30 Years of Spellbreaker

As Spellbreaker's 30th anniversary month draws to a close, Julian Sparrow will be commencing a readthrough of the adventure on his Twitch channel. Proceedings kick off tonight at 9:30pm BST.

Gamebook Friday: Spellbreaker is 30 years old today!

Today, 23rd June, marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of my first book, the Fighting Fantasy adventure Spellbreaker.

At least, for some reason, 23rd June is stuck in my head as the date. It was on or around this date that I went into WHSmith in Leamington Spa and found the book on the shelf and then spent so long poring over it that I ended up getting a parking ticket. I was just blown away by the fact that I had written a book and that it had been published, and could be picked up in an actual bookshop by actual people. The fact that I had a copy of my own from when I had visited the offices of Puffin Books in London some weeks previously was irrelevant.

Sadly, I lent that very copy to someone a few years later and never saw it again. The copy I now have is the one I gave to my parents, complete with my personalised dedication to them and a very immature autograph. My signature these days resembles something you'd see on an ECG monitor.

It took three years to get to the point where I had my first book on sale, if you ignore all the years of 'practice' that had gone before that. In my final year of school, I wrote to Puffin asking if I could write gamebooks for them. Eventually, Marc Gascoigne, who was the Fighting Fantasy consultant editor at the time, wrote back to me kindly explaining what I need to submit to be considered for publication but warning me that my chances of publication were very slim.

I proceeded to start writing Outlaws of Kaan, and duly submitted the first 100 sections and a detailed synopsis of how the adventure would pan out. Marc considered my proposal and politely declined, so in the Christmas holidays, after my first term at university, I re-wrote and re-submitted by proposal. Unfortunately, it still wasn't up to scratch and Marc turned it down again. It was time to try something else.

I let things rest until the summer holidays and, in between working as a gardener, of all things, I worked on a proposal for a new adventure called Spellbreaker. This one was better received, but I was still asked to make some changes and resubmit. I did so and this time Marc thought it was good enough to show to Richard Scrivener, the Fighting Fantasy commissioning editor at Puffin Books. In my Easter holidays, after my proposal had been scrutinised by Richard, I was asked to make a few more tweaks and then, at the start of my summer holidays after my second year at university, I received a commissioning letter from Marc the last line of which I still remember was. "I'll let you go now and pass out with happiness."

From that point on I became one of FF's regular stable of writers, providing one book a year for the series until Puffin Book pulled the plug in 1996.

Fighting Fantasy opened all sorts of doors for me, including ones that lead to Games Workshop, Abaddon Books, and Doctor Who, and only last year I assisted Steve Jackson with writing Secrets of Salamonis, and Sir Ian Livingstone and I are currently working on a book together.

Looking back, it feels like quite some achievement. I have been published every year since Spellbreaker came out, in one form or another, and I now make my living as a jobbing writer. But you find me in a sombre mood today. The reason? My age.

My father died suddenly of a massive heart attack aged 70, whilst doing what he loved. I was diagnosed with high blood pressure four years ago and since last summer I have had a couple of health scares related to my heart. Therefore, in my mind, I only have 20 years of writing left, at most, which leaves me thinking, what do I want to spend my time writing, since my remaining writing time is precious?

I am a writer, it's what I do, and beyond being a husband and a father, in a large part it is how I define myself. I will write for as long as I can, but I also have to be sensible about what I write, because my family need the money I earn from writing. But on the other hand, I don't want to fritter away my time writing something I'm not wholly invested in. (You won't find me writing Moshi Monsters books these days.) But equally, some of my ideas for gamebooks are pretty niche, and adventure gamebooks are already a niche market.

I don't have any answers to these questions at present. In my immediate future I need to finish YOU ARE THE HERO - An Interactive History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks and The Box of Delights - The Roleplaying Game. I know I want to write another ACE Gamebook, ideally in time for the UK Games Expo 2024, but beyond that I don't know.

Nonetheless, I shall be raising a glass to Spellbreaker tonight and toasting the future. Just in case.

