Short Story Saturday: The Year of the Rat

Today marks the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Rat, and as I've been thinking a lot about Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 fiction of late, I was reminded of the Skaven short stories I've written over the years.

The Nagenhof Bell
This Badenov's Band story first appeared in Inferno! magazine #27, but despite being cut from my first Black Library novel/short story collection, The Dead and the Damned, it was eventually reprinted in Swords of the Empire, which is still available as an eBook.

Sir Dagobert's Last Battle
The conniving ratmen also make an appearance in this short story, about a Grail Reliquae and the Grail Knight it once was. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a good rat ogre! Originally published in Hammer and Bolter #9, the tale finally saw print in The Best of Hammer and Bolter: Volume 1. Although the book is now out of print, you can still pick up copies second hand.

The Skaven also appear in my Warhammer Path to Victory gamebook, Shadows Over Sylvania, but good luck finding a copy - it's probably even harder to get hold of than The Best of Hammer and Bolter!

Mission Games Workshop: Return to Brighton

As I was in Brighton for FantasyCon at the weekend, I popped into the local GW store (as is my wont). I was very pleased to see both The Best of Hammer and Bolter: Volume 1 and Treacheries of the Space Marines on display (since both contain stories by me), and there were some totally awesome gaming boards on show in the shop window.

The Empire/Skaven themed board.

 

The Dark Vengeance-inspired board.

But most pleasant of all was meeting Joe Gallup, who was on duty at the time, and who (it would appear) is a big Black Library fan. And I think I might just have persuaded him to pick up a copy of Shadows over Sylvania when it comes out (probably some time next year now).

Short Story Saturday: July releases

A short story update today. Three of my short stories (some new, some otherwise) become available in print this month.

First there's Sir Dagobert's Last Battle in The Best of Hammer and Bolter: Volume 1:

"I just picked up this massive tome and all I can say is WOW!!! What an impressive collection of awesome stories! The best of both worlds is represented here and I love it! Kudos to all you fellows at the Black Library for putting out the best collection since 'Let the GalaxyBurn'!" ~ blacklibrary.com

"I enjoyed Jonathan Green's 'Sir Dagobert's Last Battle' too - a very pragmatic and entertaining approach to religious fanatacism in Bretonnia. Good stuff." ~ The Black Library Bolthole



Then there's my short story Wraith Lights that kicks off the World's Collider shared-world anthology:

“Editor Richard Salter has overseen the creation of a chilling hi-octane future in which reality has been warped into nightmare by scientific disaster. Each component story cranks up the tension and the disparate tales combine in mosaic-fashion to deliver a truly gripping narrative.” ~ Ian Whates





And lastly, there's Resurrection Engines, which includes my take on the classic American novel Moby Dick, steampunk style!

Warhammer Wednesday: Review Round-up

Here's a round-up of various reviews of my contributions to the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 universes...

Sir Dagobert's Last Battle
"Jonathan Green's Bretonnian story was particularly impressive, exploring the fanatacism and exploitative nature of faith in the Old World in a very entertaining fashion."

The Dead and the Damned
"Now it is true this book has the feel of several short stories put together, but I felt they were nicely woven together, and played off each other well. It gives you a feel for the numerous adventures a band of sell swords would find themselves in. The characters actually had a way of growing on you... I really did like the adventures the band of mercenaries found themselves in, and I am looking forward to Jonathan Green's next book about this stalwart band."

Magestorm
"This was the first BL book that I read and it blew my mind, easily one of the best. Although old and possibly outdated it is easily one of my fave five and one that should be read!"

The Best of Hammer and Bolter: Volume 1

Coming soon (or rather in a couple of months' time), The Best of Hammer and Bolter: Volume 1, featuring my Warhammer short story Sir Dagobert's Last Battle. And my copy has already arrived.

At 893 pages it's quite the door stop.

 Here's The Best of Hammer and Bolter: Volume 1 compared to my Pax Britannia novel Anno Frankenstein. Yes, it really is that big.

You can pre-order your copy (containing 36 different stories) here.

