Warhammer Wednesday: The New Chaos Defiler

I may be slightly late to the party on this one*, but I become aware that Games Workshop have released a new Defiler deamon engine for Warhammer 40,000.

Seeing this reminded me that there is a scene in my Warhammer 40K novel Iron Hands where Iron Father Gdolkin goes up against a Chaos Defiler. Iron Hands is available to buy as an eBook from Black Library, and here's an extract to give you a taster...

The wall at an angled junction ahead of them had collapsed into the defile, creating a slope of spoil and earth leading up out of the labyrinthine network of trenches. Then the Iron-Father saw a shape looming up over the crest of the trench, between the Iron Hands and the ordinatus, that made their struggle so far seem like nothing more than a combat training session.

The monstrosity rose up before Iron-Father Gdolkin and his battlebrethren like some obscene amalgam of machine and unholy warp entity, a crab-like creature in form, all pistoning claw-limbs, studded with snagging barbs and cruel spikes. Mounted upon this clanking undercarriage was a baroquely forged gun-turret tank-body in which was contained the malevolent entity whose presence leaked from the rusted war engine like acid, tainting the very air around it with vileness. The main gargoylemouthed cannon of the monstrous construct was ably supported by the reaping gun of an autocannon of archaic design. A robotic arm flexed and stretched like living steel, culminating in a mass of mechadendrite tentacles, writhing with an unnatural life of their own.

Above the thorax portion of this oil- and slime-dripping creation of Chaos, a daemonic visage, formed of rust-discoloured steel, stared down on the Space Marines, as if they were nothing more than insects, baleful witchfires burning behind its eye-slits. A ragged plague standard fluttered in the steady wind blowing over the battlefield above the trench line bearing the unmistakable insignia of the Plague God and the name of the blasphemy: Ebolus. It stung Gdolkin's remaining biological eye to look upon it and he could see glyphs of the Lord of Decay forming in the rusty scars covering the metal of the machine. Each joint was emblazoned with the eight-pointed star of the Fell Powers.

Gdolkin shivered involuntarily. The whole horrific fusion of machine and Chaos-spawned daemon drew a toxic miasma of noxious fumes with it, more polluting than the industry-ruined atmosphere of Fornax Orbis Majoris. It clung to the construct like a second skin, and made the air feel greasy. Sooty exhaust turrets coughed yet more foulness into the air from the impossible engine, pounding its pistons inside the machine beast like the beating of some daemonic metal heart.

'Ferrus be with me.' Gdolkin muttered, feeling the power source of his axe thrumming in his right hand... 

To continue reading the story, click here to buy Iron Hands from the Black Library today.

* As in about six weeks late!

100 Aker Wood - One week in!

Amazingly, a whole seven days have passed since 100 Aker Wood launched on Kickstarter and the project is currently 113% funded.

If you are new to Kickstarter, or you are a tried and tested backer of ACE Gamebooks projects, you will be pleased to hear that yesterday I completed my second pass on the 100 Aker Wood manuscript and have sent it to be printed, ready to be proofread.

Once I have done that, I will be ready to send the adventure to play-tester backers, once the Kickstarter ends on Thursday 4th June 2026 at 8pm BST.

We are more than a quarter of the way towards the first Stretch Goal, which will add postcards of Heraldo Mussolini's artwork to physical rewards of 100 Aker Wood.

So, if you would like to receive a pack of postcards - and then dice, and eventually playing cards - along with your book, and at no extra charge, please share this project far and wide, reposting my own social media posts, as often as you can.

Thank you for your ongoing support. :-)

Gamebook Friday: 100 Aker Wood is fully funded on Kickstarter!

Despite only launching on Kickstarter on Tuesday, within 48 hours 100 Aker Wood passed its funding goal.

If you are one of those who has already pledged your support, thank you very much. If you have yet to choose your reward, you can do so here.

As the Kickstarter has already funded, we are now working towards the Stretch Goals. The first of these will add packs of postcards, featuring Heraldo Mussolini's artwork for the book, to any physical reward. And after that come bespoke ACE Gamebooks dice and themed playing cards for backers of the hardback edition.

