Gamebook Friday: Nosferatu and the Curse of the Vampire

At the weekend I went to see Robert Eggers' Nosferatu. I had been looking forward to this ever since I first saw the trailer and went to see it as soon as I could so as not to have the film ruined by spoilers on social media.

Now, be warned, this post contains a few spoilers about the film. So, if you have yet to see it but you want to see it, do not read on any further.

Still here? On your head be it, then.

For those who don't know, Eggers' Nosferatu was inspired by the original Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, from 1922, as well as Bram Stoker's gothic horror novel Dracula*. Eggers' film looks stunning - the locations, sets, and cinematography are incredible - but it isn't actually scary. The jump scares are too obvious and well signposted. On top of that, the story is just too well known to terrify. There's some gross stuff but, knowing it's not real, means none of it will actually make you jump out of your skin.

I don't mind that, but I'm still not entirely sure what I think of the film. It's good, but not amazing. That said, I have found myself pondering it over and over this last week, so it has definitely made an impression on me. There are some fantastic images in the film, and probably the most disturbing elements involve what the mere mortals do when their minds cannot cope with the horror they have been subjected to.

It seems the most contentious things about the film involve Count Orlok's appearance, specifically his moustache and the fact that he is naked at pivotal moments in the film. I don't see what all the fuss is about. Dracula had a moustache in Stoker's novel and the undead Strigoi in my Dracula-inspired gamebook haven't bothered to get dressed either.

Count Dracula and an undead Strigoi by Hauke Kock, from Dracula: Curse of the Vampire.

But it is the look of the film that has really stuck with me, so much so that I am considering publishing a new edition of Dracula: Curse of the Vampire next year, with darker and grittier artwork, and a more gothic look altogether.

For now, if you have yet to check out my own take on Stoker's classic, you can order a copy of the sixth ACE Gamebook here.

* The original Nosferatu was effectively a rip-off of Dracula, and Stoker's widow won a copyright case against the filmmakers. All copies of the film were supposed to have been destroyed but, just like the vampiric Count Orlok, it rose again from the dead. 

Fighting Fantasy Fest 4 - Tickets on sale now!

 Tickets are on sale now for Fighting Fantasy Fest 4, and are strictly limited to 400* in total.

The Convention of Firetop Mountain is returning to the University of West London, three years since FFF3, on Saturday 3rd September 2022, to celebrate 40 years of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain and the Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks series co-created by Steve Jackson and Sir Ian Livingstone.

Everyone who purchases an adult ticket will receive:

• A uniquely numbered 40th anniversary ticket (strictly limited to 400 in total)
• A souvenier programme and autograph book
• A pair of Fighting Fantasy dice
• Access to the event, including the Traders' Hall and Artists' Alley, and all signing opportunities
• Access to all talks and panels
• Access to a special screening of Martin Gooch's new film Argh and the Quest for the Golden Dragon Skull, featuring Sir Ian Livingstone!

Attendees may also pre-order an exclusive Fighting Fantasy 40th anniversary T-shirt and enamel pin badge, ready for collection at the event.

There are also a limited number of Young Adult and Children tickets. (Please note that anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult ticket holder.)

Steve Jackson and Sir Ian Livingstone will be attending as Guests of Honour, and other guests include authors Rhianna Pratchett, Jamie Thomson, Peter Darvill-Evans, and Jonathan Green, artists John Sibbick, Malcolm Barter, Tony Hough, Mel Grant, and Rob Ball, and original commissioning editor Geraldine Cooke.

Fighting Fantasy Fest 4 is likely to be a very popular event and entry is by pre-paid ticket only*.

If you've been before, you will know what to expect and will doubtless be keen to attend again. If you've not been before, then this is the year to attend your first Fighting Fantasy convention!

So, don't delay and make sure you secure your place at Fighting Fantasy Fest 4 now!

* Tickets are limited to 400 adult tickets, plus 50 Young Adult tickets, and 50 Children tickets.

The Krampus Kalendar: R is for REINDEER

Did you know that a reindeer calf can outrun a man at only one day old, or that the Finns once measured distance in terms of how far a reindeer could run without having to stop for a pee?

The reindeer is the only deer that can be domesticated, and was the first hoofed animal to be domesticated. It provides the nomadic tribes who live within the Arctic Circle (such as the Lapps) with milk, cheese, meat, fat, clothing, footwear, tools (made from the antlers and bones), highly durable bindings (made from the animal’s sinews) and a means of transport.

