Gamebook Friday: My Most Popular ACE Gamebooks

I regularly check Amazon to see how my books are rating*. For a long time, I thought that RONIN 47 was one of my most popular ACE Gamebooks because, although it didn't have a lot of reviews, almost all of them were 5 stars. However, in my obsession with the only sci-fi ACE Gamebook to date, I had failed to notice that some of the older titles in the series were even more popular.

This prompted me to make a proper comparison. As well as looking at the average rating out of 5 on Amazon.co.uk, I considered how many ratings a title had received. So, gamebooks with the same average rating would be differentiated by how many people had rated each one.

The results may surprise you - they certainly surprised me!

ACE Gamebooks ranked by Amazon ratings:

1) NEVERLAND: Here Be Monsters! - 4.9/5 based on 46 ratings

2) 'TWAS: The Krampus Night Before Christmas - 4.9/5 based on 32 ratings

3) RONIN 47 - 4.9/5 based on 24 ratings

4) Dracula: Curse of the Vampire - 4.8/5 based on 96 ratings

5) Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come - 4.7/5 based on 5 ratings

6) Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland - 4.6/5 based on 181 ratings

7) The Wicked Wizard of Oz - 4.4/5 based on 67 ratings

8) Beowulf Beastslayer - 4.4/5 based on 60 ratings

I then wondered how ratings on Amazon compared with those on Goodreads, which gave quite a different result.

ACE Gamebooks ranked by Goodreads ratings:

1) Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come - 5/5 based on 2 ratings

2) Beowulf Beastslayer - 4.45/5 based on 11 ratings

3) Dracula: Curse of the Vampire - 4.37/5 based on 41 ratings

4) The Wicked Wizard of Oz - 4.18/5 based on 28 ratings

5) 'TWAS: The Krampus Night Before Christmas - 4.15/5 based on 27 ratings

6) Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland - 3.96/5 based on 334 ratings

7) NEVERLAND: Here Be Monsters! - 3.95/5 based on 19 ratings

8) RONIN 47 - 3.5/5 based on 6 ratings

Whenever I attend an event, people often single out one particular ACE Gamebook as being their favourite. However, what is pleasing is that each adventure is somebody's favourite. I wonder how many people will pick 100 Aker Wood as their favourite when it is published next year?

Maybe I should rank my various Fighting Fantasy gamebooks by popularity next?

* If you have read/played and enjoyed one of my ACE Gamebooks, please do post a review online, and on Amazon if you can.

Warhammer Wednesday: Herald of Oblivion is back on Steam!

A new Warhammer Classics event has kicked off on Steam and one of the games available as part of this franchise sale is Legacy of Dorn: Herald of Oblivion, Tin Man Games' adaptation of my Warhammer 40,000 Path to Victory gamebook*.

As the news piece on Warhammer-Community.com puts it, "The Warhammer Classics celebration invites nostalgic fans to revisit formative experiences, while opening the door for a new generation to discover the games that helped shape Warhammer’s enduring presence in PC gaming."

Legacy of Dorn: Herald of Oblivion - a vast, choice-based digital gamebook set within the Warhammer 40,000 universe in which you are a Space Marine - was Tin Man Games' first foray into the worlds of Warhammer, and was supposed to be the first in a trilogy of digital gamebooks.

YOU are a veteran Space Marine of the Imperial Fists Chapter. Equipped with powerful Terminator armour and armed with the deadliest weapons that the Adeptus Astartes wield, you are a symbol of the Emperor's might. Trapped aboard the space hulk Herald of Oblivion, and the only survivor of your squad, you must fight your way through the aliens and heretics that infest the star vessel and find a way to escape the horror and return to your Chapter.

Until 20th April 2026, you can download the complete game for just £3.97! So, in the Primarch's name, what are you waiting for?

* Which was first published in 2012 - 14 years ago!

Gamebook Friday: 100 Aker Wood

The ninth ACE Gamebook, 100 Aker Wood, is coming to Kickstarter on Tuesday 12 May 2026.

As you will doubtless be able to tell from the title, 100 Aker Wood is inspired by the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne.

Winnie-the-Pooh was published 100 years ago this year, on 14 October 1926, and the plan is to publish 100 Aker Wood early in 2027. (Please note, the image to the right is not the final artwork for the cover but merely a placeholder.)

It is unnusual because the story is told through just 100 sections, but will still include everything you would expect from an ACE Gamebook.

It is also an interactive folk horror story, about grief and guilt. To explain much more than that at this stage would be difficult without giving away too many of the book's secrets. But rest assured that 100 Aker Wood will be a more subtle take on the idea than some other recent adaptations*, and will have a pervading atmosphere of creeping dread.

Other influences on the adventure include Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood (which won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1985) and Stephen King's Pet Sematary (which the author considers his most disturbing and terrifying novel).

I'm not entirely sure what made me think of merging Winnie-the-Pooh with Pet Sematary, but what clinched it for me was when I considered how Christopher Robin misspelt 'Acre' on his map of Hundred Acre Wood, just as the children of Ludlow, Maine, misspelt 'Cemetery' on the sign they made to mark the resting place of their much-missed family pets.