Gamebook Friday: UK Games Expo

The UK Games Expo 2023 starts today at the NEC in Birmingham and I am attending with my ACE Gamebooks, specifically RONIN 47.

You will also be able to check out the new Heorot RPG. Not only that, but because June 2023 marks 30 years since my first Fighting Fantasy gamebook Spellbreaker was published, you will be able to use a special discount to get money off at ACE Gamebooks Roleplay on DriveThruRPG.

You will find me in Hall 2, at Stand 2-T21, alongside Sir Ian Livingstone, and sandwiched between Parable Games and Atlantis Miniatures.

Click to enlarge.

The expo opens on Friday 2nd June at 9:00am and closes at 4:00pm on Sunday 4th June.

This year I am helping Darren W. Pearce run the Write Like a Pro workshop on Sunday 4th June from 12:30-1:30pm.

Here's what the UKGE website has to say about it:

Join two professional writers Darren W. Pearce and Jonathan Green - both industry veterans of many years experience - to talk about modern adventure design and how to approach the art of adventure writing, as well as working with established IP holders.

The workshop is being held in The Boardroom, NEC Piazza 3. To find out more, click this link.

Gamebook Friday: ACE Gamebooks and OnTabletop at the UK Games Expo 2022

A week ago today, I was busy selling out of copies of The Wicked Wizard of Oz and NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! while stocks of Dracula - Curse of the Vampire and 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas were getting low too. That's right, it was the UK Games Expo 2022!

It was great to catch up with people again after three years, and special thanks must go to my friend Scott who helped look after my stand*, meaning I could actually get a look around and see all** that the Expo had to offer.

Scott - on brand as ever!

Highlights of the weekend included signing a first edition of my first book Spellbreaker, which was published 29 years ago this month, meeting GTG Vicki in person, Olly Mc and John Robertson's playthrough of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, cocktails and Japanese food on the Saturday evening, and being interviewed by OnTabletop at the Thursday press preview, which you can watch here...

* Even though he was actually on his honeymoon!

* Or at least some of.

Review of the Year - 2018

For the last few years, towards the end of the year, I have posted a review... of my year. And this year is no different. What is different, however, is how few books and stories I've had published in 2018, despite being very busy on the writing front.

In 2015, I had nine books published. In 2016 it was four, plus a video game. In 2017, it was an astonishing fourteen!

This year, I haven't actually had a single book of my own published. Instead, I've had short stories appear in two different collections, I self-published another Scrooge and Marley (Deceased) e-short, Murder in the Cathedral, and the Audible edition of SHARKPUNK - the shark-themed short story anthology I edited - came out.

However, the German language edition of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland - Alice im Düsterland - was released, to great acclaim, and 2018 also saw the publication of Charlie Higson's first Fighting Fantasy gamebook, The Gates of Death, which I also helped with.

2018 was also the year that marked the 25th anniversary of my first published book, Spellbreaker, and therefore that of my career as a published author.

A good six months of the year was spent writing NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!, which is now the longest gamebook I have ever written*, but I also completed the first draft of Beowulf Beastslayer in a more acceptable four months.

I have a few more short stories due to come out next year, and I would like to continue the adventures of the occult detectives Scrooge and Marley, but by next Christmas I hope to have published another three books, and written another three.

I also spent a fair amount of time travelling to, and taking part in, events this year, including Bath Comic-Con in March, the Festival of Steam and Transport, and the Publishing Innovation Conference in April, the UK Games Expo in June, Alice's Day in Oxford in July, the Bath Children's Literature Festival in September, Frankfurt Book Fair in October, and Dragonmeet in December.

Of course next year will see me attending more of the same, but also Fighting Fantasy Fest 3, on Saturday 31st August 2019.

2018 has definitely been the Year of ACE Gamebooks. It would have been the Year of NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!, if the book had actually been published this year as planned, but instead it is coming out in the spring. As well as writing Beowulf Beastslayer, I have also started work on the fifth title in the ACE Gamebooks series, 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas.

