Jonathan Green, Author

Monstrous Missions - The Terrible Lizards are unleashed!

2012-01-29T01:00:00.001Z

This arrived in the post today.

This is my third Doctor Who publication and my first novel, or chapter book if you prefer, featuring the Eleventh Doctor (as portrayed by Matt Smith), Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill).

It's been some time in the making (for one reason or another) and it's great to see it in print at long last. It wasn't an easy task, writing the book, but I had a great time putting words into the Doctor's mouth and putting the Ponds through the wringer.

Monstrous Missions, which collects my story Terrible Lizards along with Gary Russell's Horror of the Space Snakes, is officially released on Thursday 2 February but you can buy it from Amazon now. Here's the blurb from the back of the book.

In TERRIBLE LIZARDS, the Doctor and his companions 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!

And in HORROR OF THE SPACE SNAKES, people are mysteriously disappearing on Moonbase Laika. They return with strange bite marks and no idea where they have been. Can the Doctor get to the bottom of what's going on?

Monstrous Missions is one of six such 2-in-1 titles, the others are:

Book 1 - Heart of Stone/Death Riders

Book 2 - The Good, the Bad and the Alien/System Wipe

Book 3 - Alien Adventures

Book 4 - Sightseeing in Space

Book 6 - Step Back in Time

Where Ideas Come From - by Dan Abnett

2012-01-29T00:01:00.000Z

Just like any example of Dan's writing, this piece, which appeared on Kaaron Warren's blog, is well worth reading.

The SFX Weekender - The Schedule!

2012-01-28T00:01:00.005Z

It's been some time coming but yes, the schedule for the SFX Weekender 3 is finally here!

I'm getting quite excited/nervous about this now, partly because of how much work I still need to finish between now and then but mainly because I'm going to be hosting the 'How do you put the punk into steampunk?' panel on the Friday.

It's the first time the SFX Weekender has had a dedicated steampunk panel (last year the steampunk element was amalgamated into the 'Duel Britannia' panel) and I feel a certain responsibility now rests upon my shoulders not to let the side down, an onus to... basically, to not cock it up!

So although you'll see that the bar opens at midday on Friday, I'm going to be taking it easy before 5.00pm and letting my hair down (which may or may not be coloured green for the occasion) at the Kitschies Awards ceremony later the same evening.

I won't be going too mad there either though, because come 10.00am the next morning I'll be signing in Bartertown alongside Guy Haley (he of SFX/White Dwarf/Angry Robot/Solaris fame). I promised I'd catch up with Guy at some point over the weekend, but at the time didn't realise I would be sharing a table with him, so job done!

I should also give a shout out to the Abaddon/Solaris Fun Hour which is taking place at 2.00pm on the Friday... in the bar! Last year it was the Abaddon Pub Hour, which probably tells you all you really need to know. But to truly experience its wonders you have to be there, so do come along. It'll be a lot of fun and, failing that, it's in the bar.

There's loads going on all weekend, with panels, Q&As, signings, competitions and screening from dawn (well 10.00am) until dusk (actually, well past midnight), so if you are coming along, check out the schedule and maybe I'll see you there.

Close, but no cigar (a.k.a. Runner-up of the Spider God)

2012-01-27T16:18:00.005Z

The Best Ever App Awards 2011 were announced at 4.00pm today (or 8.00am PST, if you prefer) and Temple of the Spider God was in the running for Best Dice Game...

And it came second!

Not a bad showing by any means and great for an indie games developer like Tin Man Games, but wouldn't it have been great if Spider God could have taken the top spot? Ah well, there's always next year.

Anyway, thanks to all who voted and if you want to know why my first digital gamebook came close to being named the Best Dice Game iOS app ever (well for 2011 at least), follow this link.

EX-CEEDING-LY GOOD CAKES! EX-CEEDING-LY GOOD CAKES!

2012-01-27T16:01:00.000Z

My latest Doctor Who adventure Terrible Lizards is out soon*, so I thought it would be a good time to share this with you.

* In less than a week, actually...

SFX Weekender 3 - one week to go!

2012-01-26T20:00:00.004Z

There's only one week to go until the SFX Weekender 3 beams in to Pontin's Prestatyn. Are you excited yet, 'cos I sure as hell am!

To help get you fired up about the Weekender, head over to the Geek Syndicate and check out their audio interview with SFX Editor-in-Chief David Bradley.

Among the things you'll learn from David are that there are eight actors attending the premier SF/F event, along with some 50 writers and artists (Yours Truly included). 2000AD will be celebrating its 35th birthday there and the Kitschies Awards Ceremony will also be taking place on the Friday night. And on Saturday night Robert Rankin will be hosting the SFX Awards whilst later on Craig Charles will be DJing like last year.

So are you excited now? If you are, I hope you've already got your ticket because the event sold out weeks ago! And if you have got your ticket, maybe I'll see you there.

Joshua Wright - Artist of the Spider God

2012-01-26T00:01:00.004Z

Joshua Wright, the talented artist responsible for the full colour internal illustrations that appear in Temple of the Spider God now has his own website.

Go check it out.

Happy Burns Night!

2012-01-25T00:01:00.001Z

On 25 January, Scots all over the world gather together to honour the short, yet prolific, career of their national poet, Robert Burns, because 25 January is his birthday. Also known as the Ploughman Poet (because amongst other jobs he held, he had once worked as a ploughman) Burns was, and still is, Scotland’s favourite poet. This is mainly due to the fact that he wrote in the same way that Scottish people spoke. He came from a humble background, but his natural talent was to make him a national hero.

Burns’ poetry was inspired by the stories his mother’s old maid told him when he was a child. Indeed, the poet is quoted as saying, ‘She had the largest collection in the county of tales and songs concerning devils, ghosts, fairies, brownies, witches, warlocks, kelpies, elf-candles, wraiths, giants, enchanted towers, dragons and other nonsense. From this grew the seeds of my poetry.’

Burns’ Suppers, which form the focus of Burns’ Night celebrations, can be either casual affairs or something much more formal. However, whatever they’re nature, the basic format varies very little. On arriving guests should be offered a drink (usually whisky) and once they are all seated at table, the chairman makes his welcome. This is followed by the Selkirk Grace and then the banquet begins.

The Selkirk Grace

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it,

But we hae meat and we can eat,

And sae the Lord be thankit.

Burns’ Supper Menu

Cock-a-Leekie Soup

Cullen Skink

Haggis, Neeps and Champit Tatties

Cranachan

Sherry Trifle

After the first course has been cleared away, the haggis will be piped in – the chef carrying it to the table, accompanied by a piper playing a stirring Scottish tune – and the chairman, or another esteemed guest, will give the Address to the Haggis. Reciting the words of Burns’ poem with gusto, the speaker plunges a knife into the haggis at the words:

‘An’ cut you up wi’ ready slight

Trenching your gushing entrails bright
Like onie ditch.’

The address over, the guests toast the haggis, and the health of the poet, with a wee dram of whisky, naturally. When the meal is finished, the chairman (or esteemed guest) makes the first speech – The Immortal Memory – which pays tribute to the life and work of Robert Burns. This is followed by the Toast to the Lasses and is a light-hearted tribute to all the ladies present that should be humorous, but never unkind. An elected female member of the party then gives The Lasses Response. The formalities over, the rest of the night is spent enjoying the songs and poems of Burns, as performed by the guests themselves.

Of course you can find out more about Burns Night and Robert Burns himself in my wee book, Scottish Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Scotland the Brave.

And if you're celebrating Burns' Night tonight, have a good one!

Thought for the Day

2012-01-24T00:01:00.002Z

"Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents and everyone is writing a book."

~ Cicero, 43 BC

The Year of the Dragon

2012-01-23T17:29:00.006Z

Gung hai fat choy!

Seeing as how it's the Chinese Year of the Dragon I was trying to think of which of my books or stories to recommend to you which have a dragon-related theme... Except there aren't any!

Of all the fantasy staples I've written about over the years I've not really done much about dragons. I suppose there was my White Dwarf article Enter the Dragon, and dragon-like creatures appear in Knights of Doom and Stormslayer, and then there was that wyvern in The Dead and the Damned, but that's about it.

Well, that's not entirely true.

One of the (many) projects I'm working on at the moment features a dragon quite heavily, but more about that another time...

The dragon-like Stormdrake from Stormslayer*

* In my imagination it looked way cooler than this.

Warhammer: Civil War

2012-01-23T00:01:00.004Z

One for the Warhammer fans today.

I was intrigued to open the latest issue of White Dwarf magazine (#385) and find Part One of a new Warhammer expansion contained within - an expansion called Civil War, and written by Jervis Johnson.

The reason I was so surprised was because back in the year 2000 an article appeared in White Dwarf #244 entitled 'Civil War!' by Yours Truly.

Along with the main article there was published an example Civil War scenario involving the Skaven, called 'Warpstone'. And that original scenario still exists online here.

(Hm... Wonder if I'll be getting a writer's credit on the new expansion.)

Jonathan Green at the SFX Weekender 3

2012-01-22T00:01:00.006Z

In less than two weeks time 4,000 science-fiction and fantasy fans will descend on Pontin's Prestatyn Sands to meet the likes of Sylvester McCoy, Alex Kingston, Brian Blessed and Eve Myles. And I'll be one of them.

But I'm not only going as a fan, I'm also going as a guest. And if all goes according to plan, I'm going to be hosting the 'How do you put the punk into steampunk?' panel on Friday 3 February at 5.00pm, featuring the likes of Robert Rankin, Stephen Hunt and Lavie Tidhar.

Later the same evening, from 7.00 - 8.00pm to be precise, the Kitschies awards ceremony will be taking place, when the year's most intelligent, progressive and entertaining genre literature - a.k.a. the 2011 Red, Inky, Golden and Black Tentacles - will all be revealed.

Then, on the Saturday morning, at the semi-respectable time of 11.00am, I shall be signing at the Rebellion stand, so if you're coming along, drop by and say "Hi" and thrust copies of your favourite Pax Britannia novels or Fighting Fantasy gamebooks in front of me - or even my newest Doctor Who adventure* - and I'll happily deface them for you with a permanent marker. Now I can't say fairer than that, can I?

