Gamebook Friday: ACE Gamebooks Christmas Shopping

If you're looking for Christmas gifts for the gamebook fan in your life, or an RPG to play with your gaming group or family this festive season, then ACE Gamebooks has got you covered.

As well as buying ACE Gamebooks online - on Amazon or through DriveThruRPG - you can also buy signed copies direct from the author.

And when it comes to roleplaying games, there are the Christmas-themed 'Twas and The Box of Delights RPGs, or the Beowulf-inspired Heorot. To find out more, simply click the appropriate cover below.

Gamebook Friday: Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland is 10 years old today!

Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, the book that would become the first title in the ACE Gamebooks series, was launched at Dragonmeet on this day in 2015!

As you may have guessed, at the time, I didn't realise it was the start of a new creator-owned series, but just last weekend, the eighth ACE Gamebook was on sale at Dragonmeet 2025.

In the last 10 years, Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland has been published in 11 different languages, including Bulgarian and Japanese, and while the covers might change, they have all used Kev Crossley's original internal artwork. Not only that, but when Raven Distribution published the book in Italy, they commissioned Kev to draw a map of Wonderland, that then appeared in the 5th anniversary UK hardback.

Every year, somebody picks up Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland for the first time, which leads them to then check out the other books in the ACE Gamebooks series. And while other titles have also proved popular - The Wicked Wizard of Oz and Dracula: Curse of the Vampire in particular - none have knocked Queen Alice off the top spot. It has garnered 182 reviews on Amazon UK, and even spawned an adult colouring book that has now received over 1,700 reviews!

All being well, there will be a new edition of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland in the next couple of years. But, for the time being, please raise your glasses and toast the most popular adventure in the ACE Gamebooks series - Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland!

Steampunk Thursday: Pax Britannia reaches Hungary!

It's been a while since I posted something for Steampunk Thursday. The reason for today's post is because yesterday I discovered that my first Pax Britannia novel, Unnatural History*, is published in Hungary this week by Chameleon Comix!

The title of the Hungarian edition translates at The Galapagos Formula, which sounds intriguing.

* Unnatural History currently has 299 reviews on Amazon, with a 3.9 average.

The Kingsport Metamorphosis - available to pre-order now!

The Kingsport Metamorphosis - the third title in the Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook - is now available for pre-order.

A mysterious letter summons you to the seaside town of Kingsport, where dreams leak into reality, to a wealthy estate transformed into a place of unspeakable nightmares in this new action-adventure gamebook set in the popular world of Arkham Horror.

Curious to meet your mysterious host, Elijah Harcourt, your excitement is dashed when you discover the recluse's purpose is far more nefarious than you realized, leaving you and his guests with riddles to solve if you are to survive. As each hour passes, your companions meet terrible fates, forcing you to navigate a spiderweb of betrayal…

The Kingsport Metamorphosis will be published by Aconyte Books on 3 February 2026.

The Box of Delights

Forty-one years ago today, at 5:00pm on 21st November 1984, the BBC dramatisation of John Masefield's The Box of Delights was first broadcast. I was one of those eager children who tuned in to watch and was hooked from the moment I heard Victor Hely-Hutchinson's orchestral arrangement of The First Nowell, taken from the third movement of his Carol Symphony, which formed the series' theme music.

40 years later, the child star of the TV show provided me with a cover quote for The Box of Delights - The Roleplaying Game.

"As a lifelong roleplayer I was genuinely interested to read an RPG based on The Box of Delights. I was pleased to find that Jon Green has done an excellent job of capturing the spirit of the piece in a tight, narrative framework that emphasizes storytelling and keeps the mechanics simple enough to be enjoyed by any age. I may run it for my own kids."

Devin Stanfield, Kay Harker in the 1984 BBC Television adaptation of The Box of Delights.

The Box of Delights – The Roleplaying Game is a rules-lite RPG for 2-6 Players, plus a Gamesmaster, inspired by John Masefield's Christmas classic.

Designed to be picked up and played with minimal preparation, it nonetheless includes a well-developed character creation system, as well as rules for combat and magic.

Illustrated throughout by Tony Hough, it is ideal for a festive gaming session with an established group, or as an alternative to the family games usually played at Christmastime.

Time and Tide and Buttered Eggs wait for no man. So, grab your dice and playing cards, and prepare for adventure, for the Wolves are Running!

Cthulhu Thursday: Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu - What Dreams May Come

Available now from ACE Gamebooks is Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come, written by Jonathan Green and illustrated by Heraldo Mussolini.

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on…”

The year is 1613, and England's foremost playwright is committed to finishing his latest magnum opus, Love's Labour’s Won, for his new patron, the Earl of Gloucester. However, after falling asleep while working late at the Globe, he wakes to find himself in a subtly altered world that is both familiar and yet strangely unfamiliar.

