find myself writing a new Fighting Fantasy gamebook - but it turned out Steve Jackson had other ideas. In January Steve asked me to help him finish the FF adventure he was writing to mark the 40th anniversary, and so Secrets of Salamonis was born, which resulted in me working with Italian illustrator Tazio Bettin for the first time (and hopefully not the last).

I also provided technical assistance for the two Marvel Multiverse Missions gamebooks published by Aconyte Books this year - You Are (Not) Deadpool and She-Hulk Goes To Murderworld.

The first quarter of 2022 saw me write the 'Making of...' features for the final graphic novels in the All Killer No Filler Deadpool Collection, the very last of which was Deadpool Does Shakespeare.

In April I attended Taunton Comic Con for the first time, and June saw me attend the UK Games Expo for the first time since 2019, which meant I sold out of a lot of stock! I also playtested a new card game with some friends which I hope to have on sale at UKGE 2023.

Summer saw the publication of RONIN 47, the first science fiction-themed ACE Gamebook.

2022 was also a year of upheaval for Family Green as in the summer as we swapped West London for the West Country, moving from the Queen of the Suburbs - a.k.a. Ealing - to the County Town of Somerset - a.k.a.Taunton.

Then September saw Fighting Fantasy Fest 4 take place, back in Ealing, and the publication of Secrets of Salamonis, alongside Sir Ian Livingstone's Shadow of the Giants.

At the end of October I visited Lucca Comics and Games Fair in Italy for the first time. It was an incredible, full-on, five day event, during which I met all sorts of wonderful people and signed numerous copies of the Italian editions of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland and The Wicked Wizard of Oz.

November was remarkable because it saw the Kickstarter to fund production of YOU ARE THE HERO - An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks become my most successful crowdfunding project to date! If you missed it, there's still time to place a Late Pledge.

I also finished the Heorot RPG, at long last, which will be out in time for the UK Games Expo 2023.

At the start of December I was back at Dragonmeet in London, where I hung out with Sir Ian Livingstone during the day and the Lone Wolf crew during the evening.

December also saw the 20th anniversary of the publication of my first Warhammer novel, The Dead and the Damned.

As well as publishing another title in the ACE Gamebooks series in 2022, I have continued to release new content for 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas. 

If you have yet to grab the latest supplements, you might want to make the most of the ACE Gamebooks Roleplay New Year Sale, but it's only here for a short time, so don't miss out!

New foreign language editions of ACE Gamebooks that have been published this year include the Czech translation of NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!, the Ialian The Wicked Wizard of Oz, and the Polish edition of Dracula - Curse of the Vampire. And there are even more to come in 2023!

Talking of 2023, next year marks the 30th anniversary of me becoming a published author, as Spellbreaker, my first Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebook, was published in June 1993. And there are plenty more books to come next year.

I already have two gamebook projects pencilled into my schedule, while the Heorot RPG and YOU ARE THE HERO - An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks will both see print next year. And I have my next ACE Gamebooks Roleplay Kickstarter ready to go.

So it only remains for me to wish you and yours a happy and healthy New Year, and I'll see you again in 2023!