As well as pledging your support, you can help by sharing the Kickstarter project page on any social media channels you have access to. Thank you for your support.

Gamebook Friday: Dracula - Le baptême de sang

The French edition of Dracula: Curse of the Vampire, is currently available for pre-order from Alknost Editions before it's release in June.

Prepare to enter a world of gothic horror for an interactive adventure inspired by the universe of Bram Stoker. Play as the young solicitor's clerk Jonathan Harker, his fiancée Mina Murray, or Dr. John Seward… unless you prefer to embody the bloodthirsty monster itself and hunt down the vampire hunters!

One of the things I like about the Dracula - Le baptême de sang page on the Alknost Editions website is that as well as listing the gamebook's special features, it has a 'Want to know more?' section, which is presented as a series of choices such as might appear at the end of a section in an adventure.

Translated by Joël Mallet and featuring Hauke Kock's original illustrations for the adventure, Dracula - Le baptême de sang is the fifth ACE Gamebooks published by Alknost Editions as part of their Les Contes tordus de Green range.

In other gamebooks news, don't forget that 100 Aker Wood launches on Kickstarter on Tuesday 12th May 2026, at 12pm BST.

Gamebook Friday: ACE Gamebooks at UK Games Expo 2026

Four weeks today, I will be attending the UK Games Expo at the NEC in Birmingham*. You will find me sharing Stand 2-359 with Sir Ian Livingstone.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the UK Games Expo. Checking back on my blog**, my first visit was in 2010, the fith year it had been on, when it was still in Edgbaston. Since that time, I have only missed two years - 2020, when it wasn't on, and 2021, when it returned after Covid but clashed with my son's birthday.

On sale at this year's UK Games Expo for the first time will be Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come.

I will also have copies of The Kingsport Metamorphosis, my third Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook, with me.

So, if you are visiting the Expo this year, please do stop by Stand 2-359 and say hello.

* Which means that three weeks today I will be travelling to Italy, ready for Play: Bologna.

** I knew I kept this up for a reason.

Genfærdets hævn - The Ghost's Revenge!

Currently live on Kickstarter is Genfærdets hævn, which is Danish for 'The Ghost's Revenge' - a.k.a. Night of the Necromancer.

The crowdfunding campaign is being run to fund production of a Danish translation of my seventh Fighting Fantasy gamebook, by publisher Faraos Cigarer, who have already published Danish language editions of Howl of the Werewolf and Secrets of Salamonis.

Danish gamebook author Morten Gottschalck - the man behind the new extended version of Starship Traveller - is handling the translation. As of writing, the Kickstarter is already 92% funded, having only gone live this evening.

I must admit that I have a vested interest in the Kickstarter succeeding, not because I will make an money from it - I won't - but because if it is a success, it could open the door to ACE Gamebooks being published in Danish.

So, if you are a Danish speak yourself, or a hardcore Fighting Fantasy collector, you can pledge your support to the crowdfunding campaign here. And even if you are not planning on backing it yourself, please share the link far and wide.

In other news, the Kickstarter for 100 Aker Wood, the ninth ACE Gamebook, goes live two weeks today on Tuesday 12 May 2026.

Gamebook Friday: If you go down in the woods today...

You're sure of a big surprise!

100 Aker Wood launches on Kickstarter in under three weeks' time, and you will want to be there are the beginning, because there are some rather special rewards on offer, that are limited by time and number.

If you are one of the first 50 people who back at the POOH Hardback reward level or above, you will have your name listed in the front of the book as a Founding Backer.

On top of that, anyone who backs the project within the first 24 hours will be invited to join a live Zoom Q&A with Yours Truly on Saturday 16 May 2026 at 3pm UK time (7am West Coast US/10am East Coast US/4pm Central Europe/6pm Middle East/10pm East Asia/11pm Japan/Midnight Sydney, Australia).

The initial funding goal for the Kickstarter is £5,000. Once that is achieved, the Stretch Goals will kick in, which will add artwork postcard packs, dice, and playing cards to qualifying backer's rewards.

So, set an alarm for 12pm BST on Tuesday 12 May 2026 to make sure you don't miss out on one of these special rewards.