Steampunk Thursday: Deutschland liebt Pax Britannia

What can I say? German readers have taken to Pax Britannia: Unnatural History like Steampunks to corsets and top hats. Here are just some of the latest, rave reviews from Amazon.de...

"Gelungener Auftakt." (4 stars)

"Eine interessante Mischung." (5 stars)

"Ein rasantes Lesevergnügen." (4 stars)

"Spannend!" (5 stars)

To pick up your copy of the German translation, click here. To pick up a copy of the original English edition for FREE, click here.

Thought for the Day

Happy 40th Anniversary, Dungeons & Dragons!

Gamebook Friday: Beyond the Pit

This arrived in the post today...

That's right - it's Arion Games' Kickstarter-funded Advanced Fighting Fantasy bestiary Beyond the Pit, featuring Terry Oakes' stunning airbrushed artwork on the cover.

Echoing the original edition of Out of the Pit (first published in 1985), Graham Bottley and Andrew Wright have created a very professional and appealing, not to mention useful, book of FF bestial lore that will sit very comfortably alongside the rest of any Fighting Fantasy fan's collection.

I've had great fun this evening flicking through the book, being reminded of adventures of yesteryear (as well as thinking which monsters it might be nice to bring back some time), and enjoying the artwork of masters such as Tony Hough, Brian Williams and Martin McKenna all over again. What's particularly pleasing is to see that one of my creations has made it into the book - namely the Giant Chameleon - as well as elements of world-building from some of my gamebooks, notably Curse of the Mummy.

Special mention must go to Steve Luxton's updated maps of Titan that appear in the book too. As Andrew Wright notes in his introduction, the Fighting Fantasy World has grown a very great deal since Out of the Pit was first published.

A few formatting and layout problems aside, Beyond the Pit is a worthy addition to the FF library and is a great purchase. Roll on Out of the Pit Volume 3!

Steampunk Thursday: The Sci-Fi Weekender

So the news is out... I shall be attending Sci-Fi Weekender 5 that is taking place in North Wales at the end of March. Archimedes the Steampunk Parrot will also be in attendance, as will other authors such as Gareth L. Powell, Sam Stone and Robert Rankin.

I shall be hosting various panels over the course of the weekend as well as selling my writerly wares, not to mention catching up with old friends (and probably making a few news ones, if previous years are anything to go by).

So, maybe I'll see you there...

Public Lending Right loans - 2012/2013

This is the seventh year I've done this, so let's get started...

Here's the list of my top ten most library loaned books for July 2012 - June 2013 (with last year's placing in brackets):

1. (2) Monstrous Missions (Feb 12)

2. (1) The Horror of Howling Hill (Mar 08)

3. (-) The Night Before Twistmas (Sep 12)
4. (3) Crisis on Coruscant (Jan 10)
5. (-) Moshi Music Stars (Jan 13)
6. (4) Stormslayer (Sep 09)
7. (-) Zack Binspin (Mar 13)
8. (-) Resurrection Engines (Sep 12)
9. (6) Night of the Necromancer (Apr 10)
10. (5) Howl of the Werewolf (Sep 07)

Interestingly - from my point of view anyway - my most borrowed book this year wasn't my most lucrative, because I share the proceeds from loans for Monstrous Missions with Gary Russell who wrote the other story that appears in the book. That means that The Horror of Howling Hill is my highest earning loaner for the fifth year running.

The new big earners for me this last year were my Moshi Monster books, and with more registered since July 2013, I'm hoping this is a trend that will continue next year.

Despite not having had a new Fighting Fantasy gamebook published since 2010 (four years ago this April!) they still prove popular with library borrowers. For some reason Stormslayer is still my most borrowed FF gamebook, even though I feel that both Howl of the Werewolf and Night of the Necromancer are better. But here's now all seven compare with each other.

1. Stormslayer (Sep 09)
2. Night of the Necromancer (Apr 10)
3. Howl of the Werewolf (Sep 07)
4. Curse of the Mummy (Oct 95)
5. Spellbreaker (Jun 93)
6. Bloodbones (Sep 06)
7. Knights of Doom (Jun 94)

My Pax Britannia books appear to be just as popular with library goers as they are with Steampunk convention attendees (even though they've been bumped out of the Top Ten by my Moshi Monster books) although it's interesting to see Human Nature jump to the Number One slot, at least as far as Ulysses Quicksilver's adventures are concerned.

1. Human Nature (Dec 08)
2. Time's Arrow (Nov 12)
3. Evolution Expects (May 09)
4. Leviathan Rising (Mar 08)
5. Anno Frankenstein (May 11)
6. Dark Side (Oct 10)
7. Blood Royal (Jun 10)
8. Unnatural History (Feb 07)
9. The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus (Nov 10)

So, which will be the best loaners this time next year? And which new titles will have joined the list? ;-)

Thought for the Day

"Don’t worry about what your mother thinks of your language."

~ Elmore Leonard