Steampunk Thursday: Time's Arrow... so far...

Here's the word cloud for Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow, as it stands with two-thirds of the novel complete.

I wonder how different it might look by the time Part 3 White Noise is done.

Pax Britannia: Black Swan - voting closes today!

If you've now had a chance to download and read Time's Arrow: Black Swan you've only got until the end of the day to vote for how you would like the story to continue.


Simply head over to the Abaddon Facebook page and post 'A' or 'B' after the status update that starts 'WHAT WILL COME OF OUR DASHING HERO NEXT?'

Or, alternatively, you can email your choice of 'A' or 'B' to abaddonsolaris@rebellion.co.uk.

Do it! Do it now! (Or I'll send the cyber-gorilla after you*.)


* Or maybe not.

Steampunk Thursday: The Great Elephant

OMGGM* it's Hannibal, the pachyderm-droid from Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein!

Actually it's The Machines de l'Ile's Great Elephant.

12 metres high, 8 metres wide and 21 metres long, this incredible contraption weighs 48.4 tons. Constructed of wood and metal, motive power is provided by a 450 horsepower engine. It includes an indoor lounge with French windows and balconies, and there is a terrace accessible by stairs.On, and it travels at a speed of ​​1-3 km per hour.

And while we're on the subject of all things steampunk, and  Anno Frankenstein in particular, don't forget that the Victorian Steampunk Society is launching a series of awards voted for by UK Steampunks attending The Asylum each year.

These are awards for work first published/released between January 1 and December 31, 2011, and will be made for a tangible piece of work, which means that Anno Frankenstein is eligible.

But even if you're not attending The Asylum yourself this year, you can still suggest a category and nominate in it. The best suggestions will incorporate into the awards. These forms will be used to draw up a shortlist of nominees, and of course being shortlisted is of course an accolade in itself. The voting form will be made available to all Asylum convention adult attendees and results will be announced at the Empire Ball.

Just so you know...



And lastly, there still time to vote for your preferred story ending to Time's Arrow: Black Swan.


Simply head over to the Abaddon Facebook page and post 'A' or 'B' after the status update that starts 'WHAT WILL COME OF OUR DASHING HERO NEXT?'

Or, alternatively, you can email your choice of 'A' or 'B' to abaddonsolaris@rebellion.co.uk.

You have until 25 June 2012 to cast your vote.


* A vernacular term meaning 'Oh my goodness gracious me'.

Steampunk Thursday: International Steampunk Day

That's right, in case you didn't already know, 14 June (H G Wells' birthday) is International Steampunk Day. And I'm celebrating with another great review of Time's Arrow: Black Swan that's appeared on the Geek Syndicate website:

In 1988 Sylvester McCoy hosted a programme on Children’s BBC called What’s Your Story. For those not old enough to remember, the premise was that you watched a story unfold before you and, when the cliffhanger came at the end, you phoned in with your choice of where the story went next. A great interactive approach and one which Jonathan Green, author of the Pax Britannia series, is adopting himself. 


The Time’s Arrow trilogy, published by Abaddon Books, reunites us with one of Green’s standout characters in Ulysses Quicksilver, general dandy and all round hero. Released as e-books, this steam punk trilogy allows the reader to vote to decide the direction of the story which is a great way to engage with your readership. Part one and two are out now. Read on for Geek Syndicate’s review of part two, Black Swan.


Black Swan follows on from where part one, Red-handed, left off with Ulysses Quicksilver in the Parisian apartments of Monsieur Lumiere as he hunts the killer involved with the Rue Morgue murders. A number of prominent individuals have prematurely shuffled their mortal coil and Quicksilver, prime suspect of the local gendarmes, is out to clear his name and bring the real killer to justice. 


The story rattles on at a fair pace with little time to draw your breath between the action. Rampaging gorillas, mechanical parrots, steam-powered flying bicycles and damsels firmly in command all play their part with a sinister villain plotting worldwide destruction all in the heart ofParis. Gaston Leroux, Conan Doyle and Poe are all paid homage to, amongst others, as we are drawn excitedly towards the cliffhanger ending in readiness for part three. 

I have to admit to not having read Red-handed in advance of this, possibly not the wisest of things when tackling a series but such is the life of a reviewer, so was worried I might be slightly lost starting with book two. However, having previously read Green’s Evolution Expects, well worth a read by the way, I was well acquainted with Mr Quicksilver and found the writing dropped enough previous plot points into the narrative to allow me to catch up quickly. 

Black Swan is a fun story, one which engages you from the off, and you can tell that Green is enjoying his writing. Quicksilver, agent for the British government, is a fantastic character, full of dare-doing, and carries the day with an air of optimism and a stiff upper lip throughout; think James Bond as a Victorian toff. The villains are painted equally well and are just on the right side of moustache twirling dastardliness without being corny. 

There are some parts of the story where the escapes are fortuitous and far fetched but, hey, that’s all part of the playfulness of the writing. Go into this with a complete suspension of disbelief and you’ll come out smiling at the other end. 

I really enjoyed this and would recommend that you pick it up but possibly start with book one like a sane person would do! 

Voting for where part three, White Noise, heads closes on Friday 15 June. To influence where the story goes next visit www.abaddonbooks.com but obviously after you’ve read the book which is available for download now. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

You can download the eBook of Time's Arrow: Black Swan here.

Steampunk Thursday - 5 stars for Time's Arrow: Black Swan!

Part 2 of my eBook serialised Pax Britannia novel Time's Arrow has received another glowing review which I thought I'd share with you here.

Familiar events and characters... are recombined into new patterns. Like all good spies Ulysses finds a pretty girl to help him ... but is she more of a hindrance? Is our heroine really our villainess in disguise? This is the question people are being asked to vote on at the end of the second part, to be picked up in Time's Arrow: White Noise.

