Are you ready for The Ghost's Revenge?

I'm told that's how the title of the Danish edition of Night of the Necromancer - GENFÆRDETS HÆVN! - translates, the original being considered too much of a spolier for potential readers.

The fantasically grim cover is by Henrik Exler, who has already produced new cover art for a number of books in the Sværd og Trolddom range.

It's the second time the Wraith Queen has appeared on the cover of an overseas translation, and is an excellent reimagining of Martin McKenna's original illustration.

GENFÆRDETS HÆVN! will be published by Faraos Cigarer on 19th September 2026, to coincide with my visit to Fantasy Festival in Denmark, and will be the third of my Fighting Fantasy gamebooks to be given a Danish makeover.

Genfærdets hævn - The Ghost's Revenge!

Currently live on Kickstarter is Genfærdets hævn, which is Danish for 'The Ghost's Revenge' - a.k.a. Night of the Necromancer.

The crowdfunding campaign is being run to fund production of a Danish translation of my seventh Fighting Fantasy gamebook, by publisher Faraos Cigarer, who have already published Danish language editions of Howl of the Werewolf and Secrets of Salamonis.

Danish gamebook author Morten Gottschalck - the man behind the new extended version of Starship Traveller - is handling the translation. As of writing, the Kickstarter is already 92% funded, having only gone live this evening.

I must admit that I have a vested interest in the Kickstarter succeeding, not because I will make an money from it - I won't - but because if it is a success, it could open the door to ACE Gamebooks being published in Danish.

So, if you are a Danish speak yourself, or a hardcore Fighting Fantasy collector, you can pledge your support to the crowdfunding campaign here. And even if you are not planning on backing it yourself, please share the link far and wide.

In other news, the Kickstarter for 100 Aker Wood, the ninth ACE Gamebook, goes live two weeks today on Tuesday 12 May 2026.

Gamebook Friday: JG to attend Fantasy Festival 2026

This autumn, I will be attending Fantasy Festival in Denmark. The event takes place in Esbjerg over the weekend of Saturday 19th - Sunday 20th September 2026.

Here I am, looming over the other Guests of Honour
like some kind of gamebook ghost.

While I am there I will be interviewed by Danish gamebook author and translator Morten Gottschalck, and I will be involved in a quiz as well.

Danish gamebook author and translator Morten Gottschalck.

Not only that, but one of my gamebooks, which has not yet been translated into Danish yet, will be released on Saturday 19th September 2026 - more on that later. So, over the course of the weekend you will find me signing copies of my books at the Faraos Cigarer stand.

Here I am, in one of the Faraos Cigarer shops in Copenhagen
last October when I visited Denmark for the first time.

If you're in Denmark and visiting Fantasy Festival 2026, do pop by and say hello.

If other gamebook-related news, the Japanese language edition of YOU ARE THE HERO: An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks is published today by GroupSNE.

Gamebook Friday: The Kingsport Metamorphosis and other Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebooks

The Kingsport Metamorphosis, my latest Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook, was published on Tuesday and I recieved a copy of it on Thursday.

The Kingsport Metamorphosis, with cover art by Joshua Cairós.

I have had one AHIG published each year since 2024, meaning there are now three in print*.

It struck me the other day that back in 1995, I had three Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks in print and this felt like a real achievement. In fact, when Curse of the Mummy was published, I only had three books published in total.

The Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebooks have come out over the same period of time, but today I am a full time writer and other titles have also been written and published during the last three years, including YOU ARE THE HERO: An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, and the ACE Gamebook Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come.

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"If gamebooks be the food of love, play on."

Antony Johnston, author of Can You Solve The Murder?

Even though The Kingsport Metamorphosis is my 86th published book (not including reprints and omnibuses), I still get excited when I get to hold a copy of one of my books for the first time. I am particularly keen to give The Kingsport Metamorphosis a read myself, to see if I succeeded in what I set out to do with this adventure.

If you have ordered The Kingsport Metamorphosis, or any of my other Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebooks - such as The Darkness Over Arkham, or The Tides of Innsmouth - when you've had the chance to give them a read/playthrough, please do post a review online.

* Three and a half if you include The Magpie and the Bat.

World Octopus Day

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

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

The Terrorsquid, by Jonathan Green.

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

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

Giant Octopus, by Tony Hough.

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

Giant Squid vs. Ghost Whale, by Neil Googe.

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

Kraken, by Heraldo Mussolini.

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

40 Years of The Crown of Kings

2025 marks 40 years since the publication of The Crown of Kings, the final volume of Steve Jackson's seminal gamebook miniseries, Sorcery!