Now if I can just shift this cold and sore throat before then...

* Which is just out in time for the Weekender!

Hell Train launch

2012-01-21T00:01:00.010Z

So, on Thursday evening I popped along to Foyles for the launch of Christoper Fowler's Hell Train (published by Solaris Books). The event kicked off with Chris in conversation with Jon Oliver (Editor-in-chief of both Abaddon and Solaris Books), with the audience then being invited to ask questions afterwards, and finally there was a chance for Mr Fowler to sign some books.

Jonathan Oliver and Christopher Fowler in conversation.

My copy of Hell Train, signed by Chris.

Chris is a fascinating man with an amazing past - he was the guy who came up with the tag line 'In space, no one can hear you scream' - and I could have sat an listened to him talk all night. Fortunately I got to go for a drink with him afterwards and got to hear a few more of his, no doubt many, anecdotes. Chris was celebrating, having literally just finished his tenth Bryant and May book that afternoon, and Jon and David were celebrating because Abaddon/Solaris won Publisher of the Year in the This is Horror 2011 awards.

Was it something I said?

At the local alehouse I also got the chance to catch up with champion of geek culture Anne Perry (of Pornokitsch and The Kitschies fame), fellow Abaddon scribe Bex Levene and David Moore of Abaddon/Solaris. I tell you, any fans of the Pax Britannia series out there would have loved to have been able to eavesdrop on the conversation we were having.

I also got to chat to Will Hill properly for the first time (he of Department 19 fame) having only met in passing a couple of times before that - and online, of course. And last, but by no means least, I chatted with Clifford Beal, Solaris Books' latest signing. His Civil War novel Gideon's Angel sounds simply awesome; you can find out more about it here.

Before the evening was through Jon, David, Will and myself made a pact, involving the first night of the SFX Weekender. As to what that is, I'll leave you guessing for now, but if David and I stick to our other pact you may find out during the course of the Weekender itself.

David Moore, Will Hill and Jon Oliver (again).

And talking of the SFX Weekender, check in again tomorrow for some big news (well it's big as far as I'm concerned).

More writers on writing

2012-01-20T00:01:00.005Z

Some Black Library-related updates today...

Josh Reynolds has published a video in which comics legend Alan Moore gives some... interesting, shall we say?... advice to the unpublished writer.

William King has blogged on the commitment of regular blogging.

There's an in depth interview with Clint Werner over at The Black Library Bolthole.

And Rob Sanders (who does a great line in soundtrack advice) has been interviewed about his work for the Black Library over at Imagined Realms.

Leviathan Rising - a new review

2012-01-19T00:01:00.003Z

Not read my Pax Britannia mash-up of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express and James Cameron's The Abyss, Leviathan Rising yet?

Still need persuading?

Then check out this new review by David Kenyon:

I've always loved those old Jules Verne stories and this story in it's underwater setting provided plenty of references to those undersea escapades, this time accompanied by the dashing Quicksilver and his faithful manservant Nimrod as they piece together a murder mystery at the bottom of the sea. There were enough red herrings not to mention some rather gory murders as one by one they are killed off. Coupled with the threat of being eaten by giant sharks and bio-mechanical giant squids and you have yet more exciting set pieces that Green excelled at in Unnatural History...

The writing is imaginative and witty without being dogged down by too much exposition and detail, but the world is very vivid in my mind and I had no trouble immersing myself in the inky brine of the Kraken's embrace... take the dive into the world of Pax Britannia. You will be 'suckered' into it's embrace.

You can buy Pax Britannia: Leviathan Rising here.

Artists round-up

2012-01-18T00:01:00.003Z

I regularly link to updates posted online by various writers I know, or whose blogs I follow, but I've also been fortunate to work with a number of artists over the years and am a fan of comic artwork, so today I present the first in an occasional series of artist round-ups.

Let's start with Leigh 'Defoe' Gallagher, 2000AD artist extraordinaire, who has posted about what's involved in creating a new comic strip character (in this case Aquila, written by Gordon Rennie) and the design process behind the creation of new monsters.

Then there's Karl Richardson (who some of you will remember from Black Library's Lone Wolves graphic novel) on creating a 2000AD cover featuring Dan Abnett's new strip Grey Area.

The creation of another 2000AD cover now, this time by Matt Brooker (a.k.a. D'israeli) after Japanese print-master Katsushika Hokusai.

And lastly for this update, there's Simon 'Pye' Parr, with some rather more design-oriented... stuff!

Public Lending Right loans - 2010/2011

2012-01-17T21:32:00.006Z

So my Public Lending Right statement for the year July 2010 to June 2011 arrived today, informing me how many people have borrowed my books from libraries in that time. For each loan I earn a few pence - a mount which is steadily decreasing due to government cuts.

For those of you who may be interested, here's the list of my top ten most borrowed books for July 2010 - June 2011 (with last year's placing in brackets):

1. (1) The Horror of Howling Hill (Mar 08)

2. (4) Crisis on Coruscant (Jan 10)

3. (-) Night of the Necromancer (Apr 10)

4. (-) Blood Royal (Jun 10)

5. (6) Stormslayer (Sep 09)

6. (3) Howl of the Werewolf (Sep 07)

7. (2) The Official Doctor Who Annual 2010 (Aug 09)

8. (10) Bloodbones (Sep 06)

9. (6) Curse of the Mummy (Apr 07)

10. (-) Bloodbones (Sep 06)*

The Horror of Howling Hill

my most borrowed book for the third year running!

* In case you're wondering, Bloodbones appears twice on the list because it is registered as two different editions.

Hammer and Bolter: Year One

2012-01-17T18:00:00.000Z

Available now from Black Library, the Hammer and Bolter: Year One eBook collects the first twelve issues of the digital magazine (inheritor of Inferno! magazine's legacy), including 36 short stories from the worlds of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, the serialised novel Phalanx plus extracts of other books and interviews.

It is the largest eBook Black Library has ever produced, and if you order this compilation now you will save almost 20% over buying each issue individually.

And of course among the 36 short stories is my own Warhammer tale Sir Dagobert's Last Battle.

So what are you waiting for? You can buy Hammer and Bolter: Year One here.

Space Marines

2012-01-17T00:01:00.006Z

I have recently embarked on a new Space Marines story for Black Library and so decided it was time to dust off my previous Space Marines stories for the reading public.

First off there are my Space Marine novels that are now in print again, thanks to the wonders of Print on Demand technology.

Here's what fans have been saying about The Armageddon Omnibus:

Awesome!!!!!

Love this omnibus...

Amazing omnibus, been looking for these books a long time, great writing, my new favorite BL author.

And here's what they've had to say about Iron Hands:

This is a great book and well worth the read I have a copy of when it first came out and I am now rereading it again its just as good if not better the second time around.

[A] fracking awesome, Space Marine novel, I loved it from start to finish.

Don't forget, you can also pick up my Imperial Fists short story But Dust in the Wind for the eReader of your choice here.

Friday the 13th... Unlucky for some

2012-01-16T09:00:00.006Z

Yes, I know it's not Friday the 13th today, but last Friday (which was the 13th) the shortlists for The Kitschies 2011 were announced*.

Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein was put forward for consideration by my publishers but it wasn't to be this time, although fellow steampunk author** Lavie Tidhar did make the shortlist for Best Novel - the coveted Red Tentacle - for Osama: A Novel.

The winners of the Red Tentacle, the Golden Tentacle (for best newcomer) and Inky Tentacle (for best cover artist) will be announced on Friday 3 February at the SFX Weekender***.

However, all is not lost as far as Anno Frankenstein is concerned! Oh no!

You see the Tor.com 2011 Readers’ Choice Awards are now taking votes, until until 11:59 PM Friday, 20 January.

Notice the word 'Readers' in the title? That's right, it means that you the book buying (and presumably reading) public get to choose. Basically it's a popularity contest but one that Anno Frankenstein, with the right backing, might just have a shot at.

So whaddya say? Simply click this link and in the comments section after the blog post about the awards, type the title of the novel (Anno Frankenstein), the author's name (Jonathan Green), and if you want to the name of the publisher (Abaddon Books) as well.

And it's not just Anno Frankenstein that's eligible. In the Best Short Fiction category, I have a couple of stories published by Black Library that were both published last year, the 40K story But Dust in the Wind and the Warhammer tale Sir Dagobert's Last Battle.

So, what are you waiting for? If you vote for me I'll be eternally grateful. ;-)

* Provoking no end of Internet interest such as here, here and on the Guardian website here.

** He'll hate me for saying that.

*** Good luck, Lavie!

Inspiration - Fruiting Bodies

2012-01-16T00:01:00.005Z

Back in April 2007 I wrote my first Ulysses Quicksilver novella, entitled Fruiting Bodies. As anyone who has already read it will be able to tell you, the climax of the story takes place at Kew Gardens in London.

The inspiration for the story came from several stories, not least of all eco-disaster TV dramas from the 70s and 80s - namely the BBC's adaptation of The Day of the Triffids and the classic Doctor Who adventure The Seeds of Doom.

I recently discovered that the writer of The Seeds of Doom, Robert Banks Stewart, as well as being inspired in part by John Wyndham's tale of vegetable vengeance, lived with his family close to Kew Gardens which directly inspired billionaire Harrison Chase's estate. Banks Stewart is even supposed to be descended from Joseph Banks, the botanist who took part in Captain Cook's first great voyage and was almost single-handedly responsible for stocking Kew Gardens in the first place.

I think, subconsciously at least, another of the inspirations for my story Fruiting Bodies was this illustration by Martin McKenna of a plant golem, that appears in the Fighting Fantasy gamebook Legend of Zagor.

As any fan of the Fourth Doctor's adventures will be able to tell you, McKenna himself was inspired by the humanoid form of the Krynoid, the alien intra-galactic weed that threatens Earth in - you guessed it - The Seeds of Doom.

(You can pick up Fruiting Bodies now as part of The Ulysses Quicksilver Short Story Collection for the Kindle, or your preferred eReader of chocie, here.)

A new Fighting Fantasy Adventure Gamebook!

2012-01-15T20:47:00.005Z

As you may already know, Ian Livingstone - who co-created of the Fighting Fantasy series with Steve Jackson - is writing a new gamebook to be published on 27 August 2012 - 30 years to the day since The Warlock of Firetop Mountain was unleashed upon an unsuspecting public.

