Thought for the Day

“A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.”

~ George R R Martin, A Game of Thrones

Gamebook Friday: The Wicked Wizard of Oz at Forbidden Planet's Small Press Expo

Just a quick reminder that I will be at the Small Press Expo being held at Forbidden Planet in London tomorrow, Saturday 24th February, from 1:00pm - 2:30pm, signing copies of my ACE Gamebook The Wicked Wizard of Oz, YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2, and SHARKPUNK.

Maybe I'll see you there...

Steampunk Thursday: The Festival of Steam & Transport

Despite my first steampunk novel having been published eleven years ago(!) in 2007, I have never visited Chatham Dockyard. But that's all about to change as this year I am going to be attending the Festival of Steam & Transport as one of their guest authors.

The event takes place on 1st - 2nd April 2018, on Easter Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday, and you can find out more here.

Warhammer Wednesday: Black Library Celebration

It's rather appropriate, seeing as how today on the blog it's Warhammer Wednesday, that I should have been working on some new proposals for the Black Library this morning.

But the reason for today's post is to remind you that this Saturday, 24th February 2018, is Black Library Celebration day.

As well as being a celebration of 20+ years of fantastic adrenaline-fuelled fiction from the worlds of Warhammer, the brand new Inquisitor Eisenhorn novel, The Magos is being released on Saturday, along with Josh Reynolds’ new Warhammer 40,000 novel Lukas the Trickster.

There will be all sorts of other goodies up for grabs, including an exclusive resin Citadel miniature of Inquisitor Eisenhorn, a Lukas the Trickster model (which is usually exclusive to the GW Webstore), a commemorative collection of Black Library Postcards (featuring 100 pieces of cover art from across the history of Black Library novels), and a themed Warhammer 40,000 journal. Not only that, but every purchase made on the day will be rewarded with a free gift of a Black Library Celebration paperback containing six short stories - two each from Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Warhammer 40,000 and The Horus Heresy.

I will be stopping by the Warhammer store on Tottenham Court Road on Saturday (hopefully in time to pick up some goodies myself) but I won't be hanging around too long as I have another commitment on the 24th February.

And as to those proposals? You can be sure that I will let you know if anything comes of them...

Thought for the Day

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies... The man who never reads lives only one.”

~ George R R Martin, A Dance with Dragons

Gamebook Friday: Herald of Oblivion at 70% off!

Tin Man Games are holding a Lunar New Year Sale, in honour of the Year of the Dog, and my Warhammer 40,000 gamebook app, Legacy of Dorn: Herald of Oblivion is available at a whopping 70% off!

There are also other gamebook apps available with massive reductions, including The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, which I also worked on.

So don't delay - get over to the Tin Man Games Steam store sale now!

Thought for the Day

“I’m not a scene stealer. I try to do justice to the writing. I’m not intimidated by other actors at all—or directors. I don’t care who they are. But I am intimidated by writers. I hold them in the highest esteem.”

~ John Mahoney, 1940-2018

Gamebook Friday: JG interviewed by the Farsight Blogger

I was recently interviewed by Jonathan Hicks, a.k.a. the Farsight Blogger, and the interview is now online here.

Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens!

Did you know that Charles Dickens was born on this day in 1812? Which means that he was 31 when he wrote A Christmas Carol. My first novel The Dead and the Damned* was published when I was 31, but that particular book certainly hasn't endured like Dickens' novels have.

And despite having had the idea several years previously, it wasn't until I was 46 that I actually started to write the first Scrooge and Marley (Deceased) story, The Haunted Man, which takes as it's premise, 'What happened after the events of A Christmas Carol?'

But it is pure chance that meant I was writing a new Scrooge and Marley (Deceased) story actually on the occasion of Dickens' 206th birthday. Maybe that's why the story, which I had really been struggling with up until now, started to come together at last today.

Let's hope I can finish it tomorrow. After all, the submission deadline is on Sunday...

* More a glorified short story collection than a novel.

Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters II - 48 hours to go!