Coming July 2012... Herald of Oblivion

Coming this July as part of Black Library's Direct Exclusives line:

You are a veteran Space Marine of the Imperial Fists Chapter. Equipped with powerful Terminator armour and armed with the deadliest weapons that the Adeptus Astartes wield, you are a symbol of the Emperor's might. Trapped aboard the space hulk Herald of Oblivion and the only survivor of your squad, you must fight your way through the aliens and heretics that infest the star vessel and find a way to escape the horror and return to your Chapter.

Herald of Oblivion is out in the same month as The Best of Hammer and Bolter: Volume One.

Mission: Games Workshop - Windsor

Family Green made the most of the sunshine yesterday and headed off to Windsor for the afternoon. In due course, unsurprisingly, I managed to find my way to the local Games Workshop store...

The Windsor store is located in the shadow of Windsor Castle and had some very nice Warhammer castles of its own. As well as the impressive Skullvane Manse, there was a rather tasty Terrorgheist and Tyranid army on display - not to mention this Arachnarok Spider (as featured in my short story Sir Dagobert's Last Battle).

The new Citadel Paints were on sale as well, but what I was specifically looking for was the new Black Library Previews Catalogue. And on page 60 I found this:

For those of you who are keen to know more about Herald of Oblivion, here's the blurb from the catalogue:

You are a veteran Space Marine of the Imperial Fists Chapter. Equipped with powerful Terminator armour and armed with the deadliest weapons that the Adeptus Astartes wield, you are a symbol of the Emperor's might. Trapped aboard the space hulk Herald of Oblivion and the only survivor of your squad, you must fight your way through the aliens and heretics that infest the star vessel and find a way to escape the horror and return to your Chapter.

Herald of Oblivion comes out this July, the same month as The Best of Hammer and Bolter: Volume One.

The Best of Hammer and Bolter is on its way

For the first time in a physical format - and 640 pages long at that! - the Keepers of the Black Library are proud to present the best stories from the first twelve issues of Hammer and Bolter magazine.

The Table of Contents is as follows:

The Strange Demise of Titus Endor – Dan Abnett
A Place of Quiet Assembly – John Brunner
Primary Instinct – Sarah Cawkwell
Questing Knight – Anthony Reynolds
The Dark Path – Gav Thorpe
Exhumed – Steve Parker
The Rat Catcher’s Tale – Richard Ford
The Long Games at Carcharias – Rob Sanders
Virtue’s Reward – Darius Hinks
Charandis – Ben McCallum
Waiting Death – Steve Lyons
The Barbed Wire Cat – Robert Earl
Hunted – John French
The Iron Within – Rob Sanders
Feast of Horrors – Chris Wraight
Action and Consequence – Sarah Cawkwell
Tower of Blood – Tony Ballantyne
The First Duty – Josh Reynolds
Grail Knight – Anthony Reynolds
Manbane – Andy Hoare
The Last Remembrancer – John French
Flesh – Chris Wraight
Cause and Effect – Sarah Cawkwell
Marshlight – C. L. Werner
Commander Shadow – Braden Campbell
The Arkunasha War – Andy Chambers
Sir Dagobert’s Last Battle – Jonathan Green
Survivor – Steve Parker
The Last Charge – Andy Hoare
We Are One – John French
Mountain Eater – Andy Smillie
The Carrion Anthem – David Annandale
The Gods Demand – Josh Reynolds
Shadow Knight – Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Aenarion – Gav Thorpe
Bitter End – Sarah Cawkwell

I think you'll agree that's quite a lot of stories (including a fair few by Black Library rising star Sarah Cawkwell). You may also have happened to notice that one of the stories amongst that little lot is the Warhammer tale Sir Dagobert’s Last Battle, written by Yours Truly.

The Best of Hammer and Bolter: Volume 1 will be available to buy from this July, but if you can't wait that long to read Sir Dagobert’s Last Battle (assuming you've not read it already, of course) then you can download it here, along with the rest of Hammer and Bolter issue 9.