Congratulations, NewCon Press!

While I was at the Frankfurt Book Fair at the weekend, FantasyCon was taking place in Glasgow.

The Annual British Fantasy Awards Banquet took place on Saturday evening, which included the presentation of the British Fantasy Awards (funnily enough).

I am pleased to report that NewCon Press walked away with the award for Best Independent Publisher.

Unfortunately, Ian Whates, the mastermind behind NewCon Press, was unable to attend, due to poor health. However, I suspect receiving the award went some way to making up for him having to miss FantasyCon this year.

I am also pleased to say that I have been published by NewCon Press no fewer than three times*. First, there was Legends: Stories in Honour of David Gemmell, which included my short story Who Walks With Death.

Then there was Steampunk International, an anthology of new steampunk stories from Finland, Portugal and the UK, which featured my Pax Britannia short story Reckless Engineering.

And most recently, my short story The Wolf in Winter appeared in The Iron Code, another anthology inspired by the works of the legendary fantasy author David Gemmell and edited by Ian Whates.

So congratulations to Ian and the team at NewCon Press for their much deserved win.

* I also commissioned Ian Whates to write a short story for SHARKPUNK.

Gamebook Friday: Cannes Festival des Jeux 2024

Last weekend I spent a very enjoyable three days in the south of France at the Cannes Festival des Jeux*. I was there at the invitation of both Scriptarium, who publish the French language version of the Advanced Fighting Fantasy RPG 2nd Edition, and Alkonost Editions, who publish my ACE Gamebooks in French.

Veteran gamebook author Dave Morris, he of Virtual Reality Gamebooks and Fabled Lands fame, was also in attedance with his wife Roz, who is also an author.

A large part of the weekend was spent chatting with French gamebook fans and signing copies of my Fighthing Fantasy adventures as well as my ACE Gamebooks.

Highlights of the weekend included two fabulous meals out with our hosts (and Dave and Roz are excellent company), making lots of new friends, seeing an edition of the French translation of Knights of Doom I don't own, and meeting Emmanuel Quaireau, France's bestselling author of gamebook graphic novels, who publishes under the name Manuro.

But probably the biggest highlight was winning an award at the Prix du Livre-Jeu 2023 awards!

The hordes waiting to enter Le Palais des Festivals et des Congrès de Cannes.

Patrick readying the Alkonost stand.

ACE Gamebooks en Francais - a.k.a. Les Contes tordus de Green.

Florent and Frederic on the Scriptarium stand.

This is the pile of books one fan brought from Paris to Cannes for me to sign.

Guillaume Romero brought this copy of Knights of Doom for me to sign, and it was the first time I had ever seen one. I need to add this to my personal collection!

Emmanuel Quaireau, a.k.a. Manuro, with his latest graphic gamebook,

The Dragon's Stone.

Sunset over the French Riviera.

Making my short acceptance speech at the Gamebook Awards 2023.

And here is the award itself with the re-issue of Night of the Necromancer.

Back row: Laurent Centro, of Alkonost Editions, and Florent Haro, of Scriptarium.

Front row: Roz Morris, Dave Morris, and Yours Truly.

* The Cannes Games Festival - rather like the UK Games Expo but smaller and with more je ne c'est quoi. 

Gamebook Friday: Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland won an award!

I discovered recently that Koszmar Alicji w Krainie Czarów, the Polish language edition of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, won an award in the A Child-Friendly World competition*.  

Koszmar Alicji w Krainie Czarów actually won the main award in the "Teenagers in the time of a pandemic" category, which is totally awesome! So a huge thank you to team at Muduko, my Polish publisher, and to everyone who voted.

 

Click the image above for a review by Zagramy.

* Organised by the Committee for the Protection of Children's Rights - a non-governmental, public benefit organisation.

Steampunk Thursday: Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland - RPG of the Year?

I am delighted to report that the Portuguese language edition of my Steampunk-themed gamebook Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland - Alice no País dos Pesadelos, published in Brazil by Jambô Editora - is up for an award.

Having been nominated in the RPG OF THE YEAR category, it has made it through to the final round of the Ludopedia Prize 2019.

Although there are only five entrants in the category, it's not going to win because it's up against both Dungeons & Dragons and The Call of Cthulhu - but that's not bad company to be in!

Alice no País dos Pesadelos is just one of three Jambô Editora products that have made it from the the final round.

If you are able to vote (and it's easy to register to do so) it would be great if you could throw your support behind Alice no País dos Pesadelos and the others.

Thought for the Day

"Measures of success change depending who we talk to – my accountant probably doesn't care that my book has won awards, but I know my publisher does."

~ Damian Barr, writer

Short Story Saturday: The British Fantasy Awards 2016

Just to let you know that voting for the British Fantasy Awards closes at the end of the month, which is Monday. You can see the suggestions list of eligible titles here, and if you peruse that list you'll notice that both my short stories anthologies SHARKPUNK and GAME OVER are there in the Best Anthology category, while the short stories that appear within in them are in the Best Short Story category.

You are eligible to vote what makes it through the the shortlist if you're:

a) a BFS member
b) attended FantasyCon 2015
c) are attending FantasyCon 2016.

But after that, it's over to the juries; if they decide there's been an egregious omission they'll add it to the list, then deliberate (as happened with YOU ARE THE HERO last year).

If you're eligible, please vote if you can. Not necessarily for any of the above (although that would be nice) but just to make sure you have your say. As Simon Bestwick, whose story The Face of the Deep from GAME OVER is eligible in the Best Short Story category, says, "Take part. The more people do, the fairer the selection process will be, and the more meaningful the award."

The BFS Awards 2015

I suppose I should have guessed how today was going to go when I was refused breakfast for wearing jeans...

Anyway, leaving London I headed to Nottingham by train, to attend the last day of FantasyCon and, more particularly, the BFS Awards. I usually drive to such events, but this time I thought I would get the train, so that I could do some work on the journey and enjoy a drink with friends at FCon after the awards. Next time I'll drive.

Screaming toddlers are not conducive to a productive working atmosphere and as it turned out, the event was a very sober one for me, so I may as well have driven after all. At least that way I could have got back home earlier and seen the family, rather than have to wait at Nottingham station for my allotted train.

As I understand it, FantasyCon 2015 was a resounding success and people had a great time. I was not one of them. All I'll say is, it was a long way to go to not win an award and then not catch up with anybody in the bar afterwards.

The trouble was I arrived at 1.45pm, in time for the BFS Awards but not in time to register, as it turned out. With registration closed there was no way of getting hold of my attendee badge. It also turned out that guest goodie bags had run out the day before. I had paid for a Sunday day pass (although there was no one on duty to check that I had) so there should have been bags left for people who couldn't turn up until the Sunday.

I'll admit it - I was disappointed that YOU ARE THE HERO didn't win in the Best Non-Fiction category. (Thanks to everyone who gave a whoop when it was read out on the shortlist, though.) I didn't really expect it to, but then a part of you starts to wonder, "What if?" and so you psyche yourself up, in case you do win, and then have to deal with the comedown when you don't. And I would have been annoyed if I'd been nominated, not attended, and then won.

That aside, I was looking forward to catching up with various people afterwards but it turned out that many had left before the awards and the rest left pretty promptly afterwards. Deciding to make the best of the situation and get some work done, I was then asked to leave the convention centre as they were closing because FCon was over. It was just one of those days, I guess.

Congratulations to all the winners - especially SHARKPUNK and GAME OVER contributor Laurel Sills who, along with Lucy Smee, won the award for Best Magazine for Holdfast Magazine.

But have no fear, I'll bounce back. After all, next year both SHARKPUNK and GAME OVER will be eligible to be nominated in the Best Anthology category, and all the stories that featured within them will be eligible for the Best Short Story award.

So, watch this space...

Gamebook Friday: YOU ARE THE HERO, the UK Games Expo Awards 2015, Pod Your Own Adventure, and Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland

A quick round up of all the gamebook news for you this week.

First off, I took YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, to the UK Games Expo last weekend... and it only received an Honourable Mention in the UK Games Expo Awards 2015!

On the Saturday evening of the Expo I also recorded an episode of Pod Your Own Adventure, during which I played through Bloodbones with host Robin, and died four times before we gave up having only got about halfway through the adventure.

Now this will doubtless cause many people much amusement, and some may whisper comments like "Karma" and "Hoist by his own petard". But in my defence, Bloodbones was my 6th book and my 53rd book was published yesterday, and I can't even remember details of books I wrote two years ago, never mind twenty years ago.

And before I go, I just wanted to draw your attention to this. If you're a fan of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Steampunk, horror, or gamebooks (or even all of the above), then please consider joining the Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland Facebook group, which will be the first step leading to the launch of a new Kickstarter, and getting a brand new gamebook published, in this the 150th year since the publication of Lewis Carroll's seminal children's portal fantasy.

Thank you.