If all of this has you intrigued, check out the Kickstarter preview page and click the button to be notified when the campaign launches. You could also subscribe to my newsletter.

* And I use the word loosely here.

Gamebook Friday - JG to attend PLAY: Festival del Gioco

I will be attending PLAY: Festival del Gioco in Bologna, Italy, from Friday 22nd - Sunday 24th May 2026. I will be there as the guest of Vincent Books, who publish the Italian editions of the ACE Gamebooks series.

Talking of which, available for the first time at the event will be NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! - which has a new title, I Mostri Dell'Isola Che Non C'è, and a new cover...

I love this image!

Two new covers, in fact!

It's great to see another piece of Kev Crossley's art on the cover of the special edition.

I will be signing copies of my ACE Gamebooks - including the Italian editions of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland and The Wicked Wizard of Oz - as well as the recently released L'Oscurità su Arkham.

So, if you're going to be at PLAY: Festival del Gioco, do stop the Raven Distribution stand and say, "Ciao!"

Gamebook Friday: JG to attend Fantasy Festival 2026

This autumn, I will be attending Fantasy Festival in Denmark. The event takes place in Esbjerg over the weekend of Saturday 19th - Sunday 20th September 2026.

Here I am, looming over the other Guests of Honour
like some kind of gamebook ghost.

While I am there I will be interviewed by Danish gamebook author and translator Morten Gottschalck, and I will be involved in a quiz as well.

Danish gamebook author and translator Morten Gottschalck.

Not only that, but one of my gamebooks, which has not yet been translated into Danish yet, will be released on Saturday 19th September 2026 - more on that later. So, over the course of the weekend you will find me signing copies of my books at the Faraos Cigarer stand.

Here I am, in one of the Faraos Cigarer shops in Copenhagen
last October when I visited Denmark for the first time.

If you're in Denmark and visiting Fantasy Festival 2026, do pop by and say hello.

If other gamebook-related news, the Japanese language edition of YOU ARE THE HERO: An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks is published today by GroupSNE.

Short Story Saturday: The Iron Code

One Kickstarter only finished on Thursday, and here I am telling you about another.

Currently funding on Kickstarter is The Iron Code, an anthology of stories in honour of David Gemmell, which will be published to mark the 20th anniversary of his passing.

As the Kickstarter says, "Pick up your sword and your axe and prepare to be dazzled by some of the best fantasy fiction you will ever read." And a story by Yours Truly.

Publisher Ian Whates, of Newcon Press, asked 21 authors to write 21 new short stories to celebrate the man's life and his work. Among those contribution authors are Dan Abnett, M. R. Carey, John Gwynne, Joanne Harris, Juliet E. McKenna, Mark Lawrence, Gavin Smith, and Adrian Tchaikovsky.

By supporting this Kickstarter - which is currently 342% funded! - you will receive a copy of the book ahead of its official release date. In addition, your name will be listed in the Roll of Honour at the back of the book, acknowledging your support (unless you choose not to be included).

To find out more, click this link to visit The Iron Code Kickstarter project page.

Gamebook Friday: Valiant

Now that Valiant has been out for a couple of weeks, people have started to share how they have got on with the adventure. Like the people behind The Markov Dossier.

Jordan Sorcery also mentioned the gamebook on his channel today.

Gamebook Friday: Dracula Anniversary Hardback

As of writing, the Kickstarter campaign for the 5th Anniversary Hardback of the ACE Gamebook Dracula: Curse of the Vampire, has just 6 days left to run, but is already 56% funded.

There is now a no frills hardback reward available for £50. So, if you've been holding back from backing the Kickstarter, maybe this option is for you.

If you haven't backed the project yet yourself, here's a reminder of what you will be getting:

• 
  A hardback of the 1,000 section adventure, in which you can play as either Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray, Dr John Seward, or Count Dracula. This will differ from the original hardback in that the cover will be red with black printing on it.
• Known errata will be corrected in this new edition and backers of the Kickstarter will have their names featured inside.
• Each book will be individually signed by the author.
  

Those people who back at the £70 or £120 reward levels will also receive the following rewards:

• 
  A collectible bookmark, only available with this edition of the book.
• A pack of 10 postcards featuring Hauke Kock's artwork.
• A pair of Dracula: Curse of the Vampire themed black dice.
• A golden pin badge in the form of Dracula's crest.
  

So don't delay, back today! And please share the project far and wide with your contacts on social media.

Thank you.

New Book Day: YOU are Valiant!

Today sees the publication of Valiant, the first Warcradle Studios Gamebook.

It is the Dystopian Age.

YOU are Valiant, an agent of the Crown Ministry of Intelligence, an unsung hero, working in secret to keep an unstable world from igniting into all-out war. Victoria may reign as Queen, but it is the super-science of the Enlightened that dominates the world thanks to their discovery of otherworldly technologies. The great global superpowers strain against the uneasy detente that exists between them. All it takes is the right agent in the wrong place, so after a secret mission goes disastrously wrong, all that stands between a shadowy conspiracy and global ruin is YOU!

Her Majesty is counting on YOU to end this threat.

Only YOU can save Queen and Country - and perhaps the world!

In the lead up to the release of Valiant, Warcradle Studios have published a series of blogs about the book. One of these is about the lore of the world of the Dystopian Age, which you can read here. They have also published an interview with Yours Truly about the experience of writing the adventure, which you can read here.

Valiant is illustrated throughout by Neil Googe, who also illustrated RONIN 47. So, to finish with today, here are some of his incredible illustrations from the adventure.

You can purchase Valiant direct from Warcradle Studios here.

Gamebook Friday: L'Oscurità su Arkham

This arrived at my home today...

L'Oscurità su Arkham (published by Vincent Books*) is the Italian language edition of the first Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebook, The Darkness Over Arkham, and a very nice hardback it is too.

It also means that The Darkness Over Arkham is now available in four different languages - English, Spanish, Hungarian, and Italian.

As you can see, L'Oscurità su Arkham varies from the other editions in that is has new cover art. And while the book does not feature any full page illustrations, Vincent Books have commissioned some adventure-specific fillers, including the ones shown below.

Recently, I was interviewed by Riccardo Scaringi for the Il Gioco In Tavolo podcast. During the course of our discussion we talked about Fighting Fantasy as well as exploring the world of Arkham Horror through gamebooks, which you can watch below.

Make sure you pop back tomorrow, because it will be new book day - again!

* Who have also published Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland and The Wicked Wizard of Oz in Italian.

World Book Day 2026

As it is World Book Day, I thought I would draw your attention to four gamebooks that may be of interest to you.

Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come was published last November. YOU take on the role of William Shakespeare himself as he navigates the nightmarish worlds of his plays and comes up against very servants of the Great Old Ones.

Here is what one reviewer had to say about the adventure:

"An absolute joy to flit through the worlds of Shakespeare as you fight your way through to hopefully a successful conclusion. Each read through bringing a little more insight and a better chance to make it out to the other side. This is a fast paced story as you are constantly being thrown from one story to the next and new paths and options unfold before you."

You can buy the paperback of Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come here, and you can buy a signed hardback direct from me here.

The Kingsport Metamorphosis was published in February and is the third title in the Arkham Horror Investigators Gamebooks series.

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. Curious as to why the reclusive Elijah Harcourt has summoned you to his home, you are unsettled when you discover Harcourt’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.

Here's what one reviewer has had to say about this adventure:

"Another solid entry in the series (this one stronger on parlor-room mystery vibes than on cosmic horror vibes, though these are present too) from gamebook maestro Jon Green."

You can buy The Kingsport Metamorphosis here.

Valiant is the first Warcradle Studios Gamebook and will be published on Saturday 7th March 2026.

It is the Dystopian Age.

YOU are Valiant, an agent of the Crown Ministry of Intelligence, an unsung hero, working in secret to keep an unstable world from igniting into all-out war. Victoria may reign as Queen, but it is the super-science of the Enlightened that dominates the world thanks to their discovery of otherworldly technologies. The great global superpowers strain against the uneasy detente that exists between them. All it takes is the right agent in the wrong place, so after a secret mission goes disastrously wrong, all that stands between a shadowy conspiracy and global ruin is YOU!

Her Majesty is counting on YOU to end this threat.

Only YOU can save Queen and Country - and perhaps the world! 

When asked which release she was looking forward to most in 2026, Warcradle Studios' Game Development Manager Sophie Williams, who worked closely with me on the adventure, had this to say:

"Valiant! I love choose-your-own-destiny books. Play as a Crown spy in the Dystopian Age whilst navigating a story packed with adventure, deciding how you would deal with the challenges ahead, yes please!"

Finally, the 5th anniversary collector's hardback edition of Dracula: Curse of the Vampire is currently funding on Kickstarter.

1897

In the wolf-haunted Carpathian Mountains, a young solicitor, Jonathan Harker, travels to an isolated castle to assist a mysterious Count with purchasing a number of properties in England. But what he witnesses there drives him to the edge of madness…

Meanwhile, in Whitby, Harker’s fiancée, Mina Murray, visits her dear friend Lucy Westenra. But during her stay, Lucy is attacked and becomes seriously ill…

In London, Lucy’s suitor and physician, Dr John Seward, becomes preoccupied with the case of a certain Mr Renfield, an inmate at his lunatic asylum, who seeks to collect lives for his master, having not long returned from a trip to Transylvania…

And so, the pieces for the game are set. For they are all pawns in a plan devised centuries ago by the Voivode of Wallachia, Vlad Tepes, a cruel tyrant whom history remembers as ‘the Son of the Devil’, his bloodthirsty deeds having earned him another name…

Dracula.

The new edition of Dracula: Curse of the Vampire has a red cover, with black lettering, and known errata have been corrected. The book will also include the names of everyone who backs this latest Kickstarter.

Those who back the campaign will also receive some unique rewards including a collectible bookmark, a pair of black Dracula-themed dice, a set of 10 postcards featuring Hauke Kock's artwork from the book, and a golden pin badge in the form of Count Dracula's crest.

The Kickstarter. is running until Thursday 19th March 2026 and, as of writing, is almost 50% funded already.