And in other news...

I am the news! Or at least the release of Temple of the Spider God from Tin Man Games is. My first digital gamebook gets a mention in the latest edition of GamePron News, at about 5:35, and comes with a personal recommendation from reporter Jessica Citizen herself! Which is nice.

Pax Britannia at the MCM Expo - Let them eat cake!

I spent this last weekend at the MCM Expo (held at London's Excel Centre) as a guest of the Victorian Steampunk Society. I had a fantastic time, chatted to all sorts of people about steampunk, Pax Britannia and ebooks, and saw everything from the DeLorean from Back to the Future to multiple Doctors of various regenerations, not to mention genders. There was tea, there were biscuits, there was cake.

I have to say that genre fans are a wonderful bunch of people, but steampunks are a particularly charming and welcoming lot - and they get to wear the best outfits! So a big shout to Herr Doktor, Miss Emily Ladybird, Jack Union, Ben, Peter, Michelle, Alan, Leanna, Willoughby, Esther, Frances and of course my good friend Vincent.

But enough of me gabbing on... Check out my vlog, ideally with a cup of tea in one hand and a cake in the other.

Halloween Short Story Twitter Challenge

How scary can you be in under 140 characters?

The guys at SFX magazine have issued this challenge. They want you to tweet them some spooky Halloween stories. After all, Ernest Hemingway once wrote a short story in six words:

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

The challenge is still open – it doesn't close until 9.00am tomorrow morning (that's Halloween to you and me) – so there’s still time to send them your attempt. You just need to remember to include the tag #sfxspooky.

Goo luck and happy haunting!

Have yourself a horrific Halloween

Just in case you hadn't noticed, tomorrow is Halloween. To celebrate the old Celtic festival of Samhain, when the dead are said to stalk the land, why not pick up one of my more gruesome Fighting Fantasy gamebooks?

Like witches and demons? Then Spellbreaker is the book for you.

Into classic black and white horror movies? Then Curse of the Mummy should be right up your street.

Zombies more your thing? Then check out Bloodbones, with its hordes of zombie pirates.

If you prefer your Halloween horrors to come with a little more bite, then try Howl of the Werewolf.

And for a ghost story with a difference, you could do a lot worse than read my most recent FF adventure Night of the Necromancer.

Lastly, if you're arachnophobic then you might want to steer clear of Temple of the Spider God, my first digital gamebook available now from Tin Man Games.

Monstrous Missions - the cover

It just seems to be one of those times of year for me at the moment. I can spend ages working away with nothing obvious to show for it and then, months later, multiple projects surface all at once.

So right now I'm working on my first Warhammer 40,000 gamebook but the projects that are currently seeing the light of day include:

• Temple of the Spider God - my first digital gamebook released by Tin Man Games.
• Red-Handed - part one of my new Pax Britannia novel Time's Arrow, available as an ebook only.
• The Doll's House - a short story that appears in the House of Fear horror anthology (edited by Jonathan Oliver).
• Ephrael Von Stern: Sister of Sigmar - my Warhammer Warped Visions comic strip that appears in the complete Daemonifuge from Black Library.

And then today I discover that Monstrous Missions - which features my Doctor Who story Terrible Lizards (published Feburary 2012) - has a cover! Unfortunately it doesn't feature any dinosaurs* but it stil makes the book feel just that little bit more real.

I'm particularly excited about this release because it will be the first book of mine** that my First Born will be able to read for himself.


* The 'monster' is inspired by Gary Russell's story Horror of the Space Snakes.

** Other than Go Go, Crazy For Those Bones.

Pax Britannia at the MCM Expo - 18 hours to go

I'm now counting down the hours until the MCM Expo where I shall be promoting my Pax Britannia books (as well as Temple of the Spider God if anyone's interested).

I've turned the flat into a veritable cottage industry, producing cakes as if I'm working in some kind of Victorian factory. Let me tell you, I'm glad I'm a writer and not a baker! Anyway, if you buy a book tomorrow or on Sunday, you can have a cake for free - until they run out that is!

Edible cupcake toppers produced (at very short notice and a very high standard) by Cake Topper Designs

As I mentioned the other day, I shall also have a small number of flash drives to sell which come pre-loaded with my last three Pax Britannia novels - Blood Royal, Dark Side and Anno Frankenstein - and the first part of Time's Arrow, Red-Handed.

If you'd like one, just come and find me in the Steampunk village at the sign of the French terrorist.

Temple of the Spider God is here!

Temple of the Spider God reached British shores at midnight and, less than twelve hours later, is already causing something of a storm.

