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!"

Gamebook Friday: L'Oscurità su Arkham

This arrived at my home today...

L'Oscurità su Arkham (published by Vincent Books*) is the Italian language edition of the first Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook, The Darkness Over Arkham, and a very nice hardback it is too.

It also means that The Darkness Over Arkham is now available in four different languages - English, Spanish, Hungarian, and Italian.

As you can see, L'Oscurità su Arkham varies from the other editions in that is has new cover art. And while the book does not feature any full page illustrations, Vincent Books have commissioned some adventure-specific fillers, including the ones shown below.

Recently, I was interviewed by Riccardo Scaringi for the Il Gioco In Tavolo podcast. During the course of our discussion we talked about Fighting Fantasy as well as exploring the world of Arkham Horror through gamebooks, which you can watch below.

Make sure you pop back tomorrow, because it will be new book day - again!

* Who have also published Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland and The Wicked Wizard of Oz in Italian.

Gamebook Friday: Drácula, la maldición del vampiro

I realise it's been four weeks since I last posted on here, so apologies for the radio silence. Part of the problem is that I've been busy, but also managed to have a brief holiday. But another part of the problem is that while I've been busy working on gamebook projects, I've either not any significant news to pass on, or I'm sitting on significant news that I can't talk about yet.

However, there is one piece of news that I can now share, and that is... Dracula: Curse of the Vampire is coming to Spain, courtesy of Celaeno Books.

Celaeno Books has now announced the Verkami crowdfunding campaign that will fund production of the book, along with a German gamebook called 1888, Who is Jack the Ripper, by M H Steinmetz, and originally published by my German publisher Mantikore-Verlag.

To find out more about this gruesome gothic twosome, click this link.

Another piece of news I can share is that Raven Distribution announced that they will be publishing the Italian language edition of my first Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook The Darkness Over Arkham during PLAY Bologna 2025.

Gamebook Friday: Alice's Nightmare in Italy

Next week I was supposed to be attending PLAY: The Games Festival, held in the Italian city of Modena. The Italian language version of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland was due to launch at the event, and I was going to be signing copies of the book.

As things stand, PLAY has been postponed until the end of May, but I really can't say for certain at this time whether (a) the event will still go ahead, or (b) whether I'll be there.

However, in anticipation of the launch of L'Incubo di Alice nel Paese Delle Meraviglie, I was interviewed for Librograme's Land Magazine. You can read the interview, if you can read Italian, here.

I was also supposed to be giving a talk to The Lewis Carroll Society in London this evening, but, unsurprisingly, it has been cancelled.

In other gamebook-related news, Dracula - Curse of the Vampire now has just four days left to run on Kickstarter and has already passed Stretch Goal #1. Can we reach Stretch Goal #2 before Tuesday lunchtime? If everyone keeps spreading the word, I am sure we can!

I must have been subconsciously influenced by the Coronavirus Pandemic, as there are four places in the adventure where you can pick up infectious diseases!