Happy Halloween!

Tonight, people up and down the country will be donning their Halloween costumes - turning themselves into witches, vampires, werewolves, mummies, demons, and zombies - for the duration of the dark celebrations.

If you're planning on staying in tonight, hopefully avoiding the trick or treaters, and you're looking for a creepy story to curl up with before the witching hour, you might want to try one of these...

Spellbreaker (1993)

Witches and demons abound in my first published Fighting Fantasy adventure.

Curse of the Mummy (1995)

My third FF adventure, heavily-inspired by Mummy movies from right across the cinematic era.

The Dead and the Damned (2002)

My first Warhammer novel, which features all manner of daemons, not to mention the shambling ranks of the undead.

Necromancer (2005)

The tale of one man's fall from grace and the corrupting power of necromancy.

Bloodbones (2006)

More zombie pirates and voodoo curses than you can shake a cutlass at.

Howl of the Werewolf (2007)

In my fifth FF adventure, you must stopped yourself turning into a werewolf before the next full moon by hunting down and killing the Arch-Lycanthrope.

Human Nature (2008) and Evolution Expects (2009)

A couple of body horror classics from my Pax Britannia steampunk series of novels.

Night of the Necromancer (2010)

Death is not the end... Murdered on your way home, you rise from the dead to avenge your own murder.

Blood Royal (2010) and Anno Frankenstein (2011)

Two more Pax Britannia novels, inspired by classic horror movies of yesteryear.

Shadows Over Sylvania (2013)

YOU are a vampire in my one and only Warhammer gamebook, which remains one of the best I have ever written, and probably the hardest to get hold of too.

Game Over (2015)

A collection of techno-chillers, ghost stories inspired by classic video games, edited by Yours Truly.

The Serpent's Egg (2017)

A dark tale of the Cthulhu Mythos, inspired by the legend of the Lambton Worm.

And coming in 2020...

Join the ACE Gamebooks Facebook group to be kept up to date with developments...

Gamebook Friday: Is it time to trade-in your copy of Howl of the Werewolf?

If you search for Howl of the Werewolf on Amazon, you will find this...

Maybe it's time to trade-in your copy. ;-)

My Annotated Workspace

I was just thinking about all the different projects I'm trying to juggle at the moment, and looking at my workspace, when I thought it might make an interesting topic for a blog post, for those who are curious about how and where writers write. (People like me, in other words.)

Before anyone makes any snide remarks about how tidy everything looks in the picture below, I should point out that I don't have an office at the moment. I don't even have a desk I can call my own and so I work at the dining table (hence the strange choice of table covering). Everything I get out at the start of the day has to go away again at the end of the day, to make room for dinner plates and homework, and the like. (And I knew I was going to take a photo, so I tidied up.)

So, with those excuses out of the way, here is my annotated workspace...

1) Notes and notes and notes about YOU ARE THE HERO. If you don't know what YOU ARE THE HERO is already, or why it's taking up so much of my time, click this link.

2) The printed manuscript of YOU ARE THE HERO with comments by Ian Livingstone added in red pen. I've been working through 207 pages of this.

3) This is the space where my iPhone would go, if it wasn't for the fact that I used the phone to take the photograph.

4) Shadows Over Sylvania - my Warhammer Vampire Counts gamebook. I had this out to remind myself how I had written the opening. And even if I do say so myself, it's a damn good book. Whether you're a fan of Warhammer, vampires or gamebooks, you should secure yourself a copy now!

5) My laptop - currently open on Outlook. You know the movie Her? Well my wife thinks they got the idea from me and my laptop. The only difference is my laptop doesn't speak with the voice of Scarlett Johansson (more's the pity).

6) The Vampire in Lore and Legend, by Montague Summers - research for a story I hope to be able to write for Josh Reynolds in the not too distant future.

7) Research material for a story I hope to write for Ian Whates sometime soon. I hadn't watched The Company of Wolves for at least 20 years until last night. Watching it again I realised how much of an impact it has had on my work over the last two decades, and Stephen Rea's transformation is still one of the most chilling I've ever seen depicted in a werewolf movie. (Maybe it's the fact that the children witness the whole thing.) And I'd never realised until last night's viewing how sympathetic George Fenton's score makes you feel towards the werewolves and all that their strange curse has to offer.