Ian has kept the details of the gamebook very close to his chest, not even releasing a name. However, he has been dropping various hints on Twitter. And apparently, he's going to leave the choice of title to the public. Just watch this space to be a part of gamebook history.

Coming soon from Tin Man Games...

2012-01-15T18:11:00.002Z

2012 - The Year of the Gamebook?

2012-01-15T00:01:00.000Z

The Tin Man over at Tin Man Games, believes that 2012 might well be the year of the Gamebook. Here's why.

Happy Birthday, Tony Hough!

2012-01-14T11:16:00.004Z

As regular readers of this blog will know, Tony Hough is the artist who produced both the internal illustrations and cover for my second FF commission, Knights of Doom.

It was his painting of the Chaos Steed and its Beastman rider which really made the book stand out from all the others in the series, thanks to a palette that was predominantly based around purple.

Skip forwards some ten years or so and I was putting the finishes touches to the updated and expanded version of Bloodbones, ready for publication by Wizard Books. I discovered that Martin McKenna, who had already produced the cover, was not available to draw the internals, but was delighted to hear that Tony would be doing so instead.

His style and skill had moved on in the past decade and I feel that his illustrations for Bloodbones have a lightness and depth that make them among some of the best black and whites he’s produced. The detail in these images is astonishing and I love how he has turned what were my flights of fancy into living and breathing men and monsters.

Last year, Tony brought out a book of his artwork called, appropriately enough, Fragments - The Fantasy Art of Tony Hough.

It's his birthday today, so if you feel like getting him a present, why not order follow this link to order yourself a copy?

There's nothing quite like a real book

2012-01-14T00:01:00.000Z

Incredible...

Follow this blog and win a prize... possibly

2012-01-13T00:01:00.004Z

One of my professional aims for this year is to have 100 (or more) people following this blog. Currently (as of typing this) there are 78 followers.

What I propose is that once the number of followers reaches 100 (or more) I will carry out some sort of prize draw. I'm not exactly sure what the prize will be yet, but it will involve free stuff and/or some sort of unique opportunity.

Anybody who is a follower will be eligible so if you're already following JonathanGreenAuthor.com you're sorted. Equally, anyone who joins from here on in will be eligible. I will announce the prize draw once the magic number of 100 has been hit, but won't make it that very day, giving more of you the chance to be in with a chance, as it were.

So, watch this space and tell all your friends!

The Kitschies

2012-01-12T20:00:00.000Z

Just in case you don't already know, the Kitschies (sponsored by The Kraken Rum) are a set of annual awards that celebrate those books which best elevate the tone of genre literature - the most progressive, intelligent and entertaining works. Basically the titles that do the science fiction and fantasy community proud.

There are four judging categories: Red Tentacle (Novel), Golden Tentacle (Debut), Inky Tentacle (Cover) and the Black Tentacle (Discretionary). Winners receive a cash prize in addition to a lovingly hand-crafted Tentacle trophy, not to mention a bottle of The Kraken's fine ink-black liquid.

A record number of submissions have been received for the 2011 Kitschies - a total of 152 books from 38 different publishers. The finalists in each category will be announced tomorrow - Friday 13 January - and the winners will be announced on 3 February at the SFX Weekender, the UK's largest science fiction convention.

And there's only 19 hours to go until the shortlisted finalists are announced at 3.00pm tomorrow...

Reminder of the Spider God

2012-01-12T08:01:00.000Z

Just a quick reminder to say don't forget to vote for Temple of the Spider God in the 2011 Best App Ever Awards.

Just in case you didn't know, my first ever digital gamebook has been shortlisted in the Best Dice Game category.

So now it's up to you to go and vote! You can do so very simply by following this link or clicking on the button in the right-hand side bar.

You have until the end of play on 25 January to register your vote.

Even more love for the Spider God

2012-01-11T14:12:00.003Z

The Suicide Girls love Temple of the Spider God - and Tin Man Games' other Gamebook Adventures.

I was introduced to these when the newest game in the city, Temple of the Spider God came out and the entire catalog of Gamebook Adventures went on sale. I snatched up three immediately under the assumption that if I loved playing Dungeons and Dragons I would enjoy these. I was right!

You can check out the rest of the review here.

And while we're on the subject of Gamebook Adventures, the Tin Man himself was recently interviewed by Cubed Gamers, and during the course of the interview I got a name check.

Happy. With. That.

Doctor Who: Monstrous Missions

2012-01-11T00:01:00.002Z

Monstrous Missions, the Doctor Who title that features my very own Terrible Lizards, has now gone live over at the Doctor Who Children's Books website. Here's the page dedicated to the book.

You can pre-order your copy here. And if you need persuading, here's the blurb relating to my story:

The Doctor and his friends join a group of explorers on a Victorian tramp steamer in Terrible Lizards. The explorers are searching for the Fountain of Youth, but neither they nor the treasure they seek are quite what they seem!

Pax Britannia Needs YOU!

2012-01-10T21:23:00.001Z

Exciting news!

It's that time of year again when the World Science Fiction Society decides on the nominations for the Hugo Awards. You are eligible to nominate if you attended WorldCon last year, or are to attend WorldCon this year, or have signed up for 2013's WorldCon. Instructions for nomination can be found here and the deadline is 31 January.

The reason I mention this here (and why the news is exciting) is because two of my works are eligible for nomination. They are Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein (novel) and The Doll's House (short story) from House of Fear.

Also eligible for nomination is Al Ewing's Pax Britannia: Pax Omega, the third in his El Sombra trilogy, as are cover artists/designers Mark Harrison (Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein), Simon Parr (Pax Britannia: The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus) and Luke Preece (House of Fear).

So, if you'll eligible to nominate, please feel free (and drop me a line to let me know here).

And while we're on the subject of nominations, if anyone would like to nominate Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein for the Steampunk Awards, feel free!

Special thanks to Drew Northcott (whose DeviantArt page you can find here) for the 'Pax Britannia Needs YOU' poster and to Major Willoughby Chase of the 1st Tea Company.

Anno Frankenstein - It's alive! (Again.)

2012-01-10T19:41:00.005Z

As my Steampunk/Weird War 2 novel Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein is potentially up for about three awards (at the last count, at least), I thought it wouldn't hurt to draw your attention to another glowing review of the book that was posted online today by Ginger Nuts of Horror:

Ulysses Quicksilver Agent of Magna Britannia, has jumped into a time vortex in pursuit of madman Daniel Dashwood, who is hell bent on sharing modern technology with Hitler and his Nazi army.

Welcome to Pax Britannia's version of World War Two, where steampunk armies battle the reanimated soldiers of The Frankenstein Corps, Dr Jekyll is a hero and The Ladies of The Monstrous Regiment strike fear into the hearts of the enemy.

This is a fun read, littered characters with names like Dashwood, Ulysses, Hercules, the swash and the buckling have ramped up to the extreme. There is a danger with novels of this type that the nods to, and insertions of popular characters can lead to a novel that is too sly for its own good. Not the case here, this is my type of novel, the sort of story that has me grinning from ear to ear from the sheer enjoyment and thrill of the ride.

4/5

Writers round-up

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000Z

New year, new round-up, starting with...

Cavan Scott, on hating your current work in progress. Reading this, I was reminded of Tony Jordan's comment when asked if he liked writing: 'No. I like having written.'

Then there's Mark Gatiss, on turning Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic, The Hound of the Baskervilles, into a modern classic.

Lavie Tidhar's had a busy year, which you can read about here. And so has Dan Abnett.

Lately, inspired by New Year's resolutions, William King has written an interesting post on the subject of changing habits.

And Juliet E. McKenna has been posting on the subject of awards and self-promotion. (All I'll say on this matter at the moment is if I was eligible for the Legend Award I'd damn well make sure everyone knew about it.)

To end with, here's a comment from the Script Doctor on Facebook:

'Write what you know' is probably the stupidest advice you'll ever hear. 'Don't write what you don't know' is some of the best.

Finding the shape of a story

2012-01-09T13:00:00.003Z

I've now written - (pauses to count on both fingers and toes) - twenty-eight short stories (not including all the RPG colour text I've written over the years), but that didn't make writing the twenty-eighth any easier.

Now don't get me wrong; not every short story is the marathon this last one has been. I've been doing this long enough to have picked up a few tricks of the trade along the way and sometimes the process goes like a dream. However, I really struggled with this last piece and it was all to do with finding the shape of the story.

Let me fill you in on a little background. I pitched the idea for this story some months back, during the course of a Facebook conversation between myself, Sandra Norval and Dean M Drinkel (he of Phobophobia fame). The idea just came to me there and then and everyone seemed to agree it was a goer, but at this stage - and this is the important thing - it was only an idea.

As any writer worth his or her salt will tell you, that's the thing about ideas. They're just ideas; some good, some bad. When people ask me where I get my ideas from I'm sometimes tempted to reply with another question: "What, you don't have ideas?"

A writer will have half a dozen 'ideas' before breakfast. The trick is being able to separate the wheat from the chaff, to know which to run with, which to twist or add to a stronger idea, and which to dump altogether, like barrels of toxic waste off a cliff.*

The particular idea in question was for a story for the forthcoming Cities of Death, about the ancient Sumerian city of Ur. I thought (as did the others) that this idea could go the distance but as I sat down to write it I realised I needed to beat it into shape, to literally** find the shape of the story.

When I plot a novel I can spend days writing notes in one of my large notebooks, gradually teasing out the strands of story hidden within all the crazy ideas I want to include, before I even set fingers to keyboard to produce a synopsis for my editor to see. With this story I went in cold, and that was the problem.

I spend a lot of time thinking about short stories when I'm writing them. Even if I only manage a couple of hours during the day I'll find myself thinking about the story I'm currently writing when I'm in the shower, at lunch, at the supermarket, in bed just before I drop off to sleep, in the morning when I first wake up...

This particular story left me with all sorts of confounding questions. Do I write it in the past tense or the present tense? The first person or the third person? Do I present it as a series of 'found' documents? Do I write it in reverse chronological order, encountering different people throughout different historical periods?

