My Top Ten Book Covers

I'm not normally a Top Ten short of person. I certainly don't have a favourite anything*. But having seen people posting pictures of covers of books that have been important to them over the year, I decided to challenge myself to select my ten favourite covers of the books I have had published to date**.

Before I start, I should point out that this is not to denigrate the work of some fabulous artists I've been fortunate enough to work with over the years, it's just that sometimes some images have a greater impact than others, or turn out even better than expected and completely sell the book.

So here, in no particular order - other than chronologically - are my Top Ten Book Covers***.

1) Curse of the Mummy, art by Martin McKenna (1995)
It's ancient Egypt, it's Martin McKenna (his first full cover for a Fighting Fantasy gamebook), and it's beautiful.

2) The Dead and the Damned, art by Clint Langley (2002)
I was very proud of my first novel, whatever the critics might have said, and I loved the cover even more. Just look at it - it's just so detailed! And check out all those skeletons! I'd been a fan of Clint Langley's since seeing his work in 2000AD so when I discovered he would be producing the art for my first Warhammer novel, I was delighted!

3) Bloodbones, art by Martin McKenna (2006)
It's Martin again and it's the undead pirate captain himself. What's not to love?

4) Pax Britannia: Dark Side, art by Mark Harrison (2010)
This is just such an arresting image, an homage to a classic sci-fi movie, and has the Moon as a human skull. (I've just realised that skulls regularly feature among my favourite book covers, but then I do have Yorick's sitting on my desk.)

5) YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, art by Martin McKenna (2014)
My fiftieth published book was something a bit special, for all sorts of reasons, not least because of the fantastic wraparound cover Martin produced for it, featuring a veritable horde of villains and monsters from the classic gamebook series.

6) Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, art by Kev Crossley (2015)
The first of my ACE Gamebooks series, published before there was an ACE Gamebooks series, what I love about this cover is the way Kev produced such a fantastic homage to John Tenniel's illustration of Alice and the Cheshire Cat, while also setting the tone for the whole adventure.

7) Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu, cover design by Emma Barnes (2016)
This cover may only use manipulated stock imagery but it sends a very clear message to potential readers that says, "This book does exactly what it says on the tin."

8) The Wicked Wizard of Oz, art by Kev Crossley (2017)
What I love about this cover is the image of Oz itself (for that is what it is) and the way Kev brought the entity to life.

9) Scrooge and Marley (Deceased): The Haunted Man, art by Garen Ewing (2017)
I've been an admirer of Garen Ewing's ligne claire style of drawing for years, so when he agreed to produce the cover illustration for my sequel to Dickens' A Christmas Carol, it was another thing ticked off my bucket list.

10) NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!, art by Kev Crossley (2019)
And so we come to my most recently-published book (as of writing), which features a fully painted cover by Kev this time, featuring one of Kev's favourite things to draw - a dinosaur!

So three of my favourite book covers feature artwork by Martin McKenna, and three artwork by Kev Crossley. Honourable mentions must go to the new edition of the German language version of my first Pax Britannia novel Unnatural History****, and Maria Paolo's cover art for the Argentinian translation of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland.

* As in Favourite Book, Favourite Movie, Favourite TV Show.

** I'm not including covers of anthologies I've been published in, but anthologies I've edited are fair game. And books that haven't been published yet are ineligible for inclusion.

*** Valid for today only.

**** Apologies to the artist, for I don't know who they are.

Pax Britannia Needs YOU!

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.

Ulysses Quicksilver, Hero of the Empire!

Ulysses Quicksilver and his various adventures have inspired a number of artists to produce their take on the character. The latest of them is Kit Cox who recently produced a portrait of the Hero of the Empire and another of Ulysses' loyal sidekick Nimrod, the bare-knuckle boxing butler.

Simon Parr (a.k.a. Pye Parr) has produced several pictures of Ulysses and Nimrod as well. Here are just a few of them.

And then there's Pax Britannia cover artist Mark Harrison's take on the character, most easily seen on the cover of Anno Frankenstein.

There are also a growing number of illustrations of masked vigilante Spring-Heeled Jack. The most recent is by that gentleman caricaturist Kit Cox again but Mark Harrison also produced a portrait of the character back when I was writing Evolution Expects.

Anno Frankenstein caption competition

A while ago* I ran a mini-competition to choose a motto for the Frankenstein Corps, as featured in the imminently-arriving Anno Frankenstein.

Simon Parr's design for the Corps' logo already has a motto (which translates as 'Waste Not, Want Not') but a number of inventive individuals came up with their own suggestions.

I've now, finally, drawn up a shortlist and I'm giving you a week to vote for the one you like best, via the poll that you'll find at the top of this blog. And whoever you choose as the winner will receive the following unique** prize.

So, click on the caption you like best and on 5 May I'll announce the winner - at long, long last.

