Your last chance to preorder your FFF4 T-shirts and badges!

There are less than six weeks to go before the doors open on Fighting Fantasy Fest 4, on Saturday 3 September 2022.

Many people will be collecting their Fighting Fantasy 40th anniversary T-shirts* and badges on the day. If you have yet to preorder yours, you have until 12:00pm on Friday 29 July 2022 to do just that!

Mock-up images of the 40th anniversary T-shirts and badges.

(Artwork not final.)

The front of the T-shirt features Zagor the Warlock, by Russ Nicholson, and the Fighting Fantasy logo, while on the back are listed all the solo FF adventure gamebooks that have been published over the last 40 years - 77 in total! The badge will be an enamel pin badge.

Whether you have ordered your tickets for Fighting Fantasy Fest 4 or not, you can order your T-shirts and badges by clicking on the 'Tickets' button on the Eventbrite page and scrolling down to the Add-ons section.

But remember, you only have until 12:00pm on Friday 29 July to do so - so don't delay!

* If you have already ordered a T-shirt, you will have received an email explaining how to specify the size you require.

Gamebook Friday: K-Day is coming!

It's official! RONIN 47, the seventh ACE Gamebook, is coming to Kickstarter a week today, on Friday 16 July 2021! Put the date in your diary now!

I hope you will check it out and pledge your support to RONIN 47 when it goes live, and it pays to back early. Back within the first week and you'll get a discount on your pledge price. Back within the first day and the discount doubles!

Rewards on offer to backers include signed hardbacks, custom dice and playing cards, and exclusive art prints, as well as a unique slipcase edition that includes both a paperback and a signed hardback copy of the book. And everyone who pledges to receive a physical reward will also receive a collectible ACE Gamebooks pin badge.

As well as paying for the production of the RONIN 47 gamebooks and backer rewards, the money raised by the Kickstarter will also pay for fifteen full-page illustrations and other filler images by Neil Googe.

We also have a whole host of incredible art Stretch Goals, and every piece of pin-up art unlocked will appear in the collector's hardback edition of RONIN 47. Whether you are a gamebook fan or a comics aficionado, you are going to want to back this Kickstarter! And then get all your friends to back it too, so that you can have even more incredible artwork in your copy of the book.

You can check the project page here, but please bear in mind that it is still a work in progress. That said, if you do notice any glaring errors, please do let me know.

Please spread the word far and wide, and I shall look forward to seeing you again next Friday, 16 July 2021.

Gamebook Friday: RONIN 47 is coming to Kickstarter!

I have been sitting on this one for a while, dropping random hints here and there, but I am finally ready to announce that my next ACE Gamebook is going to be RONIN 47, a Mech-vs-Kaiju post-apocalyptic epic, and the Kickstarter to fund its production will be launching later this month.

One hundred years from now, following an attempt to genetically re-engineer coral to make it more resistant to climate change (using something called the K Compound), Earth has been overrun by what are effectively, if accidentally, man-made Kaiju. Society has collapsed and groups of people exist in isolated bubbles around the world.

The apocalypse has been and gone, and amidst the ruins of the old world, what is left of the human race fights for survival against gigantic, hyper-evolved Kaiju. Mankind's most effective weapons against the monsters are the colossal Mechs developed by the Guardian Programme.

One of these pockets of humanity is Ako Base, a heavily-fortified and well-defended island community in the Philippine Sea. Squads of mechs operate out of the facility, tasked with keeping the tide of ever-evolving Kaiju at bay.

In RONIN 47, YOU take on the role of Commander Oishi, a Samurai-class mech pilot and leader of Phoenix Squad. When Deputy Director Kira turns traitor, killing Director Asano and stealing the new prototype Shogun-class mech, only YOU are left to pursue the villain and bring him to justice, battling all manner of mechs and mutated monsters along the way.

My 23rd gamebook will be illustrated throughout by acclaimed British comic book artist Neil Googe. Neil is an extremely talented artist, who also works in commercial illustration and concept development. He is well known for his work for the UK anthology comic 2000AD (and its sister title The Judge Dredd Megazine), which includes Judge Dredd, Survival Geeks, and Hondo-City Justice. He has also worked for DC Comics, drawing the likes of Wonder Woman, The Flash, Harley Quinn, Injustice, and Wildcats. As one of the co-founders of the British independent comic publisher COM.X, he is also the creator of Bazooka Jules.

There goes Tokyo...

There are all the usual kinds of rewards on offer that you would expect to see from an ACE Gamebooks' Kickstarter, but it really pays to pledge your support to the project early on. Back within the first week and you will receive a discount on the listed pledge levels, but back on Day One - K-Day - and you will double your discount!

Also, anyone who pledges to receive a physical reward, at any point during the Kickstarter's run, will also receive this brand new ACE Gamebooks pin badge!