In Iceland, reindeer meat (or hreindýr) is becoming an increasingly popular Christmas dinner choice, while the Lapp people of Scandinavia believe that taking powdered reindeer antlers increases virility. Reindeer themselves are vegetarians by choice but when when the supply of greenery runs out they will eat anything, and everything, from eggs and shed antlers, to placenta and even rodents!

Reindeer did not enter the Father Christmas story until the nineteenth century, and it was all the fault of the American Episcopalian minister called Clement Clarke Moore, who composed the famous poem An Account of a Visit from Saint Nicholas (a.k.a. 'Twas the Night Before Christmas), as a Christmas treat for his own children.

In his poem, Moore had a diminutive elf-like Santa pulled in a miniature sleigh by equally tiny reindeer. At one point Santa reels off their now so familiar names, but which were new to those reading the poem when it first appeared in print back in 1823.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:

‘Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!’ 

Those same reindeer appear in 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas, and also appear in 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas, which is into its final few days of funding on Kickstarter.

   

To find out more about the festive season and its many traditions, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas.

      

The Krampus Kalendar: Q is for Snow QUEEN

The Snow Queen, or Snedronningen in Danish, is an original fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen. The tale was first published on 21 December, 1844, and is about the struggle between good and evil as experienced by Gerda and her friend, Kai.

The story is one of Andersen's longest and most highly acclaimed works. It is regularly included in selected tales and collections of his work and is frequently reprinted in illustrated storybook editions for children.

Andersen met the Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind in 1840, and fell in love with her, but she was not interested in him romantically, although the two became friends. Legend has it that Andersen was inspired to model the cold-hearted Snow Queen on Lind after she rejected him as a suitor.

More recently, the 2013 Disney film Frozen was inspired by The Snow Queen, and closely followed the original Andersen story early in the film's development.

The Snow Queen appears in 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas, and she will also appear in 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas, which is into its final few days of funding on Kickstarter.

   

To find out more about the festive season and its many traditions, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!

The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas.

      

Tie-in Tuesday: Dinosaur Day

According to Twitter, today is Dinosaur Day. My working days are filled with dinosaurs at the moment, as I'm nearing the end of writing the first draft of NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!

But of course it's not the first book I've written that features the terrible lizards. There's Terrible Lizards for one. There are also dinosaurs in the Fighting Fantasy gamebook Bloodbones, and the Pax Britannia novels Unnatural History and Leviathan Rising.

Like many 5 and 6 year-olds, I was obsessed by dinosaurs. I would spend hours tracing the dinosaurs in the colouring book I had, and I loved films like The Land That Time Forgot, Valley of the Gwangi, and One Million Years BC, shown on TV during the afternoon at weekends. When I was a little older, by father and I would make Airfix kits of dinosaurs together, and I have very fond memories of travelling up to London on the train with him, specifically to visit The Natural History Museum and its dinosaur collection. I even remember an English lesson, early on in Secondary School, in which we studied an extract from Ray Bradbury's A Sound of Thunder, focusing on the arrival of a T-Rex.

All of this clearly had an impact on my growing up, and I still have a passion and fascination for prehistoric life today. Last year family Green visited New York and I dragged everyone to the American Museum of Natural History, just so that I could see the dinosaur exhibits, which did not disappoint! And because it had an impact on me growing up, it has also impacted upon my writing.

But I have never explored dinosaur life in so much detail as I have in NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! For a start, the book includes over 30 different dinosaurs, marine reptiles, flying reptiles and other prehistoric creatures. But one of the fun things about writing the book has been coming up with new names for dinosaurs, because most of the characters in the story wouldn't have known what the nascent fossil hunters had called these primeval beasts.

I'm keen for the book to be finished and out there in readers' hands for various reasons, but one of them is to see if people can work out which dinosaur is which. Maybe I'll reveal the answers next Dinosaur Day.

Steampunk Thursday: The Charles Dickens Museum

On the twelfth day of Christmas I visited the Charles Dickens Museum in Holborn. Despite having lived in West London for over 20 years, this was my first visit and I couldn't have timed it better, since the house was decorated for Christmas.

Unless this is the first time you have visited my blog, you may have noticed that I've been a little bit obsessed with Dickens' A Christmas Carol of late. Unsurprisingly, considering the season, the museum was hosting an exhibition about the most famous Christmas story in the world (after the Nativity), which included costumes from the recent film The Man Who Invented Christmas, and delved into the origins of the story.