The Kickstarter to fund production of the book launches on Tuesday 1st January 2019.

* And will probably hold that title for a long time to come!

Jonathan Green and ACE Gamebooks at the UK Games Expo 2018

Please note that you will now find me on Stand 2-C2, with Ian Livingstone.

I will be at the UK Games Expo all this weekend, from 9.30am on Friday until 4.00pm on Sunday.

I will be selling copies of my ACE Gamebooks, Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland and The Wicked Wizard of Oz, as well as hardback copies of YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2. (I'm afraid that the hardbacks of Part 1 have sold out.)


ACE Gamebooks

If you buy an ACE Gamebook from me, you will also receive a FREE copy of The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus Volume 2 - containing the Pax Britannia novels Evolution Expects, Blood Royal, and Dark Side - while stocks last. So that's potentially four books for a tenner!

YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2

As I am sharing a table with Ian Livingstone, you may well get the chance to have your copy of YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2 signed by him as well as me.

Spellbreaker 25th Anniversary Prize Draw

June 2018 marks 25 years since the publication of my first book, the Fighting Fantasy adventure Spellbreaker. If you buy a book from me over the weekend - any book - you will be entered into the Spellbreaker 25th Anniversary Prize Draw for the chance to win a signed, limited hardback collector's edition of my latest gamebook, NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!

And the winner is...

Unfortunately, although both The Wicked Wizard of Oz and YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2 were entered into the UK Games Expo Awards, neither of them were shortlisted, but you may well find me in the event programme anyway, so keep your eyes peeled!

I also hope to attend Ian Livingstone's Deathtrap Dungeon Reading, which is taking place on the Friday evening from 5.00pm.

And if you are visiting the UK Games Expo this weekend, do stop by Stand 2-C2 and say hello. Maybe I'll see you there. ;-)

Gamebook Friday: Stormslayer, Martin McKenna, and Spellbreaker

A had a surprise on Facebook on Wednesday when I was tagged on Facebook, on a post showing a series of stills from Channel 4's 24 Hours in A&E. Why had I been tagged? Because the photos showing a man in the waiting room playing a Fighting Fantasy gamebook to help pass the time, and the gamebook in question was Stormslayer*.

Was this you? If it was drop me a line!

Talking of my Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, of the seven I have written, one was illustrated by Stephen Player (Stormslayer), one was illustrated by Alan Langford (Spellbreaker), two were illustrated by Tony Hough (Knights of Doom and Bloodbones), and three were illustrated by Martin McKenna (Curse of the Mummy, Howl of the Werewolf, and Night of the Necromancer).

Martin has recently listed a number of his Fighting Fantasy illustrations on ArtPal, including the covers he produced for the Wizard Books' edition of Bloodbones and Spellbreaker. You can marvel at his artistry here and order prints of his illustrations yourself.

While we're on the subject of Spellbreaker, next month marks 25 years since its publication. To commemorate the occasion I will be running a prize draw at the UK Games Expo next weekend. If you buy a book from me over the course of the three days, you will be entered into the prize draw for a chance to win a signed, limited hardback collector's edition of my latest gamebook, NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!

* Penned by Yours Truly, in case you didn't already know.

Gamebook Friday: Spellbreaker's 25th Anniversary

This June marks 25 years since my first ever book was published, the Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebook Spellbreaker.

I have many strong memories of the preceding year, during which I wrote the adventure, saw the illustrations coming in, proofed the typeset pages, and the first time I was presented with a copy by commissioning editor Richard Scrivener at Penguin Books' offices in London. I also remember seeing it on the bookshelf in WHSmith in Leamington Spa, and the subsequent parking ticket I received because I got distracted reading my own book in the shop!

Of course, Spellbreaker marking its silver jubilee also means that it's a quarter of century since I became a published author, and I've been published every year since*. The book I am currently writing - NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! - will be my 72nd published book**.

However, six weeks from today***, I will be at the UK Games Expo, selling copies of my ACE Gamebooks - Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland and The Wicked Wizard of Oz - as well as my history of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, YOU ARE THE HERO.