By day three it still wasn't working for me. So I started it again. And again. And again.

In the end I beat the thing into submission, but it was a battle, I can tell you. This was how my work space looked as I came to the end of my revisions on version... oh, I forget... of the story:

It's not particularly long (it's less than 5,000 words) but it's taken far longer than it should to actually write the damn thing. But was all that time and all those re-starts worth it? We'll just have to wait and see - I'm yet to hear back from Dean.

Here's my work space now:

I'm researching, and have started writing, the next short story on the slate, a tale for Pandemonium Fiction's forthcoming Stories of the Smoke. Only now this story's starting to misbehave too - hence me taking the time out to write this blog post.

Let's hope it doesn't take as long as the last one. Wish me luck!

So until next time...

~~~

"Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”

(Gene Fowler, American journalist, author and dramatist)

~~~

* Today's post was brought to you by the letter S for 'Similie'.

** Literally? Perhaps not 'literally' literally!

Imperial Fists vs Two-Headed Xenosaur

2012-01-08T23:01:00.002Z

I don't know what this is from, or what's it's to do with, but I want to write this story!

Phobophobia up for two awards

2012-01-07T13:01:00.003Z

Dean M Drinkel's Phobophobia (which features my story Fear to Tread) has been nominated for two awards over at the Critters Workshop.

The awards in question are Best Anthology of 2011 and Best Cover Artwork for James Powell's striking image of a self-harming angel.

So why not pop along there and vote now?

You can pick up a copy of Phobophobia from my Amazon Associates store here.

Thought for the Year

2012-01-07T00:46:00.000Z

“Don't tell me the sky is the limit, there are footprints on the moon!”

~ Anonymous

Black Library Weekender - will you be going?

2012-01-06T23:20:00.002Z

I've known about this one for a while (as have a number of you, I expect) but today Black Library posted some more details about the Black Library Weekender that's taking place on 3-4 November 2012.

This event is for the dedicated BL fan, for whom there are Silver Tickets available. However, for the truly dedicated dedicated BL fan, there are the exclusive Golden Tickets (a la Willy Wonka, I guess).

To find about more about this event, click here.

And while we're on the subject of the Black Library, why not vote for William King's Blood of Aenarion to win the David Gemmell Legend Award this year?

Time's Arrow - Black Swan

2012-01-06T09:30:00.003Z

Ace artist and daring designer Pye Parr has revealed a work-in-progress image of the cover of Time's Arrow Part 2, a.k.a. Black Swan (coming soon-ish from Abaddon Books).

Visitors to the steampunk stand at the MCM Expo in October got an early sneak preview of this picture but now I can share it with the rest of the world. And very nice it is too...

Vote for Temple of the Spider God

2012-01-04T23:25:00.006Z

Thanks to everyone who nominated Temple of the Spider God for the 2011 Best App Ever Awards. Thanks to your sterling efforts, my first digital gamebook has been shortlisted in the Best Dice Game category.

So now it's up to you to go and vote! You can do so very simply by following this link or clicking on the button in the right-hand side bar. So over to you again...

The Phobophobia Launch - The Video!

2012-01-04T23:18:00.004Z

Featuring Yours Truly, Barbie 'Cenobite' Wilde, Adrian Chamberlin, G R Yeates and, of course, Dean M Drinkel.

Goodness knows what it is I'm waffling on about at the start. Write what you know? I ask you...

You can pick up your own copy of Phobophobia here.

A new year, a new review of Unnatural History

2012-01-04T16:15:00.007Z

My thanks go to David Kenyon for this one:

Just finished reading Unnatural History and it was a rip-roaring read with gushings of hot steampunk action. I had been meaning to read this series for years ever since I first saw it on the shelf at the local Waterstones where I worked. Finally I bit the bullet and gave it a go... I must say it delivered exactly what I expected... which isn't a bad thing. When I was reading it I recalled certain movies over the last few years like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Van Helsing coupled with a slice of Weng Chiang and a bit of Sherlock Holmes...

The names of the characters he uses are witty and obvious but I appreciate it the more of Jonathan's unabashed love of this stuff and I got it... anyway it worked for me because I had all this stuff and visuals in my mind that made Unnatural History lush and visually dramatic. The set pieces were amazing and the equal of any movie blockbuster especially the dinosaur escape and the finale...

I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars because I enjoyed it immensely and will devour his other books with gentlemen's relish and a nice warm cup of earl grey... I enjoyed it and recommend it to those who like a quick fun read, with a fun plot and lovely witty language...

You can read David's full review here. Alternatively, if you've been inspired by his review and you've not read Unnatural History yourself yet, you can purchase the book here, or here as part of The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus.

Neil Gaiman's New Year wish for everyone

2012-01-04T12:17:00.002Z

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.

Phobophobia - Face Your Fears!

2012-01-04T00:00:00.004Z

This package arrived yesterday from Dark Continents Publishing...

That's right - it's my contributor copies of Phobophobia, featuring my own short story Fear to Tread.

You can pick up a copy of Phobophobia, as edited by Dean M Drinkel, here.

12 for '12

2012-01-01T00:01:00.006Z

At the start of every year, David Bishop (former Tharg, tie-in novel writer and now budding screenwriter) sets himself professional targets and then reports on his progress at the end of the year.

Inspired by his latest report card (as he calls it), this year I'm going to do something I usually don't do. I'm going to set myself twelve targets for my writing work in the form of New Year's resolutions . Some will be on going, some will be one-offs I want to achieve over the next few months, and in the best tradition of New Year's resolutions, some will be nigh-on unachievable! (But you never know.)

And what's even worse is I'm going to let the whole world know about the challenges I've set myself! So without further ado, in no particular order, here are my 12 New Year's resolutions for 2012.

1) Read more books

I know this might sound strange for a writer, but since going freelance full-time, I've read fewer and fewer books each year. This is in part due to an increased workload and in part down to how much time I spend promoting myself on social media. When I should be turning in for the night and reading a couple of chapters, you'll often find me on Facebook or updating my blog.

2) Buy fewer books

This probably sounds even stranger than No. 1, particularly as part of the point of this blog is - let's be honest - to get people to buy more of my books! But times are hard, money's too tight to mention, and besides, I don't have a 'To Read' shelf anymore, I have 'To Read' bookcases - plural!

3) Complete 12 projects

This was going to be 'Write 12 short stories' (in part inspired by a conversation I had with Lavie Tidhar at the BFS Open Night) but I thought it might be a better idea to make it 12 writing projects (whether that be novels, magazine articles or whatever), seeing as I have a fair number of commissions to fulfil this year already.

4) Write another gamebook App

Plans are already afoot for this one, but it's too early to say anymore about it...

5) Get another Hammer & Bolter commission

Of course it would help if I got round to writing up that Warhammer proposal I've had in mind for some time now, and then there's that really cool 40K Space Marine story I want to write... Best get on and do it then!

6) Get a comics commission

Again, like No. 5, if I want to achieve this I need to write up some proposals and send them off to the relevant publications. There's at least two I now have contacts for - I just need to follow them up. (Famous last words!)

7) Work up a new YA project

I've got the ideas, I know of publishers who've said they'll take a look at anything I send them... I just need to find the time (in other words make the time) to work one of them up into a saleable submission.

8) Reach 100 followers on this blog

As of writing this, the total stands at 75. 25 new followers in a year? Surely that one's achievable. (Psst! Tell all your friends!)

9) Try to get an agent

Again! I've tried this a couple of times but without success (obviously) but to make it happen, I first need to have something to sell... (See No. 7 above.)

10, 11 & 12) Use social media less (Facebook, Blogger and Twitter)

Yes, you heard me right. I don't need to be on Facebook all day, I don't need to update my blog several times a day, I don't need to spend half an hour reading every post on Twitter, and while I'm at it, I don't need to check my email every five minutes. This one will be tougher than it sounds, so don't be surprised if I go dark (or rather, go cold turkey) not far into the New Year.

And that's your lot! At the end of the year, I'll yet you know how I've got on. So fingers crossed and wish me luck!

Until next time...

Looking Forward to 2012

2011-12-31T17:38:00.004Z

It's only a few short hours away until it's 2012, which it something of a landmark year for various reasons.

First off it's 2000AD's 35th anniversary.

Secondly it's Fighting Fantasy's 30th anniversary.

And lastly, it'll be 20 years since I received my first commission as a writer!

The Chrismologist's A to Z of Christmas

2011-12-31T09:45:00.001Z

In case you missed it over at TheChrismologist.com, here's a summary of this year's A to Z of Christmas...

Iron Hands - available now from the Black Library

2011-12-30T22:21:00.004Z

I popped onto the Black Library website today, only to be confronted by this!

First published in 2004, Iron Hands - my second Warhammer 40,000 novel - is available again as part of the Black Library's Print on Demand range, for only £13.99. (You'll also find The Armageddon Omnibus there.)

So why not treat yourself to a late Christmas/early New Year present to make up for all those socks grandma gave you this year?

With Abaddon the Despoiler’s Thirteenth Black Crusade engulfing the galaxy, Iron-Father Gdolkin and his company are pulled away from the defence of Medusa to honour an ancient oath to the Adeptus Mechanicus. A trail of clues leads Gdolkin to a long-lost world, home to an ancient weapon that might turn the tide of war in the Imperium’s favour. But for Gdolkin, the quest is personal, as this mysterious planet might also contain the answer to the oldest mystery of the Iron Hands Chapter... the resting place of the Primarch Ferrus Manus.

Vote House of Fear Anthology of the Year

2011-12-29T18:41:00.004Z

House of Fear (edited by Jonathan Oliver and published by Solaris Books) is up for Anthology of the Year over at the This is Horror Awards 2011.

Voting closes at 12:01am GMT on Friday 30 December 2011, so you've still got a few hours in which to vote. And while you're there, why not vote for Dead Air by Jasper Bark, for best Short Story Collection of the Year, and The Caretakers by Adrian Chamberlin, for Novel of the Year?

Rabid Fan Boy of the Spider God

2011-12-22T10:56:00.002Z

Okay, so as you'll see when you read the full review yourself, Mr Edwin McRae isn't anybody's rabid fan boy, but it made for such a great post title I just couldn't resist.