If you've not been before, and you're down London way, it's definitely worth a visit. You can see the actual desk and chair that Dickens wrote at in his study, along with his personal collection of books.

It may not be Christmas any longer, but the first Scrooge and Marley (Deceased) tale, The Haunted Man, is still available as an eBook from Amazon, and I fully intend to write further stories over the coming year, as long as there's enough support for the books.



On a side note, is it just me or is The Carol of the Bells absolutely everywhere now around Christmas time? Ten years ago I don't think I'd even heard of it, but now it's everywhere, in adverts, on TV shows and film soundtracks... there's no getting away from it. Not that I'm complaining, I think it's great - especially this version.

Sharkpunk Saturday: SHARKPUNK 2 - Coming soon to Kickstarter

SHARKPUNK 2 - a second anthology of killer shark stories, following on from 2015's SHARKPUNK - is coming soon to Kickstarter.

The anthology features brand new SF, F and WTF? stories by master genre authors such as James Lovegrove, Gavin Smith, Gav Thorpe, Guy Haley, Sarah Peploe, Al Ewing and many, many more.

SHARKPUNK 2 also features a brand new original short story set within the world of the forthcoming Sky Sharks movie!

Make sure you keep up to date about exciting and unique rewards by joining the SHARKPUNK 2 Facebook group here!

Wellsian Wednesday: Happy Birthday, H G Wells!

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of the British Father of Science Fiction, Herbert George Wells. Wells is, of course, most well known, in the modern era, for his novels The Time Machine (1895) and The War of the Worlds (1898).

Wells' original stories have been adapted time and time again, and have inspired countless other tales, including my own. I have an idea for a spin-off from The War of the Worlds that I would like to start work on in the next year or two, but The Time Machine has already massively influenced an already published work of mine - or should I say works?

What started off as a fun idea for a one-off short story expanding the world of Pax Britannia, back in 2008, ended up becoming the core element of trio of Ulysses Quicksilver novels - Dark Side (2010), Anno Frankenstein (2011) and Time's Arrow (2012). I hadn't realised just how much The Time Machine had influenced Anno Frakenstein in particular until I re-watched the 2002 movie version recently, as I introduced it to my children for the first time.

My Wellsian celebrations will continue today with Jeff Wayne's musical version of The War of the Worlds on today's playlist, and possibly a viewing of the 2005 movie adaptation later this evening.

If you happen to be the Woking area today, watch the skies!

The Creation of a Modern Creation Myth

Two hundred years ago today, on 17th June 1816, whilst staying on the shores of Lake Geneva during the Year Without A Summer, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley began writing the ghost story that would become the gothic horror/early SF novel, Frankenstein.

On Monday this week, I was fortunate enough to be attend a lecture given by Professor Sir Christopher Frayling at the Science Museum in London. Entitled 'Frankenstein – From Literature to Myth to Bogeyman of Science', Sir Christopher's lecture detailed the circumstances surrounding the creation of the Shelley's infamous story, its influences, and its legacy, separating that which is Shelley's from that which is Hollywood's. (For example, did you know that Shelley makes no reference in the novel to how Frankenstein actually brings the Creature to life?)

Sir Christopher also highlighted one throwaway line from the novel which could well explain why the Creature is eight feet tall, and has given me an idea for a new short story.

The lecture, which featured extracts from Sir Christopher's TV documentary 'Nightmare: The Birth of Horror' as well as the nightmare fuel that are the automata of Neuchâtel in Switzerland, along with references to Fritz Lang's Metropolis, was followed by a round table discussion with the anatomist and top BBC presenter Professor Alice Roberts, the lead curator of the Science Museum's forthcoming Robots exhibition Ben Russell, and the journalist, film critic, and fiction writer, Kim Newman.

Kim Newman, Professor Alice Roberts, and Professor Sir Christopher Frayling.

The panel also threw up some fascinating ideas and story hooks, and we learned that if Frankenstein were to attempt to create a living being today, it would be 3D printed as a collagen framework which would then being colonised by stem cells, with a tiny computer taking the place of an organic brain.

However, as fascinating as the evening was, the highlight for me came at the end when both Professor Sir Christopher Frayling and Professor Alice Roberts, graciously accepted copies of my Pax Britannia novel Anno Frankenstein - my own sort-of-sequel to Shelley's original masterpiece*, which even prompted the following mention on Twitter:

Now, just imagine what a cover quote from Sir Christopher Frayling or Professor Alice Roberts would do for sales of the novel...

