Gamebook Friday: JG at Play Bologna

I will be attending PLAY: Festival del Gioco in Bologna this weekend. I will be arriving in Italy on Friday and hope to be able to pop in briefly that evening. However, I will be at the event all day Saturday, signing books at the Raven Distribution stand as well as taking part in these two events:

4pm - The Lone Wolf Award

5pm - Green's Mind: Descent Into Horror

I will also be at the Raven Distribtion stand on Sunday, signing books - specifically the new Italian editions of The Darkness Over Arkham and Neverland: Here Be Monsters! - although I hope to get the chance to have a look at Bologna as well.

So, if you're going to be at PLAY: Festival del Gioco, do stop the Raven Distribution stand and say, "Ciao!"

Gamebook Friday: My Most Popular ACE Gamebooks

I regularly check Amazon to see how my books are rating*. For a long time, I thought that RONIN 47 was one of my most popular ACE Gamebooks because, although it didn't have a lot of reviews, almost all of them were 5 stars. However, in my obsession with the only sci-fi ACE Gamebook to date, I had failed to notice that some of the older titles in the series were even more popular.

This prompted me to make a proper comparison. As well as looking at the average rating out of 5 on Amazon.co.uk, I considered how many ratings a title had received. So, gamebooks with the same average rating would be differentiated by how many people had rated each one.

The results may surprise you - they certainly surprised me!

ACE Gamebooks ranked by Amazon ratings:

1) NEVERLAND: Here Be Monsters! - 4.9/5 based on 46 ratings

2) 'TWAS: The Krampus Night Before Christmas - 4.9/5 based on 32 ratings

3) RONIN 47 - 4.9/5 based on 24 ratings

4) Dracula: Curse of the Vampire - 4.8/5 based on 96 ratings

5) Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come - 4.7/5 based on 5 ratings

6) Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland - 4.6/5 based on 181 ratings

7) The Wicked Wizard of Oz - 4.4/5 based on 67 ratings

8) Beowulf Beastslayer - 4.4/5 based on 60 ratings

I then wondered how ratings on Amazon compared with those on Goodreads, which gave quite a different result.

ACE Gamebooks ranked by Goodreads ratings:

1) Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come - 5/5 based on 2 ratings

2) Beowulf Beastslayer - 4.45/5 based on 11 ratings

3) Dracula: Curse of the Vampire - 4.37/5 based on 41 ratings

4) The Wicked Wizard of Oz - 4.18/5 based on 28 ratings

5) 'TWAS: The Krampus Night Before Christmas - 4.15/5 based on 27 ratings

6) Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland - 3.96/5 based on 334 ratings

7) NEVERLAND: Here Be Monsters! - 3.95/5 based on 19 ratings

8) RONIN 47 - 3.5/5 based on 6 ratings

Whenever I attend an event, people often single out one particular ACE Gamebook as being their favourite. However, what is pleasing is that each adventure is somebody's favourite. I wonder how many people will pick 100 Aker Wood as their favourite when it is published next year?

Maybe I should rank my various Fighting Fantasy gamebooks by popularity next?

* If you have read/played and enjoyed one of my ACE Gamebooks, please do post a review online, and on Amazon if you can.

Gamebook Friday - JG to attend PLAY: Festival del Gioco

I will be attending PLAY: Festival del Gioco in Bologna, Italy, from Friday 22nd - Sunday 24th May 2026. I will be there as the guest of Vincent Books, who publish the Italian editions of the ACE Gamebooks series.

Talking of which, available for the first time at the event will be NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! - which has a new title, I Mostri Dell'Isola Che Non C'è, and a new cover...

I love this image!

Two new covers, in fact!

It's great to see another piece of Kev Crossley's art on the cover of the special edition.

I will be signing copies of my ACE Gamebooks - including the Italian editions of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland and The Wicked Wizard of Oz - as well as the recently released L'Oscurità su Arkham.

So, if you're going to be at PLAY: Festival del Gioco, do stop the Raven Distribution stand and say, "Ciao!"

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!

Gamebook Friday: Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Yes, it's that time again - it's Talk Like a Pirate Day!

So I would just like to remind you that my Dinosaurs Vs. Pirates Vs. the End of the World ACE Gamebook NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! is available to buy now, either as a physical paperback or as a PDF.

ACE Gamebooks news from Sweden and Poland

First up today, I am thrilled to announce that Swedish company Sound Realms (who are currently crowdfunding The Fortress of Death on Kickstarter) and ACE Gamebooks are collaborating to bring you Dracula: Curse of the Vampire the audio adventure!

Sound Realms are very proud and excited to announce a collaboration with ACE Gamebooks and author Jonathan Green to create an audio adventure version of Dracula: Curse of the Vampire (2021) for the Sound Realms platform. 