However, quotes like, "If Temple of the Spider God doesn’t get your book allergic teen reading, then I’m struggling to see what will" and "On the narrative structure front (the ‘make or break’ ingredient of interactive game books) I was really impressed to see three almost completely independent pathways for our hero" have made me one happy chappy this morning.

You can read the full review of Temple of the Spider God over on The Fiction Engine here. In the mean time, you can also buy Temple of the Spider God for your loved ones this festive season here at a knockdown price!

Nomination of the Spider God

2011-12-20T22:42:00.003Z

So news now from the Tin Man...

148Apps are running their Best App Ever Awards for 2011, and Temple of the Spider God is up this year in the following categories: Best Dice Game, Best RPG Game and Best E-reader App. If you enjoyed Temple of the Spider God then please follow this link to nominate it.

Tin Man Games are also going to be at the UK Games Expo next year in Birmingham (May 25th-27th). You can find out more about this here.

And lastly, since it's Christmas (well, almost) all of Tin Man Games’ Gamebook Adventures titles are currently on sale for $2.99 each.

Thought for the Day

2011-12-18T10:37:00.002Z

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

~ G.K. Chesterson

Pandemonium: Stories of the Smoke

2011-12-16T21:08:00.001Z

Coming in spring of 2012, Pandemonium: Stories of the Smoke brings you London as you've never seen it before - science fiction and fantasy in the great tradition of Charles Dickens.

Submissions are currently open for Stories of the Smoke and will close on 31 December 2011. Click here for our guidelines.

Pax Britannia - 'Best Ongoing Series'

2011-12-15T23:41:00.006Z

Over at The Eloquent Page, Pablo Cheesecake has posted his review of 2011, in which he lists his favourite novel for each month and a couple of other categories.

And whaddya know? Pax Britannia has taken the 'Best Ongoing Series' title! As I posted earlier on Facebook...

Happy. With. That.

'Best Ongoing Series'

Steampunk by the coal scuttle-ful

2011-12-14T11:07:00.003Z

Abaddon Books and its sister imprint Solaris Books are no strangers to steampunk. As you can see for yourself here.

Red-Handed - the result!

2011-12-13T12:51:00.003Z

Red-Handed, the first part of Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow, has been downloaded and read by... God knows how many people, who have, I'm pleased to say, loved it!

They've loved it so much that they've gone online in their droves and voted for how they want my latest Ulysses Quicksilver novel to continue.

Voting closed on Sunday. The votes have now been counted and verified and the result is... Well you'll just have to follow this link to find out!

The Pax Britannia eBook 'Box' set

2011-12-12T11:00:00.004Z

What do you get the eReader owner in your life, who doesn't already own the Pax Britannia novels in eBook form already? Why, the Pax Britannia eBook 'Box' set of course.

From now until the end of the December you can get 30% off the first three eBooks - Unnatural History, Leviathan Rising and Human Nature - when who purchase them together from the Sony Reader store.

Time's Arrow - Who Lives? Who Dies? YOU Decide!

2011-12-11T10:41:00.004Z

Voting closes today to decide the fate of Ulysses Quicksilver in the latest Pax Britannia novel Time's Arrow.

Part 1 Red-Handed has been out for a couple of months now and fans have been reading of the British Agent of the Crown's latest exploits, then going online and voting for how they would like the story to continue in Part 2 Black Swan.

So if you've not yet voted, don't delay! Ulysses Quicksilver's fate lies in your hands!

Phobophobia launch at Forbidden Planet and the BFS Open Night

2011-12-10T20:55:00.008Z

Why are book signings like London buses? Because you wait ages for one and then two come along at once.

So, having been to the Kitschies Steampunk Evening at Blackwell's on Charing Cross Road the night before, on Friday I found myself at Forbidden Planet (again) for the official launch of Dean M Drinkel's new horror anthology Phobophobia.

I arrived to find a pile of pre-orders needed signing and we then walked out to meet and greet horror fans at the event itself. The only thing that could have improved this was if we had walked out to Battle Without Honor or Humanity (from the Kill Bill soundtrack).

I was thrilled with how well-attended the signing was. We authors were kept busy well past 6.00pm (which is when the signing was supposed to end) but I was very jealous of Wayne Goodchild. It was his first book signing, so he now has an accurate record of how many books he's ever signed. How cool will that be when he gets to 1,000?

The signing gets underway.

The highlight for me was when Greg James (a.k.a. G R Yeates) passed me a book to sign 'To Doug'. I looked up and found Doug Bradley who played Pinhead in the Hellraiser movies staring back at me. Suddenly I was lost for words, and had to gather my thoughts again before writing a dedication in his copy of the anthology.

Doug 'Pinhead' Bradley, Yours Truly, Barbie 'Female Cenobite' Wilde.

Doug and Barbie in their more familiar guises in Hellraiser II.

(Please note, I do not appear in this photograph!)

After finishing up at Forbidden Planet, we headed over to the British Fantasy Society Open Night at the Mug House, Tooley Street, to join in the festivities there, whilst selling and signing more books. I always enjoy events like the BFS Open Night because there are just so many people there now that I know.

Anyway, to finish here's how things could have gone. This one's for Dean! Congratulations, sir!

The Kitschies - A Steampunk Evening

2011-12-09T13:46:00.012Z

On Thursday evening I was fortunate enough to be one of the guest authors at The Kitschies Steampunk Evening, held at Blackwell's bookshop on Charing Cross Road.

The Kitschies - promoting intelligent, progressive and entertaining genre literature.

The event was organised by Den Patrick, Jared Shurin and Anne Perry, and was sponsored by Kraken Rum - which, I have to say, is delicious!

Tom Pollock and China Mieville bump knuckles over a large pile of books.

The evening began with Den Patrick (in full steampunk gear) welcoming everyone to the event. Jared Shurin then took over, welcoming the guest authors, artists and other steampunk creators. Next up was Adam Roberts, author and professor of 19th century literature, waxing lyrical about the origins of the modern steampunk movement.

The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus and Anno Frankenstein alongside the other steampunk titles on sale at the evening.

One of the many nice touches that the organisers had arranged were name badges, with sub-titles inspired by the different authors' works. So, you could be a member of the Anti-Traction League from Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines series, a Brobdinagian from Adam Roberts' Swiftly, or even an Agent of the Crown, inspired by my own Ulysses Quicksilver Pax Britannia books.

(I heard a rumour that China Mieville was seen leaving with a copy of The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus in hand.)

Mark de Jager, James Long (of Orbit Books) and Den Patrick (steampunk facilitator).

Adam Roberts waxes lyrical.

The event was very well-attended!

The Steamies were out in force!

Jenni Hill (who edited Anno Frankenstein, and now of Orbit Books) displaying her own cephalopod companion.

Frances Hardinge, Philip Reeve and Yours Truly.

The steampunk creators encounter Plarchie the Squid.

The evening had many highlights for me - meeting Philip Reeve, chatting with China Mieville, catching up with my steampunk friends, catching up with the guys from Abaddon/Solaris - but one of the best was catching up with Alex Milway, who I had only actually met in person once before, four years ago, and yet who I've got to know much better online since.

Alex Milway and Gary Northfield.

Alex kindly gave me an embroidered badge inspired by his Mythical 9th Division books.

So all that remains for me to say is a huge thank you to Den, Jared, Anne, Blackwell's and last, but not least, Kraken Rum!

Black Library - Last Shipping Dates

2011-12-09T10:13:00.003Z

Black Library have announced their last shipping dates before Christmas.

They're also offering free shipping on orders over £10. So if you're looking to buy a Loved One one of my Warhammer or Warhammer 40K novels or short stories for a bit of festive cheer, now is the perfect time to order. (You only need to order one of my Print on Demand titles to receive free shipping.) And of course there are eBooks too - which don't cost anything to post. Marvellous!

Here's the entirety of the JG catalogue currently available from Black Library.

Print on Demand titles

The Armageddon Omnibus

Iron Hands

Daemonifuge (my comic strip Ephrael von Stern - Sister of Sigmar is reprinted within)

Ebooks

The Dead and the Damned (my first Warhammer 'novel')

Hammer & Bolter #9 (featuring my short story Sir Dagobert's Last Battle)

The Relic (Black Templars short story)

But Dust in the Wind (Imperial Fists short story)

Fans of the Spider God

2011-12-08T11:50:00.000Z

Temple of the Spider God has been reviewed by G*M*S Magazine (who interviewed Neil Rennison and me at Dragonmeet at the end of November). And you know what? I think they like it.

The story is just fantastic, the writing is very appropriate, without being pedantic nor sloppy, provides with plenty of descriptions clear enough to help create a good visual reference in your mind of where you are and what’s happening. And it is a lot deeper than you expect too. It was only after the first time I rushed to the end, and the book begun to ask me if I had items I should have collected in the way, that I realised how much more to it there was. And I had to start again. With pleasure.

You can read the whole review here.

Neil and the other Tin Man, Ben Britten Smith, also appear in the latest GamePron interview here, during which I get a mention along side Judge Dredd!

A Steampunk Evening and the Phobophobia launch

2011-12-08T00:22:00.003Z

Just a quick reminder to let you know that I shall be attending A Steampunk Evening, at Blackwell's Charring Cross alongside such luminaries as Kim Lakin-Smith, China Miéville, Philip Reeve, Adam Roberts, Lavie Tidhar and Plarchie the Squid this evening (Thursday 8 December).

And then tomorrow (Friday 9 December) you'll find me at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, and later at the British Fantasy Society open night at the Mug House, for the launch of Dean M Drinkel's Phobophobia horror anthology (published by Dark Continents).

Maybe I'll see you at one, or t'other... or both!

Am Writing...

2011-12-08T00:17:00.003Z

Work continues apace on the latest project. Seen here is the author with his assistant/apprentice/researcher.

On Books

2011-12-07T00:42:00.001Z

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island.”
~ Walt Disney

An Angry Update

2011-12-06T01:18:00.000Z

From Angry Robot Books that is, or rather Marc Gascoigne. You can read an interview with my World Fantasy Award-winning former landlord here at Left Lion.

Small world, isn't it?

