May the Fourth be with you, Alice.

Did you know, that in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice dreams that the day she visits Wonderland is May the Fourth?

In Chapter 6, Pig and Pepper, Alice decides to visit the March Hare instead of the Hatter, her reasoning being:
“I’ve seen hatters before,” she said to herself; “the March Hare will be much the most interesting, and perhaps as this is May it won’t be raving mad – at least not so mad as it was in March.” 

In Chapter 7, A Mad Tea-Party, the Hatter asks Alice:
“What day of the month is it?” Alice considered a little, and then said, “The fourth.”

Alice Pleasance Liddell, who was Lewis Carroll’s inspiration for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and was also the recipient of the first version of the book, was born on May 4th, 1852. Carroll filled the story with all sorts of references to people and places and things that Alice would recognise, and the birthday shout-out is the perfect example.

So why not celebrate Alice Liddell's birthday (which also just happens to be Star Wars Day) by picking up a copy of either Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland or the Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland Colouring Book?

May the Fourth be with you

Five years ago my first (and so far only) Star Wars adventure gamebook, Crisis on Coruscant, was published. And it's still available today to buy on Amazon.

Hmm... I wonder which one I'll go for...

May the 4th be with you

Public Lending Right loans - 2012/2013

This is the seventh year I've done this, so let's get started...

Here's the list of my top ten most library loaned books for July 2012 - June 2013 (with last year's placing in brackets):

1. (2) Monstrous Missions (Feb 12)

2. (1) The Horror of Howling Hill (Mar 08)

3. (-) The Night Before Twistmas (Sep 12)
4. (3) Crisis on Coruscant (Jan 10)
5. (-) Moshi Music Stars (Jan 13)
6. (4) Stormslayer (Sep 09)
7. (-) Zack Binspin (Mar 13)
8. (-) Resurrection Engines (Sep 12)
9. (6) Night of the Necromancer (Apr 10)
10. (5) Howl of the Werewolf (Sep 07)

Interestingly - from my point of view anyway - my most borrowed book this year wasn't my most lucrative, because I share the proceeds from loans for Monstrous Missions with Gary Russell who wrote the other story that appears in the book. That means that The Horror of Howling Hill is my highest earning loaner for the fifth year running.

The new big earners for me this last year were my Moshi Monster books, and with more registered since July 2013, I'm hoping this is a trend that will continue next year.

Despite not having had a new Fighting Fantasy gamebook published since 2010 (four years ago this April!) they still prove popular with library borrowers. For some reason Stormslayer is still my most borrowed FF gamebook, even though I feel that both Howl of the Werewolf and Night of the Necromancer are better. But here's now all seven compare with each other.

1. Stormslayer (Sep 09)
2. Night of the Necromancer (Apr 10)
3. Howl of the Werewolf (Sep 07)
4. Curse of the Mummy (Oct 95)
5. Spellbreaker (Jun 93)
6. Bloodbones (Sep 06)
7. Knights of Doom (Jun 94)

My Pax Britannia books appear to be just as popular with library goers as they are with Steampunk convention attendees (even though they've been bumped out of the Top Ten by my Moshi Monster books) although it's interesting to see Human Nature jump to the Number One slot, at least as far as Ulysses Quicksilver's adventures are concerned.

1. Human Nature (Dec 08)
2. Time's Arrow (Nov 12)
3. Evolution Expects (May 09)
4. Leviathan Rising (Mar 08)
5. Anno Frankenstein (May 11)
6. Dark Side (Oct 10)
7. Blood Royal (Jun 10)
8. Unnatural History (Feb 07)
9. The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus (Nov 10)

So, which will be the best loaners this time next year? And which new titles will have joined the list? ;-)

Tie-in Tuesday: The Ultimate Spaceship Face-off

I've written for two of the franchises featured in The Ultimate Spaceship Face-off, and I've been a fan of Star Trek for as long as I can remember - not to mention The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - so I found this both entertaining and very interesting. I suspect you will too.

Free Comic Book Day!

May the Fourth be with you, it's Free Comic Book Day*!

So why not join Dan Abnett, Al Ewing, Ben Willsher and 2000AD Judge Dredd legend Ron Smith at the Forbidden Planet store in central London, and celebrate by collecting a free copy of 2000AD?

* It's also Star Wars Day, of course.

