Gamebook Friday: Review of the Year - 2025

Strangely, 2025 will go down in history for me as the Year of Valiant, even though all most of you have heard about the Valiant gamebook appeared in this news item back in September.

I started this year finishing writing the first Valiant gamebook, and have ended the year working on the second. Valiant will be out in March, so look out for more news about that in the New Year.

Out before then is my third Arkham Horror gamebook, The Kingsport Metamorphosis, which was announced during Arkham Horror Week in October, after The Tides of Innsmouth was published in the Spring. To find out more about any of my Arkham Horror gamebooks, click the image below.

Last, but most definitely not least, among the gamebooks I have worked on this year, is Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come, which came out in ACE Gamebooks' 10th anniversary year.

As of writing, it has received three 5-star reviews on Amazon, one of which has been written in the style of William Shakespeare himself:

"O gentle reader, lend thine ear awhile,

And hark to Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come,

A book most strange, where inked worlds intertwine—

The Avon bard with eldritch horrors wed."

This was the first ACE Gamebook I have self-published, and the first book my son has laid out, and I am very pleased with the result. Two overseas publishers have already signed up to release the book in their territroies, which is very exciting.

Talking of overseas editions of my books, there weren't so many this year - certainly not compared to last year's seven! There was a new edition of La Nuit du Loup-Garou (the French language version of Howl of the Werewolf) and Pax Britannia: Unnatural History was published in Hungary.

Next year, however, I am expecting a glut of overseas editions of my gamebooks.

In terms of events, this year I attended AireCon, Dragonmeet: Call to Adventure, the UK Games Expo, and Dragonmeet. I already have my place booked at UK Games Expo 2026, and next September we will be holding Fighting Fantasy Fest 6 in West London.

My wife turned 50 in 2025 and it was her desire to visit 12 places she had never been to before in 12 months. This resulted in us going overseas five times! The countries we visited were Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Hungary, and Denmark. 

Yours Truly in Faraos Cigarer, in Copenhagen, with my Danish FF gamebooks. 

All of them were amazing and have provided me with all sorts of material for future stories or games, especially an exhibition at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen about the role of the Sorceress in Viking culture. I even got to see the lengendary Gundestrup Cauldron in the flesh, as it were.

An image of the horned god Cerunnos on the Gundestrup Cauldron.

I have also had some health issues to contend with this year, which I need to get a better handle on in 2026, but throughout it all - the highs and the lows - I continue to have my furry companion by my side.

Conker the Cavapoo is now three!

In the New Year I will continue to work on the second Valiant gamebook, but I also have a new gamebook coming to Kickstarter. So, watch this space.

Wishing you a very happy and healthy New Year!

Gamebook Friday: ACE Gamebooks Christmas Shopping

If you're looking for Christmas gifts for the gamebook fan in your life, or an RPG to play with your gaming group or family this festive season, then ACE Gamebooks has got you covered.

As well as buying ACE Gamebooks online - on Amazon or through DriveThruRPG - you can also buy signed copies direct from the author.

And when it comes to roleplaying games, there are the Christmas-themed 'Twas and The Box of Delights RPGs, or the Beowulf-inspired Heorot. To find out more, simply click the appropriate cover below.

Gamebook Friday: Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland is 10 years old today!

Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, the book that would become the first title in the ACE Gamebooks series, was launched at Dragonmeet on this day in 2015!

As you may have guessed, at the time, I didn't realise it was the start of a new creator-owned series, but just last weekend, the eighth ACE Gamebook was on sale at Dragonmeet 2025.

In the last 10 years, Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland has been published in 11 different languages, including Bulgarian and Japanese, and while the covers might change, they have all used Kev Crossley's original internal artwork. Not only that, but when Raven Distribution published the book in Italy, they commissioned Kev to draw a map of Wonderland, that then appeared in the 5th anniversary UK hardback.

Every year, somebody picks up Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland for the first time, which leads them to then check out the other books in the ACE Gamebooks series. And while other titles have also proved popular - The Wicked Wizard of Oz and Dracula: Curse of the Vampire in particular - none have knocked Queen Alice off the top spot. It has garnered 182 reviews on Amazon UK, and even spawned an adult colouring book that has now received over 1,700 reviews!

All being well, there will be a new edition of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland in the next couple of years. But, for the time being, please raise your glasses and toast the most popular adventure in the ACE Gamebooks series - Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland!

Steampunk Thursday: Pax Britannia reaches Hungary!

It's been a while since I posted something for Steampunk Thursday. The reason for today's post is because yesterday I discovered that my first Pax Britannia novel, Unnatural History*, is published in Hungary this week by Chameleon Comix!

The title of the Hungarian edition translates at The Galapagos Formula, which sounds intriguing.

* Unnatural History currently has 299 reviews on Amazon, with a 3.9 average.

The Kingsport Metamorphosis - available to pre-order now!

The Kingsport Metamorphosis - the third title in the Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook - is now available for pre-order.

A mysterious letter summons you to the seaside town of Kingsport, where dreams leak into reality, to a wealthy estate transformed into a place of unspeakable nightmares in this new action-adventure gamebook set in the popular world of Arkham Horror.

Curious to meet your mysterious host, Elijah Harcourt, your excitement is dashed when you discover the recluse's purpose is far more nefarious than you realized, leaving you and his guests with riddles to solve if you are to survive. As each hour passes, your companions meet terrible fates, forcing you to navigate a spiderweb of betrayal…

The Kingsport Metamorphosis will be published by Aconyte Books on 3 February 2026.