Thought for the Day - The Goblins of Self-Doubt

2011-12-05T09:53:00.004Z

'Writing is a joy. When it works. When you're in the zone. When you're not and those goblins of self-doubt are sitting on your shoulder, let's face it, it's pretty bloody horrible.'

~ Jonathan Oliver, author of the novels The Call of Kerberos and The Wrath of Kerberos.

The A to Z of Christmas

2011-12-04T21:33:00.002Z

The A to Z of Christmas is now well underway over at TheChrismologist.com. Don't forget to check it out every day (of the working week) for the next update.

In the meantime, if you've not checked it out already, here's what you've missed so far.

A is for Angels

B is for Baubles

C is for Cards, Cake and Candy Canes

D is for Dom and Danny Do Christmas and Doctor Who

E is for Elf

F is for Figgy Pudding

Time's Arrow - one week to go!

2011-12-04T08:27:00.003Z

That's right - voting closes next Sunday, 11 December, so you've only got a week in which to download Time's Arrow: Red-Handed and then vote for how you would like the story to continue in Time's Arrow: Black Swan.

And in case you're still wavering as to whether you should buy it for your Kindle (or other eReader of your choice), then here's another tasty snippet from early on in the adventure...

The thunderous hammering came again, the impatience and ire in the voice rising from below growing in intensity.
“This is your last chance! This is the police! Open the door or I’ll have it broken down!” There was a tremendous crash from somewhere at street level. The owner of the voice was making good on his promise.
Staggering to his feet Ulysses scoured the room for anything that might enable him to escape.
There were only two ways out of the garret room – through the door or through the window.
For the briefest moment Ulysses wondered whether he should simply open the door and wait for the gendarmes to find him, and then worry about trying to explain to them how he came to be there, alongside a dead body.
But then what was he thinking? Who was going to believe that he had travelled through space and time to end up here? And what would they make of the scorch-marks on the floorboards, let alone the corpse lying in a pool of its own congealing blood.
He took a step backwards and caught his reflection in the cracked glass above the wash bowl.
He was in a worse state than the room. He was still wearing the scruffy suit he had purloined from Castle Frankenstein. His right hand was wet with blood, as were the knees of his trousers. The eye-patch and a few days growth of stubble didn’t help either.
He no longer looked like the bachelor once voted ‘Best Dressed Man of the Decade’ by The Strand magazine. If he had been a French policeman and had walked into the attic and found a stranger looking like that – with a dead man’s blood on his hands and the victim lying next to him – he would have pronounced him guilty as soon as the next man.
Worst case? The gendarmes would shoot first and ask questions later.
He looked at the door, noticing the key in the lock for the first time. Stumbling over, he tried the handle.
The door was locked.

Writers on writing

2011-12-03T00:33:00.006Z

Yes, it's time for another round-up of what other writers are saying about the process that gives them their raison d'être.

First up we've got James Swallow on how bad cover art can scupper sales of your magnum opus.*

Then we have William King on the distractions of the internet.

Next up is my editor Jonathan Oliver talking about the insecurities we all suffer as writers.

Rachel Aaron then feeds even more fuel into the fires of our insecurities with this blog post about how she went from writing 2,000 words a day to writing 10,000 words a day!

And to top it all we've got Matt Forbeck talking about the time he wrote a novel (91,000 words long) in two weeks!

Sheesh! The guy must be a machine!

I'll leave you with Rob Sanders on the subject of bad sex.**

* Note to self: really must put together a blog post on this subject myself some time.

** If I have the guts I'll produce a blog post on this myself... one day.

73 is the magic number

2011-12-02T13:11:00.005Z

Or rather star number. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

The things is, I've just noticed that this blog now has 73 followers. This is a good thing. For a long time it has had to make do with thirty or so, but recently the number of followers has shot up. (If this is because you* have linked to this blog or promoted it online elsewhere, then thank you. But back to the matter in hand.)

It's interesting that I've noticed this today is because 73 is a special number or, to give it its technical, mathematical name, a star number.

73 is also the 21st prime number. And of course the mirror of 73, is 37 - the 12th prime number. The number 21 has among its factors the number 7 and the number 3.

73 in binary, 1001001, is palindrome. In addition, of the 7 binary digits representing 73, there are 3 ones. Also, 37+12=49 (seven squared) and 73+21=94=47*2, 47+2 also being equal to seven squared.

It is also a sexy prime. No seriously.**

Do you think it's a coincidence that Sandi Tostvig and friends lived at No. 73?

Of course tomorrow this blog could have 74 followers, or more, and the days of star numbers and reversible primes will be but a happy memory...

* Yes, you.

** This should so be over on the Match Wits blog.

Gamebook Adventures on the GMS Magazine Podcast

2011-12-01T23:01:00.004Z

As anybody who's dropped by the blog in the last week will know, last Saturday I attended Dragonmeet with Neil Rennison - the Tin Man's mortal minion - to promote Gamebook Adventures and Temple of the Spider God in particular.

Whilst we were there, we were both interviewed for the G*M*S Magazine Podcast which is now live over here. You can hear Neil and I talking between around 33 and 39 minutes (me for rather longer than I recalled doing so).

It's a great podcast all round and I'll definitely be checking out future editions.

SFX - The Full Interview

2011-12-01T09:36:00.003Z

I was interviewed for SFX magazine back in October and the piece appeared last month in the latest issue, which I blogged about here.

However, what finally saw print was only a fraction of the entire interview, which has now been posted on SFX.co.uk.

If you point your mouse here and click this link, you can read it in its entirety. As well as Pax Britannia, I talk about every from my newest gamebook Temple of the Spider God, to Fighting Fantasy and Warhammer 40K.

Time's Arrow - 10 days to go

2011-12-01T00:09:00.000Z

There's only ten days to go now (or possibly less by the time you read this) before the polls close and I start writing Part 2 of Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow - a.k.a. Black Swan - based on how the public voted they would like the story to continue.

So, if you're yet to download Part 1, Red-Handed, he's a little taster to help you take that final step to making a purchase.

Gasping for breath, Ulysses took a moment to wipe away the moisture that had collected in the hollow behind his eye-patch.
And that was when he saw it.
It was emerging from the fourth floor window of a building at the end of the shadowed cul-de-sac. Eight feet tall, with arms like great sides of beef covered in thick black hair, it swung from the open window with startling grace and agility, launching itself towards the rungs of a fire escape another floor up, and reaching it with ease. From there the beast swung itself up onto the roof.
The massive ape landed not ten feet from him, its sledgehammer fists sending clouds of dust rising.
Ulysses froze.
The beast snorted and then its beady black stare fell on the exhausted, injured man, the atmosphere thickening between them. Ulysses’ heart thumped against the cage of his ribs, the bullet wound pulsing in unkind sympathy.
So palpable was the tension, he could feel it crackling from the beast and setting his hairs on end, like static electricity.

Follow this link to purchase your own copy of Red-Handed. Then, once you've read it, go here to vote for how you think Time's Arrow should continue.

Dragonmeet - The Aftermath

2011-11-29T22:53:00.003Z

A few photos are starting to appear online now, podcasts are going live and others are blogging about their experiences of this year's Dragonmeet.

The Official Fighting Fantasy Website has a piece on the front page, in which the Warlock name-checks me. There is a link to a recording of James Wallis's interview with Ian Livingstone, in which I also get name-checked (and you can actually hear me at about 55:30).

And Sarah Newton's posted some photos of our panel here. (Just don't ask why I appear to be crooning and whistling!)

Curse of the Mummy

2011-11-29T22:49:00.004Z

On 29 November 1922, the tomb of Tutankhamun was officially opened by Howard Carter. The first official announcement and press conference followed the next day.

Legend had it that any person who disturbed the mummy of an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh would suffer a terrible curse. And the Curse of Tutankhamun was alleged to be more terrible than most. Only, in reality, there was no curse.

However, if you would like to read of a truly terrible curse, exacted upon a brave adventurer, then you should read my third Fighting Fantasy gamebook, Curse of the Mummy.

And if you've read Curse of the Mummy before, why not enjoy my latest Gamebook Adventure, Temple of the Spider God?

Mission: Games Workshop - Kensington

2011-11-28T12:36:00.012Z

During Dragonmeet on Saturday I took half an hour to get a breath of fresh air and popped into the local GW store. It was absolutely heaving in the shop, but key-timer Billy took the time to chat to me for five minutes, which was appreciated.

There were plenty of the new Necron miniatures around the place, which looked very cool, but what really blew me away was the Astral Claws army on display in the window cabinet. A very impressive piece of work and no mistake!

When the Dragon met the Spider

2011-11-28T10:50:00.014Z

So, Dragonmeet was on Saturday, and I was there, as were various colleagues and acquaintances of mine, which meant that as well as promoting Temple of the Spider God, taking part in panels and having interesting (and potentially exciting) meetings, I also got to catch up with friends. Which was nice.

Dragonmeet 2011 for me actually started a few hundred yards from High Street Kensington tube station, in a coffee shop, in the company of James Wallis and Tim Dedopulos, where we briefly discussed [CONTENT REMOVED] before heading up to Kensington Town Hall in time for James to interview Ian Livingstone about everything from the foundation of Games Workshop and the early days of Fighting Fantasy, to the future of RPGs and the what OBE actually stands for*.

Ian is a great speaker and James a highly knowledgeable interviewer, and, as a consequence, the allocated hour flew by. What was particularly nice was that I got a mention, as did Tin Man Games Gamebook Adventures. The Tin Man's flesh interface Neil Rennison was there this year as well, and apparently Mr Livingstone himself dropped by the Gamebook Adventures stand early in the day.

Neil Rennison (the Tin Man's organic minion) on the Gamebook Adventures stand

During the course of the seminar, Andrew Kenrick (the current editor of White Dwarf, Games Workshop's hobby magazine) asked Ian Livingstone (former editor of White Dwarf) a question, which was slightly surreal. Ian also revealed that he has written a new Fighting Fantasy gamebook which will be published as close to the actual 30th anniversary of the publication of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain as possible, next year. However, he wouldn't say what it was called, so watch this space...

