The European Day of Languages 2015

At the initiative of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, the European Day of Languages has been celebrated every year since 2001 on 26 September.

To mark the occasion here at JonathanGreenAuthor.com I thought I would revisit some of the more recent foreign languages editions of my books.

Back in June, twenty years after it was first published in English, my third published Fighting Fantasy Gamebook (and my third published book) Curse of the Mummy was been published in a French translation by Gallimard Jeunesse.

In January, my second Pax Britannia novel Leviathan Rising was published in German.

In July last year, my Dickens-inspired ghost story Necropolis saw print in Russian, of all things.

In May last year, my most popular gamebook to date, Howl of the Werewolf, was published in Spanish.

And in March 2014 the horror anthology DIABOLOS MMXIV, which includes a German translation of my story The Doll's House, saw print.

Short Story Saturday: STORIES OF THE КУРИТЬ [SMOKE]

Almost a year ago now, in August 2013, Jared Shurin of Jurassic London, the publishers of Stories of the Smoke, got in touch to say that my short story Necropolis, along with several others, had been sold overseas - to Russia! This was exciting news indeed, as I had never had anything of mine appear in Russian before.

It turned out that SNOB magazine and the British Council had run a big feature on Dickens that inspired some new Dickensian short stories from Russian authors. SNOB, in partnership with the British Council, were interested in publishing a volume with a similar theme - which would also include new work from contemporary Russian authors. The British Council, who were instrumental in the creation of Smoke, connected everyone, and it all worked out neatly from there.

The stories selected were:

"Uncle Smoke" - Archie Black

"The Hound of Henry Hortinger" - Michelle Goldsmith

"Necropolis" - Jonathan Green

"Bullseye" - Sarah Anne Langton

"Cuckoo" - David Thomas Moore

"An Unburdening of the Soul" - David Thomas Moore

"The Collection" - Esther Saxey

"The Pickwick Syndrome" - Kaaron Warren

Most excitingly is that right now, copies of the book are being sent from Russia via diplomatic courier to the British Council, and from there they will be distribute to the others. As soon as I have some photos of the books (and my first story published in Russian), I'll post them up here.

Until next time...

Short Story Saturday: DIABOLOS MMXIV

Breaking news from Luzifer-Verlag (the German publishers of Pax Britannia: Unnatural History)...

The horror anthology DIABOLOS MMXIV is scheduled for release on 24 April 2014 and is available for pre-order now. To paraphrase the publisher, "whether subtle or brutal, the stories in the anthology are always horrible, creepy and frightening! This is DIABOLOS, a collection of stories that are not suitable for the faint-hearted."

The anthology features stories by the likes of Simon Clark, Adam Nevill, Christopher Fowler, Mark Hodder, George Mann, and - you've guessed it - Yours Truly!

You can find out more by clicking this link.

In other news, Necropolis my story from Jurassic London's Stories of the Smoke has been sold internationally and will be appearing in translation later this year. Watch this space for more news on that one!

JG at the Small Press Expo at Forbidden Planet

On Saturday I spent a very couple of hours at Forbidden Planet as part of the Small Press Expo. Although I was there as a guest of Pandemonium Fiction/Jurassic London, it was great to meet the guys behind the other micro publishing houses that were represented, including Newcon Press, Snowbooks and Myrmidon Books.

Books were signed, books were sold, contacts were made, and cakes were eaten. And then we all went to the pub!

So thanks to FP's Danie Ware for organising the event, and Jared Shurin and Anne Perry of Jurassic Park/Pandemonium Fiction/Pornokitsch for inviting me. And next time there's a Small Press Expo at Forbidden Planet, why not drop by yourself?

 Anne Perry and Jared Shurin of Pandemonium Fiction/Jurassic London

 Yours Truly earning his keep (or rather cakes and name badge) signing the hardback edition of Stories of the Smoke

 Marie O'Regan, Paul Kane and David Moore - editors and authors all

 Ian Whates signing, and Greg James browsing

 A very pleasing selection of Pax Britannia novels on sale at Forbidden Planet London

 Unleash the dinosaurs!

 Newcon Press and Snowbooks at the Small Press Expo

Short Story Saturday: Small Press Expo at Forbidden Planet

Today I shall be a guest of the Small Press Expo taking place at the Forbidden Planet Megastore on Shaftesbury Avenue in central London.

Authors and editors from Newcon Press, Pandemonium Fiction (a.k.a. Jurassic London), Myrmidon Books and Snowbooks, will be present, including Nina Allan, Christopher Priest, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Pat Cadigan, Sophia McDougall, Lavie Tidhar, Rod Rees, Gareth L Powell, Kim Lakin-Smith, Una McCormack, Ian Whates, Paul Kane, Marie O'Regan, Andy West, Mark West, Rebecca J Payne, Theresa Derwin, Ben Baldwin, Adele Wearing, Esther Saxey, David Thomas Moore, Russell Whitfield, Glen Mehn, Thomas Emson, Alan Baker, Danny Acacio, Sarah Anne Langton and Yours Truly.