Here's what eager purchasers have been saying so far about my first digital gamebook and the seventh Gamebook Adventures title from Tin Man Games.

Just picked up Temple and am loving it so far. I am a sucker for this kind of setting and love the style of the artwork. Great work Tin Man!

The new Gamebook just got released in my region. Can't wait for it to finish downloading!

My Friday night tonight is so completely "book"ed!

In case you've been hiding under a stone for the last... oh I don't know how many months, here's what all the fuss is about:

Cesaro Cortez, a famed explorer-conquistador, set out three years ago on his last great expedition. His ships never returned to an Orlandrian port and he was feared lost until a mysterious cargo appeared recently in Miramar. The nature of this cargo will put Orlandes in jeopardy, sending you on an epic journey to find Cortez, save the country and face your darkest fear!

To celebrate the release of Temple of the Spider God, Tin Man Games' other Gamebook Adventures are available for less than £1.50 each! So, if you own an iPhone, iPod or iPad, what are you waiting for? If you're yet to discover the delights of Gamebook Adventures, you could own all seven for less than the price of a hardback book!

You can read the official press release from the Tin Man here.

Pax Britannia at the MCM Expo - 1 day to go

Seeing as how it's effectively Halloween weekend when the MCM Expo is on, I thought it might be nice to offer buyers of my books a free ghoulish cake. I have to say this idea was inspired by* Arfon Jones and his personalised cupcakes, so I ordered myself some edible Pax Britannia logos** and this evening set about creating my new culinary masterpieces.

Now it seemed like a good idea at the time... but removing very thin icing from a backing sheet proved trickier than I anticipated. However, ten minutes in the freezer later and things went swimmingly.

Here are my first couple of efforts. The one on the left is blackcurrant and apple flavour, the one on the right choc 'n' blood orange.

So, two down... only another one hundred and eighteen to go...

* Or completely ripped off from...

** As designed by ace cover artist and designer Simon Parr, whose cover art to Time's Arrow Part 2 - Black Swan, will be previewed over the weekend too.

New Books!

So I've received some wondrous items from the Black Library recently.

First up is The Armageddon Omnibus. I love the use of the Black Templar Chapter icon on the chapter headings. The book also features A History of the Most Honourable and Holy Solemnus Crusade which I wrote especially for the omnibus.

Secondly there's the complete Daemonifuge - all three books of it - which also features my Warhammer Warped Visions story Ephrael von Stern - Sister of Sigmar. This has to be the pinnacle of my comics career to date.

And lastly, there's Aurelian by Aaron Dembski-Bowden... 'Nuff said!

Temple of the Spider God hits New Zealand!

That's right, my first digital Gamebook Adventure is now available in New Zealand!

It should be reaching the rest of the world within the next 24 hours!

Not long to go now...

The Emperor's strong right hand

My latest Black Library project, Herald of Oblivion, focuses on the Imperial Fists Chapter. For those of you not in the know, the Space Marines of the Imperial Fists are the inheritors of the genetic legacy of the Primarch Rogal Dorn. And here he is...

Aerion the Faithful (as the artists is known on DeviantArt) has produced fabulous portraits of the other Primarchs as well, not to mention the Emperor Himself. I especially like the illustrations of Horus Lupercal and Leman Russ, and I've got a soft spot for Ferrus Manus of the Iron Hands, of course.

You can find the portraits here.

All is dust...

I was delighted to learn the other day that on Saturday 5 November (from 10.00am until 2.00pm) GW Salisbury will be holding a Warhammer 40,000 campaign day based on my Imperial Fists short story But Dust in the Wind.

But Dust in the Wind tells the tale of Sergeant Hesperus and Squad Eurus as they investigate a distress signal emanating from an ice-shrouded mining colony, on the frozen world of Ixya.

But Dust in the Wind first appeared in Victories of the Space Marines and is now available as an ebook too. Matt Elliot of the Salisbury store was so inspired by the story that he's created three interlinking missions that reveal what happened after the end of my story.

If you would like to be a part of the action you need to sign up at the Salisbury store. And I'm hoping to be there myself on Saturday 5 November, and will happily sign anything you stick under my nose - within reason!

Maybe I'll see you there...

Mission: Games Workshop - Bath

I was in Bath yesterday, a city I know very well having grown up just outside it and spent ten years attending school within it.

So - inevitably, you might say - I decided to visit the GW store there. When I used to visit Bath more regularly the store was on Upper Borough Walls and once, as I was walking passed, I saw a window display based on The Doom of Kazad Grund, a piece I created with Ralph Horsley for Inferno! magazine.