Anyone who buys a book from me at the event will be entered into a prize draw to mark 25 years since the publication of Spellbreaker. I'm not sure what the prize will be yet, but whatever it is, you've got to be in it to win it!

Maybe I'll see you at the UK Games Expo. :-)

* Even if, during a fallow period in the late Ninties to early Noughties, it was only in the form of magazine articles and short stories, written for Games Workshop, rather than actual books.

** Thank the Lord for Moshi Monsters!

*** And not six years, as I originally typed!

ACE Gamebooks at the UK Games Expo 2018

A week ago I was getting ready for the Chatham Dockyard Festival of Steam and Transport, but eight weeks from today I shall be in the thick of things at UK Games Expo 2018.

After last year's debacle*, you'll be pleased to hear that I will be transporting copies of The Wicked Wizard of Oz, as well as reprints of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, there myself. I will also have YOU ARE THE HERO Parts 1 and 2 for sale, and I'm even toying with the idea of printing up some chapbook editions of Scrooge and Man (Deceased): The Haunted Man to take with me.

Plans of the trading halls have now been made public and, as you can see, I will be in Hall 2, close to the entrance to Hall 1 and The Playtest Zone, and not too far from Guest of Honour Ian Livingstone's table either.

June 2018 also happens to mark 25 years since my very first book, Spellbreaker, was published. I would like to do something special to mark the occasion, possibly linked to the UK Games Expo, but I'm still trying to decide what.

Anyway, watch this space for further news on that, and maybe I'll see you at the Expo in June. :-)

* Which was entirely the fault of the delivery company TNT, who failed to deliver in any shape or form.

Gamebook Friday: Fighting Fantazine #16 is here!

It's been over a year since the last edition of Fighting Fantazine was published, but now issue #16 of the fan-fuelled fanzine is here, and just in time for Scholastic's relaunch of the series too!

My books get a couple of mentions, specifically The Wicked Wizard of Oz and YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2, but also, curiously, Spellbreaker and Night of the Necromancer, in an article entitled Your adventure ends here...

To download the ezine for yourself - for free! - follow this link.

In other gamebook-releated news, this weekend is your last chance to pre-order an Adventurer's Backpack for September's Fighting Fantasy Fest 2. Don't delay - grab yours today!

Gamebook Friday: It was 24 years ago today...

For some reason, I have 23rd June stuck in my head as the date my first ever gamebook (and my first ever book, for that matter) was published. I may be wrong, but that's how I remember it.

I had been commissioned the July before* and wrote the book over the summer of 1992. I used my advance to buy an Amstrad word processor so that I could type up the manuscript from my hand-written version!

I also have vivid memories of visiting the Puffin offices in London and meeting commissioning editor Richard Scrivener, who gave me my first copy of Spellbreaker**. I also remember visiting WHSmith in Leamington Spa, around the 23rd June, and seeing the book on the shelf in a shop for the first time. I lost track of time as I perused the shop copy and ending up getting a parking ticket!

And now, today, 24 years later, the covers for the brand new edition of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks have been revealed. I wonder if Spellbreaker will end up joining them...

* So it will soon be the 25th anniversary of that momentous event in my life.

** Unfortunately I later lent that particular copy to someone and never got it back - something I still regret doing to this day...

Gamebook Friday: Fighting For Your Fantasy

Justin McCormack has been systematically playing through my Fighting Fantasy gamebooks on his Fighting For Your Fantasy blog and has now tackled all of them.

His playthroughs make for very entertaining reading. If you would like to sample his words, and my adventures, simply click the appropriate link below.


Spellbreaker

Knights of Doom

Curse of the Mummy

Bloodbones

Howl of the Werewolf

Stormslayer

Night of the Necromancer

Happy St Dragon's Day!

Since today it St David's Day, I thought I would draw your attention to works of mine with a Welsh focus... or at least ones featuring dragons!

Actually, my very first published book Spellbreaker features a lot of Welsh names.