Jonathan has taken a relatively new idea: that you need to be engaged with your audience by making things interactive, and combined it with traditions of the chose your own adventure genre. We're given the main body of the story, but we get to chose how to interpret the events and thus set the course for the next section of the book. And it's hard; a fortnight after reading part two I have no idea how to vote.

You can read the full review here, and pick up your own copy of Time's Arrow: Black Swan here.

Steampunk Thursday: Black Swan voting now open

Details for how to vote for your preferred story ending to Time's Arrow: Black Swan are now up on Abaddon Books' Facebook page.

Basically it's like this. Once you've read the second eBook in the eBook trilogy that will ultimately become Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow, head over to the Abaddon Facebook page and post 'A' or 'B' after the status update that starts 'WHAT WILL COME OF OUR DASHING HERO NEXT?'

Or, alternatively, you can email your choice of 'A' or 'B' to abaddonsolaris@rebellion.co.uk.

You have until 25 June 2012 to cast your vote.

"Anarchists, cybernetic silverbacks and a rather special bicycle."

Black Swan - the first review!

Black Swan (the second part of my latest Pax Britannia novel Time's Arrow) had been out officially for less than 24 hours when this review appeared online, courtesy of The Eloquent Page. I particularly liked this bit:

I’ve come to rely on Pax Britannia for full on steampunk inspired adventure where just about anything can, and often does, happen. Insect-obsessed anarchists, cybernetically-enhanced silverbacks, and a rather special bicycle are just a few of the delights on display in this case.

Black Swan suffers the unenviable task of being the middle book in what is effectively a trilogy. The author has to try and keep the story moving forward, while ensuring that the pace never flags for a moment. I’m pleased to say he pulls it off, and I will be waiting with baited breath for the final instalment of this episodic e-novel.

Pablo Cheesecake was first off the blocks with Red-Handed (Time's Arrow Part 1) too.

Remember, you can pick up your digital copy of Black Swan here, and maybe your review could be the second one. ;-)

Time's Arrow: Black Swan - released today!

That's right, it's the news fans of Pax Britannia and Ulysses Quicksilver have been waiting to hear, today Black Swan (Part 2 of my latest steampunk action thriller) is available to download from iTunes and the Kindle stores in both the UK and the US.

Here's the blurb from the Abaddon Books website.

Time’s Arrow:

Black Swan

by Jonathan Green

Available from Amazon Kindle Store and iTunes from Monday 7th May

An exclusive ebook release and an intriguing publishing experiment

The caper is afoot, but where it leads only YOU decide! The latest instalment of the exciting new novel from Abaddon, Pax Britannia: Time’s Arrow, is coming!

In a unique publishing experiment, readers themselves get to decide on the fate of our hero Ulysses and where the Time’s Arrow story will take them.

Our hero Ulysses Quicksilver – wanted by the French Police for murder – battles his way across Paris, from the Louvre to Notre Dame, in order to prove his innocence. Readers have been voting online on where they want the story to go and they overwhelmingly voted for Ulysses to go in search of the mysterious "M. Lumière”.

Time’s Arrow puts the reader in charge and merges the best of print and online. Each instalment is published as an ebook with readers able to vote on where THEY want the story to go at the end of each episode. The first installment, Red Handed, was published in October and once all three instalments have been published, they will be bound together into a print edition.

“Lashings of derring-do, sprinkled with just the right amount of plot development to keep a reader hungry for more.”

– The Eloquent Page on Time’s Arrow: Red Handed

In case you haven't picked up Time's Arrow Part 1 - a.k.a. Red-Handed - it's not too late. You can do so here, and while you're pondering your purchase, here's a pleasing review of Part 1 too. (If you catch my meaning.)

It's tough to review this first instalment of the new Pax Britannia book fairly, since it is only the first third of the story. On top of that, not only do I, as a reader, not know where the story is going next, neither does the author: this instalment ends on a cliffhanger, and readers can go to the publisher's web site to vote on which way they think the story should go next. The second instalment will have a similar vote, and only after the third part is published as an ebook will the whole thing be released as a complete novel.

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 instalment (which is why I was willing to skip ahead in the series). And now I've got some time to get caught up!


Thanks, Penelopecat!

Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow - Black Swan is coming...

State of Play

So it's just over two months since I posted this, and I thought it timely to update you on my progress in certain quarters.

Back at the start of the year I challenged myself to complete 12 projects during 2012. The trouble is, by the end of February I had already completed six. Some of them are only short, but they're all paying gigs. By the end of next week I should have finished another two on top of that.

For those of you who are wondering those six projects are three short stories, the second chunk of Time's Arrow (entitled Black Swan), a magazine feature and a children's book. (It doesn't include the final tweaks I've had to make to Herald of Oblivion either.)

And having had a manic couple of months, the workload for March and beyond is starting to stack up too. I've got the top secret project I'm working on at the moment, two short stories and another new project to get cracking on, that's been on the cards for a while, not to mention preparing pitches for future work.

So what am I doing writing this blog post? Best be off.

Mr Nose meet Mr Grindstone...

Could this be the best review ever?

"Just finished reading Anno Frankenstein... Nazis, Vampires, Werewolves, Time Travel, Steampunk, Mr Hyde, and tons more... Jonathan Green, my good man, you are a fecking genius."

You can order your copy of Anno Frankenstein here.

And in other news, I handed Part 2 of Time's Arrow - Black Swan - to Abaddon's dark editing overlords this very afternoon.

Time's Arrow - Black Swan

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...

Time's Arrow - one week to go!

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.

Time's Arrow - 10 days to go

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.

Two weeks and counting...

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!