Jonathan Green's Blog, page 165

Gamebook Friday: Pod Your Own Adventure

There's nothing like hearing your work read aloud to realise how flawed it is. Having listened to the Pod Your Own Adventure Night of the Necromancer podcast, I now feel like throwing away my Adjective Thesaurus and starting again. Of course, the sarcastic comments by the guest didn't help. I just hope she never writes a book and has it read out as part of a podcast. And to top it all, apparently there's going to be a part two...


In other news, Fighting Fantasy Fest 2014 continues to be shaping up nicely. The exhibition is almost there, the schedule is now online, and tickets are still available for sale until the end of the month.

Maybe I'll see you there...

Fighting Fantasy Fest 2014 - The Fighting Fantasy Auction!

Have you ever fancied owning a rare (not to say one off) piece of Fighting Fantasy memorabilia? Well if you come to Fighting Fantasy Fest 2014 in Ealing on Sunday 7 September, you could walk away from the day with just that.

These are just some of the items that are up for auction on the day.

 Deathtrap Dungeon swords – A pair of swords, made in 1998, to promote Ian Livingstone's Deathtrap Dungeon PC game.
 Fighting Fantasy 50s – Seven of the hard-to-find FF adventures published between 1992 and 1995, all of them in either excellent or mint condition. (One lot.)
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (Nintendo DS game) – A copy of the Nintendo DS The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, never released in Europe.
 Ian Livingstone's Deathtrap Dungeon – A limited edition copy of the Ian Livingstone's Deathtrap Dungeon PC game, from 1998, complete with a copy of the gamebook and card game of the same name.
 Casket of Souls – A rare, mint condition copy of the hardback edition of Ian Livingstone’s Casket of Souls, published in 1987.
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain poster – A rare, framed, promotional poster for The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, produced by Puffin Books in 1982, signed by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone.
Dicing with Dragons – rate US editions of Ian Livingstone’s book, one hardback and one paperback.
So don't delay, grab your ticket today, while there's still time!

Steampunk Thursday: Unnatural History - a new review

It might be more than seven years since my first Ulysses Quicksilver novel was published, but there are still readers discovering it for the first time. One such is Black Library fan Abhinav Jain.

"Unnatural History is an extremely fun and fast-paced action-adventure... We have Charles Babbage’s difference engines. The Challenger Enclosure at the London Zoo (reference to the Lost World!), and more such things. There is an Overground instead of the Underground in London. You’ve got car chases and dirigibles and what not. There’s a lot to take in here and Jonathan also takes the time to point out the more era-related stuff as well, especially with regards to the whole... Britishness of the whole thing, I suppose. That’s what really completes the novel I think."

You can read his full review here, but what I've taken away from the review are two things in particular. The first is that he scored the book 8.5/10*! The other was this:

"Unnatural History itself proved to be a far better novel than I had expected, considering my ambivalence towards Jonathan’s Warhammer work for Black Library, and that’s a good thing because he did manage to surprise me and made me a fan in the end."

So, someone who wasn't particularly a fan of mine, converted to the joys of JG books by the steam-powered world of Pax Britannia . Happy. With. That.

You can pick up Pax Britannia: Unnatural History for your eReader (for free) here, or you can buy it in the tried and tested processed tree carcass format as part of The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus: Volume 1 .


* And if he liked  Unnatural History  he's going to love the books that come after.

Happy Birthday, H P Lovecraft!

H P Lovecraft, creator of the Cthulhu Mythos, was born on 20 August 1890. He has inspired hundreds of writers since, including Yours Truly.

To date I have written two Cthulhu Mythos stories, The Scottish Patient* (which appears in the World War Cthulhu  fiction anthology) and The Serpent's Egg (a novella first published as part of Dreaming in Darkness ).

20 August was also my father's birthday, and he was another great inspiration to me and supported my early writing career whole-heartedly.

So here's to both of them - H P Lovecraft and my Dad!




* The Scottish Patient received a special mention in this review of World War Cthulhu: "What makes the volume particularly interesting is the way the authors blend history and mythos. One might expect stories of perfidious Nazis performing obscene occult rituals to call forth the Lovecraftian unnameables and enlist their effort in defeating the Allies. And they are there, as in John Llewellyn Prober’s ghastly “The Death House.” But Oliver—and Cthulhu—does not play favorites. Almost as intriguing and certainly as uncomfortable are those in which the Allies succumb to temptation…and themselves seek the services of darkness. Jonathan Green’s “The Scottish Patient,” set in a dream-like England, explores this possibility."

Fighting Fantasy Fest 2014 - Featuring 'Turn to 400' documentary maker Sean Riley and his camera!

Great news! Sean Riley, the man behind the unfortunately unsuccessful 'Turn to 400' Fighting Fantasy documentary Kickstarter project, is going to be at Fighting Fantasy Fest 2014 - with his camera!