YOU ARE THE HERO at the UK Games Expo 2015

At the weekend I attended the UK Games Expo. It was the first time I had attended since it moved from central Birmingham to the NEC Metropole and a very impressive venue it was too. Graham Bottley of Arion Games kindly let me share his table, so Fighting Fantasy was well represented at the expo, with his Advanced Fighting Fantasy books on sale alongside some of the few remaining hardbacks of YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks.

Graham Bottley and Simon Strafford on the Arion Games stand.

Despite being stuck behind a table for most of the weekend (and so not getting to see much else that was going on) I had a great time, with people stopping by to pick up YOU ARE THE HERO (some of whom had seen it mentioned in the programme), backers of the original Kickstarter stopping by to get their copies signed or to pass on their very kind comments about the book, and old friends turning up just to say hello (people like Jim Swallow, James Wallis, and Matt Elliott). On Saturday night I recorded a podcast for Pod Your Own Adventure (but more on that another time), and then on Sunday afternoon this happened...

 The now officially 'award-winning'

YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks.

The 10th UK Games Expo was a fantastic event, excellently organised and brilliantly run, and that's thanks to Tony Hyams, Richard Denning, John Dodd, and a host of others, so a big thank you to all concerned who helped make this run in such a smooth and relaxed way. And here's to the UK Games Expo 2016. (I might have something new to promote games-wise by then.)

Gamebook Friday: YOU ARE THE HERO at the UK Games Expo

Surfacing again after a couple of weeks of intense SHARKPUNK promotion, I just wanted to let you know that I shall be attending the UK Games Expo this year, on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st May 2015, and I shall be bringing the last few boxes of the YOU ARE THE HERO hardback with me.

YOU ARE THE HERO was nominated in the UK Games Expo Awards best RPG supplement category. However because you can't actually play YOU ARE THE HERO it is not eligible for the award. That said, the judging panel are considering giving the book an honourable mention, so watch this space...

In other news, PJ Montgomery and Gavin Mitchell have released a new page of artwork from Steve Jackson's The Trolltooth Wars, featuring a couple of characters who will be very familiar to fans of Citadel of Chaos...

Artwork by Gavin Mitchell

... which also just so happens to have been the inspiration behind a song written by a friend of mine and his band Groan.

(I can see a couple of new chapters are going to be needed for the 40th anniversary edition of YOU ARE THE HERO.)

Short Story Saturday: Sharks, Shakespeare and Shirley Jackson

On this Short Story Saturday I am delighted to be able to tell you that I am branching out and trying something new with my writing this year. I'm going to be editing not one but two short story anthologies for Snowbooks.

The first, and heading your way this time next year, is SHARKPUNK - an anthology of pulpy shark-themed stories that cover every speculative fiction sub-genre from steampunk to urban horror, by way of war-time tales of terror and post-modernist dark fantasy. SHARKPUNK features all new stories, from a host of genre writers, working at the top of their game, that includes the likes of Gary McMahon, Al Ewing and Toby Frost.

And after that, there's Mr William Shakespeare's Tales of Cthulhu*, which blends some of the Bard's most well-known and best-loved plays with the eldritch squamous horrors of H P Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.

In other Short Story Saturday-related news, The Book of the Dead, edited by Jared Shurin, and which features my mummy-themed love story Egyptian death and the afterlife: mummies (Rooms 62-3), has been nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award, for Best Anthology, which is nice.




* Working title.

Gamebook Friday: Nomination of the Spider God

I just wanted to draw your attention to the fact that the Android version of Temple of the Spider God is eligible for nomination in 6th annual Best App Ever Awards in the 'Brain and Puzzle Game' category.

So go here, enter 'GA7' into the search bar, and please nominate the game. The iOS version achieved a 2nd place ranking when it was released a couple of years ago. Wouldn't it be great if it could achieve 1st place this time around?

Nomination of the Spider God

I just wanted to draw your attention to the fact that the Android version of Temple of the Spider God is eligible for nomination in 6th annual Best App Ever Awards in the 'Brain and Puzzle Game' category.

So go here, enter 'GA7' into the search bar, and please nominate the game. The iOS version achieved a 2nd place ranking when it was released a couple of years ago. Wouldn't it be great if it could achieve 1st place this time around?

This is Horror Awards 2013

On the subject of Dreaming in Darkness and The Serpent's Egg, both (I believe) are eligible for the This is Horror Awards 2013, in the following categories:

Dreaming in Darkness - Anthology of the Year

The Serpent's Egg - Short Fiction of the Year

You may only nominate two items per category, but of course you'll only be nominating one in each category, won't you? (If you do nominate more than two This Is Horror will only recognise your first two nominations.)