There are now has just 48 hours left until Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters II concludes its run on Kickstarter.

My contribution to the anthology is called The Ghost in the Machine.

Rewards include a limited edition hardcover of Kaiju Rising II, with a hand made slipcase, and a limited edition hardcover of Kaiju Rising I with a matching slipcase too!

If giant mutated coral monsters float your boat, make sure you back the Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters II Kickstarter before it's too late.

Thought for the Day

"Fantasy isn't just about wizards and silly wands. It's about seeing the world from new directions."

~ Sir Terry Pratchett, 1948-2015

Short Story Saturday: Kaiju Rising II - 4 days to go!

Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters II now has just a few days left to run on Kickstarter with over £1,000 to go until it funds.

My contribution to the anthology is called The Ghost in the Machine and here's an extract:

Keoni gasped. With the appearance of the strange tentacles he had momentarily forgotten all about the Great White. It suddenly surfaced again beside the outrigger, threatening to smash the port boom to matchwood as it fought to free itself from the tightening tentacles. The huge fish twisted and turned with such force that Keoni was worried that, even if it didn’t destroy the outrigger with its desperate thrashing, it would swamp the boat with seawater and cause it to sink it just the same.

The shark snapped its jaws open and closed, as if in a feeding frenzy, but still it could not free itself from the clutches of the tentacles. Inexorably it was being dragged backwards through the water towards the centre of the atoll, where the water was darker.

The sea frothed and foamed as the shark continued to fight the tentacles, but it was a fight it could never hope to win.

But if being witness to what he had thought was the apex predator of the Coral Sea being captured by this only half-seen tentacled leviathan wasn’t shocking enough, what happened next expanded Keoni’s understanding of the truth of his world in ways he could never have imagined when he had set out that morning.

As the shark was hauled in, the tentacles began to rise out of the water, impossibly high for a giant squid, or even an overgrown octopus.

It very soon became apparent that it was no mutated squid that had caught the shark but something much, much bigger.

As the tentacles rose out of the water Keoni saw that they surrounded a vast mouth that now made the monster look more like a gigantic starfish or some impossibly large anemone. The writhing limbs were there solely to feed food into the gaping maw, and as Keoni stared dumbfounded at the leviathan emerging from the Great Blue Hole, he saw the frantic shark disappear inside.

Rewards include a limited edition hardcover of Kaiju Rising II, with a hand made slipcase, and a limited edition hardcover of Kaiju Rising I with a matching slipcase too!

So, if giant mutated coral monsters float your boat, make sure you back the Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters II Kickstarter before it's too late.

Gamebook Friday: Small Press Expo at Forbidden Planet

On Saturday 24th February, the Forbidden Planet London Megastore will be hosting an event with a difference – welcoming a host of authors and editors from four small press publishers into a mini convention in the store, from 1:00-2:30pm!

NewCon Press (with whom I have a new short story coming out this summer), Fox Spirit Books, Kristell Ink Books and Snowbooks will be there, and I'll be there as part of the Snowbooks contingent, pushing the SHARKPUNK anthology, my The Wicked Wizard of Oz ACE Gamebook, and YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2.

So, if you're in town that day, why not come along, buy a book, and get it signed? Maybe I'll see you there.

     

Steampunk Thursday: Alice's Adventures in Oz

I say Oz, but I really mean America (seeing as how The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is 'the king of American novels').

I'm delighted that my ACE Gamebooks are finding an audience across the Pond. (I was in New York last April and I have to say, I love that city.) Especially The Wicked Wizard of Oz, seeing as how it was inspired by L. Frank Baum, an American author.

Here's what one reader had to say about the book:

"The writing of the sections make or break this type of book and Jonathan Green's clear descriptions bring the scenes to life."


Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland has been out longer and so has garnered a few more reviews, including these:

"Delightfully grizzly fun! Best book purchase I've made in a while."

"It's not at all what I thought it was going to be... It's BETTER!"

"I have had a blast with this book. Every time I pick it up it is like reading a new story!"