So keep an eye on my social media feeds - and this blog, of course - and make sure you get in early when RONIN 47 launches on Kickstarter within the next couple of weeks.

Steampunk Thursday: Pax Britannia at the Sci-Fi Weekender 5

I will be driving up to North Wales today to take part in the Sci-Fi Weekender 5 and I have some new badges to sell...

As well as selling my books and badges, I shall be taking part in the following panels:

Friday 28 March 2014

12:00pm - 1:00pm - Far Fetched fiction... From Steampunk to Dystopia. Why are satirical fantasies so appealing? David J Howe, Raven Dane, Jonathan Green, Danie Ware.

3:00pm - 4:00pm - Writing into known universes. Jonathan Green, Gareth Powell, Raven Dane, Sam Stone, Debbie Bennett, Dez Skinn.

Saturday 29 March 2014

5:00pm - 6:00pm - What makes Science Fiction Sci-Fi? An exploration of Science Fiction writing from Space Opera to Dystopian futures. Gareth Powell, Sam Stone, Jonathan Green, Bryony Pearce, Sara Jane Townsend, Simon Clark.

I shall look forward to seeing some of you there, as will Archimedes, the original Steampunk Parrot.

Steampunk Doncaster - Day 2

I shall be appearing at Steampunk Doncaster again today, so why not stop by my stand and pick up a copy of my latest Pax Britannia novel Time's Arrow? Or you could always have a go at Mr Green's Marvellous Steampunk Tombola instead.

Pax Britannia Week: Steampunk Badges

The badges I designed and had made for this year's Weekend at the Asylum proved so popular that, based on customer feedback, I've had some more made.

So when you see me selling my books at a con in the future make sure you pick up one, or two... or more.

Steampunk Thursday: Keep Calm and Buy Badges

I had some badges made for Weekend at the Asylum and they proved so popular I've decided to put them up for sale on eBay. There are three sets on offer.

 Splendid Steampunks

Victorian Heroes 

Victorian Hunters

So if you were unable to attend Weekend at the Asylum (or missed me) you can pick up your own steampunk badges today! Don't delay! Simply click the appropriate image above to be taken to the correct eBay listing.

Steampunk Week: Weekend at the Asylum - Day 3

It's the final day of Weekend at the Asylum today, but it's also probably going to be the busiest for me.


At 11.00am I shall be holding a Q'n'A session, as well as reading from Part 3 of Time's Arrow - White Noise.

At 1.00pm I shall be taking part in the panel 'Write a cog on it' with Raven Dane and Jema Hewitt.

And then at 4.00pm it's the awards ceremony for the inaugural Victorian Steampunk Society Awards for works released during 2011. I am very pleased to say that I have been nominated in the BEST NOVEL category... not once, but twice! Here's the shortlist:

BEST NOVEL

Heartless – Gail Carriger

Cyrus Darian and the Technonomicron – Raven Dane

Anno Frankenstein – Jonathan Green

Red-Handed – Jonathan Green

So, wish me luck!

Steampunk Week: Weekend at the Asylum - Day 2

Weekend at the Asylum kicks off in earnest today.

You'll find me in the Ballroom of the County Assembly Rooms, so if you're coming along why not stop by and say hello, browse my stall and buy a book or a badge.

Or you could always have a go on my Steampunk Tombola.

And don't forget, this year's Weekend at the Asylum features the inaugural Victorian Steampunk Society Awards for works released during 2011. I'm up for BEST NOVEl - twice! 

Awards will be made following a popular vote of all AVSS members attending The Asylum. (Voting slips will be available when you register and collect your wristband.) So, if you're going to Weekend at the Asylum and you happen to enjoy my Pax Britannia books, you know what you have to do. ;-)

Maybe I'll see you there...

Countdown to Weekend at the Asylum - 1 day to go!

I'm currently busy preparing for Weekend at the Asylum*, loading boxes of books into the car, checking the camera's charged, selecting a reading from Time's Arrow Part 1 and trying out my brand new Pax Britannia banner.

Impressive, isn't it?

So if you're round Lincoln way on Saturday, why not stop by the Asylum Exhibition Hall and say "Hi!" - you'll find me under the sign of the French terrorist - and pick up your exclusive Pax Britannia Asylum badge?

Pink and blue for the ladies, teak and brass for the gentlemen

Maybe see you there!

* Or, more accurately, writing a blog post about preparing for Weekend at the Asylum.

Pax Britannia badges

A rather exciting package arrived in the post. Well at least I thought it was rather exciting because it contained these...


As part of my on-going efforts to self-publicise I've had some Pax Britannia badges made. One bears Simon Parr's new PB logo and the other is the central image from Mark Harrison's cover for Dark Side, which is coming next summer.

The first place where you will be able to get your hands on one (or two) of these beauties is at my talk at the University College School Beyond Words Festival next Tuesday afternoon, so book your ticket now!