Gamebook Friday: 16 and counting...

The first book I ever had published was a gamebook, and my current project is also a gamebook. But, you may be wondering, how many are there in between?

Well here is a comprehensive list of all the gamebooks I've written* to date, by series.


Fighting Fantasy
 

Spellbreaker (1993)
Knights of Doom (1994)
Curse of the Mummy (1995)
Bloodbones (2006)
Howl of the Werewolf (2007)
Stormslayer (2009)
Night of the Necromancer (2010)

Sonic the Hedgehog

Theme Park Panic (1995)
Stormin' Sonic (1996)

Doctor Who













The Horror of Howling Hill (2008)

Star Wars The Clone Wars













Crisis on Coruscant (2010)

Gamebook Adventures

Temple of the Spider God (2011)
Codename: Crusader (TBA)

Warlock's Bounty

Revenge of the Sorcerer (2012)

Path to Victory

Herald of Oblivion (2012)
Shadows Over Sylvania (2013)



* Or am in the process of writing.

Gamebook Friday: Die Coruscant-Krise

I stumbled across this on Amazon the other day* and until then I had no idea that my Star Wars The Clone Wars gamebook Crisis on Coruscant had been translated into German.

 

Flicking through the book I came across this passage, and it made me smile how much of the sentence I could understand.

Lehnst du dankend ab und wendest den Landgleiter, um eine alternative Route zu Jabbas Palast durch das Nörd-liche Dünenmeer einzuschlagen, geht es weiter bei 92.

 

As you can tell, I just had to order myself a copy. :-)


* No, seriously.

Public Lending Right loans - 2011/2012

Yes, it's that time of year again. The votes are in and have been counted and verified...

For those of you who may be interested, here's the list of my top ten most borrowed books for July 2011 - June 2012 (with last year's placing in brackets):

1. (1) The Horror of Howling Hill (Mar 08)

2. (-) Monstrous Missions (Feb 12)
3. (2) Crisis on Coruscant (Jan 10)
4. (5) Stormslayer (Sep 09)
5. (6) Howl of the Werewolf (Sep 07)
6. (3) Night of the Necromancer (Apr 10)
7. (20) Dark Side (Oct 10)
8. (13) Evolution Expects (Feb 10)
9. (11) What is Myrrh Anyway? (Oct 08)
10. (24) Anno Frankenstein (May 11)

The Horror of Howling Hill was borrowed almost 800 times less than 2010-2011 but my first Doctor Who book is still my top grossing title. Second is my second Doctor Who book Monstrous Missions (but I share the PLR money on this title with Gary Russell). And then third is my Star Wars The Clone Wars gamebook Crisis on Coruscant. It's a times like this that you really appreciate the opportunities that writing tie-in fiction brings.

Fighting Fantasy continues to make a strong showing (with Stormslayer rising another place up the rankings, having done the same thing last year) and the placing of three Pax Britannia titles in the top ten really reflects the growing popularity of my premier steampunk series.

So what will next year bring? Some Moshi Monster titles in the top ten? More Pax Britannia? The Horror of Howling Hill still at #1? We'll just have to wait and see...

My Top 3 most borrowed books 2011-2012

My Top 3 most borrowed Fighting Fantasy gamebooks 2011-2012

 My Top 3 most borrowed Pax Britannia novels 2011-2012

Tie-in Thursday: Duel of the Fates (the sing-along version)

Seeing as how Tuesday was Steampunk day, Thursday is the new Tie-in Fiction day (for this week anyway).



Thanks to Sarah Cawkwell for this. I think what makes it so funny is John Williams' serious expression throughout.

Tie-in Tuesday: Star Wars The Early Years

Cello Wars

May the Fourth be with you

Happy Star Wars day!

Just in case you didn't know, a couple of years ago I wrote a couple of Star Wars books, for a younger audience, connected to the Clone Wars saga.


The first was my Star War The Clone Wars Decide Your Destiny adventure Crisis on Coruscant.

The Galactic Senate is under attack! As Padawan to Jedi Master Shaak Ti, your mission is to rescue Chancellor Palpatine, then find out who is responsible for the plot. Your adventure will take you from the depths of the underlevels on Coruscant, to the Great Mesra Plateau and Jabba the Hutt’s Palace on Tatooine. Will you prove yourself worthy of your Jedi training or turn to the dark side when the going gets tough?