* Except that I wasn't 18 when I wrote my novel!

Happy St Nicholas Day

In case you didn't already know, today is St Nicholas Day and for some children in Europe, that means that tonight is the equivalent of Christmas Eve, with the Big Man delivering their presents... if they've been good. But if they've been bad, they'll have the Krampus to deal with.

If you didn't see it last year, here's my own St Nicholas Day present to you. And on the subject of Krampus, you might want to check out the first of this year's new Christmas movie releases...

Tie-in Tuesday: PIXELS vs GAME OVER

Well I've finally been to see PIXELS, the Adam Sandler movie inspired by this awesome short film...



PIXELS works on a basic level - there are some great set pieces, particularly the Pac-Man chase - but it demonstrates the kind of sexism that gives gamers a bad name, there are some really crude, misjudged jokes - Serena Williams, you're better than this! Martha Stewart might not be, but you are, Serena - and Josh Gad's sole purpose in the movie appears to be to scream in the most irritating manner for most of the time he's on screen. In a nutshell, somebody really should have hired a writer to work on the script.

Right at the end of the movie, the words 'GAME OVER' flash up on the screen, at which point my son turned to me and said, "Great product placement!"

The good news is that GAME OVER, the horror anthology inspired by classic arcade games - the launch date of which was brought forward to coincide with the release of PIXELS - is still available for your Kindle for a Hall of Fame High-Score Table-busting £1.19. And, as is so often the case, the book is considerably better than the movie.

Sharkpunk Saturday - Sharkpunk at the London Film and Comic Con

And so the SHARKPUNK tour continues.

In the year that Jaws is 40...

... SHARKPUNK will be at the London Film and Comic Con today, along with the likes of Sigourney Weaver and Michael J Fox, as well as Sixth Doctor Colin Baker and Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy!

So why not stop by my stand and pick up a copy at a knock-down convention-only price?

Thought for the Day

"There are two types of writers. There are the writers that get up every day and say, ‘I’m going to write for two hours, and then I’m going to go to work at Kinkos, where I have a job.’ And I was that guy. I had a real job while I managed to make a feature. So in the morning, I would write for two hours and then go to the bank and work in real estate. For that type of writer, it’s so precious those two hours that you do. 

"The other type of writer is, most of the time you say, ‘I’m gonna take Saturday and Sunday.’ And you end up surfing the web for 80% of your time; 10% of the time you write something what you hate; and then you don’t come back the next day. You come back a week later. You have to do it every day. Whether you do it in a notebook or a computer, you have to put your thoughts on paper."

~ Guillermo Del Toro, film director

Tie-in Tuesday: My new claim to fame

The first comic strip I ever had commissioned was Kill Confirmed, which appeared in a special free issue of the Warhammer Monthly comic given away with Games Workshop’s White Dwarf magazine. It was a short tale of life and death in the Necromundan Underhive with a nasty twist in the tail.

The artist assigned to the strip was Paul Staples whose name was already familiar to me from his work on seminal British anthology comic 2000AD. His work on ‘Finn’ for the ‘Interventions’ had impressed me in particular. However, after illustrating Kill Confirmed he mysteriously became Paul Jeacock and worked for a time as part of Games Workshop’s art department. While there, he was particularly involved in developing the most recent editions of the Warhammer Wood Elves army and the new Ogre Kingdoms range.

So what's my claim to fame? Well, Paul Jeacock just also happens to be the man who designed the masks that feature in the new Max Max movie Fury Road. Like the one worn by the charming Immortan Joe.

And in case you're wondering what my old claim to fame was, it was that I once directed Colin Firth. Yes, the Colin Firth.

Seriously.

Steampunk Thursday: Alice on Mars - The Movie!

At the Sci-Fi Weekender 5, last weekend, film-maker Martin Gooch and author of far-fetched fiction Robert Rankin launched the Alice on Mars movie!

For the launch, Martin had prepared a teaser trailer, which you can watch by following this link. He also launched an Indigogo project to help get the film funded. If you would like to contribute (or even be in the film!) then click this link and check it out.

Film-maker Martin Gooch and Steampunk Parrot Wrangler Jonathan Green

at the Sci-Fi Weekender 5.

Kaiju Thursday: Godzilla 2014

So Godzilla 2014 has a rather stylish poster and a full-on trailer at last, along with a 16 May release in the UK. I, for one, can't wait.

