Gamebook Friday: Vampires - The Dead and the Damned

Unusually,* this week I put out the call on social media for people to tell me what they would like to read in this week's Gamebook Friday blog post. There were a significant number of responses** - everything from where do I get my ideas from to how my approach to Kickstarters has changed over the last 8 years - but the suggestion that piqued my interest came from Ian Reynolds on Facebook who wanted this post to be about "Anything to do with Horror and particular Vampires!"

Since I am currently writing a gamebook about a vampire, I thought it might be fun to go back and look at how vampires have been portrayed in my previous gamebooks. However, before we proceed, I should warn you that this post will include SPOILERS!

Still here? Then let's get started...


Bloodbones (2006)

A vampire bat made an appearance in my second published gamebook, Knights of Doom, but the first full-fledged vampire didn't turn up until my fourth Fighting Fantasy adventure was finally published by Wizard Books in 2006.

Bloodbones was originally commissioned by Puffin Books in 1996. At the time, the publisher was intending to reprint the gamebooks but having edited them all to be only 300 sections long, so that's how long Bloodbones was. However, when Wizard Books agreed to publish it ten years later, they wanted it to be the traditional 400 sections long, so I had to add some new material.***

I did make up some entirely new encounters, including the Rainforest Sprite and the vampiric pirate Jolly Roger. Here is his flag-draped coffin, as illustrated by Tony Hough.


Howl of the Werewolf (2007)

Only a year later, another vampire turned up - or rather, a vampiress - in my gothic horror gamebook, Howl of the Werewolf. This was the Machiavellian Countess Isolde, a.k.a. the Lady of Maun and the illustration of her and her Werebat flunky by Martin McKenna is still one of my favourite images from any of my books.

Temple of the Spider God (2011)

Jump forward four years to 2011 and I was busy writing my contribution to Tin Man Games Gamebook Adventures series of digital interactive fiction apps. This is probably one of the most classically 'fantasy' adventures I have written and one of the encounters contained within it involved an island that was ruled over by a vampire.


Shadows Over Sylvania (2012)

Shadows Over Sylvania, the only Warhammer gamebook I have ever written, is also the most blood-soaked gamebook I have ever written, and is chock full of vampires. The reason for this is that you actually get to play as a vampire and can even choose which vampire bloodline you are from. This ultimately brings you into conflict with the blood-sucking thralls of other vampire factions, most notably at the climax to the adventure.

Good luck getting your hands on a copy of this, if you don't already own one - they are as rare as vegan vampires.

Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland (2015)

2015 saw the publication of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, which kicked off the ACE Gamebooks series.

In it, I re-imagined the well-known characters from not only Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventure in Wonderland but also Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. And when you have an antagonist called the Red Queen, it is not hard to imagine where I went with that...

Here she is, as illustrated by Kev Crossley.


Dracula - Curse of the Vampire (2021)

Which brings me to the book I am currently writing, Dracula - Curse of the Vampire. Dracula is the ultimate vampire story, and I'm hoping that Dracula - Curse of the Vampire. will go down in history as the ultimate gamebook re-telling of the ultimate vampire story.

In the adventure you can either play as one of the Vampire-Hunters who are trying to stop the blood-sucking Transylvanian warlord, or you can play as Count Dracula himself, and try to stop Professor Van Helsing et al. before they stop you.

Dracula - Curse of the Vampire is scheduled to be published next March. If you missed out on the original Kickstarter, you can still place a Late Pledge here.

And remember - the blood is the life!

* In fact I think it was the first time I've ever done this.

** Which may well form the topic of other Gamebook Friday blog posts in the future.

*** Or more accurately, in some cases, re-instated material.

Gamebook Friday: Temple of the Spider God on SALE now!

Over the last few months, I have been writing an adventure set on a remote, tropical island. But a few years ago I wrote an entirely different adventure that reaches its climax on a remote, tropical island.

So, while you're waiting for NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! to see print later this year, why not pick up a copy of Temple of the Spider God? And there really is no better time to do so than now, since it is one of the titles included in Tin Man Games' Humble Bundle Spring Sale.

To find out more, simply click this link. And watch out for the spiders!

Gamebook Friday: Tin Man Games Sale on Now!

Tin Man Games have a sale on at the moment, with many of their gamebook apps reduced by 50% or 60%!

So, if you've yet to pick up Bloodbones, Legacy of Dorn: Herald of Oblivion, Temple of the Spider God, or even The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (which I also worked on) now would seem to be the perfect time!

NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! launches on Kickstarter on 2nd November

The Kickstarter for my latest ACE Gamebook launches at midnight tonight!

If you've read Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland or The Wicked Wizard of Oz, you'll know the sort of thing to expect, only this time I'm mashing together J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan and Wendy and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World.