Fighting Fantasy at Dragonmeet

From left to right - Graham Bottley (Mr Advanced Fighting Fantasy), Jamie Fry (the new Warlock), Ian Livingstone OBE (the most important man in the British games industry), and me

It turns out that Dragonmeet is one of those cons where everywhere I turn there are people I know/have worked with/am working with, and so to begin with it took a while to get anyway, as I stopped to shake hands, chat, be introduced to other people, who will now join the list of those people who, when I arrive at a con, will be everywhere I turn...

After listening to Ian and James's seminar, I made the most of the chance to catch up with various people, took a turn on the Gamebook Adventures stand, and then, before I knew it, it was my turn to be on a panel.

Apparently I am a giant of the gamebook genre.

(Certainly looks like it judging by this photograph!)

Sarah Newton, Iain Lowson and myself were the 'Fiction and the Games Industry' panel. I'd seen(?) Sarah and Iain speak on a panel at the UK Games Expo back in June, and it was a pleasure to join them on this occasion. Not having an MC we were left to our own devices, but fortunately Sarah had done her homework and come up with a few questions to get the ball rolling before we opened it up to the floor. It felt like the panel went very well, from my point of view at least, and the audience were very appreciative. It was a particular pleasure that at the end one member of the audience took the time to thank me for my Pax Britannia books!

Sarah Newton with her novel Mindjammer

and Yours Truly with The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus

Then it was back upstairs into the main hall for more chats, stints on the stand, and perusing the games that were for sale. I did quite well, coming away with just the two large, hardback tomes this time.

During the day I caught up (briefly) with Angus Abranson - Dragonmeet's organiser and who, it was announced last week, is leaving Cubicle 7 (creators of the Doctor Who RPG, amongst other things) - Fighting Fantasy's new Warlock (a.k.a. Jamie Fry), Graham Bottley of Arion Games, Paul Baldowski (demo-game runner extraordinaire), and Sarah Newton, who was selling her first novel Mindjammer at the Cubicle 7 stand (along with my more recent Pax Britannia titles). I obviously also got to meet Iain Lowson - having only Skyped and Twittered with him before -which was a pleasure, and not just because he presented me with a copy of his stunning self-penned RPG Dark Harvest: The Legacy of Frankenstein.

Iain Lowson (author of Dark Harvest) meets Neil Rennison (of Tin Man Games) and Jamie Fry (Fighting Fantasy's new Warlock)

Having left Dragonmeet, I spent the evening in the company of Neil Rennison talking about future plans for the Gamebook Adventures series, which was all rather exciting. But more about that another time...

So it just remains for me to thank Angus for organising such a great con, and having me as a special guest, and Neil for inviting me in the first place. (I also just want to thank Wilf for his kind comments with regard to me helping to keep Fighting Fantasy alive.)

Until next time...

* Turns out, according to Ian, to mean 'Oldest Bloke at Eidos'. (And in case you're wondering, he's 62 next birthday.)

Two weeks and counting...

2011-11-28T08:41:00.002Z

Two weeks today I shall be sitting down to start writing the second part of my latest Ulysses Quicksilver Pax Britannia novel Time's Arrow. Part 2 is entitled Black Swan, but as to what happens within it, well that's up to YOU!

If you've not already done so, download Part 1 - Red-Handed for the eReader of your choice, read the story so far and then go here to vote for how you would like the adventure to continue. But hurry! After all, time is ticking away!

Writing

2011-11-27T23:04:00.000Z

Sometimes it's a bit like this...

Dragonmeet - today!

2011-11-26T07:00:00.003Z

Yes, it's here at last!

I shall be appearing at Dragonmeet today, as the guest of Tin Man Games.

The event runs from 10.00am, at Kensington Town Hall, and I'm planning on being there for the whole day.

Fighting Fantasy's Warlock is going to be around as is Graham Bottley of Arion Games, publisher of Second Edition Advanced Fighting Fantasy. And Cubicle 7 will be selling my Pax Britannia books.

I'm on the 'Fiction and the Games Industry' panel with my esteemed colleagues Sarah Newton and Iain Lowson, starting at 1.30pm, whilst m'colleague James Wallis will be interviewing Ian Livingstone OBE, from 11.00am - 12.00pm with a Q&A session afterwards.

So, maybe I'll see you there...

The Countdown to Christmas...

2011-11-25T22:56:00.001Z

... starts here! Or rather here.

There's only one month to go until the Feast of the Nativity of the Christ Child* and so from now until then, I'll be posting an A to Z of Christmas over at TheChrismologist.com. Some of the subjects chosen will be familiar, some not so much, but all shall be enlightening and maybe, sometimes, amusing.

So why not stop by every day of the working week to see what nugget of Christmas lore I shall be unearthing next? And remember that you can find many such tasty information morsels in my book What is Myrrh Anyway? - and its American counterpart Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas.

* a.k.a. Christmas Day.

The value of fan-fic

2011-11-25T08:00:00.000Z

As far as I am aware, no one has ever written any fan-fiction based on any of the worlds I have created. (I certainly wouldn't consider Al Ewing's Pax Britannia books fan-fic.) But I can see how such literary homages to your creation could be a double-edged sword for an author.

M'colleague Mathilda Gregory puts forwards a persuasive case for the defence here and it got me thinking. When an author like Sebastian Faulks writes a James Bond novel, or Michael Moorcock writes Doctor Who, is that not a form of fan-fiction? After all, I know that I would find it very hard to write 100,000 words of something if I was committed to it totally, meaning that, in the case of a shared world setting, I was a fan.

And to take my own case, is not the tie-in fiction that I write fan-fiction? The reason I ever tried to get a gig writing for Doctor Who is because I love the show, and always have done. The incredibly rich backgrounds of Warhammer and 40K constantly bring me back to writing for those settings too.

Admittedly, there is a lot of dire fan-fiction out there, in part because it's published having never passed the eyes of an editor. But if we ignore the dross, there are still a few gems out there (or so I'm told).

I was trying to work out what the difference is between fan-fic and tie-in fic (other than the fact that one's contracted and involves payment at the end) and considered whether it was all to do with characters. For Warhammer 40K I've created whole Black Templars crusader fleets and Imperial Fists squads, but my next Doctor Who story Terrible Lizards features the Doctor, Amy Pond and Rory Williams - all three Steven Moffat's creations. So it can't be that.

Perhaps it comes down to professionalism, the fact that there are so many editorial stages - including people responsible for the IP checking your work - but I am sure that many fans know the minutiae of Doctor Who history far better than I. So it probably isn't that either.

Maybe the conclusion we must conclude is, quite simply, that at the end of the day there is no difference between fan-fic and tie-in fiction, other than a possible perceived standard of quality, or lack thereof.

So, I throw this one open to the floor. What do you think?

Signing of the Spider God

2011-11-25T00:27:00.005Z

There's one day to go until Dragonmeet when you'll be able to get me to sign your Temple of the Spider God... postcards.*

Tin Man Games will be at Kensington Town Hall with iPads in hand to show all you lucky punters the latest Gamebook Adventures titles, including Temple of the Spider God.

And if you’re attending, bring along a 3G enabled iOS device and you may even be able to get a free copy! You can read more about this exciting promotion, and an awesome one day sale, here.

* Well I can't exactly sign your iDevice of choice now, can I?**

** Actually I probably could, if you really wanted me to. After all, I'm told that Sharpies write on practically anything.

Ultramarines - the movie!

2011-11-25T00:24:00.003Z

If you've not seen the Ultramarines movie on the big screen, now's your chance.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy...

2011-11-24T18:13:00.004Z

... to quote an infamous fictional writer.

Now, I would never claim that I do nothing but work all day (I have young children for a start) but I have been a tad busy of late.

With so many potential projects becoming commissioned contracts, I sat down the other day to plan my writing schedule for the next few months... and it soon became apparent that I actually know what I'll be writing for the next year!

Currently on the slate are two novels, two gamebooks, seven short stories and a piece for a magazine. And that's just so far.

At least it was until yesterday evening when I received another commission for something a little different. But more on that another time. After all, there's work to be done.

Dragonmeet - 3 days to go!

2011-11-23T14:52:00.005Z

Okay... Here, as promised, is the updated info regarding my appearance at Dragonmeet this weekend (Saturday 26 November).

The event runs from 10.00am until around 6.00pm (I think), at Kensington Town Hall, and I'm planning on being there for the whole day.

I'm there officially as the guest of Tin Man Games, but Fighting Fantasy's Warlock is going to be around as well, as are Arion Games, and I'm told Cubicle 7 will be selling my Pax Britannia books. So, if you want me to sign a copy of Howl of the Werewolf, or the latest Ulysses Quicksilver penny dreadful, or even your iPod, feel free to ask.

I shall also be on a panel entitled 'Fiction and the Games Industry' with my esteemed colleagues Sarah Newton and Iain Lowson, running from 1.30pm - 2.00pm.

And while we're on the subject of Dragonmeet, m'colleague and games industry legend, James Wallis, is going to be interviewing m'colleague and games industry demigod, Ian Livingstone OBE, from 11.00am - 12.00pm with a Q&A session afterwards. I can guarantee it will be a great listen; Ian is the best after dinner speaker I know!

A Steampunk Evening - update!

2011-11-23T07:55:00.002Z

The Steampunk Evening organised by the Pornokitsch guys, and taking place on Thursday 8 December, has had a timing update.

It will now be running from 6:00pm until 8:30pm, which basically means that if you attend you'll get to spend even more time at Blackwell's Charring Cross alongside such luminaries as Kim Lakin-Smith, China Miéville, Philip Reeve, Adam Roberts, Lavie Tidhar and Plarchie the Squid.

And remember, tickets are not necessary and the event is free to attend.

RIP Mistress of Pern

2011-11-22T23:56:00.005Z

Fantasy novelist Anne McCaffrey, best known for her Dragonriders of Pern books, passed away yesterday. She was 85.

Her legacy with live on as will her words of wisdom for aspiring writers.

“First — keep reading. Writers are readers. Writers are also people who can’t not write. Second, follow Heinlein’s rules for getting published: 1. Write it. 2. Finish it. 3. Send it out. 4. Keep sending it out until someone sends you a check. There are variations on that, but that’s basically what works.”

Love for the Spider God

2011-11-22T07:49:00.003Z

Temple of the Spider God is still going down a storm all over the globe. The latest review to hit the Web over at Appa Snap even gives it 9 out of 10!

