Jonathan Green's Blog, page 133
October 1, 2015
New Book Day! I Love That Minifigure!
Meet the most sought-after LEGO® minifigures of all time, I Love That Minifigure brings together 200 of the coolest, rarest and most collectible minifigures.
I Love That Minifigure is your indispensable guide to the LEGO® world's unique characters. Whether you want to check your collection or read-up on all your favourite LEGO® minifigures, I Love That Minifigure covers more than 35 years of LEGO history, and comes with its own new and exclusive LEGO minifigure for your collection.
Find out the key features of each minifigure, their original availability and rarity rating perfect for any budding LEGO minifigure collectors.And I wrote about a quarter of it. :-)
Skeleton Guy - one of the new Series 14 Monsters LEGO minifigures - posing in front of the book he appears in.
My first credit in a Dorling Kindersley book, as well as my first credit in a LEGO book.
I wrote this...
And this...
And this!
All published since May 2015.
September 28, 2015
September 26, 2015
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.
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.
September 25, 2015
Gamebook Friday: Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland update
It's been a while since I updated you all on the progress I've been making with
Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland
. There are now just three weeks to go to final delivery and things are really starting to pick up pace.
The manuscript itself is complete, and is being pored over by a host of proof-readers and play-testers*, Kev Crossley is furiously producing the artwork for the book, and the playing card rewards are being designed even as I type.
And there's not really much more to tell you, other than that. So to end with here are some of Kev's rough sketches** to enjoy.
* Well twenty of them, anyway.
** He calls them rough sketches. I call them little works of art!
The manuscript itself is complete, and is being pored over by a host of proof-readers and play-testers*, Kev Crossley is furiously producing the artwork for the book, and the playing card rewards are being designed even as I type.
And there's not really much more to tell you, other than that. So to end with here are some of Kev's rough sketches** to enjoy.
* Well twenty of them, anyway.
** He calls them rough sketches. I call them little works of art!
September 21, 2015
Thought for the Day
“I like good strong words that mean something.”~ Louisa May Alcott
September 19, 2015
Pirate Who?
Duh-duh-duh-der! Duh-duh-duh-der! Duh-duh-duh-der! Dih-dih-dih-dee!Duh-duh-duh-der! Duh-duh-duh-der! Duh-duh-duh-der! Woo-ee-oooo!
Yes, that's right, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day. I mean, it's Doctor Who Day. (I've even got my Gallifrey t-shirt on to mark the occasion.)
Did I ever tell you about the time I didn't write a Doctor Who story featuring pirates? It was when I was invited to pitch an Eleventh Doctor story to the tie-in fiction editorial team at Puffin. I was told that the content had to appeal to boys in particular and the first two things I came up with were dinosaurs and pirates.
Then I thought, "What won't they do on TV because of budget limitations? I know a pirate ship and loads of dinosaurs!"
And so I submitted my proposal in which Blackbeard searches for the Fountain of Youth in the Florida Everglades* but ends up finding Jurassic Park instead**. Feedback came through from Cardiff - they loved the story but could I change the pirates please. The reason? Because Lord Grantham was bound for Treasure Island***. And so the pirates became Victorian explorers, travelling aboard The Venture****.But an idea, as they say, is never wasted. Even now a different take on the whole Blackbeard vs Dinosaurs thing is forming within the primordial creative soup that is my mind. And guess what - it's another gamebook! ;-)
Next time: How I would have done Missy differently.
* By the way, have your read Tim Powers' On Stranger Tides?
** In a nutshell.
*** Sort of.
*** Do you see what I did there?
September 18, 2015
Gamebook Friday: Legend Quests Live...Is now live!
Legend Quests, the "Live" Fantasy Dungeon Adventure Game
, launches today on Kickstarter.
If you're a fan of Fighting Fantasy, gamebooks, Knightmare, theatre, The Lord of the Rings, YOU ARE THE HERO , Dungeons and Dragons, or the movie Labyrinth, then you need to back this Kickstarter today.
