Happy Deathday, Mr Shakespeare!

Today - Saint George's Day - is William Shakespeare's deathday*, so it seemed like the perfect time to remind gamebook fans that Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come is available to buy now. You can even buy a signed hardback here.

Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu at Anne Hathaway's Cottage
in Shottery, Warwickshire.

However, before the Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come gamebook there was the Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu short story anthology. Check it out here and watch the video below to find out more.

 

* And possibly his birthday as well.

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 - Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come

Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come launches on Kickstarter in just 4 days' time!

If you check out the preview page for the project, you will now find an active link that allows you to read the opening sections of the adventure. Not only that, there is now a handy chart that shows you exactly which rewards come with which pledge levels.

Please share the project page preview far and wide and I'll see you again on Tuesday, when I hope to livestream the Kickstarter launch on Facebook.

Gamebook Friday - Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come is coming to Kickstarter on 23 April 2024

In the eighth ACE Gamebook - Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come - YOU are William Shakespeare, taking on the forces of dread Cthulhu.

“That is not dead which can eternal lie,

And with strange aeons even death may die.”

Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come is a brand new interactive fantasy novel, inspired by the Bard's greatest plays and the eldritch creations of the American pulp horror writer H P Lovecraft. In this adventure gamebook, you choose the course of the story, deciding which route to take, which perils to risk, and which of the monstrous creatures you will meet along the way to fight.

Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come, which will be illustrated throughout by Argentinian artist Heraldo Mussolini, who contributed illustrations, including backer portraits, to Heorot: Roleplaying in the World of Beowulf Beastslayer.

Rewards on offer to backers include signed limited edition collector's hardbacks, custom dice and playing cards, and the chance to appear in one of the illustrations in the book.

I first announced Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come back in 2016, after funding the Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu short story anthology on Kickstarter. At the time I was going to use Patreon as the crowfunding platform for the project but in the end felt that the regular commitment it would have needed would have put me under too much pressure at the time.

Artwork by Nic Wykes.

Fast forward eight years, and here we are, just a few short weeks away from the launch of Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come on Kickstarter. Not only has it been a while since I first announced the adventure, it's also almost three years since I ran the last ACE Gamebooks Kickstarter. I've not been idle in the interim, however, having written several other gamebooks, a couple of RPGs, and YOU ARE THE HERO - An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks.

Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come launches on KickstarterIf on Tuesday 23 April 2024. If you are able to support the Kickstarter, I would really appreciate it if you could back it on Day One so that it gives the project as strong a start as possible. That way, the Kickstarter platform is more likely to give it additional support as well, which will help spread the word. And the more people who get to hear about Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come and support it on Kickstarter, the more impressive everyone's rewards will be.

Gamebook Friday: Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu is coming to Kickstarter

Coming soon...

 

Happy Birthday, Tony Hough!

M'colleague and occasional collaborator, fantasy artist Tony Hough, is 60 years old today!

Tony and I first worked together when Puffin Books commissioned him to illustrate my second Fighting Fantasy gamebook Knights of Doom, for which he also painted the cover.

We spoke for the first time, over the phone, not long after he became a father but didn't meet until some years later at Dragonmeet.

We worked together again when he provided the internal illustrations for Bloodbones, my fourth FF gamebook, which was published by Wizard Books.

I was privileged to visit an exhibition of Tony's art - much of it Warhammer 40K and Fighting Fantasy-related - in his home town of Luton, and he was one of the artists who attended the first Fighting Fantasy Fest in 2014. He has also attended every one since.

Since then Tony has provided a picture for the Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu short story anthology and he illustrated my fourth ACE Gamebook, 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas. He is also the illustrator on the 'TWAS RPG line and our next collaboration will be The Box of Delights RPG.

So please raise a glass to Tony on this, his 60th birthday. May his STAMINA never fail!

Gamebook Friday: ACE, Box, Anubis, and Shakespeare

We're just two and a half weeks away from Christmas and I, for one, haven't started my Christmas shopping yet.

If you have yet to do your Christmas shopping, have you considered buying someone on your present list a digital ACE Gamebooks or ACE Gamebooks Roleplay product this year?

Right now I have a sale on over on DriveThruRPG. You can buy a complete RPG - 'TWAS, one of its supplements, or Heorot - for just £5, while my ACE Gamebooks are just £2 each.

I am also currently running a crowdfunding campaign, over on Gamefound, to pay for more of Tony Hough's amazing artwork for The Box of Delights - The Roleplaying Game. 

But if you're looking for a physical gift to pop in someone's stocking, or put under the tree, how about my new Marvel: Multiverse Missions gamebook Moon Knight: Age of Anubis?

Looking ahead to the New Year, in 2024 I will be crowdfunding the eighth ACE Gamebook, Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come. To sign up to be notified of developments, follow this link.

Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come

Today marks the 400th anniversary of the printing of the First Folio.

Published in 1623, seven years after the death of its author, it was the first printed edition of Shakespeare’s collected plays. Without this achievement, we would have lost half of his dramatic work. 

The 400th birthday of this foundational book seems as good a time as any to announce my next ACE Gamebook which will be coming to Kickstarter next year - Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come.

Some of you may remember the Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu anthology of short stories I edited back in 2016. At the time I teased the gamebook, saying that it would be coming to Patreon. But plans change and now I will be funding production of the book via Kickstarter.

To sign up to be notified of future developments, please click on the image below.

Short Story Saturday: Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu

Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu is an anthology of short stories inspired by the works of Stratford's most famous son and the literary endeavours of cosmic horror master H. P. Lovecraft.

Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu includes stories by the likes of Adrian Tchaikovsky, Graham McNeill, James Lovegrove, Jan Siegel, Andrew Lane, Jonathan Oliver, and John Reppion. So, if you've not already picked up a copy, do so today and treat yourself to what one reviewer called "a fun concept, that delivered on its premise."

And if you have read the book, a review on Amazon is always much appreciated.

Happy Birthday, Mr Shakespeare!

It's that time of year when I like to remind everyone that I edited an anthology of short stories called Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu, back in 2016, featuring tales inspired by the Bard and the literary endeavours of H. P. Lovecraft.

Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu includes stories by the likes of Adrian Tchaikovsky, Graham McNeill, James Lovegrove, Jan Siegel, Andrew Lane, Jonathan Oliver, and John Reppion. So, if you've not already picked up a copy, do so today and treat yourself to what one reviewer called "a fun concept, that delivered on its premise."

And if you have read the book, a review on Amazon is always much appreciated.

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

Having had over 70 books published over the last 28 years, there are a fair few that make particularly suitable Halloween reading. Here are just a few of them...

1897

In the wolf-haunted Carpathian Mountains, a young solicitor, Jonathan Harker, travels to an isolated castle to assist a mysterious Count with purchasing a number of properties in England. But what he witnesses there drives him to the edge of madness…

Meanwhile, in Whitby, Harker’s fiancée, Mina Murray, visits her dear friend Lucy Westenra. But during her stay, Lucy is attacked and becomes seriously ill…

In London, Lucy’s suitor and physician, Dr John Seward, becomes preoccupied with the case of a certain Mr Renfield, an inmate at his lunatic asylum, who seeks to collect lives for his master, having not long returned from a trip to Transylvania…

And so, the pieces for the game are set. For they are all pawns in a plan devised centuries ago by the Voivode of Wallachia, Vlad Tepes, a cruel tyrant whom history remembers as ‘the Son of the Devil’, his bloodthirsty deeds having earned him another name…

Dracula.

*             *             *             *

In Dracula– Curse of the Vampire is an interactive gothic horror novel, in which YOU decide which route to take, which perils to risk, and which of the terrifying creatures you will meet along the way to fight. Play as Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray and Dr John Seward… or even Count Dracula himself. But be warned – whether you succeed in your quest or succumb to the curse of the vampire will be down to the choices YOU make.

But do not tarry, for the dead travel fast.

Dracula– Curse of the Vampire will be the subject of November's Interactive Fiction & Gamebooks Discussion Group (Book Club) . If you would be interesting in finding out more about sixth ACE Gamebook, make sure you join the group now.

An anthologie of fine stories inspir’d by the Bard of Stratford and the Lovecraftian Mythos

Imagine if it had been William Shakespeare, England’s greatest playwright, who had discovered the truth about the Great Old Ones and the cosmic entity we know as Cthulhu, rather than the American horror writer H P Lovecraft.

Imagine if Stratford’s favourite son had been the one to learn of the dangers of seeking after forbidden knowledge and of the war waged between the Elder Gods in the Outer Darkness, and had passed on that message, to those with eyes to see it, through his plays and poetry. Welcome to the world of Shakespearean Cthulhu!

To mark the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, Snowbooks proudly presents fifteen stories of eldritch horror that blend the Bard’s most famous plays with Lovecraft’s most terrifying creations. But before you dip into this curséd tome, be warned – that way madness lies...

“When oblivion comes, it is forever, as endless as the slumber of those beings that lie buried beneath the roots of the world, dreaming in darkness.”

A writer’s research into the legend of the Lambton Worm takes a horrifying twist when he uncovers the true origin of the story: A legend that stirs, knowing the time for its rebirth is near.

A chilling tale of the Cthulhu mythos, written by award-winning author Jonathan Green.

"What horror dwells behind its peeling paint façade and lifeless windows?"

A young mother, struggling after the birth of her second child, starts to question her sanity when the appearance of an unwanted childhood toy rekindles unwelcome nightmares.

A chilling tale written by award-winning author Jonathan Green.