If you're a fan of Peter Pan then you'll love this re-imagining of the story, which features all your favourite characters - Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Wendy Darling, Tiger Lily, Captain Hook and Mr Smee. And if you're not a fan of Barrie's original then you'll love this new, darker take on the story, which also features fleshing-eating fish-people, marauding morlocks, and dinosaurs. Lots of dinosaurs.

At 11:40pm on the 14th April, 1912, during her maiden voyage, en route to New York City, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and in the early hours of 15th April the passenger liner sank. 1,503 people died, including passengers and crew, but 706 people survived, among them Wendy Darling and her dog Nana...

Separated from the rest of her family, Wendy's lifeboat drifts for days until it washes up on the shores of a mysterious island - a place lost in time, home to creatures long thought extinct, a forgotten tribe, and a boy who can never grow up.

But the notorious pirate Captain James Hook and his crew have also found their way to Neverland, and the island is angry...

The first 100 people who back the NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! Kickstarter, to receive a physical copy of the book, will receive a free download code for my Gamebook Adventure Temple of the Spider God, courtesy of Tin Man Games, and the first 10 people who back to receive the deluxe hardback will also receive a pair of steampunk goggles!

Not only that, but if you encourage your friends to join the NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! Facebook group too, and the total number of members reaches 400, everyone who backs the project to receive a physical copy of the book will also receive a hardback copy of the Explorer's Journal - an artefact encountered in the game!

There are also a limited number of Early Bird rewards that include a pre-release play-test copy of the adventure.

So you know what to do - spread the word and I'll see you at midnight!

Appetite of the Spider God

Apparently, 25 million metric tonnes of spiders exist on Earth and between them they consume 400-800 million tonnes of insects every year, which is equivalent to the amount of meat and fish that humans consume over the same period!

There are quite a lot of spiders in my Gamebook Adventure Temple of the Spider God, although not 25 million metric tonnes worth!

There is also a giant spider - albeit a rather unusual one - in the forthcoming The Wicked Wizard of Oz, as drawn here by Kev Crossley.

World Animal Day

Today, 4th October, is World Animal Day, so it seems appropriate that I am writing a story about the Beast of Bodmin Moor whilst also plotting the Lion's next encounter in The Wicked Wizard of Oz.

Animals have featured to a greater or lesser extent in many of my books and stories but among the most notable must be...

Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Gamebooks

Howl of the Werewolf

Pax Britannia: Unnatural History

Pax Britannia: Leviathan Rising

Temple of the Spider God

Terrible Lizards

Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow

SHARKPUNK

Night of the Kraken

And there are still more animal-themed stories to come...

Gamebook Friday: The UK Games Expo

Eight days from now I shall be attending the UK Games Expo (which is in its tenth year, this year) as one of the weekend's visiting authors.

I shall of course be promoting Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, as well as giving a sneak preview of a couple of forthcoming crowdfunding projects. (If you want to know what they are, make sure you pop along to stand A23 in NEC Hall One and say "Hi!")

In anticipation of the event, Dirge Magazine has posted a piece entitled '6 Dark Gaming Delights We’re Looking Forward To At The UK Games Expo'. Among the dark delights they're looking for are Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition, The Dark Souls Board Game... and Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland. Which is nice.

In other news, a piece appeared in The Irish Times this week, proclaiming that the gamebook is back, and my Tin Man Games app Temple of the Spider God got a mention, which was nice too.

Cyber Monday Madness

It's Cyber Monday, so why not considering purchasing a Pax Britannia eBook, or the Temple of the Spider God gamebook app, or Warlock's Bounty: Revenge of the Sorcerer over on Google Play, or even GAME OVER - a book all about cyber-related shenanigans?

13 Halloween Horrors

Inspired by the warmest Halloween in recorded history? Fancy a little more horror-inspired reading? Then why not try one of these?

1. The Serpent's Egg
13 short horror stories, including the Cthulhu mythos novella The Serpent's Egg, available now!

2. Human Nature
The Whitby Mermaid has been stolen from Cruickshank's Cabinet of Curiosities and consulting detective Gabriel Wraith is on the case. But what does the theft of the mermaid have to do with the mysterious House of Monkeys? And what of the enigmatic criminal known as the Magpie? But there are worse things lurking under the moors outside Whitby than mermaids... David Cronenberg-style body horror in the world of Pax Britannia, including a highly warped version of the Hound of the Baskervilles.

3. Evolution Expects
More than ever before, the realm of Magna Britannia needs a saviour - a man like new Prime Minister, Devlin Valentine. But while London prepares for the launch of the Jupiter Station there are those who want this longed-for change to come about more quickly - people who are willing to give evolution a helping hand.