When I was starting out as a writer, I consciously tried to steer clear of fantasy cliches in my writing (although a magic sword does appear in Spellbreaker), but one of my earlier gigs was writing an article about Dragons in Warhammer, for White Dwarf magazine, entitled Enter the Dragon.

Dragon-like creatures appear in Knights of Doom and Stormslayer, but there are not technically dragons.

There was a dragon in Warlock’s Bounty: Revenge of the Sorcerer, and there was a Zombie Dragon in Shadows over Sylvania.

I do have ideas for various stories featuring dragons, including a Pax Britannia one, but I just haven't got round to writing them yet.

I gave the old explorer's adage 'Here be Dragons' a twist with my Doctor Who novel Terrible Lizards, and I intend to revisit that concept later this year, in Neverland.

Gamebook Friday: The darkest, most chilling Fighting Fantasy book yet!

That's what one reviewer had to say about my last Fighting Fantasy gamebook Night of the Necromancer:

"This book is probably the best Fighting Fantasy book since Vault of the Vampire. If you like dark eerie, mysterious and atmospheric gamebooks of this series, and you thought Vault of the Vampire was good, then you will definitely enjoy this book, it may be your favourite yet.

"Other ones you may prefer to read are Dead of Night, Night Dragon, Eye of the Dragon, Revenge of the Vampire, and Howl of the Werewolf.

"This maybe the best gamebook yet, alongside the much overlooked Knights of Doom and Spellbreaker. Spellbreaker had the best story line and challenges and this is up there with that one.

"It seems Jonathan Green has a real talent for these books, being one of the younger writers to the series... Definitely take the time to give this a read."

Night of the Necromancer is still available through Amazon.

Tie-in Tuesday: Robin of Sherwood and the Knights of the Apocalypse

One of the more unusual, unexpected, and unforgettable gigs of my writing career (which is 25 years young this July) was being invited to write the novelisation of Richard 'Kip' Carpenter's unmade teleplay for Robin of Sherwood: The Knights of the Apocalypse.

Whilst writing it early last year, and immersing myself in all things Sherwood again, I was reminded of various landmarks in my life that featured the very best interpretation of the Robin Hood legend on screen, ever!

I was a teenager when the series was first televised. I remember balmy summer evenings, making sure I was back home after playing with my friends in the street to watch Robin of Sherwood, and having to draw the curtains to avoid the sunlight reflecting off the tiny TV screen. I was oblivious at the time to the fact that a fair proportion of the viewing public would be watching it for the tousled, '80s-mullet good looks of the lead actor(s)* - I tuned in to enjoy stories of action and adventure, of derring-do and dastardly deeds, of mysticism and paganism.

It was the magical and supernatural elements of the show that appealed to me the most, and what made the programme so different from all the other on-screen iterations. I thought the addition of the pagan shaman Herne was inspired, I couldn't quite believe the Baron de Belleme was about to carry out a satanic sacrifice on what was purportedly a children's show in Robin Hood and the Sorcerer, I was chilled by the appearance of Cromm Cruac, and I thrilled at the arrival of the gigantic wolf's head in The Time of the Wolf. I particularly delighted at the twist ending to the episode Rutterkin. But most of all I was blown away by The Swords of Wayland, with the angelic figure of Lucifer being summoned via the method of reversed-wax-melting.

When Robin of Sherwood was on, the Sunday morning after would find my friends and I in the local church choir dissecting the incidents of the previous night's episode when we were supposed to be getting ready to sing the anthem at the Eucharist.

Jump forward a few years and I found myself sharing a house with nine other young people in Leamingston Spa, all of us students of Warwick University. It turned out that I wasn't the only one upon whom Robin of Sherwood had made such a big impact. My friend Mike - who everyone called Bez at the time, as you do - was also a fan. Saturdays would often find us trawling the local video hire shop for shockingly-bad horror movies to watch that evening.