And then - not so long ago, it seemed - it moved to St James's Parade and became a grand Hobby Centre. And that was where I headed yesterday, only to find that particular property is now a hair salon! That's right, the GW store has moved once again. It's still on St James's Parade but in a much smaller premises.

However, I was delighted to find a copy of Phil Kelly's Dreadfleet novel in the store (having missed it on BL's web store) and saw a rather fine Arachnarok Spider model (that reminded me of this story) and a [CENSORED] which appears in my latest BL project. Perhaps, one day, that book will be on the shelves in the Bath store too...

Pax Britannia at the MCM Expo - 3 days to go

As I posted the other day, I shall be at the London Comic Con MCM Expo (held at Excel London) this coming weekend - Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 October. I will be attending as part of the steampunk contingent and promoting my Pax Britannia books. And today I have a rather exciting announcement to make...

I will have a limited number of memory sticks for sale, each one loaded with my three most recent Pax Britannia titles - Blood Royal, Dark Side, Anno Frankenstein - and Red-Handed, part one of my new novel Time's Arrow.

These all come in Kindle readable files and standard epub files. There are also two free short story ebooks, Eric Brown’s Blue Portal and Juliet McKenna’s The Wizard’s Coming. So there's plenty of content and on top of that you'll have a new memory stick with most of its 1 gig of memory still free!

So, if ebooks are your thing, why not drop by my table this weekend and pick up a memory stick loaded with more than a quarter of a million of Pax Britannia goodness and two bonus stories to boot?

The Spider God Cometh...

Temple of the Spider God is only a few short days away from release so the Tin Man thought it was about time the world learnt a little more of the forthcoming seventh Gamebook Adventure...

Pax Britannia at the MCM Expo

Just a quick update to let you know that I'll be at the London Comic Con MCM Expo (held at Excel London) on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 October. I will be attending as part of the steampunk contingent and promoting my Pax Britannia books, naturally.

So if you're going along, why not stop by the steampunk area, pick up the latest PB title and help yourself to a little treat at the same time? Want to know more? Then keep an eye on this blog over the coming days or pop along to the MCM Expo this weekend?

Stormslayer - still raising a storm

Stormslayer (my sixth Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebook) has been out for more than two years now, but it's still receiving new reviews and acquiring new fans.

Here's what craze_b0i had to say about the book over on the Unofficial Fighting Fantasy Forum:

Just finished this one today. Must say I really enjoyed it. I liked the fact your character has some back story and is already a seasoned adventurer (the Hero of Tannatown no less!), coupled with the fact you start with various items acquired on past adventures. The game-structure is really good as well, I was really impressed with the way the various locations were laid out which gave the player so much choice in terms of what order to visit them. One thing that makes this so good is the various possible 'road encounters' in between the 4 main locations, depending upon which order you visit them... on the whole it was an enjoyable book.

And here's what jamus had to say:

The thing that sets this book apart is its deep, non-linear gameplay. There is strategic thought that goes into choosing which order you complete the quests and obtain the elemental powers (and even how you complete the mini-quests themselves). Your best path may differ depending on your initial stats...

One great example of the depth of this book is the Eelsea quest. If you have a high luck score but low stamina and skill, you can use the “spark of life” to get past the abyssal horror. If you have high stamina and skill, you can safely attract an even larger monster to save you. Or if you have low all-round stats, it is probably best to skip the quest altogether (and fight a 9/6 monster later on)...

I also really liked the armour system – it’s simple but well-done. For example the chainmail coat reduces damage by 1 whenever you roll 3-6 after losing an Attack Round. Other forms of armour have different probabilities of reducing damage, and cost different amounts. It makes the often tedious process of battling monsters a little more interesting and fun, particularly if your stats aren't too great.

If you've yet to read Stormslayer yourself, you can pick up a copy here.

H is for Halloween

There's just over a week to go until Halloween, and if you're looking for some scares for 31 October you could do a lot worse than look at these two...

M is for Monster - a collection of 26 stories by 26 authors bringing 26 unique monsters to life - is available now in its Kindle edition for only 86p. '86p?' I hear you cry.

That's right, 86p. You can't even buy a bottle of what for 86p.

And while you're over at Amazon's Kindle store, why not check out

Jonathan Oliver's haunted house anthology House of Fear.

And of course both the collections include stories by Yours Truly.

Happy reading and... don't have nightmares!

Pax Britannia: Time's Arrow - Red-Handed

The Ether is all a buzz at the moment with talk of Time's Arrow, Abaddon Books' bold publishing experiment.

Here's what some people have been saying about it, and Red-Handed, the first part of the book that's available for download now!

