Free Comic Book Day 2015

As it was Free Comic Book Day today, I dragged the family to Forbidden Planet in London so that I could pick up the special FCBD 2000AD.

As it turned out, m'colleagues Al Ewing and Cav Scott, along with Rob Williams, were all signing the special FCBD Doctor Who comic from Titan, so I picked up that as well.

Rob Williams, Al Ewing and Cav Scott at Forbidden Planet for Free Comic Book Day 2015

While I was in the store I stumbled across this...

You Are The Hero on sale at Forbidden Planet London

and this...

I have a short story in Resurrection Engines, although strangely there were no Pax Britannia books on the Steampunk bookcase

and this...

Remember - the official launch of SHARKPUNK is being held at Forbidden Planet London next Saturday, 9th May 2015

I also picked up these objects of desire...

and then headed over to the Covent Garden Games Workshop store to check out the new Assassinorum Execution Force boxed game.

So all in all, not a bad Free Comic Book Day. :-)

Sharkpunk Saturday - Al Ewing and Sarah Peploe

SHARKPUNK - the anthology of killer shark stories coming your way in May from Snowbooks - features a couple of stories written by, well, couples. One of those pairings is comics writer and novelist Al Ewing and comics creator Sarah Peploe.


Sharkpunk: What, do you think, is the reason for people's enduring fascination with sharks?
Al Ewing and Sarah Peploe: Due to the anti-shark propaganda of Hollyweird, sharks are primarily known for their violent consumption of people. Like most people, we're fascinated with anything that wants to violently consume us or otherwise end our sweet lives. Hence our continuing interest in sharks, and also the Truckasaurus, which waits.

Sharkpunk: What was the inspiration behind your story 'YOU ARE THE SHARK'? 
AE: We were in the pub, discussing collaborating, and I remembered an arcade machine from the early days of video gaming in which YOU WERE THE SHARK, which I'd read about in The Winner's Book Of Video Games, a bizarre tome devoted to achieving the highest score possible in the games available back then. It was full of Pac-Man patterns, tips to win Space Invaders (shoot the aliens, shockingly) and other junk of the era. So we figured that might be a good angle to approach the shark element.
SP: I grew up in Norwich, so I spent a fair bit of the summers (and winters and autumns and springs) in the various resorts along the Norfolk coast. I’ve always loved the sea, and more specifically the seaside. The British seaside, nothing compares to it. The meeting of the sand and sea and sky, Victorian architecture and neon, the forces of nature and civilisation, the illuminations and the limitless, salted dark. Hale knew. Also where else you gonna get an ice cream donut? But there’s also poverty, xenophobia, economic uncertainty, the North f*cking Sea in January. You can’t romanticise or sugarcoat that. Anyway I suggested the seaside setting, as this arcade game sounded like it’d be at home in the amusement arcades I used to like trawling around. Then we got to thinking about the kind of child who’d be attracted to this game, to the control and certainty and departure from reality that its name promised. The kind who’d have the tenacity (and maybe a dearth of alternatives) to keep playing and playing...

Sharkpunk: What challenges, or surprises, did you encounter in writing your story? 
AE: It was fun to collaborate in a way we hadn't before - we ended up doing chunks of writing separately and sending it to each other, which we think is how Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman did it. Then we'd mutually edit and offer suggestions until the piece was ready to send off. One thing I tried to do was give the arcade machine a sense of reality without veering too far into dull Winner's Book Of Video Games-style descriptions of how to win at it - only the reader will know if I succeeded there.
SP: As for challenges, I was at work at the time, so often I'd be working STEALTH!, sneakily writing while sitting at one of the work computers in between issuing books/organizing book groups/wishing a protracted death on anyone who ever had a hand in the Universal Jobsmatch website. Also, we were writing about a lonely, alienated young female character, but I reeeaally didn't want to go all Exceptional Girl with her. I was excruciatingly aware that the scene in the kiosk could easily be all "Aw, isn't our protagonist just so Interesting and Special and Ravenclaw compared to this other bint?" So I hope we invested the other characters with enough agency and humanity to avoid that, but not detract from the main character's feelings of isolation.

Sharkpunk: If you had to pick a favourite shark, which would it be? 
AE: I don't know if we have a favourite species. Hammerheads are fun.

Sharkpunk: Do you have a favourite fictional shark (in books, comics, films, or video games)? 
AE: My favourite shark is Gums, the shark from the old kids comic Buster, who was a shark with false teeth who kept losing them, rendering him harmless. He was a figure of fun for cruel fish and was helped, or possibly hindered, by an octopus friend who I seem to remember wore a hat? I don't have a very good memory of this character considering he's supposed to be my favourite shark.
SP: Right Shark. He learns the choreography, turns up on time and discharges his duties to the best of his ability but does anyone turn him into a meme? There's no justice this side of Heaven.

Sharkpunk: Apart from your story in Sharkpunk, what's coming next from Al Ewing and Sarah Peploe? 
SP: I'm part of a small press comics co-op called Mindstain Comics. We'll be exhibiting our special blend of excoriating dystopian scifi, psychological thrillers and vegetable-based juvenilia at various conventions across the UK this year... Other than that I don't know. Keep firing stories off and see which stick. Just like always.
AE: I've got some stuff coming up for Marvel - probably the biggest thing is a trio of Avengers specials where various Avengers of the past fight Ultron in the future. It's called ULTRON FOREVER, and it should be about right for kids from eight to eighty. And above, centenarians!

Thanks, guys!



Al Ewing is best known as a comic-book writer, having worked on Mighty Avengers and Loki:Agent Of Asgard for Marvel Comics, and Zombo and Judge Dredd for 2000AD, among others. He's also known for his prose work, including a trio of Pax Britannia novels for Abaddon Books, and his critically-acclaimed novel The Fictional Man for Solaris.

Sarah Peploe was born and raised in Norwich. She has since headed West/North, working as a student, a librarian, a life model and various breeds of office and retail monkey in the process. Her short stories have appeared in Hic Dragones’ The Hauntings Anthology, Cassiopeia Magazine, Murky Depths, Flash, 330 Words and one of Tiny Owl Workshop’s Krampus-themed Christmas crackers. She illustrated the poetry collections Ghosts at the Dinner Table, He is in the Stars, Livid Among the Ghostings and SALT/LOVE for Manchester-based performance poet Anna Percy. She also produces comics as part of Mindstain Comics co-operative, including Celeriac: Vegetable Spawn of Cthulhu, Convention (with George Joy) and Grunt8790 (with Steven Burton). She lives in York. Sundry yatterings @peplovna.

The London Super Comic Con

One of the advantages of living in London is that a wide variety of conventions and genre events are readily accessible. The latest was the London Super Comic Con which three-quarters of Family Green attended yesterday, dragging a couple of friends along for company this time as well.

The event was rather like a cut-down MCM or Kapow! featuring cosplayers - including the funkiest Predator I've ever seen, as well as an utterly awesome Iron Man - comic geeks and sci-fi nerds, and a cross-section of ages too.

During the course of the day I briefly caught up with Ben Smith and Michael Molcher of 2000AD/Abaddon Books/Rebellion Developments, Kev Crossley, Ian Edginton, Al Ewing, Si Spurrier and Lavie Tidhar. My son's friend enjoyed himself so much, the two boys are already planning their costumes for MCM in May, so I'd say a good day was had by all.

Steampunk Thursday: Pax Britannia reading order

 A number of people have asked me recently, now that there are almost eight Ulysses Quicksilver adventures (not to mention three El Sombra stories by Al Ewing) what the correct reading order is.

For the novels it's as follows:

1) Unnatural History*
2) Leviathan Rising*
3) Human Nature*
4) Evolution Expects
5) Blood Royal
6) Dark Side
7) Anno Frankenstein
8) Time's Arrow

However, I have also written a number of short stories featuring Mr Quicksilver. If you add those in to the chronology then the correct reading order is:

1) Unnatural History*
2) Leviathan Rising*
    Fruiting Bodies **
    Vanishing Point ***
3) Human Nature*
    Christmas Past ****
4) Evolution Expects
5) Blood Royal
    White Rabbit *****
    Proteus Unbound ******
6) Dark Side
7) Anno Frankenstein
8) Time's Arrow

Now the eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that Conqueror Worm (which appears in Evolution Expects) and Silent Knight (which was posted on the Abaddon Books blog for free) do not appear on the list. The reason for Conqueror Worm not appearing... well, for those of you who've read the story, it would just give the game away, wouldn't it? And the reason for Silent Knight not appearing... well you'll just have to wait to find out. ;-)

And just for completeness, Al's El Sombra books stand apart from the Quicksilver ones; the order they should be read in is:

1) El Sombra
2) Gods of Manhattan
3) Pax Omega






* These three books are now collected in The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus (Vol.1)

** Published in El Sombra and The Ulysses Quicksilver Short Story Collection

*** Published in Leviathan Rising and The Ulysses Quicksilver Short Story Collection

**** Published in Human Nature and available to download free from the Abaddon Books website

***** Published in Blood Royal and The Ulysses Quicksilver Short Story Collection

****** Published in Dark Side

Also available now - Pax Omega

Doc thunder – the gold-bearded, bronze-muscled Hero of New York – in his last stand against a deadly foe whose true identity will shock you to your core!

El Sombra – the masked avenger, the laughing killer they call the Saint of Ghosts – in his final battle against the forces of the ultimate Reich!

The Scion of tomorrow, the steel-clad locomotive Man, in a showdown with cosmic science on the prairies of the Old West!

Jacob Steele, the time-lost gunfighter, defends the 25th Century against the massed armies of the Space Satan!

And a deadly duel of minds and might between the Red King and Red Queen in the mystery palaces of One Million AD!


Writer Al Ewing is a supreme master of the written word and his latest novel for the Pax Britannia series is a mind-blowing epic that spans all of time.


Follow this link to read an interview with author Al Ewing, follow this link to read the first chapter of Pax Omega for free, and follow this link to buy the book!

Pax Omega - Coming Soon!

It's only about a month now before Al Ewing's third Pax Britannia title Pax Omega is unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.

Just to get you in the mood, here's the publisher's blurb for the book:

Doc Thunder's last stand against a deadly foe whose true identity will shock you to your core! El Sombra's final battle against the forces of the Ultimate Reich! The Locomotive Man in a showdown with cosmic science on the prairies of the Old West! Jackson Steele defends the 25th Century against the massed armies of the Space Satan! A duel of minds in the mystery palaces of One Million AD! Blazing steam-pulp sci-fi the way you crave it! From the Big Bang to the End Of Time - eleven tales from Pax Britannia's past, present and distant future combine into one star-spanning saga set to shake the universe to its foundations or destroy it!

And here's an early review of the book:

Now before I begin this review I have to admit that I was one of the two guys who won the Genre for Japan auction to feature as a character within these pages. So I was already pre-disposed to liking the novel. That being said, even I wasn't prepared for how amazing this book was.

The story begins at the dawn of time and travels forward touching on the time of the Dinosaurs, the Eighteen Hundreds, the old West, Modern Day, the 25th Century and One Million AD.

It goes without saying that if you loved El Sombra, and went crazy for Gods of Manhattan; then this book is required reading. Unsurprisingly Pax Omega is a direct sequel to the two previous books, but it all serves as a prequel and a preview of what's to come in the main Pax Britannia series. As well as being so much more. I won't spoil it for you.

I don't want to give too much away but I wasn't expecting the revelations that Al Ewing gives in the novel, but they blew my mind.

With a book where there are such massive jumps in time, you could almost expect a disjointed series of vignettes. Ewing though manages to craft an engaging tale that has a different style of prose for each section. I'm not really doing Pax Omega justice; suffice to say the pacing and storytelling are woven so expertly that you'll not be able to put it down.

I hate to draw comparisons between authors but Al Ewing is without doubt the next Alan Moore or Grant Morrison. He has incredible ideas that while being completely bat sh*t aren't too dense to get your head around.

Pax Omega for sheer content is value for money and is a loving pastiche of Superhero story and Space-Opera. Al Ewing's love for genre fiction shines through and I without reservation recommend this book and its predecessors.

Remember, you can pre-order your copy of Pax Britannia: Pax Omega here.

Pax Britannia Needs YOU!

Exciting news!

It's that time of year again when the World Science Fiction Society decides on the nominations for the Hugo Awards. You are eligible to nominate if you attended WorldCon last year, or are to attend WorldCon this year, or have signed up for 2013's WorldCon. Instructions for nomination can be found here and the deadline is 31 January.

The reason I mention this here (and why the news is exciting) is because two of my works are eligible for nomination. They are Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein (novel) and The Doll's House (short story) from House of Fear.

Also eligible for nomination is Al Ewing's Pax Britannia: Pax Omega, the third in his El Sombra trilogy, as are cover artists/designers Mark Harrison (Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein), Simon Parr (Pax Britannia: The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus) and Luke Preece (House of Fear).

So, if you'll eligible to nominate, please feel free (and drop me a line to let me know here).

And while we're on the subject of nominations, if anyone would like to nominate Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein for the Steampunk Awards, feel free!

Special thanks to Drew Northcott (whose DeviantArt page you can find here) for the 'Pax Britannia Needs YOU' poster and to Major Willoughby Chase of the 1st Tea Company.

Free Comic Book Day

So, today being Free Comic Book Day, I headed up to Gosh! Comics in London to catch up with Dan Abnett and Al Ewing, and to say "Hi!" to Robbie Morrison.

Managed to pick up a couple of freebies too, mainly for JG Junior, who is starting to show an interest in 'proper' comics and who has a bit of a thing for Thor, having seen the Branagh-helmed blockbuster last weekend.

It's always good to catch up with the guys but today it was especially good as it's been a little hard going this week ('it' being this thing I call 'being a freelance writer') and Dan's pep talk was just what I needed to get my motivation going again. So, Dan, if you're reading this - thanks!

It was also good to catch up with Mark de Jager of the My Favourite Books blog whose top tip for today was Two Steps From Hell. And thanks to his recommendation I've now purchased their album Invincible.

Meet Dan Abnett, Al Ewing and Robbie Morrison on Free Comic Book Day

Which also happens to be known as Saturday 7 May. These three 2000AD musketeers will be at Gosh Comics in London (at 39 Great Russell St, WC1B 3NZ) from 1.00pm – 2.30pm. So why not drop by and say "Hi!".

You can find out more about this event here.

Pax Britannia: Masques and Lies

I have to tell you about a brand new original Pax Britannia short story by David Moore that's been produced exclusively for Pornokitsch's V Days of Rome.

Masques and Lies is a cracking read and builds on what both Al Ewing and I have already established in the Pax Britannia setting and may lead on to more like it... who knows?

Anywhere, check it out here and enjoy. This one's on David!

Genre for Japan - bidding now closed

Genre for Japan is now over - and has raised over eleven thousand pounds! This is a fantastic result, and Jenni Hill, Amanda Rutter, Lou Morgan, Rosemary Jane Smith and Alasdair Stuart should feel justly proud of themselves.

The lots from the Pax Britannia team (made up of Al Ewing, Pye Parr and myself) raised £440.00! So congratulations to friends of this blog Steven Dean, James Newton and Matt Zitron - and to everyone else who placed a bid.

Meanwhile, Abaddon's editorial team (Jon Oliver, David Moore and the awesome Jenni Hill) managed to raise £660.00 between them. (Being minions of the Angel of the Bottomless Pit, I'm surprised they didn't raise £666!)

For my sins, I now need to work out how I'm going to fit the name Matt Zitron into my latest Pax Britannia adventure Time's Arrow!

So, until next time...

Genre for Japan update

After offering a walk-on part in my next novel Time's Arrow, fellow Pax Britannia author Al Ewing has upped the anti by offering the chance for two of you to appear in his next El Sombra novel Pax Omega. As Al puts it in his own words:

On the block, taking my cue from Jon Green, I’m getting competitive by offering not one but TWO chances to appear in my next Pax Britannia novel, Pax Omega. Snapping one of these up will guarantee a speaking part – you could be fighting alongside El Sombra or Doc Thunder, or against them, or something even more outlandish, but whatever you end
up doing you’re guaranteed at least one line.

You can view Al's items in the Genre for Japan auction here.

So, in response to Al's challenge I too have offered another exclusive item for auction - a poster promoting Anno Frankenstein and featuring the Vetruvian Steamfrank designed by Pye Parr. And to top it all, Pye and I will sign it for you too.

The highest bidder will receive a special promotional poster for the forthcoming “Pax Britannia” novel, ANNO FRANKENSTEIN, signed by both author Jonathan Green & the artist and designer, Simon Parr.

You can view this item here. In the mean time, here a picture of me all merched up, holding the aforementioned poster. Did I mention that there's only ten of these in existence? This really is another money-can't-buy-prize!

And if you're wondering how you go about bidding for these fantastic Pax Britannia prizes, you can find out more here. Don't forget, bidding goes live 09:00 BST (GMT+1) on Monday 28 March!

Gods of Manhattan giveaway

Graeme Flory is giving away copies of Al Ewings's Gods of Manhattan over at Graeme's Fantasy Book Review.

If you'd like to chance your luck by entering the competition, click here. To read Graeme's review of Gods of Manhattan, click here.

Abaddon Books at the SFX Weekender

I have to confess that I've been somewhat remiss in not having yet blogged about my experiences at this year's SFX Weekender*. Okay, so I have posted a vlog on the subject, but there was a lot more that happened than I was able to relate on camera.

However, have no fear for Jenni Hill at Abaddon Books has posted a photo blog (now that she's finished going through Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein).

You can see for yourself what Al Ewing, Scott Andrews and myself got up to, along with Jenni, David and Pye Parr from Abaddon HQ.

During the course of the weekend I met Steven Dean who brought a rucksack, full of books of mine for me to sign! It was a seriously impressive haul.

* I have been busy, finishing off Doctor Who: Terrible Lizards and going through my editor's comments on Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein.

SFX Weekender 2

I'll be attending the SFX Weekender 2 at Pontin's Holiday Park Camber Sands, on Friday 4th and Saturday 5th February. I'll be stopping by the Abaddon/Solaris stand from time to time and propping up the bar the rest of the time (probably), along with my fellow Abaddon authors Scott Andrews, Rebecca Levene and Al Ewing.

I've even made it onto the official guest list over at the SFX site, and I've heard a rumour that I might even be taking part in a panel at some point over the weekend.

Pax Britannia book reviews

Yours in a White Wine Sauce! has some great reviews of most of my Pax Britannia novels.

There's Unnatural History, Leviathan Rising, Human Nature, Evolution Expects, Blood Royal and The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus Vol.1. Al Ewing's El Sombra also gets an honourable mention.

Meanwhile, people are feeling the love for Al's Gods of Manhattan here and saying lovely things about Blood Royal here as well.

Vote Pax Britannia for Steampunk book of the year!

Steampunk.com has launched its search for the 'Steampunk Book of 2010'. All that you have to do to nominate a book (or books) is leave their names, one per line, in a comment on this post at Steampunk.com. But what to nominate...?

Well, technically four Pax Britannia books (all of which qualify) were published in 2010 - Blood Royal, Al Ewing's Gods of Manhattan, Dark Side and The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus. But, according to the rules of the competition, technically any Pax Britannia book so far published would qualify.

So, if anyone feels like sharing the love for the alternate steampunk universe of Pax Britannia, go for it! And just let me know here.

The End of the Line launch at Foyles

So, last night I attended the launch of The End of the Line, the new anthology of Underground-inspired horror from Solaris Books, edited by Jonathan Oliver.

"This one goes out to the Phoenix massive!"

I have to confess I was a little late (due to family matters) and only really arrived in time for the Q&A session at the end. But all was not lost, for as the Foyles part of the event wound up, things really got going at the Phoenix Club, right across the road.

It was great to catch up with so many fellow writers, many of whom I am pleased to consider my friends now, as well as the Abaddon/Solaris editorial team, who are really like a kind of family (just don't ask me what kind).

Some of the highlights (or otherwise) of the evening were Jasper Bark and Scott Andrews pointing out that I am now genetically redundant since my son has recently won a prize for his writing (which I something I have failed to do myself so far), Al Ewing wondering what the world of Pax Britannia would be like in the year 1,000,000, David Moore's moustache, struggling to join in a conversation with Rebecca Levene and Jasper Bark because they are both a good head shorter than I am, seeing the expectant Mrs Oliver looking so well on it, meeting David Bradley, editor-in-chief of SFX magazine, again (and him recognising me!), and posing for Holmes and Watson-esque sepia tints with Michael Rathbone, Esq. (who has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in the new PB novella Proteus Unbound).

Rathbone and Green - here to save the civilised world!

And here are five things I didn't know this time yesterday and yet I do now.

1) Scott Andrews is a self-confessed Tequila snob.
2) Jared Shurin liked (or was that disliked?) the fact that I killed him off in Dark Side not once, but twice.
3) Adam Nevill believes it is more effective to disturb and unsettle with a horror story than to horrify.
4) Rebecca Levene likes the X-Men.

5) Richard Owen, champion of the Natural History Museum and inventor of the word 'dinosaur', also invented the word 'dentine'.

So there you go...

Scott "It has to be lime for me, every time" Andrews.

If you really want to, you'll find all sorts of embarrassing photos of myself (and other writerly types who'd also had possibly one Tequila too many) here.

Al Ewing unleashed!

Al Ewing - ace comic book writer and fellow Pax Britannia novelist - has been tracked down and interviewed by David Moore of Abaddon Books. You can read the results for yourself here.

The Abaddon Books podcast Pax Britannia special

The July Abaddon/Solaris podcast is now available on iTunes and much of it is dedicated to the Pax Britannia series. Al Ewing and myself were interviewed by Jon Oliver and we even did a Jackanory-style session. There's also an interview with Scott Andrews and Jenni Hill talks to Rebecca Levene about the Cold Warriors series, so there really is something for everyone this month!

But be warned, for when Al Ewing is allowed to speak.... Well, just be warned.