What follows is an epic quest through Shakespeare’s plays in which the Bard of Stratford is confronted by sinister eldritch forces in service of the Great Old Ones – malign beings of unimaginable power – the greatest of which is the cosmic entity known as Cthulhu.

______________________________________

Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come is an interactive fantasy novel, inspired by the Bard’s most popular plays and the unsettling creations of the American pulp horror writer H.P. Lovecraft.

In this adventure gamebook, YOU take on the role of William Shakespeare himself, deciding which route to take, which perils to risk, and which of the villains and eldritch horrors you will meet along the way to fight. But whether you survive your ordeal or succumb to riotous madness, will be down to the choices YOU make.

“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”

You can buy Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come via Amazon here.

Gamebook Friday: ACE Gamebooks at Dragonmeet 2025

ACE Gamebooks will be attending Dragonmeet again this year, on Saturday 29th November 2025, at the event's new venue of London's Excel Centre. I will be in the gamebooks corner, along with Fighting Fantasy and Lone Wolf.

Click to enlarge.

I will have copies of Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come with me, as well as The Box of Delights RPG, and other ACE Gamebooks.

So, if you're coming along, why not stop by and say hello?

Click on the covers to find out more.

International Gamebook Day 2025

Gamebook Friday: The Kingsport Metamorphosis

This Gamebook Friday I am delighted to be able to share with you the news that I have written another Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook, which will be released next spring. Here's the announcement video that appeared on ArkhamHorror.com yesterday.

And here's a message I recorded, especially for the Week of Arkham Horror.

The Kingsport Metamorphosis will be the third Investigators Gamebook, following on from The Darkness Over Arkham and The Tides of Innsmouth. Each volume is both a book and a game – you, the reader, get to take on the role of one of the famed Investigators you already know and love from the Arkham Horror series of tabletop games, and the book’s text guides you through an exciting narrative, where the choices you make at the end of each passage determine where you must turn next.

Combined with tests of Willpower, Intellect and Combat, your choices will determine your fate and your chances of success and failure over the course of the adventure, giving you the complete Arkham Horror game experience in a solo-play book format. 

Keep reading this blog to receive more news about The Kingsport Metamorphosis soon.

Gamebook Friday: Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu - What Dreams May Come

Coming soon from ACE Gamebooks... Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come!

Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come
shown with rewards from the Kickstarter.

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on…”

The year is 1613, and England's foremost playwright is committed to finishing his latest magnum opus, Love's Labour’s Won, for his new patron, the Earl of Gloucester. However, after falling asleep while working late at the Globe, he wakes to find himself in a subtly altered world that is both familiar and yet strangely unfamiliar.

What follows is an epic quest through Shakespeare’s plays in which the Bard of Stratford is confronted by sinister eldritch forces in service of the Great Old Ones – malign beings of unimaginable power – the greatest of which is the cosmic entity known as Cthulhu.

______________________________________

Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come is an interactive fantasy novel, inspired by the Bard’s most popular plays and the unsettling creations of the American pulp horror writer H.P. Lovecraft.

In this adventure gamebook, YOU take on the role of William Shakespeare himself, deciding which route to take, which perils to risk, and which of the villains and eldritch horrors you will meet along the way to fight. But whether you survive your ordeal or succumb to riotous madness, will be down to the choices YOU make.

“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”

World Octopus Day

Anyone who has read my work for a while, particularly my gamebooks, will know that I have a bit of a thing for cephalopods.

I have always been fascinated by these highly intelligent, boneless mollusks, starting with legends of giant squid. In fact, I even have a print of a giant cephalopod on my wall. I based this image from my map of Neverland on the self-same print.

The Terrorsquid, by Jonathan Green.

I should warn you that there are minor spoilers ahead...

There is a Giant Octopus in Bloodbones, the Abyssal Horror in Stormslayer shares some features with a giant cephalopod, there's the Terrorsquid in NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!, and a Kraken in Beowulf Beastslayer.

Giant Octopus, by Tony Hough.

One of my books - Doctor Who: Night of the Kraken - even has a cephalopod in the title. And there are squid or octopus-like creatures in 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas, Dracula - Curse of the Vampire, and RONIN 47. And that's just the gamebooks.

Giant Squid vs. Ghost Whale, by Neil Googe.

Something very much like a giant squid gets a fair bit of screen time in the second Ulysses Quicksilver Pax Britannia novel Leviathan Rising, and there is a fantastic illustration of a Kraken in Heorot - Roleplaying in the World of Beowulf Beastslayer.

Kraken, by Heraldo Mussolini.

Will there be octopuses and giant squid in future books? Undoubtedly!

Tie-in Tuesday: Terrible Lizards

Back at the start of the year, I was interviewed by Kenny Smith for The Power of 3 Podcast about my Eleventh Doctor novel Terrible Lizards.