Sean is hoping to gather some footage with a view to restarting the film project, and he's also going to be asking for people's input as to what they would want to see in terms of rewards, if he decides to go the crowd-funding route again.

So if you'd like to see the 'Turn to 400' documentary get made at long last, then get yourself along to Fighting Fantasy Fest 2014 and who knows - you might even end up in the finished film!

Tickets are on sale until the end of August here.

Warhammer Wednesday: Black Templars Quick Reads Collection

Black Library have released another of their eBook Quick Reads collections, this time for the crusading Black Templars chapter.

Two of my Warhammer 40K stories really seemed to have captured readers' imaginations over the years. One is my first published Space Marine story Salvation , and the other is The Relic , which is included in this collection.

So why not download the Black Templars: Quick Reads Collection today?

Fighting Fantasy Fest 2014 - The Schedule!

Here at is at last, what you've all been waiting for, the schedule for Fighting Fantasy Fest 2014, taking place on Sunday 7 September at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel in Ealing, West London.
~ ~ ~
10.30am – The event opens and Registration begins.

11.15am – Welcome to the event you've all been waiting for...

11.30am – Tin Man Games presentation - A very special preview of some of Tin Man Games' forthcoming FF apps.

12.00pm – The History of Fighting Fantasy - A talk by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, with Philippa Dickinson, their editor on the original FF gamebook, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

1.00pm – Lunch - Join us for a flagon of Cloud Ale at the Black Lobster Tavern.

2.00pm – The Art of Fighting Fantasy - The Fighting Fantasy artists, in conversation with Jonathan Green.

3.00pm – Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks and  YOU ARE THE HERO  mass signing.

4.00pm – Fighting Fantasy Costume Competition, followed by the Fighting Fantasy Auction (with auctioneer Ian Livingstone).

5.00pm – Your adventure ends here… The event closes.

~ ~ ~
During the day you will also be able to enjoy Advanced Fighting Fantasy gaming sessions, courtesy of Arion Games, take part in a Swindlestones tournament, with Inkle Studios, and have your fantasy-themed portrait taken by Legend Photography.

Traders who will be there on the day include Otherworld Miniatures, board games specialists Leisure Games, FightingFantasy.com, French AFF publishers Scriptarium, purveyors of gaming accessories All Rolled Up, Pure Evil Miniatures, and Snowbooks, publishers of YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks (which will also be launching on the day).

If you've not bought your ticket yet, you can do so here.

Thought for the Day

Fighting Fantasy Fest 2014 - 3 weeks to go!

There are just 3 weeks to go until  FIGHTING FANTASY FEST 2014 takes place at the DoubleTree Hilton in Ealing, West London, and 2 weeks left to buy your tickets.

For those attending we have all of the following on offer:

6 Fighting Fantasy artists - including Russ Nicholson, John Blanche, Chris Achilleos, Malcolm Barter, Tony Hough and Leo Hartas.

3 Fighting Fantasy authors - Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, co-creators of the Fighting Fantasy series, and Jonathan Green, author of seven FF gamebooks.

An extremely collectible goodie bag, including a Fighting Fantasy gamebook, a poster, a novel, a Tin Man Games download app code, and a ZAGOR THE WARLOCK miniature, only available to those FF fans attending  FIGHTING FANTASY FEST  and based on this piece of artwork by Russ Nicholson!

A talk on the early days of Fighting Fantasy by Steve and Ian, with special guest Philippa Dickinson, the editor who first worked on The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

Arion Games running Advanced Fighting Fantasy sessions throughout the day.

Tin Man Games talking about and demonstrating their latest FF apps.

Inkle Studios talking about their Sorcery! apps.

Various others traders, offering books for sale, wargaming miniatures, dice and gaming equipment, and more!

The official book launch of YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, written by Jonathan Green and supported by hundreds of FF fans through the Kickstarter crowd-funding website.

An exhibition of never-before-seen and highly-collectible items from FF's history.

An auction of rare Fighting Fantasy memorabilia from the vaults of the Warlocks of Firetop Mountain themselves.

And if all that wasn't enough you'll be able to have a drink with the creators of Fighting Fantasy at the Black Lobster Tavern, from Port Blacksand, City of Thieves, themed bar!

If you've not bought your ticket yet you can do so here. Please tell all your friends via social media and any other means at your disposal (such as telephone, email, carrier pigeon, smoke signals, sorcery...) and we'll look forward to seeing you in September!

Loncon 3 - a.k.a. The 72nd World Science Fiction Convention

Loncon 3 kicks off today, and runs all weekend until Monday. As well as a host of famous guests and the Hugo Awards, I shall be appearing at Loncon on Friday - incredibly on two panels!

Here are the details of the two panels I'm on.


I may also be at the SFX/Tor/Jo Fletcher Books do at the pub later that evening (dependent upon my two noise minions).

So maybe I'll see you there...