Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland on Twitch

Julian Sparrow, who is better known as Babel_17 on Twitch, will be continuing his readthrough of the original ACE Gamebook, Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, at 9:30pm GMT this evening.

If you would like to join him down the rabbit-hole, you will be more than welcome.

Happy Birthday, 2000AD!

Today marks the 45th birthday of the Galaxy's Greatest Comic - a.k.a. the British sci-fi, fantasy and horror anthology title 2000AD. I have been collecting the comic since the early 1990s and have been a subscriber for many years. When times were tough I got rid of 100 or so comics from my collection and have always regretted having to do so.

There is so much to love about 2000AD, although I am not a fan of some perennially popular strips. My favourites include Judge Dredd (of course), Nikolai Dante, Brink, Brass Sun, Kingdom... and those are just the ones that come to me now off the top of my head.

My work has actually appeared within the pages of 2000AD, once, when my festive tale Miracle on 34th and Peltzer appeared in Prog 1961 back in 2015. In 2020 it was reprinted in Judge Fear's Big Day Out and Other Stories, along with the Judge Dredd stories I wrote for the Judge Dredd Megazine.

I am fortunate that over the years I have got to work with a number of 2000AD artists. Usually it means that have provided a cover painting or internal illustrations for one of my books - most recently Neil Googe, Chris Weston, Simon Fraser, and Tazio Bettin - but some have actually illustrated comic strips I have written, such as Steve Yeowell on The Tale of the Hound.

I attended the 40th anniversary celebrations in London back in 2017, but for some reason the Imposter Syndrome was strong that day and so I barely spoke to anyone, even though many of the creators are known to me personally.

But tonight I shall be raising a glass in Tharg's honour and wishing 2000AD a very Happy Birthday. Here's the next 45 years!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Why not treat yourself or a loved one this Valentine's Day to a signed ACE Gamebook?

To buy one, simply click on the correct PayPal button below. Please note, all books come signed, and with an ACE Gamebooks pin badge, and are sent using Royal Mail's tracked and signed services.

At this time I can only post books to the UK, so please do not buy if you are based overseas.

Dracula - Curse of the Vampire (£15)

Paperback edition of the sixth ACE Gamebook, signed by the author.

1,000 sections in length.

Comes with an exclusive bookmark and ACE Gamebooks pin-badge.

(Please note, the bookmark may vary from the one shown.)

 

Dracula - Curse of the Vampire (£35)

Hardback edition of the sixth ACE Gamebook, signed by the author.

1,000 sections in length.

Comes with an exclusive bookmark and ACE Gamebooks pin-badge.

Includes a bonus chapter containing designer's notes and artist's sketchbook.

(Please note, the bookmark may vary from the one shown.)

 

'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas (£12)

Paperback edition of the fifth ACE Gamebook, signed by the author.

500 sections in length.

Comes with an ACE Gamebooks pin-badge.

 

'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas (£30)

Hardback edition of the fifth ACE Gamebook, signed by the author.

500 sections in length.

Includes a bonus chapter containing designer's notes and artist's sketchbook.

Comes with an ACE Gamebooks pin-badge.

Beowulf Beastslayer (£15)

Paperback edition of the fourth ACE Gamebook, signed by the author.

500 sections in length.

Comes with an exclusive bookmark and ACE Gamebooks pin-badge.

 

NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters (£15)

Paperback edition of the third ACE Gamebook, signed by the author.

900 sections in length.

Comes with an ACE Gamebooks pin-badge.

 

Gamebook Friday: MARVEL'S MULTIVERSE MISSIONS

Aconyte Books and Marvel have just announced a new range of books that are part game and part story. Sound familiar?

The series is called MULTIVERSE MISSIONS. The first two titles - both written by game designer Tim Dedopulos - are You Are (Not) Deadpool, and She-Hulk Goes to Murderworld.

Inside their packed pages, you will get to assist and advise the superheroes is question, and hopefully succeed in guiding them to a mighty victory.

Both You Are (Not) Deadpool and She-Hulk Goes to Murderworld will be published in September 2022.

Happy Twosday

I know! Chinese New Year yesterday and today its Twosday!

In case you didn't know, Twosday is a once in a lifetime special event, because 2nd February 2022 can be written as 2/2/22!

2/2/22

I made a note to write this blog post back in March 2021 and was hoping to announce the first two-player ACE Gamebook, but it looks like that's going to have to wait for another year. Instead, I'm busy putting the finishing touches to RONIN 47 and starting work on two new projects this month. So maybe it is Twosday after all.

Tie-in Tuesday: Sherlock Holmes and the Beast of Bodmin

Happy Chinese New Year of the Tiger!

In other news, Further Associates of Sherlock Holmes, edited by George Mann, is still available to buy. Why am I telling you this? Because it contains my first published Sherlock Holmes short story, Sherlock Holmes and the Beast of Bodmin.

Here's a little background on the tale.

Further Associates of Sherlock Holmes is available from Titan Books, and via Amazon, now!