If you're a fan of Fighting Fantasy, gamebooks, Knightmare, theatre, The Lord of the Rings, YOU ARE THE HERO , Dungeons and Dragons, or the movie Labyrinth, then you need to back this Kickstarter today.
September 17, 2015
Steampunk Thursday: The Countess of Computing
Ada Lovelace Day maybe still be almost a month away, but fans of Steampunk and
Pax Britannia
should check out BBC Four at 9.00pm tonight. Calculating Ada: The Countess of Computing tells the story of 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' Lord Byron's daughter, Ada Lovelace, who is recognised today as the world's first computer programmer.When Charles Babbage designed the world's first steam-powered computers, most famously the analytical engine, it was Ada who realised the full potential of these machines. And she went on to inspire other computer pioneers like Alan Turing.
Fans of my Pax Britannia books will already recognise the influence that all of these individuals have played on the development of my Steampunk world, so I for one will be tuning in at 9.00pm tonight.
September 14, 2015
Thought for the Day
“Real writers write because of their artistic need above all. It is a great and miraculous calling and its pursuit deserves all of one’s energy and imagination.” ~ Warren Adler, American Author
September 11, 2015
Gamebook Friday: Legend Quests Live!
Imagine playing through your favourite adventure gamebook. Awesome. isn't it?
Now imagine being able to enter the adventure yourself, braving the dungeon and all its attend perils. Well, if a certain Kickstarter project achieves funding, you won't have to imagine any longer...
Launching soon is a brand new Kickstarter project that I am quietly confident many of you will be keen to back. Legend Quests, the "Live" Fantasy Dungeon Adventure Game , is the brain child of Oliver McNeil, the man behind Legend Photography . Those of you who were able to attend Fighting Fantasy Fest last year will know him as the goblin who was strolling around the Double Tree Hilton, and some of you even had your photographs taken by him, which probably ended up looking rather like the one below.
Legend Quests, the "Live" Fantasy Dungeon Adventure Game , is a unique team theatre experience. As the curtains open on the show, any number of dungeon environments will have been created by the crew. Members of the audience will be invited to enter the stage area and take part in encounter scenes, interacting with actors. As the adventure unfolds, new scenes will be created in this versatile space for audience members to enter and enjoy. The audience are therefore the players in a thrilling, interactive 2 hour adventure.Fighting Fantasy co-creator Ian Livingstone is on board as project advisor, and it also features Tom Baker as the Voice of the Dungeon! Oh, and I might have a little something to do with it too, as does my fellow gamebook author Jamie Thomson.To find out more, and to sign up to be notified when the project goes live, click this link .
Now imagine being able to enter the adventure yourself, braving the dungeon and all its attend perils. Well, if a certain Kickstarter project achieves funding, you won't have to imagine any longer...
Launching soon is a brand new Kickstarter project that I am quietly confident many of you will be keen to back. Legend Quests, the "Live" Fantasy Dungeon Adventure Game , is the brain child of Oliver McNeil, the man behind Legend Photography . Those of you who were able to attend Fighting Fantasy Fest last year will know him as the goblin who was strolling around the Double Tree Hilton, and some of you even had your photographs taken by him, which probably ended up looking rather like the one below.
Legend Quests, the "Live" Fantasy Dungeon Adventure Game , is a unique team theatre experience. As the curtains open on the show, any number of dungeon environments will have been created by the crew. Members of the audience will be invited to enter the stage area and take part in encounter scenes, interacting with actors. As the adventure unfolds, new scenes will be created in this versatile space for audience members to enter and enjoy. The audience are therefore the players in a thrilling, interactive 2 hour adventure.Fighting Fantasy co-creator Ian Livingstone is on board as project advisor, and it also features Tom Baker as the Voice of the Dungeon! Oh, and I might have a little something to do with it too, as does my fellow gamebook author Jamie Thomson.To find out more, and to sign up to be notified when the project goes live, click this link .