8) More research, this time for a possible future gamebook project. (You can see I've got a dark fairytale vibe going on at the moment.) Snow White and the Huntsman is a strange film. Putting aside Kristen Stewart's much commented upon woodenness and lack of different facial expressions, Charlize Theron's ham-acting, Chris Hemsworth's Scottish accent, and using CGI to turn full height actors into dwarfs (and not in a Lord of the Rings kind of way) there is much that is very effective in the film and visually stunning. I particularly like the glass army and the troll bridge. But where the film really falls down for me is in the fact that the director couldn't decide at the start whether the magic in the movie was real or not. Of course, by the end there are spells being cast left, right and centre, but there are also occasions where it is implied that the magic might be the result of something else, hallucinogens in the case of Snow escaping into the forest and madness in the case of the Queen talking to her mirror. Both are equally valid for a movie like this, but not in the same movie! It's not clever - it just makes the director come across as inconsistent and indecisive. Anyway, rant over.

9) Outlines for stories for an anthology (the one of the top is by Toby Frost), but more on that another time...

10) And back to YOU ARE THE HERO again. More notes, and a copy of Arion Games' Beyond the Pit for good measure.

So, there you have it. That's what's occupying my days at the moment. How about you? What are you working on, and how is it reflected in your workspace?

Gamebook Friday: Howl of the Werewolf by Martin McKenna

These arrived with the postman the other day. Both feature artwork by Martin McKenna from my fifth Fighting Fantasy gamebook Howl of the Werewolf.

The image on the cover of the notepad is that of Aranaea the Spider Queen while the notecards feature the cover painting. If you'd like to purchase your own Howl of the Werewolf products, click this link.

Much as I love Martin's art, I don't think I'm ready to go this far just yet...

Gamebook Friday: La Nuit de Loup-Garou

La Nuit du Loup-Garou (the French version of Howl of the Werewolf) has received its first review:

Alors là un mot : Whaouuuu !

Ce livre est pour moi digne des meilleurs au niveau ambiance (style manoir de l'enfer ou vengeance des démons).
Les combats sont plutôt faciles pour un DF (pas mal d'ennemis a 6 en hab) et avec mes 10 de base je suis parvenu a conserver en moyenne entre 10 et 15 points d'endurance. (on croise pas mal de bestioles garou ou d'horreur vampirisée....)
Les illustrations très très belles (Martin McKenna est vraiment doué pour les ambiance lugubres)
Les situations vont du malsain au très malsain !
Dernier bon point : ce n'est pas un one true path ! (Chemin unique) Ce qui permet aussi de refaire le livre en changeant de chemin pour voir quelles abominations ont a raté.

Some of the choicest comments translate (roughly) as follows:

"This book, to me, is of the highest quality (like House of Hell)."

"This is not a one true path book! This allows you to read the book again, changing your route, to see what abominations you have missed."

5 stars!

You can pick up a copy of La Nuit du Loup-Garou here.

Warhammer Wednesday: Chris Wriaght on Space Werewolves

Things are a bit busy right now, in the lives of Family Green, so over the next few days I'll be handing over the blog to wiser minds than mine and sending you to read their blogs instead.

Today it's the turn of Chris Wraight who discusses writing about the Wulfen.

Gamebook Friday: Howl of the Werewolf - Feelin' the Love!

It may have first come out five years ago* but some people are still only just discovering Howl of the Werewolf for the first time. Here's a lovely review I stumbled across on The Unofficial Fighting Fantasy Forum:

This is one of those books I have been very eager to read for a while now, and now that it is done, I can finally comment on it. Let’s say the hype factor was high, what with reading positive reviews left and right (most of them right here on this forum) and seeing the book win number 1 spot in the best Fighting Fantasy Gamebook of all time poll published in the very good Fighting Fantazine. Could the final product survive this kind of hype though?

I’m a horror fan. Early on in my teens, or perhaps even my tweens, I started finding horror stories good instead of just frightening, and it never did quite let go, even though I daresay my palette has seen significant expansion since then. So the topic of the book was a right winner by me from the get go. A good sign. Then seeing that wonderful cover by Maestro McKenna was another good point in its favour. Inside illos, also by McKenna, kept bringing the goods and I savoured every one of them. Some of the illos are amongst his best work, of which there is plenty, granted.

Storywise brings even more goodness but also some slight flaws, really just about the only flaws in this book, a surprise for sure, but when I said slight I meant it. Nothing that should ruin the experience for anyone, I believe.

