Gamebook Friday: Mechs Vs Kaiju!

Check out the new Kickstarter video for RONIN 47, and then - if you haven't already - pledge your support here.

Gamebook Friday: RONIN 47 is live on Kickstarter!

RONIN 47 - a Mech-vs-Kaiju ACE Gamebook - is now live on Kickstarter! Check out the video below to find out more, and pledge your support here.

Gamebook Friday: K-Day is coming!

It's official! RONIN 47, the seventh ACE Gamebook, is coming to Kickstarter a week today, on Friday 16 July 2021! Put the date in your diary now!

I hope you will check it out and pledge your support to RONIN 47 when it goes live, and it pays to back early. Back within the first week and you'll get a discount on your pledge price. Back within the first day and the discount doubles!

Rewards on offer to backers include signed hardbacks, custom dice and playing cards, and exclusive art prints, as well as a unique slipcase edition that includes both a paperback and a signed hardback copy of the book. And everyone who pledges to receive a physical reward will also receive a collectible ACE Gamebooks pin badge.

As well as paying for the production of the RONIN 47 gamebooks and backer rewards, the money raised by the Kickstarter will also pay for fifteen full-page illustrations and other filler images by Neil Googe.

We also have a whole host of incredible art Stretch Goals, and every piece of pin-up art unlocked will appear in the collector's hardback edition of RONIN 47. Whether you are a gamebook fan or a comics aficionado, you are going to want to back this Kickstarter! And then get all your friends to back it too, so that you can have even more incredible artwork in your copy of the book.

You can check the project page here, but please bear in mind that it is still a work in progress. That said, if you do notice any glaring errors, please do let me know.

Please spread the word far and wide, and I shall look forward to seeing you again next Friday, 16 July 2021.

Gamebook Friday: RONIN 47 is coming to Kickstarter!

I have been sitting on this one for a while, dropping random hints here and there, but I am finally ready to announce that my next ACE Gamebook is going to be RONIN 47, a Mech-vs-Kaiju post-apocalyptic epic, and the Kickstarter to fund its production will be launching later this month.

One hundred years from now, following an attempt to genetically re-engineer coral to make it more resistant to climate change (using something called the K Compound), Earth has been overrun by what are effectively, if accidentally, man-made Kaiju. Society has collapsed and groups of people exist in isolated bubbles around the world.

The apocalypse has been and gone, and amidst the ruins of the old world, what is left of the human race fights for survival against gigantic, hyper-evolved Kaiju. Mankind's most effective weapons against the monsters are the colossal Mechs developed by the Guardian Programme.

One of these pockets of humanity is Ako Base, a heavily-fortified and well-defended island community in the Philippine Sea. Squads of mechs operate out of the facility, tasked with keeping the tide of ever-evolving Kaiju at bay.

In RONIN 47, YOU take on the role of Commander Oishi, a Samurai-class mech pilot and leader of Phoenix Squad. When Deputy Director Kira turns traitor, killing Director Asano and stealing the new prototype Shogun-class mech, only YOU are left to pursue the villain and bring him to justice, battling all manner of mechs and mutated monsters along the way.

My 23rd gamebook will be illustrated throughout by acclaimed British comic book artist Neil Googe. Neil is an extremely talented artist, who also works in commercial illustration and concept development. He is well known for his work for the UK anthology comic 2000AD (and its sister title The Judge Dredd Megazine), which includes Judge Dredd, Survival Geeks, and Hondo-City Justice. He has also worked for DC Comics, drawing the likes of Wonder Woman, The Flash, Harley Quinn, Injustice, and Wildcats. As one of the co-founders of the British independent comic publisher COM.X, he is also the creator of Bazooka Jules.

There goes Tokyo...

There are all the usual kinds of rewards on offer that you would expect to see from an ACE Gamebooks' Kickstarter, but it really pays to pledge your support to the project early on. Back within the first week and you will receive a discount on the listed pledge levels, but back on Day One - K-Day - and you will double your discount!

Also, anyone who pledges to receive a physical reward, at any point during the Kickstarter's run, will also receive this brand new ACE Gamebooks pin badge!

So keep an eye on my social media feeds - and this blog, of course - and make sure you get in early when RONIN 47 launches on Kickstarter within the next couple of weeks.