Here's what one reviewer had to say about the book:

Better than the other Decide Your Destiny books, this is written by someone who worked on some Fighting Fantasy titles, and it shows that they have experience in this format. There's a story that runs through the book and various parts branch off and eventually come back to the main line (although sometimes slightly to the side). This is in contrast to the other DYD books which often go off on wildly different courses and lack coherence...

As to the content, it again is a cut above the other DYD books - a storyline that involves Jabba, Ventress and Ziro and feels like it could almost be made into a Clone Wars episode, unlike the other forgettable DYD books.

This is definitely the pick of the bunch.

The second was something slightly different. It was a book I wrote for Penwizard, in which the reader is cast as either a Sith or Jedi character on a mission to fulfil the Palawa prophecy known as The Way of the Warrior, is now available to buy through my Amazon store.

To find out more about this book - and why the review below gave it 5 stars! - click here.

A book that contains your child's name and likeness goes down a treat.

The new release "The Way Of The Warrior" is now at bedtime hit and I am only allowed to read these!

This Star wars title is excellent. A choice of Jedi or Sith, The customised character appears throughout the story alongside iconic figures such as Yoda, Anakin and Count Dooku.

The book is personalised by selecting facial features along with hair style and colour to create a likeness to your child. Kids love being able to "see" themselves in a story with their favourite characters.

That reminds me, I must get round to ordering a copy of The Way of the Warrior for myself...

To George, Love Steve

Believe it or not, there was a time when Jaws was more popular than Star Wars. However, when the SF phenomenon overtook the world’s most fearsome killer fish in the theatres, director Steven Spielberg published a congratulatory open letter to George Lucas in the December 2nd, 1977 issue of Variety.

Enjoy...

Public Lending Right loans - 2010/2011

So my Public Lending Right statement for the year July 2010 to June 2011 arrived today, informing me how many people have borrowed my books from libraries in that time. For each loan I earn a few pence - a mount which is steadily decreasing due to government cuts.

For those of you who may be interested, here's the list of my top ten most borrowed books for July 2010 - June 2011 (with last year's placing in brackets):

1. (1) The Horror of Howling Hill (Mar 08)

2. (4) Crisis on Coruscant (Jan 10)

3. (-) Night of the Necromancer (Apr 10)

4. (-) Blood Royal (Jun 10)

5. (6) Stormslayer (Sep 09)

6. (3) Howl of the Werewolf (Sep 07)

7. (2) The Official Doctor Who Annual 2010 (Aug 09)

8. (10) Bloodbones (Sep 06)

9. (6) Curse of the Mummy (Apr 07)

10. (-) Bloodbones (Sep 06)*

The Horror of Howling Hill

my most borrowed book for the third year running!

* In case you're wondering, Bloodbones appears twice on the list because it is registered as two different editions.

Crisis on Coruscant - a great review!

I've not seen many reviews of Crisis on Coruscant so I was delighted to stumble upon this one the other day:

Better than the other Decide Your Destiny books, this is written by someone who worked on some Fighting Fantasy titles, and it shows that they have experience in this format. There's a story that runs through the book and various parts branch off and eventually come back to the main line (although sometimes slightly to the side). This is in contrast to the other DYD books which often go off on wildly different courses and lack coherence.

Endings are fairly logical unlike in some of the other DYD books. Also, the online portion is thankfully unnecessary.

As to the content, it again is a cut above the other DYD books - a storyline that involves Jabba, Ventress and Ziro and feels like it could almost be made into a Clone Wars episode, unlike the other forgettable DYD books.

This is definitely the pick of the bunch.

Hi! I'm a writer, and this is what I write...

I had a great time at the UK Games Expo in Birmingham this weekend just gone (thanks and kudos to all concerned for organising such a great event) and met all kinds of people - some who knew about my Fighting Fantasy stuff, some who knew of my Pax Britannia books, and some who didn't know me from Adam*.

So, bearing that in mind, if you're one of those people who picked up a bookmark or a postcard and thought you'd check out the websites listed there, first of all "Hi!" Second of all, I'm a writer and have been for almost 19 years, and here's what I write...