First the good. Epic. If there’s one word to describe this story, it would be this. Well, it’s not as epic as, say, the Sorcery! series, but then again, those were four big books continuing one storyline, but when we’re talking solo gamebooks, there’s only a few out there that would qualify as epic. I would say overall Jon Green tends to write epic stories but maybe epic is too easy an epithet? (now that I think about it I find there’s quite a few stories actually that I would consider epic, so maybe I’m easily impressed) I do not wish to diminish the word though, so, perhaps in this case, massive would be a better word - what with over 500 sections! - but I still would say Green writes epics even though the fate of the world isn’t always at stake. After all, a character’s personal journey can also be considered epic, even if it doesn’t involve destroying the one true ring every time. The protagonist in HotW is thrust into an epic story unwillingly, but it remains epic just the same.

But let’s move on now that I’ve managed to write epic 200 times. I find brilliant the way this melting pot of ideas is thrown together without making a mess of the kitchen. The choices offered are multiple, the feeling of freedom as you roam around undeniable, as you never feel railroaded toward a particular point. It all flows fluidly, taken forward by a robust system that offers touches that adds realistic flavours to the overall experience, mainly the change system and the powers or curses it can bestow.

I was just saying how fluid it all is, well… almost. There’s gotta be something to improve, right? Obviously Mr Green is busting at the seams with imagination (he really lets loose here) and had in mind lots of horror set pieces he wanted to throw into the mix and have some fun with. It feels as if he wanted to create the ultimate FF and crammed the book with as much stuff as he could fit in, afraid perhaps (with reason) that it would be his last chance to do so. Most are thematically linked to werebeast in general and are just right for this book and your character’s journey, yet lots of them feels disconnected from the whole all the same, seemingly having been forced into the main storyline instead of flowing naturally from it. These occurrences are little bumps in the road, no more, and are small nuisances at best, but without ruining the overall excellence of the book. You feel them here and there in the writing, the lack of a smooth transition between two sections, most likely, but you soon let go of them as you are conquered by the great descriptions and loads of fun and creepy encounters.

Plus did I mentioned I thought it was epic? The story builds up and up until the last moment, while being satisfying every steps of the way. Hard to ask for more under such circumstances. Plus, you can relive this story with many different adventures, what with such a multitude of paths being available and a certain fairness that allows you to win without having the usual required shopping list. Indeed, while codewords are a-many here again, items are fewer, and usually not required to win.

In fact, when I reach the end and won (cheating with fights, though) I was nearly sad I didn’t get to reach a dead-end due to my having missed a few important items (quite a few actually). I so wanted to wander the left-over paths and see what I had missed. But it will be for another time, and I will have a great time doing it.

* Five years? Has half a decade really already passed since I wrote what (at the time) I feared might be my last FF gamebook ever?

Gamebook Friday: My Fighting Fantasy creations immortalised in Lego - Howl of the Werewolf

If you remember this...

... and you liked these...



... then you'll probably like this too...

The Werebat and Countess Isolde

(from Howl of the Werewolf)

That's right - I'm back to immortalising characters and scenes from my Fighting Fantasy books in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene polymer*!

You can pick up your own copy of Howl of the Werewolf here.


* A.k.a. Lego!

Journal of the Spider-Queen

Yes, loyal followers, you read that right. Spider-Queen, not Spider God.

For those of you who follow this blog because of my connection to the Fighting Fantasy phenomenon, you may well already recognise the image on the front of this jotter journal.

That's right - it's Aranaea the Spider-Queen from my sixth Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebook Howl of the Werewolf, as illustrated by Martin McKenna. Martin has made a number of his illustrations available as prints in various formats - including the Big Bad Wolf from the cover of the book - through Cafepress.

Checking out Martin's (at long last) updated blog, I'm always amazed to discover in how many different places the Werewolf painting turns up. I mean, I know it's a generic werewolf, but that painting was specifically created for a book which I wrote. I've seen it reproduced on magazine covers, gig posters for Heavy Metal bands, and now it's surfaced once again, only this time etched into human flesh. Yes, that's right, someone's had it turned into a tattoo!

I used to be a werewolf, but I'm alright noooooooow!

Bet that smarts.

Witches and Werewolves

Coming in 2011 are a couple of films that may be of interest to readers of this blog. Arriving in March is Red Riding Hood.

For my own take on the Werewolf myth, including the story of Little Red Riding Hood (and don't worry, there isn't a sparkly vampire in sight!), you should pick up Howl of the Werewolf, one of the most highly acclaimed Fighting Fantasy gamebooks ever written.

However, if witches are more your thing (along with crusading knights and Ron Perlman) then you should enjoy another couple of my FF gamebooks, Spellbreaker and Night of the Necromancer. Oh, and you should probably keep an eye out for The Season of the Witch as well (coming in January).