First published in 2012 as part of Monstrous Missions, and later released as a self-contained novel for the US market in 2016, in Terrible Lizards, the Eleventh Doctor and his friends join a group of explorers on a Victorian tramp steamer in the Florida Everglades. The explorers are searching for the Fountain of Youth, but neither they nor the treasure they seek are quite what they seem...

If you are interested in peeking behind the curtain, to find out how a book comes to be, you can listen to the podcast here. And you can order pre-loved copies of the novel here.

Gamebook Friday: Valiant

This year, to date, I have written three gamebooks. Today, I am delighted to be able to share the news about one of those projects with you.

“Greetings, Agent Valiant,

The Crown and Her forces face enemies on all fronts, on land and

on sea, in politics and in trade. But yours is a subtler mission, your

tools more covert, using perseverance, keen observational skills, and

strength of character and deed. You have joined the secret ranks of Her

Majesty’s Ministry of Intelligence, laying your life on the line to protect

Queen and Country. Choose your tools of subterfuge carefully, Valiant,

for success or failure from here rests on your choices.

Good Luck, and Godspeed

M”

Set in the world of Warcradle Studios' Dystopian Age games, amidst the never-ending conflict of the warring powers, Valiant sees you play your way through the setting like never before.

Written by Yours Truly, and illustrated by Neil Googe (who also illustrated the seventh ACE Gamebook RONIN 47), this upcoming adventure places you in the role of Valiant, an Agent in the Circus (Her Majesty’s Ministry of Intelligence), and provides a glimpse into the world of the Dystopian Age as your actions decide the fate of your mission for the Crown.

To find out more, click this link to visit the Warcradle Studios' blog.

Gamebook Friday: Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Yes, it's that time again - it's Talk Like a Pirate Day!

So I would just like to remind you that my Dinosaurs Vs. Pirates Vs. the End of the World ACE Gamebook NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! is available to buy now, either as a physical paperback or as a PDF.

Fighting Fantasy Quest Live Preview - Friday 12th September!

This Friday, 12th September 2025, Paul Grogan of Ulisses Spiele will be doing the first live play preview of Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain online at 8:00pm UK time.

Paul previewed the game at the UK Games Expo earlier this year, but now everyone, all over the world, can see what it's all about.

Paul Grogan and Sir Ian Livingstone at the UK Games Expo with
Fighting Fantasy Quest: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain

So, make sure you put 8:00pm Friday 12th September in your diary and join the livestream here.

Gamebook Friday: YOU ARE THE HERO available now from DriveThruRPG

YOU ARE THE HERO: An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks has been out for over a year, but now you can download the hyperlinked PDF from DriveThruRPG. Click on the cover below to find out more.

Happy Birthday to The Box of Delights!

Ninety years ago today, on 30th August 1935, The Box of Delights by John Masefield was published in the UK by Heinemann. 

Why not mark the occasion by purchasing a copy of the licenced The Box of Delights - The Roleplaying Game?

The Box of Delights – The Roleplaying Game is a rules-lite RPG for 2-6 Players, plus a Gamesmaster, inspired by John Masefield's Christmas classic.

Designed to be picked up and played with minimal preparation, it nonetheless includes a well-developed character creation system, as well as rules for combat and magic.

Illustrated throughout by Tony Hough, it is ideal for a festive gaming session with an established group, or as an alternative to the family games usually played at Christmastime.

Time and Tide and Buttered Eggs wait for no man. So, grab your dice and playing cards, and prepare for adventure, for the Wolves are Running!

Warhammer Wednesday: Best Black Library sales

Today I received my latest royalty statement from Games Workshop. It may be a while since I last wrote for Black Library but I still get a few pounds and pence in royalties each year from sales of my novels and short stories, thanks to the prevalence of eBooks.

I thought it might be interesting to share the best-selling titles, based on earnings. So, here we go...

1) Iron Hands

2) The Relic - published in the Warhammer 40,000 anthology Legends of the Space Marines.

3) But Dust in the Wind

4) Journey of the Magi

5) Paradise - published in the Necromunda anthology Uprising.

International Gamebook Day 2025

27 August 2025 marks 43 years since the publication of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, which means it is also International Gamebook Day.

International Gamebook Day began in 2020 but went on hiatus in 2024. However, it is back for 2025.

While 27 August is nominally International Gamebook Day, when the formal celebrations take place can vary. In 2023, the celebrations took place on 14 October, and had a horror theme.

This year, the International Gamebook Day celebrations will take place in November, so keep your eyes peeled for more news soon.

Gamebook Friday: Grab an ACE Gamebook for just 99p!

It's that time of the year when I put my ACE Gamebooks on sale through DriveThruRPG for just 99p each!

So, if there's a title you've been meaning to pick up but you haven't yet, or you have a physical copy and would like a PDF for ease of reading on the move, then now is the first time to check out the Summer Sale.

And please tell all your friends! Thank you.

You can also pick up some bargain collecticles on eBay at the moment.