Fighting Fantasy
This series of gamebooks is where my writing career began and to date I've written seven Fighting Fantasy titles. Howl of the Werewolf topped a recent fan survey as the fan favourite whilst my most recent, Night of the Necromancer, has garnered great reviews from all over the place.

Black Library
I've written six novels in total for the Black Library - three Warhammer and three 40K, two of which have recently been re-issued as The Armageddon Omnibus. To date I have also written sixteen short stories set within the two Games Workshop universes.

Pax Britannia
I've recently started writing the eighth Ulysses Quicksilver adventure, which - along with the six novellas I've written - will bring my contribution to the steampunk alternative history sci-fi series I created to close on three quarters of a million words. And that's only the beginning...

Doctor Who
I've recently finished my second official Doctor Who tie-in. The first, The Horror of Howling Hill was a gamebook (of sorts) but Terrible Lizards is a fully-fledged chapter book.

Other tie-in work
I've also written for Star Wars The Clone Wars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Sonic the Hedgehog.

Non-fiction
I've penned four non-fiction books so far (with hopefully more to come) that have been published in different editions around the world. I'm probably most well-known in this field for my Christmas books.

So there you go. And don't forget, if you have any pressing questions you'd like answered about the writing process or the books I've written, you can do so here.

* One of the stars of my latest Pax Britannia release Anno Frankenstein.

Jonathan Green, Author

In case you're new to this blog (having stumbled across it due to the A to Z Blogging challenge or the promotional posts posted in the lead up to the release of Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein), here's a round-up of all the different books I've written.

Fighting Fantasy
This series of gamebooks is where my writing career began and to date I've written seven Fighting Fantasy titles. Howl of the Werewolf topped a recent fan survey as the fan favourite whilst my most recent, Night of the Necromancer, has garnered great reviews from all over the place.

Black Library
I've written six novels in total for the Black Library - three Warhammer and three 40K, two of which have recently been re-issued as The Armageddon Omnibus. To date I have also written sixteen short stories set within the two Games Workshop universes.

Pax Britannia
I'm recently started writing the eighth Ulysses Quicksilver adventure, which - along with the six novellas I've written - will bring my contribution to the steampunk alternative history sci-fi series I created to close on three quarters of a million words.

Doctor Who
I've recently finished my second official Doctor Who tie-in. The first, The Horror of Howling Hill was a gamebook (of sorts) but Terrible Lizards is a fully-fledged chapter book.

Other tie-in work
I've also written for Star Wars The Clone Wars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Sonic the Hedgehog.

Non-fiction
I've penned four non-fiction books so far (with hopefully more to come) that have been published in different editions around the world. I'm probably most well-known in this field for my Christmas books.

So there you go. And don't forget, if you have any pressing questions you'd like answered about the writing process or the books I've written, you can do so here.

O is for Opportunities...

... and making the most of them.

Okay, I'm probably stating the obvious here but you really shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, as the saying goes.

Basically, if you want to make it as a freelancer, you don't turn down any opportunity if you can help it. On occasion I have inevitably had to turn work down due to clashing commitments or a simple (yet cruel) lack of time. But they have been a few close calls where I might have missed out on other opportunities if I hadn't said 'Yes' to an earlier project.

Can you believe I almost missed out on the chance to have Bloodbones published by Wizard Books? Steve Jackson and I first communicated about the possibility over a year before it finally happened but I was planning my wedding at the time and didn't get back to him soon enough. As a result, Sword of the Samurai and Talisman of Fear were re-printed before Bloodbones ever saw the light of day. Thankfully I got a precious second chance and this time seized it with both hands. Who knows, if I hadn't there might never have written Howl of the Werewolf, Stormslayer or Night of the Necromancer.

When I was first commissioned to write my Doctor Who gamebook The Horror of Howling Hill it was supposed to feature Donna Noble and not Martha Jones. Having got my manuscript on in time, Penguin then changed their publishing schedule. If The Horror of Howling Hill was ever to see print I had a matter of days in which to re-write it so that it included Martha and not Donna. I did and as a result got the chance to write a Star Wars The Clone Wars gamebook - Crisis on Coruscant - and my most recent Doctor Who chapter book Terrible Lizards.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that make the most of every opportunity you can because you never know where it might lead.

Crisis on Coruscant - the trailer

It may have been out since January 2010 but I felt Crisis on Coruscant deserved a dedicated promo trailer - and here it is...