The Sci-Fi Weekender 2013

So that was the Sci-Fi Weekender 2013 (a.k.a. #sfw4) and (bar the arctic temperatures in my caravan) a great time was had by all. I hosted two panels - the steampunk one (featuring Mr Robert Rankin) being particularly well-attended - and sold lots of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks as well as numerous Pax Britannia novels.

Too many bizarre and amazing occurrences to even attempt to list them all here but I do have a few shout-outs to make. First of all, thank you to my stalwart supporters, Claire, Matt and John, who I think all impersonated me at one time or another over the course of the weekend by helping out on my stall. Herr Döktor, for the safe delivery of Archimedes, the steampunk robot parrot. Marcus and Winston (among others) who bought up vast stocks of gamebooks (both Fighting Fantasy and Path to Victory). Spindles, Emma and Magic Megan (who asked an excellent question during our steampunk panel). Emma Binns, Nick, Lady Raygun, David Howe, Sam Stone, Raven Dane, Fraser, Chase, Gareth L Powell, Ash, Daisy the Moshi Monsters fan, the Knightmare Cosplayers, Celeste, Laurel and Greg, Dr Geof, the Geek Syndicate guys and gals, Craig Charles, Area 51, Sean and Constance, Neil Brittle and all the organisers, and the nice man who gave me an Access All Areas pass, even though I didn't have time to use it.

Herr Döktor (or should that be Ulysses Quicksilver?) and Archimedes the Steampunk Parrot (who ended up totally stealing the show).

Apologies to all those I haven't mentioned. Come and find me on Twitter or Facebook and say hello.

Only at the Sci-Fi Weekender would you see Batman and Bane sharing a pint, or be able to say the sentence "There's a girl over there adjusting her hooves" without sounding like you were completely mad.

Anyway, check out my slideshow below and, if you're feeling brave, this.

Same time, same place, next year then...

Have you ever wanted to ride a giant robot?

Look, let's be honest - who hasn't?

Ulysses Quicksilver got to in Pax Britannia: Dark Side, and so did BBC Click reporter Spencer Kelly here.

Steampunk Thursday: Who's a pretty boy then?

Can't wait to tell you more about this current work in progress - a work in progress by Herr Doktor, nonetheless!

Robopocalypse!

Bow before your robot overlords!

Steampunk Thursday: The Great Elephant

OMGGM* it's Hannibal, the pachyderm-droid from Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein!

Actually it's The Machines de l'Ile's Great Elephant.

12 metres high, 8 metres wide and 21 metres long, this incredible contraption weighs 48.4 tons. Constructed of wood and metal, motive power is provided by a 450 horsepower engine. It includes an indoor lounge with French windows and balconies, and there is a terrace accessible by stairs.On, and it travels at a speed of ​​1-3 km per hour.

And while we're on the subject of all things steampunk, and  Anno Frankenstein in particular, don't forget that the Victorian Steampunk Society is launching a series of awards voted for by UK Steampunks attending The Asylum each year.

These are awards for work first published/released between January 1 and December 31, 2011, and will be made for a tangible piece of work, which means that Anno Frankenstein is eligible.

But even if you're not attending The Asylum yourself this year, you can still suggest a category and nominate in it. The best suggestions will incorporate into the awards. These forms will be used to draw up a shortlist of nominees, and of course being shortlisted is of course an accolade in itself. The voting form will be made available to all Asylum convention adult attendees and results will be announced at the Empire Ball.

Just so you know...



And lastly, there still time to vote for your preferred story ending to Time's Arrow: Black Swan.


Simply head over to the Abaddon Facebook page and post 'A' or 'B' after the status update that starts 'WHAT WILL COME OF OUR DASHING HERO NEXT?'

Or, alternatively, you can email your choice of 'A' or 'B' to abaddonsolaris@rebellion.co.uk.

You have until 25 June 2012 to cast your vote.


* A vernacular term meaning 'Oh my goodness gracious me'.

I, Robot

I don't usually post pieces about screenplays, partly because this isn't an area I am focusing on myself at this time. However, there is a very interesting piece here about how the screenplay for I, Robot (or should that be Hardwired?) came about.