By the way, did I ever tell you that I met the film's director Gareth Edwards once?

My Annotated Workspace

I was just thinking about all the different projects I'm trying to juggle at the moment, and looking at my workspace, when I thought it might make an interesting topic for a blog post, for those who are curious about how and where writers write. (People like me, in other words.)

Before anyone makes any snide remarks about how tidy everything looks in the picture below, I should point out that I don't have an office at the moment. I don't even have a desk I can call my own and so I work at the dining table (hence the strange choice of table covering). Everything I get out at the start of the day has to go away again at the end of the day, to make room for dinner plates and homework, and the like. (And I knew I was going to take a photo, so I tidied up.)

So, with those excuses out of the way, here is my annotated workspace...

1) Notes and notes and notes about YOU ARE THE HERO. If you don't know what YOU ARE THE HERO is already, or why it's taking up so much of my time, click this link.

2) The printed manuscript of YOU ARE THE HERO with comments by Ian Livingstone added in red pen. I've been working through 207 pages of this.

3) This is the space where my iPhone would go, if it wasn't for the fact that I used the phone to take the photograph.

4) Shadows Over Sylvania - my Warhammer Vampire Counts gamebook. I had this out to remind myself how I had written the opening. And even if I do say so myself, it's a damn good book. Whether you're a fan of Warhammer, vampires or gamebooks, you should secure yourself a copy now!

5) My laptop - currently open on Outlook. You know the movie Her? Well my wife thinks they got the idea from me and my laptop. The only difference is my laptop doesn't speak with the voice of Scarlett Johansson (more's the pity).

6) The Vampire in Lore and Legend, by Montague Summers - research for a story I hope to be able to write for Josh Reynolds in the not too distant future.

7) Research material for a story I hope to write for Ian Whates sometime soon. I hadn't watched The Company of Wolves for at least 20 years until last night. Watching it again I realised how much of an impact it has had on my work over the last two decades, and Stephen Rea's transformation is still one of the most chilling I've ever seen depicted in a werewolf movie. (Maybe it's the fact that the children witness the whole thing.) And I'd never realised until last night's viewing how sympathetic George Fenton's score makes you feel towards the werewolves and all that their strange curse has to offer.

8) More research, this time for a possible future gamebook project. (You can see I've got a dark fairytale vibe going on at the moment.) Snow White and the Huntsman is a strange film. Putting aside Kristen Stewart's much commented upon woodenness and lack of different facial expressions, Charlize Theron's ham-acting, Chris Hemsworth's Scottish accent, and using CGI to turn full height actors into dwarfs (and not in a Lord of the Rings kind of way) there is much that is very effective in the film and visually stunning. I particularly like the glass army and the troll bridge. But where the film really falls down for me is in the fact that the director couldn't decide at the start whether the magic in the movie was real or not. Of course, by the end there are spells being cast left, right and centre, but there are also occasions where it is implied that the magic might be the result of something else, hallucinogens in the case of Snow escaping into the forest and madness in the case of the Queen talking to her mirror. Both are equally valid for a movie like this, but not in the same movie! It's not clever - it just makes the director come across as inconsistent and indecisive. Anyway, rant over.

9) Outlines for stories for an anthology (the one of the top is by Toby Frost), but more on that another time...

10) And back to YOU ARE THE HERO again. More notes, and a copy of Arion Games' Beyond the Pit for good measure.

So, there you have it. That's what's occupying my days at the moment. How about you? What are you working on, and how is it reflected in your workspace?

Which would be your Top Ten Christmas movies?

It's Christmas, which means the television schedules are chock full of movies. But what about your classic Christmas movies, and by that I don't mean Miracle on 34th Street or It's a Wonderful Life, but those movies which take place at Christmas time? Like Die Hard (and Die Hard 2), or Gremlins, or Home Alone?

So, over to you. What would make your Top Ten of Christmas movies?

Tie-in Tuesday: The Great Moshling Egg

RIP Ray Harryhausen

As I'm sure many people my age did, I grew up on a steady diet of Ray Harryhausen movies, which were usually shown on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. I've shown children I've taught Jason and the Argonauts (which is still a classic) and they loved it as much as I did when I was their age.

I can't begin to work out how big an impact the special effects maestro had on my work, but I can direct you to some direct homages, such as the Cyclops in Curse of the Mummy.

In this video clip Ray Bradbury (who is also, sadly, no longer with us) pays tribute to Ray Harryhausen, who died on Tuesday aged 92.