As a long time fan of the 'Pax Britannia' series I was looking forward to 'Time's Arrow' anyway; with Green at the helm as always the tone shouldn't be affected at all but it will be interesting to see where the readers take the story. ~ Graeme's Fantasy Book Review

Once again Jonathan Green has written something that is, most importantly, great fun to read. From character names that will raise a smile to knowingly reverential nods to classical literature it is always a delight to see just what is going to happen next. I always come away from a Pax Britannia novel feeling thoroughly entertained. ~ The Eloquent Page

It's tough to review this first installment of the new Pax Britannia book fairly, since it is only the first third of the story. On top of that, not only do I, as a reader, not know where the story is going next, neither does the author... While this story very much seems to follow on from a cliffhanger in the previous book, I felt I had enough information to still enjoy it. Plus, once that cliffhanger was wrapped up, the new story was completely fresh and accessible... What I ended up with was a fast-paced, science fiction, steampunk action-adventure, with some cute nods to genuine Victorian science fiction. The interactive part of the story was fun, and it's really got me looking forward to the next installment... ~ Amazon.com

Orbit UK appoint new commissioning editor

I know I'm a little late to the party on this one but I just wanted to add my congratulations to Jenni Hill (who edited Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein) for landing the job of commissioning editor at Orbit UK.

I'll miss her tactful emails and considered comments on my manuscripts, but I'll be looking forward to see what new talent she nurtures in her new role. To read more about this story, click here.

Temple of the Spider God - coming sooner than you think...

That's right - Temple of the Spider God has finally been submitted to Apple! This pleases me. To read more on this story, click here.

House of Fear - news and reviews

Jon Oliver, editor of Solaris Books' horror anthology House of Fear, has been interviewed over at readhorror.co.uk.

During the course of said interview, he talks about how he came to select the authors who feature in the collection. Here's what he says about me and my contribution:

Jonathan Green did a short Pax Britannia piece on Alice in Wonderland set in a virtual reality emporium, which was really spooky and genuinely horrifying. Realising he can do dark very well, I asked him for House of Fear. His story’s probably the grimmest in the collection, it’s like one of those old Pan Book of Horror stories.

Meanwhile, over on bookotron.com, a reviewer mentions me in the same sentence as Christopher Priest - which is nice...

Christopher Priest's "Widow's Weeds" cleverly blends supernatural, magic and eroticism while Jonathan Green's "The Doll's House", a shocking piece where a woman stressed by family burdens has to face a more terrible nightmare, demonstrates how a conventional subject can be skilfully handled by an accomplished writer.

A phone box for your iPhone

If I had an iPhone, I would so get this...

And while we're on the subject of Doctor Who, follow this link to check out the Guardian's definitive list of every Doctor Who villain and monsters - ever. (Although I rather suspect only the villains and monsters seen on TV are included, so it's not quite THE definitive list...)

From Terrible Lizards to Tyrant Lizard

Just this week I put the finishing touches to my forthcoming Doctor Who chapter book, Terrible Lizards, giving each chapter a title before the text when off to be typeset.

I always like to name chapters and enjoy the challenge. You want to come up with something that will make the reader want to read on in the story, without giving too much away, and yet which will make sense once the reader has read that chapter.

Hence chapter titles like 'Just Add Water' and 'No More Time To Lose' might not mean much to you now, but they will once you've read the story.

And the manuscript having just whizzed off through the ether to be typeset, I come across this article online.

Time's Arrow - Who Lives? Who Dies? YOU Decide!

Big news on Abaddon Books re-vamped website today...

Red-Handed - part one of Ulysses Quicksilver's eighth adventure, Time's Arrow - is available for download here. And not only that, but the voting site has gone live too.

And the first review is already up on The Eloquent Page, as well. Here's a highlight:

Once again Jonathan Green has written something that is, most importantly, great fun to read. From character names that will raise a smile to knowingly reverential nods to classical literature it is always a delight to see just what is going to happen next. I always come away from a Pax Britannia novel feeling thoroughly entertained.

And here's another:

As eReaders are only going to continue to grow in popularity (I’ll be getting my hands on a Kindle Fire as soon as is humanly possible) it is great to see that publishers, like Abaddon Books, are taking these developments in technology into account when producing content. Kudos to Mr Green for his writing and the team at Abaddon for their tech wizardry. You all continue to do Mr U. Quicksilver Esq proud.

So, what are you waiting for? Buy Red-Handed for the eReader of your choice now! Then, once you've read it vote for how you want the story to continue here.

Oh, and inspired by this MAJOR PUBLISHING EVENT and Abaddon's spring (or should that be 'autumn'?) clean, I've given my own blog a bit of a makeover.

Out with the old...