Oscar Carlquist: "We are very pleased to present the next upcoming addition to Sound Realms and I can't wait to start creating some truly haunting and immersive soundscapes for Dracula: Curse of the Vampire. The interactive gamebook version of Bram Stoker's classic is masterfully written by Jon Green and taking this into the audio realm will be as much of an honour as a challenge that we here at Sound Realms are ready to embrace with enthusiasm and dedication!"

Jonathan Green: "I am thrilled that Sound Realms are turning Dracula: Curse of the Vampire into the first audio ACE Gamebook and can't wait to hear how they bring the horror to life through the use of soundscapes and top-notch voice talent. It's going to be bloodcurdlingly brilliant!"

Secondly, NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! is now available in Poland, from Muduko.

Thirsty for adventure? We invite you to Neverland, where as shipwreck survivor Wendy Darling, the mechanical avenger Peter Pan, the fearless hunter Tiger Lily or the ruthless pirate Captain Hook, you will discover many of the island's secrets and face nightmarish monsters!

In this gamebook, you make choices for your characters, discovering dark paths leading to many different endings. NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! is another part of the paragraph series of books by Jonathan Green, which is inspired by the classics of children's literature.

Also available, but only from the publisher's own webstore, is a special edition of the book that comes with dice, a bookmark, a pencil and a game bag.

European Day of Languages 2023

Today is the European Day of Languages so it seems like a good time to share some of the foreign language editions of my books. Specifically my ACE Gamebooks.

Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland

The Wicked Wizard of Oz

NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!

Beowulf Beastslayer and 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas

Dracula - Curse of the Vampire

There are more foreign languages editions coming, including Brazilian and French editions of Dracula - Curse of the Vampire, Hungarian editions of Beowulf Beastslayer and RONIN 47, the Czech edition of RONIN 47, and the Spanish language version of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day

As it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day, it seems like a good time to remind everyone that in the ACE Gamebook NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! you can play as pirate Captain Hook himself.

You can buy the book through Amazon or the PDF through DriveThruRPG.

Arrrrr! 

Gamebook Friday: The Jolly Roger lands in Poland this autumn

Coming soon from Muduko, the Polish publisher of ACE Gamebooks...

The cover art is by Elwira Pawlikowska and you can see more of her art here.

Gamebook Friday: Les Contes tordus de Green

Which I believe translates as 'Green's Twisted Tales', which is about right.

Last year, Alkonost Editions ran a crowdfunding campaign to produce eleven gamebooks. Three of those were ACE Gamebooks and they were released earlier this year. My author copies arrived last Saturday, and they look great!

I particularly like how the character icons appear on the Adventure Sheets, where appropriate, along with the instructions linked to them. That's an idea I might borrow for future ACE Gamebook releases.

The fourth volume is a translation of the 'Making of' chapters from the hardback editions of the three gamebooks, and features designer's notes and the preliminary sketches by Kev Crossley and Russ Nichoslon.

If you are a French-speaker, a Francophile, or simply a collector of ACE Gamebooks, you can find out more about the French editions here, and pick them up from sites such as Amazon.fr.

The title Alkonost Editions will be translating next is Dracula: Curse of the Vampire, to be released some time in 2024.

Gamebook Friday: Extra! Extra!

Ever since I crowdfunded the first ACE Gamebook, Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, back in 2015, I have tried to offer backers on Kickstarter something extra. In the case of Alice, this was my first deck of themed playing cards (which, along with bespoke dice, went on to become a feature of the series), and the first themed All Rolled Up*.

The Wicked Wizard of Oz had bookmarks that allowed you to play as different characters, including two bonus characters - the Wicked Witch of the West and the Wizard himself.

NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! had some rather cool extras, if I do say so myself. Not only was there a cloth map of Neverland, there was also a soundtrack album, of sorts.

I upped the ante with Beowulf Beastslayer, offering backers miniatures of Beowulf and Grendel, who have been joined by Grendel's Mother, since the Heorot RPG also funded on Kickstarter.

'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas offered backers the chance to purchase some Krampus Kards, rather than the traditional Christmas cards.

High level backers of the Dracula: Curse of the Vampire Kickstarter received their books in a wooden coffin, along with a stake pencil, wrapped in black tissue paper bearing the seal of the House of Dracula.

My most recent ACE Gamebooks Kickstarter, that funded production of RONIN 47, gave people the chance to buy some posters of Neil Googe's awesome artwork (coloured by Len O'Grady), as well as the usual art prints.

I'm still deliberating as to what the next ACE Gamebook will be, but rest assured that I will look for some unusual angle when it comes to what rewards I can offer to those people who support my crowdfunding projects.

* The last project to feature one of these was TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas.