Gamebook Friday: Fighting Fantasy Fest 2

Fighting Fantasy Fest 2 is the 35th anniversary celebration of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks that is taking place at the University of West London, in Ealing, on Saturday 2nd September 2017. And you could be among the attendees!

Early Bird tickets are only on sale until midnight on Sunday 2nd July after which time Adult tickets will increase in price from £35 to £45 each. Also available to pre-order are event-exclusive Adventurer's Backpacks, which include a limited edition t-shirt, lanyard and tag, and A4 art print.

As well as Guests of Honours, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, you will also be able to meet a host of creators involved in the creation of your favourite adventure gamebooks, including authors Marc Gascoigne, Jamie Thomson and Peter Darvill-Evans, artists Malcolm Barter, Alan Langford and Tony Hough, and cartographer Leo Hartas.

There will also be all manner of companies demoing their games on the day - including Arion Games, publishers of Advanced Fighting Fantasy Second Edition, and Nomad Games, creators of the new Fighting Fantasy Legends game - as well as numerous traders, such as Otherworld Miniatures, Scholastic UK, Snowbooks, and DMB Games.

My new book, YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2, will also be launching at the event.

So don't delay, grab a bargain Early Bird ticket and Adventurer's Backpack today!

Warhammer Wednesday: Herald of Oblivion SALE!

My Warhammer 40,000 gamebook app, Legacy of Dorn: Herald of Oblivion, is currently on sale on Steam at a massively discounted -60%!

If you've not played the game before, now would appear to be a great time to give it a go!

Authors for Grenfell

If you are interested in owning a copy of the very rare, cloth-bound Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland collector's edition and the hardback collector's edition of The Wicked Wizard of Oz, and would like to do your bit for charity in the process, please check out my auction lot on Authors for Grenfell.


Signed collector’s edition gamebooks by Jonathan Green and illustrated by Kev Crossley.

ITEM: Signed collector’s editions of the ACE Gamebooks Alice’s Nightmare in Wonderland and The Wicked Wizard of Oz, written by Jonathan Green and illustrated by Kev Crossley.

DETAILS: Jonathan will sign and personalise a hardback copy of each of the choose your path adventure gamebooks Alice’s Nightmare in Wonderland and The Wicked Wizard of Oz, dedicated to you or the person of your choice. You will also receive one set of collectible Alice’s Nightmare in Wonderland playing cards and a set of The Wicked Wizard of Oz playing cards.

The auction ends at 8:00pm BST tonight, Tuesday 27th June., and also includes lots donated by m'colleagues Ian Livingstone and Gav Thorpe.

Thought for the Day

"I keep an antique hourglass on my desk and every hour break briefly to do push-ups, sit-ups, and some quick stretches. I find this helps keep the blood - and ideas - flowing."

~ Dan Brown

Short Story Saturday: Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu

Today, 24th June, is Midsummer's Day. A year ago today Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu had yet to be published and I was teasing backers of the original Kickstarter with details of Tim Bayley's bonus story Lovecraft's Labours Lost...

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...

National Writing Day - everyone has a story to tell

And the story I have to tell, at the moment, is Part 2 of the story of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks.