Gamebook Friday: One month left to back 100 AKER WOOD on Kickstarter!

If you have yet to pledge your support to the 100 AKER WOOD ACE Gamebooks Kickstarter, you have until Monday 7th September 2026 to do so. After that date, Late Pledges will close as the book goes to layout.

Heraldo Mussolini has completed the illustrations for the book, and I have been tinkering with the cover for the paperback. Having thought I would take it one way, this morning I tried something different, and I'm really pleased with it. I think it could work...

That said, nothing is set in stone at this time so, it may well change before 100 AKER WOOD goes to print.

Just make sure you don't miss out on the chance to be part of the Kicktstarter and receive some exclusive rewards that won't be available to people who buy the gamebook later through retail.

Gamebook Gifts that can still arrive in time for Father's Day!

It's Father's Day this Sunday, 21st June 2026. If you're still not sure what to get the important Dad, or Dads, in your life*, you could still order one of these gamebook titles to arrive in time for Sunday.

You could even place a Late Pledge to 100 Aker Wood and dedicate it to your Father/Father figure.

* Or if, like me, you buy your own Father's Day gifts. :-p

100 Aker Wood accepting Late Pledges now!

100 Aker Wood - which is soon to become the ninth ACE Gamebook - funded on Kickstarter last Thursday. Since then, seven people have joined our trek into the Ashdown Forest by placing a Late Pledge, via Kickstarter.

If you would like to place a Late Pledge, and receive a set of art postcards along with your physical copy of the book, simply click this link.

Gamebook Friday: Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu

The crowdfunding campaign to fund Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come concluded one year ago today. Thanks to Stretch Goal #1 being unlocked during the campaign, everyone who has backed to receive a physical copy of the book will also receive a pack of five postcards featuring Heraldo Mussolini's artwork.

If you visit Shakespeare's Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon, you can pick up postcards featuring extracts from the 1623 First Folio edition of Shakespeare's works enhanced by woodcut images printed from original blocks by Louisa Hare. 

Louisa Hare's First Folio postcards.

I wanted to pay homage to the First Folio postcards in Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come, and so Heraldo has produced a stylised woodcut illustration for each Act of the adventure, and it is these images that will be printed on the five postcards. Here's the one for Act 3 - Full Fathom Five.

Full Fathom Five, by Heraldo Mussolini.

If you would like to place a Late Pledge to Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come, there's still time - but you only have until the end of the month to do so!

Happy Birthday, Mr Shakespeare!

It is one year to the day since Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come funded on Kickstarter, but there's still time to place a Late Pledge - but only just!

I am making a few final tweaks to the manuscript, ready to start proofreading and renumbering next week. In the meantime, illustrator Heraldo Mussolini is working on producing the artwork for the book. Here are a couple of his finished illustrations.

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?"

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."

Happy Birthday, Mr Shakespeare!

Gamebook Friday: Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu Late Pledges

This is a reminder to let you know that you can still place a Late Pledge to Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come.

Due to the Late Pledges already placed by others, we are now just £274 away from hitting Stretch Goal #3. (That's roughyl equivalent to one CTHULHU, one PROSPERO, and one ROMEO.)

If we hit Stretch Goal #3, everyone who has backed at the KING LEAR reward level or above will receive, in addition to their signed, limited edition hardback, a pack of five postcards featuring artwork from the adventure, two Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu-themed dice, and a deck of Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu-themed playing cards.

It will also unlock the MACBETH reward, meaning that anyone who has backed at the HAMELT level can upgrade their pledge so that they receive the dice and playing cards too, along with the postcard pack.

So, don't delay - and place a Late Pledge today!

"That is not dead which can eternal lie,

And with strange aeons even death may die."

Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come - Post-Kickstarter Thoughts

Yesterday, the Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come concluded, having raised 152% of its original funding goal. If you helped make that happen, thank you. If you were late to the party, but would still like to place a Late Pledge, you can do so here.

I have now run 16 successful Kickstarter campaigns, but I have never done things quite the same way twice. I am always trying to refine the process, hoping to find the key that will unlock the greatest crowdfunding success. This time, that involves forking out a not insubstantial amount for targeted Facebook ads.

I don't feel I quite have the handle on such ads yet. Some appeared to do much better than others but I have no idea whether that was reflected in the actual amount raised. I still did a lot of promotion myself on social media and I wonder whether the Kickstarter might have raised just as much as it did even if I hadn't paid for any ads at all.

Shakespeare Vs. Cthulhu: What Dreams May Come is my most funded ACE Gamebooks Kickstarter to date, in terms of both money raised and number of backers who came on board, but Dracula: Curse of the Vampire comes a close second, and managed to make almost as much money with close to 100 fewer backers. Is that a reflection on the source material for the adventure, or the economic pressures of the times? I don't know.

What I do know is that my ACE Gamebook Kickstarters haven't gone viral yet, but neither am I willing to shell out thousands of pounds to a marketing agency on the off chance that their input might make a significant difference. When I spoke to one marketer, everything he said that his company would do were things I was already doing myself, although I would hope that they would do a better job with targeted Facebook ads than I did.

I will need to think carefully before I settle on what will be my next ACE Gamebook Kickstarter, but I have a couple of ideas that are both things I haven't done yet within the series.

However, for the time being, I have a new ACE Gamebook to finish and some artwork to commission.

"That is not dead which can eternal lie,

And with strange aeons even death may die."

Gamebook Friday: Your Last Chance to Late Pledge!

If you would like to place a Late Pledge to the YOU ARE THE HERO 40th anniversary edition Kickstarter, or upgrade your pledge, today is your last chance to do so. Either visit the Late Pledge page here, or drop me a line at info@jonathangreenauthor.com.

In other news, MAGIC REALMS: The Art of Fighting Fantasy is now 85% funded through Unbound Books.

Gamebook Friday: The Box of Delights RPG Late Pledges

The Box of Delights RPG might have funded on Kickstarter but it's still open to Late Pledges, if you would like to back it too. Click on the image below to be taken to the Late Pledges page.

I will continue to promote the Late Pledges, because the more money we raise the more of Tony Hough's amazing artwork will appear in the book.

Thank you, as ever, for your support and remember, the wolves are running...

Gamebook Friday: Review of the Year - 2022

It's that time of the year again - can you believe it? - when I like to look back on the past year and look forward to the next.

Despite all the other books I had published this year, 2022 was only ever going to be the Year of Fighting Fantasy, as it saw the 40th anniversary of the publication of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

However, I didn't expect to find myself writing a new Fighting Fantasy gamebook - but it turned out Steve Jackson had other ideas. In January Steve asked me to help him finish the FF adventure he was writing to mark the 40th anniversary, and so Secrets of Salamonis was born, which resulted in me working with Italian illustrator Tazio Bettin for the first time (and hopefully not the last).

I also provided technical assistance for the two Marvel Multiverse Missions gamebooks published by Aconyte Books this year - You Are (Not) Deadpool and She-Hulk Goes To Murderworld.

The first quarter of 2022 saw me write the 'Making of...' features for the final graphic novels in the All Killer No Filler Deadpool Collection, the very last of which was Deadpool Does Shakespeare.

In April I attended Taunton Comic Con for the first time, and June saw me attend the UK Games Expo for the first time since 2019, which meant I sold out of a lot of stock! I also playtested a new card game with some friends which I hope to have on sale at UKGE 2023.

Summer saw the publication of RONIN 47, the first science fiction-themed ACE Gamebook.

2022 was also a year of upheaval for Family Green as in the summer as we swapped West London for the West Country, moving from the Queen of the Suburbs - a.k.a. Ealing - to the County Town of Somerset - a.k.a.Taunton.

Then September saw Fighting Fantasy Fest 4 take place, back in Ealing, and the publication of Secrets of Salamonis, alongside Sir Ian Livingstone's Shadow of the Giants.

At the end of October I visited Lucca Comics and Games Fair in Italy for the first time. It was an incredible, full-on, five day event, during which I met all sorts of wonderful people and signed numerous copies of the Italian editions of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland and The Wicked Wizard of Oz.

November was remarkable because it saw the Kickstarter to fund production of YOU ARE THE HERO - An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks become my most successful crowdfunding project to date! If you missed it, there's still time to place a Late Pledge.

I also finished the Heorot RPG, at long last, which will be out in time for the UK Games Expo 2023.

At the start of December I was back at Dragonmeet in London, where I hung out with Sir Ian Livingstone during the day and the Lone Wolf crew during the evening.

December also saw the 20th anniversary of the publication of my first Warhammer novel, The Dead and the Damned.

As well as publishing another title in the ACE Gamebooks series in 2022, I have continued to release new content for 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas. 

If you have yet to grab the latest supplements, you might want to make the most of the ACE Gamebooks Roleplay New Year Sale, but it's only here for a short time, so don't miss out!

New foreign language editions of ACE Gamebooks that have been published this year include the Czech translation of NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!, the Ialian The Wicked Wizard of Oz, and the Polish edition of Dracula - Curse of the Vampire. And there are even more to come in 2023!

Talking of 2023, next year marks the 30th anniversary of me becoming a published author, as Spellbreaker, my first Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebook, was published in June 1993. And there are plenty more books to come next year.

I already have two gamebook projects pencilled into my schedule, while the Heorot RPG and YOU ARE THE HERO - An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks will both see print next year. And I have my next ACE Gamebooks Roleplay Kickstarter ready to go.

So it only remains for me to wish you and yours a happy and healthy New Year, and I'll see you again in 2023!