The conclusion of the Sorcery! series starts with the Analander climbing through the Xamen Peaks to reach the Mampang Fortress, and then battle their way through the Archmage’s lair. The Crown of Kings came in at a whopping 800 references (a record yet to be broken by any other Fighting Fantasy gamebook) and was as epic an adventure as any Sorcery! fan could have hoped for. It also featured one of the most memorable (and clever) denouements of any adventure ever published, not to mention encounters with a god-headed Hydra and entire societies of birdmen and she-satyrs.

The God-headed Hydra, by John Blanche.

When pressed on the subject of which of the gamebooks he has written are his favourites, Jackson cites two: “Warlock because it was the first. And Sorcery! because it was the most complex. Creating a four-part adventure in which your actions in Book 2 might affect your choices in Book 4 was a real challenge.”

All four volumes are in print again in the UK, courtesy of Scholastic Books. And all four volumes are also now available in Portuguese, from Brazilian publisher Jambô Editora, including The Crown of Kings, which had previously been available in Brazil.

Rather like the recent Danish editions of the Sorcery! series, the Brazilian ones also come with a unique slipcase.

The Brazilian Sorcery! quartet.

The Danish Sorcery! quartet, plus Spell Book.

Gamebook Friday: Fighting Fantasy Fest 5 Merch

It may be two weeks since Fighting Fantasy Fest 5 took place in London, but you can still pick up your FFF5 merch here.

Also, if you were unable to attend the event - or you did attend, but you would like another one - you can currently pick up this bundle on Ebay.

It includes a copy of the collectible programme and autograph book, the Deathtrap Dungeon lanyard, and two 'greenspine' dice featuring the Fighting Fantasy Fest logo in place of the 6 spot.

Gamebook Wednesday: Upcoming Livestreams

Ken Boyter will be conducting a live playthrough of The Darkness Over Arkham this evening, Wednesday 28th August 2024, at 6:30pm BST on the EdraTales Twitch channel.

And tomorrow night, Thursday 29th August 2024, at 9:30pm BST, Julian Sparrow will be playing through Secrets of Salamonis, the 40th anniversary Fighting Fantasy gamebook I co-wrote with Steve Jackson, on the Babel_17 Twitch channel.

Gamebook Thursday: The Secrets of Salamonis Livestream

Join Julian Sparrow on his Twitch channel at 9:30pm BST tonight, Thursday 22nd August 2024, as he plays through Secrets of Salamonis live!

 

Gamebook Friday: Varulvens hyl

Today sees the publication of Howl of the Werewolf in Danish.

This is the second Fighting Fantasy gamebook of mine that has been published in Denmark, after Secrets of Salamonis was released last year.

Here's hoping that one day Faraos Cigarer will publish a translation of one (or more) of my ACE Gamebooks. Beowulf Beastslayer perhaps?

YOU ARE THE HERO: An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks

YOU ARE THE HERO: An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks is published today by Snowbooks, featuring brand new cover art by none other than Iain McCaig.

Fighting Fantasy gamebooks – the publishing phenomenon of the 1980s – has sold over 20 million books worldwide, in over 30 languages. But when Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone sat down to write the original Fighting Fantasy gamebook, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, they could not have predicted that this one, simple adventure would go on to spawn over 100 titles, let alone begin to guess at the impact it would have on a generation of children growing up in the 80s.

Part history, part celebration, YOU ARE THE HERO chronicles four decades of the Fighting Fantasy phenomenon. Written by Jonathan Green (author of eight Fighting Fantasy gamebooks), this mighty tome will appeal to anyone who ever whiled away a washed-out summer holiday with only two dice, a pencil, and an eraser for company.

As well as updating and revising the text from the original two volumes of YOU ARE THE HERO, there is a significant amount of new content, particularly concerning the 40th anniversary of Fighting Fantasy in 2022.

Not only that, but you can either read the book from cover to cover, or you can read it as a gamebook. Those blue boxes you can see in the sample spread above give you the option of turning to different sections (there are 400 in total) that are in some way related to the paragraphs you have just read.

If you have read the book already, please consider posting a review here.

Gamebook Friday: La Oscuridad Sobre Arkham

The paperback edition of The Darkness Over Arkham, the first Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook, was released in the UK just last week, but it will be out in Spanish, courtesy of Ediciones Minotauro, this September.

There are some other overseas editions of The Darkness Over Arkham in the works, and I will let you know more once all the appropriate Is have been dotted, and the relevant Ts crossed.

In other news, Jambô Editora have recently released the 40th anniversary Fighting Fantasy adventures Shadow of the Giants and Secrets of Salamonis. They have also reprinted the Portuguese language editions of Howl of the Werewolf and Bloodbones.

So, with three ACE Gamebooks now available in Brazil as well, my takeover of the South American gamebook market is proceeding apace...