* Far too long ago, to be honest.

** And it really is unique. Nobody else is going to be receiving one of these Anno Frankenstein puzzles featuring Mark Harrison's cover artwork.

Never judge a book by its cover - unless it happens to be a Pax Britannia novel

Jamie Fry (of Fighting Fantasy Collector fame) contacted me via my forum yesterday to let me know that Pax Britannia: Dark Side is featured in the latest issue of SciFiNow magazine.

I duly wandered down to my local branch of WHSmith this morning, picked up a copy, turned to the Library section and discovered this...

A full page about Dark Side and the impact its cover makes! Full credit must go to Mark Harrison (cover artist) and Simon Parr (designer), for the point of the piece is how the fantastic cover (a gruesome homage to Georges Méliès A Trip to the Moon) made Senior Staff Writer Jodie Tyley pick up the book in the first place and discover the whole Pax Britannia series.

From personal experience I know that this particular cover has created no like controversy. Mr Harrison's wife hated it (and my wife's not too keen), whereas plenty of people at the SFX Weekender loved it (as does my son), so much so that the book sold out during the course of the weekend.

Anyway, at the end of the article, you are invited to discuss your feelings about the Pax Britannia series over at the SciFiNow forum, which you can find here.

The Dark Side cover is certainly my favourite to date out of all the Pax Britannia covers. The challenge now is to come up with something equally inspiring for the cover artist of the next book in the series.

What about a steampunk King Kong...?

Pax Britannia: Dark Side - SFRevu's best cover of the month

Ever since it was first released, Mark Harrison's fantastic cover for Pax Britannia: Dark Side (that pays homage to Georges Méliès Le voyage dans la Lune) has caused a bit of a stir. Some hate it (or rather are disturbed by it), but most love it.

And science fiction and fantasy review site SFRevu loved it so much they proclaimed it best cover of the month!

Anno Frankenstein

I'm almost onto the home straight now with Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein and it is proving to be - quite literally - a monster!

But while I'm busy bringing death and destruction to wartime Germany, I thought you might like to see the re-designed cover for the book, which brings it into line with the new look for the series (as begun with The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus and continued through Pax Britannia: Dark Side).

Cover art is by Mark Harrison, with cover design by Simon Parr.

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!

Dark Side

What's all this about? Well click here to find out.

Image copyright Rebellion developments (c) 2009, used here with permission, all rights reserved.

Evolution Expects - the cover revealed

And a nasty piece of work it is too. Here, see for yourself...

Of course, when I say it's a nasty piece of work, I mean it's another fantastic piece of work from esteemed Abaddon artist Mark Harrison, but even I have to admit that the cover image is rather... well... unpleasant.

But that's nothing compared to what Mark's wife thought of it - and then my wife pointed out that I was the one who had come up with the image in the first place!

To find out more about the poor tortured soul who appears on the cover of Evolution Expects, you'll have to wait until April 2009, I'm afraid, when the fifth book in the Pax Britannia series will be released in the UK (the US release date is still to be confirmed).

And for those of you who've been paying attention to earlier posts, here's Mark's concept rough for the final cover design.

Expect the unexpected

Having put Human Nature to bed, I'm now preparing to get started on my tenth - yes, tenth! - novel, the fourth of Ulysses Quicksilver's Pax Britannia adventures and the culmination of the first story arc. (Yes, there is a master plan behind the whole thing!)

And it's not only me who's been getting ready for the next alternative history Victorian-esque action thriller; ace Abaddon cover artist Mark Harrison has as well. He's produced four cover roughs for the next book Evolution Expects (out April 2009), featuring three very different characters from the book.

The powers that be at Abaddon Books and myself have mulled over Mark's designs, throwing ideas back and forth, and have settled on one, but I won't say which one just yet. However, I can give you a glimpse of each of the four cover concepts. (Mark's comments spoken by the various characters had me in stitches!)

On top of that, Mark has produced a concept sketch for one of the characters from the book which is phenomenal - good enough to be a cover all by itself, as it stands! And in time I hope to reveal more here, but again, not just yet.

In the meantime, it's certainly going to help me when it comes to having some visual reference when I come to write the relevant sections of the book.

So cheers, Mark!

Important note: Abaddon Books, the Pax Britannia setting, all text and artwork from the novels are © & ™ Rebellion A/S and reproduced here with kind permission.

Human Nature - the horror revealed!

Today I am pleased to unveil the cover for my next Pax Britannia adventure Human Nature, which is out this December from Abaddon Books.



Cover artist Mark Harrison has done a sterling job once again and, as a result, the cover conveys the Cthulhu-esque horror at the heart of the story whilst not giving too much away. I know that they say you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover but you can in this case you can; it's horror, horror, horror all the way.

Oh, and there's a great big gribbly beastie's in there too.