You can read the full review for yourself here.

You can buy the Temple of the Spider God app here.

World's Collider Interview

2011-11-19T07:46:00.003Z

Next up on the slate for me is a short story for the forthcoming World's Collider anthology.

Author Richard Salter, who is editing the anthology, is going to be carrying out a number of interviews with the people involved in the project. As my story - Dead Lights - is first in the collection, I'm the first to be interviewed too.

The interview is available to read on Richard's own website here.

Forbidden Planet Signing

2011-11-18T18:13:00.005Z

Three weeks today I will be at the Forbidden Planet Megastore in London (Friday 9 December, 5.00-6.00pm), signing copies of Dean M Drinkel's new horror anothology Phobophobia, along with this lovely lady...

Seriously.

As well as Barbie Wilde* and myself, Dean M Drinkel will be there too, along with Adrian Chamberlain, Wayne Goodchild and Dave Jeffery.

To find out more about the event, click here.

* She was in Hellraiser II, y'know.

Herald of Oblivion... obliterated!

2011-11-18T14:11:00.004Z

This is how my work space looked ten minutes ago.

This is what my computer screen looked like two minutes ago.

You do the math. ;-)

Right, what's next?

The demise of Floor to Ceiling Books and the birth of Strange Chemistry

2011-11-17T11:46:00.006Z

So, Floor to Ceiling Books is closing its doors after over two years of sterling service to both the world of publishing and the book-buying public. It's been a great read, a fantastic source of information and, I'm pleased to say, I even got to guest post on it once.

The reason? Amanda Rutter is setting up a brand new YA imprint under the watchful eye of the mechanoid masterminds behind Angry Robot Books. This is very exciting news indeed (for all sorts of reasons) and you can read more about it here.

Avent and Monie

2011-11-17T09:56:00.002Z

I've mentioned these two before, but if you've not checked them out yet you really should.

To give you a bit of background (and cash in on their fame!) I went to school with Messrs Avent and Monie where their careers in comedy began.

They're now part of BBC 3's Funny in 15 initiative and have an ever-increasing number of video sketches available to view here.

Judge not lest ye be judged

2011-11-17T02:08:00.003Z

Tin Man Games have announced a deal with Rebellion (who own Abaddon and Solaris Books) to create the first-ever interactive digital gamebook based on the popular 2000 AD character, Judge Dredd.

Utilizing their successful and well-established Gamebook Adventures technology (with seven titles already under their belt, including Temple of the Spider God), Tin Man Games will be working closely with members of the same Rebellion team responsible for the most recent Judge Dredd tabletop role-playing game to develop the title.

“We’re privileged to be working with a great group of writers and artists that really understand the Judge Dredd universe”, said Creative Director, Neil Rennison.

You can read more about this exciting news here.

Time's Arrow in SFX Magazine

2011-11-16T20:08:00.005Z

So, I'm in this month's SFX magazine.

That's right, me.

It's not one of my books that's being reviewed, it's part of an interview with Yours Truly about the startling steampunk experiment that is Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow.

That's it there, on page 23 of the Red Alert news section.

The piece includes a link to this.

And while we're on the subject of Time's Arrow, here's what one reader (who's entirely new to the series) had to say about Part 1 - Red-Handed:

I can say, as someone who has only read the first Ulysses Quicksilver Pax Britannia novel before I read this one, it's fairly accessible. There's quite a bit of mention of earlier stories, but while I understood that I was coming in on the middle of a series, I didn't feel particularly lost. While this story very much seems to follow on from a cliffhanger in the previous book, I felt I had enough information to still enjoy it. Plus, once that cliffhanger was wrapped up, the new story was completely fresh and accessible.

What I ended up with was a fast-paced, science fiction, steampunk action-adventure, with some cute nods to genuine Victorian science fiction. The interactive part of the story was fun, and it's really got me looking forward to the next installment (which is why I was willing to skip ahead in the series). And now I've got some time to get caught up!

Dragons, Steampunks and Phobias

2011-11-16T15:35:00.008Z

Just as a quick heads-up, I shall be attending various book-and-game-related events over the next few weeks. Here's a run-down.

Dragonmeet 2011

Saturday 26 November

I'll be at Dragonmeet along with Neil Rennison (the Tin Man's flesh interface) bigging up Temple of the Spider God and maybe making an appearance on a panel or two. (More info, nearer the time.)

A Steampunk Evening

Thursday 8 December

I'll be joining the Steampunk fun and festivities at Blackwell's Charring Cross alongside such luminaries as Kim Lakin-Smith, China Miéville, Philip Reeve, Adam Roberts, Lavie Tidhar and Plarchie the Squid. Tickets are not necessary and the event is free to attend.

Phobophobia Signings

Friday 9 December

Some of us who have contributed to Dean M Drinkel's Phobophobia horror anthology (published by Dark Continents) will be signing copies of the collection first at the Forbidden Planet Megastore in London from 5.00 - 6.00pm, and then later at the official launch at the British Fantasy Society open night at the Mug House, from approx 6.30pm the same evening.

House of Love

2011-11-16T10:45:00.006Z

Jonathan Oliver's House of Fear anthology of haunted house stories has been receiving a lot of love on book blogs and genre websites lately.

Here's what Spooky Reads had to say about the book:

In a classic twist from his editing last year’s strong horror anthology The End of the Line with its focus upon the Underground, Solaris’ editor Jon Oliver has continued to pull out the stops with House of Fear to deliver a top-notch collection of short stories themed around the haunted house. And he really has created a quite sublime selection here, and some dark delights are afoot for the horror fiction massive.

The contributors to this tome of terror include some of the genres finest writers, and as with the previous anthology, the selection is far from staid in its nature. Each story is lovingly crafted, with a different focus, some classic, others contemporary, some retrospective; all of them are worthy however, and I can’t emphasise how enjoyable making my way through this book was...

Jon Oliver has weaved together a strong selection of dread literary vignettes, and created a worthy collection in House of Fear. It’s exciting stuff indeed, and as with last years The End of the Line, is proof of Oliver’s eye for detail in the sea of horror fiction and ability to bring together a strong body of written works, cementing together a terrible construct that’s greater than the sum of its parts.
8/10

And those Keepers of the Keys to the Kingdom of Geekdom over at the Geek Syndicate said this:

In House of Fear, Jonathan Oliver has gathered nineteen short horror stories by both horror and science fiction authors who have all excelled in creating believable tales with well fleshed inhabitants and worlds that could well be our own. Each and every story will give you that delightful frisson of fear, and yet all are without a single vampire within them...

Jonathan Green, perhaps better know for his steampunk, creates a gruesome story of happy families...

All in all this is and excellent book for those who truly love horror, but I would suggest that you don’t read it just before you go to sleep.

GS Rating 5/5

You can what Jon himself had to say about putting together the collection when he was interviewed by the guys at Read Horror both here and here. But to end on, here's a piece from the interview which struck a happy chord with me:

Read Horror: How closely do the stories we see in House of Fear resemble the original submissions pre-editing?

Jon Oliver: Ninety-nine per cent of the time they are the final product. I don’t think I’ve asked anybody to re-write anything. There may have been the odd typo here and there, but on the whole the stories were submitted as you see them on the page. There was no editorial interference on a massive scale – these people know what they’re doing.

Jonathan Green, Author

Monstrous Missions - The Terrible Lizards are unleashed!

Where Ideas Come From - by Dan Abnett

The SFX Weekender - The Schedule!

Close, but no cigar (a.k.a. Runner-up of the Spider God)

EX-CEEDING-LY GOOD CAKES! EX-CEEDING-LY GOOD CAKES!

SFX Weekender 3 - one week to go!

Joshua Wright - Artist of the Spider God

Happy Burns Night!

Thought for the Day

The Year of the Dragon

Warhammer: Civil War

Jonathan Green at the SFX Weekender 3

Hell Train launch

More writers on writing

Leviathan Rising - a new review

Artists round-up

Public Lending Right loans - 2010/2011

Hammer and Bolter: Year One

Space Marines

Friday the 13th... Unlucky for some

Inspiration - Fruiting Bodies

A new Fighting Fantasy Adventure Gamebook!

Coming soon from Tin Man Games...

2012 - The Year of the Gamebook?

Happy Birthday, Tony Hough!

There's nothing quite like a real book

Follow this blog and win a prize... possibly

The Kitschies

Reminder of the Spider God

Even more love for the Spider God

Doctor Who: Monstrous Missions

Pax Britannia Needs YOU!

Anno Frankenstein - It's alive! (Again.)

Writers round-up

Finding the shape of a story

Imperial Fists vs Two-Headed Xenosaur

Phobophobia up for two awards

Thought for the Year

Black Library Weekender - will you be going?

Time's Arrow - Black Swan

Vote for Temple of the Spider God

The Phobophobia Launch - The Video!

A new year, a new review of Unnatural History

Neil Gaiman's New Year wish for everyone

Phobophobia - Face Your Fears!

12 for '12

Looking Forward to 2012

The Chrismologist's A to Z of Christmas

Iron Hands - available now from the Black Library

Vote House of Fear Anthology of the Year

Rabid Fan Boy of the Spider God

Nomination of the Spider God

Thought for the Day

Pandemonium: Stories of the Smoke

Pax Britannia - 'Best Ongoing Series'

Steampunk by the coal scuttle-ful

Red-Handed - the result!

The Pax Britannia eBook 'Box' set

Time's Arrow - Who Lives? Who Dies? YOU Decide!

Phobophobia launch at Forbidden Planet and the BFS Open Night

The Kitschies - A Steampunk Evening

Black Library - Last Shipping Dates

Fans of the Spider God

A Steampunk Evening and the Phobophobia launch

Am Writing...

On Books

An Angry Update

Thought for the Day - The Goblins of Self-Doubt

The A to Z of Christmas

Time's Arrow - one week to go!

Writers on writing

73 is the magic number

Gamebook Adventures on the G*M*S Magazine Podcast

SFX - The Full Interview

Time's Arrow - 10 days to go

Dragonmeet - The Aftermath

Curse of the Mummy

Mission: Games Workshop - Kensington

When the Dragon met the Spider

Gamebook Adventures on the GMS Magazine Podcast