You will be able to pick up the last of the hardback limited edition copies of Pandemonium Fiction's Stories of the Smoke on the day - which features my short story Necropolis. Also launching on the day are Newcon Press’s fabulous Hauntings anthology.

The event runs from 1.00 - 2.30 so if you're in London today, why not stop by and say hello?

Also taking place today are the Love Charing Cross Road (in which Foyles and Blackwells on Charing Cross Road are joining together with other local businesses to hold a day-long festival, at the start of Independent Booksellers Week and National Reading Group Day) and the COMICS BIG-TOP OF AWESOME at King's Cross.

Short Story Saturday: Free Fiction

Exciting news from Pandemonium Fiction:

142 years ago today, Charles Dickens passed away. However, his legacy lives on... often in unexpected ways.

Fire collects three short pieces of the Dickensian Weird. Tom Loock's "A Tale of Cities Two" sheds new light on the preface to a classic story, Harry Markov's "The Tracks That Tower Over Valleys" is a parable (and adventure) of burning needs and social conscience and Oz Vance does... something quite odd... with "Sketches by Zob".

Three new voices in three original stories – and completely free for this weekend only!

Stories of the Smoke, collecting seventeen new tales of London and Dickens (including my tale Necropolis), is also available for the Kindle now. The limited edition hardback can now be purchased through Forbidden Planet.

Short Story Saturday: Stories of the Smoke

Since it's release in April, Stories of the Smoke has garnered a great deal of interest and some great reviews.

Disinformed chose my story Necropolis as one of their favourites saying this about the story: "A captivating and somewhat disturbing story."


Dreampunk.Me also liked the story, along with the rest of the anthology: "Stories of the Smoke truly is a literary feast–a fantastic sampler of cutting-edge storytelling, yes, but also a solid work that is both a unified vision of London and a swirling, kaleidoscopic voyage through and across a multiverse of Londons. Fans of Dickens, science-fiction and fantasy, London and/or all of the above might be the target audience, but even people who only fit into one or none of these categories might find themselves equally impressed by the scope and breadth of what brilliant modern-day fantasy such as this can say not only about one specific city or time in the past or present but about us, today and tomorrow."


Interestingly, Anne Perry (one of the editors of Stories of the Smoke) wrote about some of the most memorably Dickensian locations to be found in London today. Her list included Covent Garden and Seven Dials, which feature prominently in Necropolis.

G is for Gary Northfield - a.k.a. the Stories of the Smoke book launch

I first met Gary Northfield after The Kitschies Steampunk Evening back in December. Only a matter of months later I found myself in an anthology featuring illustrations by him.

Gary is probably best known for his Derek the Sheep strip from the Beano and his work for the DFC/Phoenix Comic, but he has also illustrated Horrible Histories and other titles, including Pandemonium Fiction's Stories of the Smoke.

Stories of the Smoke was launched at an event last Wednesday, held at the Betsey Trotwood pub in Farringdon, London. Once everyone was suitably lubricated (with alcohol) Jared Shurin welcomed everyone and introduced the guest speaker for the evening from English PEN. A number of us penmonkeys who had contributed to the 17 stories in the collection then read samples from our stories.

My good friend Rebecca Levene went before me and got lots of laughs (but then her story is very funny) and I went last, and didn't get any laughs at all* - which was good because my story isn't funny. At all.

What followed then was an evening of diverting conversation with friends, the defacing people's beautiful hardback editions of the book, and the drinking of beers with evocative names like Dragonfire. There was also a silent auction of Gary's art, in support of English PEN, which raised £300!

A great evening has had by all (check out the blog post here about pro-celebrity author walrus-wrestling) and a great book was made even better thanks to Gary's skilled penmanship.

The Unkindness of Ravens

The Collection

Martin Citywit

You can find Gary's website here. Gary is also part of The Fleece Station collective, who can be found online here.

(You can see some photos from the Stories of the Smoke launch here.)

* Not including the impromptu one about steampunks. ;-)

Stories of the Smoke - the launch!

Pandemonium: Stories of the Smoke brings you London as you've never seen it before - science fiction and fantasy in the great tradition of Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens lived and breathed London in a way few authors ever have, so much so, in fact, that his name has become synonymous with a certain image of London. A London of terrible social inequality and matchless belief in the human potential; a London filled with the comic and the repulsive, the industrious and the feckless, the faithful and the faithless, the selfish and the selfless. This London is at once an historical artifact and a living, breathing creature: the steaming, heaving, weeping, stinking, everlasting Smoke.

And you could be at the launch of Pandemonium: Stories of the Smoke, which is taking place at the Betsey Trotwood pub (56 Farringdon Road, EC1) from 6.30 pm on Wednesday, 4 April.

I will be reading an extract from my story Necropolis during the course of the evening, as will several of the other authors. You can find the full table of contents here.

There is a limited amount of space so, although the tickets are free, you'll need to have one - and you can pick up your ticket here.