You may nominate in as many categories as you like but all nominations must be emailed to awards@thisishorror.co.uk with the subject line ‘This Is Horror Award Nominations 2013′ by 12:01am GMT on 14 November 2013.

So what are you waiting for? Get nominating! ;-)

Steampunk Thursday: The VSS Awards 2013

It must be almost a month since I plugged this last, so here we go again...

The Victorian Steampunk Society Awards 2013 are now open for nominations, so please consider the following...

Time's Arrow for Best Novel

9 out of 10 for Time's Arrow from Starburst Magazine: "This is a pun-fuelled, fun-filled romp for people who like wearing the colour brown and decorating everything they own with cogs."

The Eloquent Page: "Who knows where steampunk-ninja Jonathan Green will take Ulysses Quicksilver next, I can’t wait to find out."

Thank you. :-)

Steampunk Thursday: The VSS Awards 2013

Just in case you didn't clock the post I made over the weekend, the Victorian Steampunk Society Awards 2013 are now open for nominations, so please consider the following...

Time's Arrow for Best Novel

9 out of 10 for Time's Arrow from Starburst Magazine: "This is a pun-fuelled, fun-filled romp for people who like wearing the colour brown and decorating everything they own with cogs."

The Eloquent Page: "Who knows where steampunk-ninja Jonathan Green will take Ulysses Quicksilver next, I can’t wait to find out."

Thank you. :-)

Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow for Best Novel

The Victorian Steampunk Society Awards 2013 are now open for nominations, so please consider the following...

Time's Arrow for Best Novel

9 out of 10 for Time's Arrow from Starburst Magazine: "This is a pun-fueled, fun-filled romp for people who like wearing the colour brown and decorating everything they own with cogs."

The Eloquent Page: "Who knows where steampunk-ninja Jonathan Green will take Ulysses Quicksilver next, I can’t wait to find out."

The Second Annual Victorian Society Steampunk Awards

The Victorian Steampunk Society has, from its formation, recognised excellence in the world of Steampunk. At this year's Weekend at the Asylum (a.k.a. Asylum V) the VSS will make their awards for works released in 2012.

Nominations come from the general public with the shortlist being drawn from these nominations. Awards will be made following a popular vote of all AVSS members attending The Asylum. (Even if you're not attending the Asylum yourself this year, you can still suggest a nomination.)

Last year, two of my books were eligible for nomination. This year it's just the one - Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow, in the Best Novel category. Just so you know...

"Some wonderful twists, cracking prose and of course a storyline that just keeps you gripped."

~ Falcata Times

What was the best novel of 2013?

Voting for the SFX Awards 2013 is now open. One of the categories you can vote for is Best Novel.

50 titles are suggested, including a couple of Steampunk novels (Lavie Tidhar's The Great Game and Cherie Priest's Boneshaker), but any title published in 2013 is eligible.

Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow was published in 2013. Just saying.

Steampunk Thursday: The most Steampunk Doctor Who story ever?

The Snowmen, on Christmas Day. So, what did you think of it?

I have to say I loved it! So much better than last year's Christmas special. I've been completely won over by Jenna Louise Coleman, I loved Doctor 'Scrooge', Moffat was clever as ever (but in an un-alienating way), loved the glimpse we received of the new TARDIS interior, I smiled at the  'It's smaller on the outside' line, it was great to see Matt Smith's face scattered across the stars, and Simeon's snow globe was like something straight out of Stormslayer. And Sir Ian McKellen!

I have to agree with the SFX reviewer that arch-baddie Richard E Grant was under-used, and surely it's only a matter of time before the Paternoster Gang get their own series. But I have one unresolved issue...

Certain elements of the Virgin novels have made it through into New Who, but in one of those stories the Doctor actually met Sherlock Holmes, whereas now Sherlock Holmes is most definitely a fictional creation inspired by the Veiled Detective!

Ho-hum! I just wish I'd written about a lizard lady from the dawn of time solving crimes in Victorian England in my Pax Britannia books somewhere.

And as to whether The Snowmen really is the most Steampunk Doctor Who story ever, join the discussion here.




And while we're on the subject of Steampunk and Pax Britannia, you can now vote for the Preditors and Editors awards, which includes a category for Best Steampunk Novel 2012 - for which Time's Arrow qualifies. You know what to do...