4. Blood Royal

St. Paul's Cathedral entertains a new congregation, one driven by its own unholy creed, while a coldly clinical killer is carving a name for himself across the city - a name that has been whispered upon the streets of Whitechapel for over a hundred years.

5. Anno Frankenstein
1943 ~ The Nazis are battling the empire of Magna Britannia, cooking up necrotic super-soldiers in the gothic towers of Castle Frankenstein. In the forests outside the castle, other forces are gathering, including Dr. Jekyll and the ladies of the Monstrous Regiment. But there may be other gothic monsters waiting in the hills around Darmstadt...

6. Spellbreaker
Rassin Abbey has guarded its arcane treasures for centuries. But when their Black Grimoire spellbook is stolen, the land of Ruddlestone is plunged into a crisis of epic proportions. Should the legendary Casket of Shadows be opened, the Infernal Beast will be unleashed to wreak its terrible carnage across the Old World. On the night of Shekka's Moon, scant days away, this will surely come to pass, unless YOU can retrieve the Black Grimoire in the nick of time... Witches, demons and devilry abound in my first ever published book.

7. Curse of the Mummy
Beware the Curse of Akharis! When an ancient tomb in the Desert of Skulls turns out to belong to Akharis, a legendary ruler from a previous age, YOU discover some of his followers are trying to return the evil pharaoh to life. Soon you will have to learn the true meaning of The Curse of the Mummy!

8. Bloodbones
Bloodbones lives! The dread pirate-lord Cinnabar, scourge of the twelve seas, terrorised the seafarers of the Old World in a bloody reign of terror until a brave adventurer put an end to his evil. But now Cinnabar is back from the dead, seeking revenge and with the dark powers of voodoo at his command. Only YOU can stop the pirate captain and his crew of bloodthirsty cut-throats.

9. Howl of the Werewolf
Lupravia is a cursed land. Only the foolhardy or insane would willingly pass beyond its borders and enter that benighted realm of predators, but enter you must after a vicious wolf attack sets you on the path to murder and madness. Steadily succumbing to the call of the wild and the beast within, YOU must seek out a cure to your condition before the next full moon. But how long can you survive in a land where the powers of darkness hold sway and all live in fear of the Howl of the Werewolf?

10. Night of the Necromancer
Death is not the end...Returning to your ancestral castle having been away fighting a crusade against the forces of darkness in the Mauristatian principality of Bathoria, you are struck down by a band of murderers within sight of home. Driven by the need to know why you have been killed, and on whose orders, YOU rise again as a ghost and set out to solve the mystery of your own murder.

11. Shadows Over Sylvania
YOU are the Vampire! A blood war has been declared between the life-leeching bloodlines of the cursed county of Sylvania. As a thrall of one of the bloodthirsty rulers of this benighted land, you will be forced to battle numerous enemies who would stand against you, both mortal and Undead.

12. Warlock's Bounty: Revenge of the Sorcerer
You are a mighty wizard, once apprenticed to the sorcerer Corax Whiteraven, guardian of the lands of Lloegyr. When Whiteraven’s familiar appears out of the blue carrying an urgent message from its master, you embark upon a mission that will test your mettle and magical abilities to the full. For Lloegyr’s guardian – the greatest sorcerer of them all – is in danger, and needs your help!

13. Temple of the Spider God
Temple of the Spider God sees YOU uncovering the schemes of an horrifying spider-worshipping cult. Arachnophobes, beware!

Gamebook Friday: Talk Like a Pirate Day

In case you didn't already know, today was International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and, as usual, this has meant a couple of my gamebooks have been given a fresh plug.

First up is Bloodbones (originally written eighteen years old and first published eight years ago!) which is going to be coming to a handheld device near you soon, courtesy of Tin Man Games.

Secondly, my Gamebook Adventures app Temple of the Spider God was second on Gamezebo's list of 19 games in which you can play a pirate, coming second only to Assassin's Creed 4, which was nice.

Arrrrr!

If you want to know the story of how Bloodbones first came to be and then almost never saw print at all, you should pick up a copy of YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks. ;-)

Tin Man Games Sale - Temple of the Spider God at 66% off!

Tin Man Games are having a sale of their Gamebook Adventures apps at the moment, which means you can pick up (or should that be download) my very own Temple of the Spider God. Click here to find out more.

Tin Man Games will also be attending FIGHTING FANTASY FEST 2014, and talking about how they are going about converting classic Fighting Fantasy gamebooks for a new generation in the 21st century.

If you've yet to buy your ticket, you have just 21 days left to do so. So don't delay, buy yours today.

Tin Man Games' next FF release is Steve Jackson's Appointment with FEAR