But one particular day we made a diversion to WHSmith, where we found Robin of Sherwood on sale in VHS format. Being poor, impoverished students, we decided to go halves on The Swords of Wayland two-parter. Taking it back to our rented house, we watched it for the first time since it had been on TV half a decade or more before - and it was just as good as we all remembered, if not even better, because our mutual friend Dave had a much bigger TV than my parents did at home.

When the time came to leave university, I somehow managed to inherit The Swords of Wayland (I'm still not sure how or why) and it inspired me to shell-out some of my hard-earned cash (I was a published author by then) to buy all three series on video, which were replaced, in time, by DVD box sets.

Robin of Sherwood had a big impact on my writing career, long before I came to write The Knights of the Apolcalypse novelisation. My first published book, the Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebook Spellbreaker, features a band of outlaws, each bearing a moniker that could have easily described one of Kip Carpenter's Merries - Outlaw Leader, Scarred Ruffian, Staff-Wielding Outlaw, Veteran Brigand - and their leader just happened to be in possession of a magic swords. My second book, Knights of Doom, featured a Mercenary Champion, who looked suspiciously like Nasir when he was taking part in Owen of Clun's death game, and even some dodgy mummers.

Later, when I was working as a teacher in West London, I wrote a Christmas production about the history of Christmas**. One scene featured a mummer's play; I adapted the mummer's play from the Robin of Sherwood episode The Lord of the Trees, finished it off in the same style, the play having no ending in the show.

And the tone of the show, the quality of the writing, its heart, its warmth and its humour, has stayed with me ever since. Every couple of years I watch the shows again, in order, and I'm looking forward to introducing them to my children next time. (I listen to Clannad's soundtrack album Legend even more often***.)

Having loved Robin of Sherwood for more than two-thirds of my life (and 'loved' is not a word I use lightly) I am always wary of new adaptations and wonder how some people can dare to do Robin Hood again when the definitive version was produced back in the 1980s. But that said, I have an itch to tackle the legend myself, in my own way, by putting a spin on things. Will it be ready by the time the third Hooded Man convention takes place in 2018? Who knows, but the thing is, it doesn't really matter, because I'm the lucky so-and-so who got to write Robin of Sherwood again, 30 years after the show ended.

Talking of which, because The Knights of the Apolcalypse novelisation wasn't available anywhere outside of the original Indiegogo campaign to fund the audio version, there's no one convenient place for people to leave their comments and reviews. If you would like to do so - and reviews, no matter how brief, are always very valuable and helpful for authors - please feel free to do so in the comments after this blog post. After all, nothing's forgotten...

Here's to you, Mike! :-)


* Something which only really dawned on me when I attended my first Hooded Man convention back in 2014!

** Sound familiar?

*** The show is also responsible for my life-long love of Clannad. I think I possibly wrote Spellbreaker whilst listening to their album Legend on loop!

Gamebook Friday: Alice's Nightmare at the UK Games Expo

This weekend I shall be attending the UK Games Expo, promoting my crowdfunded Choose Your Path Adventure Gamebook Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland - which is up for an award in the Best RPG category of the UK Games Expo Awards - as well as giving attendees the first glimpse of what I'm going to be working on next, in a similar vein.

If you're attending, look me up at Stand A23 in NEC Hall 1.

In other Gamebook Friday news, according to LinkedIn.com, this month I am celebrated 23 years at Penguin Books. To be honest, if it hadn't been for all the messages people have been sending me celebrating me on achieving this work anniversary, I think it would have passed me by.

I haven't worked for Penguin for the last 23 years without a break, but my most recently published book is Doctor Who: Choose the Future: Night of the Kraken came out through Puffin Books (an imprint of Penguin) as did my first published book, the Fighting Fantasy Gamebook Spellbreaker, which came out in June 1993! And both books are gamebooks, of one stripe or another.

Also out this week is Fighting Fantazine #15. My work gets a few mentions, in the form a piece about Tin Man Games' Bloodbones app, and two very pleasing reviews. The firsts of these is Brett Schofield's review of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland, and the second is James Spearing's review of Doctor Who: Choose the Future: Night of the Kraken.

You can download your own copy of Fighting Fantazine #15 for free here.