Jonathan Green's Blog, page 174

Thought for the Day

"No man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."

~ C S Lewis

May the 4th be with you

Free Comic Book Day

Three quarters of Family Green spent Saturday in central London, enjoying all that Free Comic Book Day had to offer.

First it was off to Forbidden Planet to say hello to Tharg's representative on Earth (a.k.a. 2000AD and Megazine editor) Matt Smith and Tiernen Trevallion (who illustrated one of my Inferno! short stories years ago), who were appearing along with artist extraordinaire Henry Flint.

The unsurprisingly busy 2000AD signing at Forbidden Planet.
Matt Smith, Henry Flint and Tiernen Trevallion sign their lives away.
Tiernen Trevallion, illustrator of The Plague Pit.
Next we headed into the heart of Soho to Gosh! Comics, where half of Family Green made the most of the art activities on offer for the discerning younger comic book fan.

Window art being created to mark Free Comic Book Day as we watched.
I'm not sure who's taking advice on creating comics from whom here.
All in all it was another inspiring day, and we didn't do too badly on the free comic books front either.

Short Story Saturday: Das Puppenhaus

The print edition of Diabolos MMXIV arrived from Germany via snail mail the other day, and quite a doorstop of a publication it is too.


The best thing about it is that the title of my own contribution, The Doll's House , translates as Das Puppenhaus.


You can pick up the print edition of Diabolos MMXIV here, and the eBook version here.

Genießen!

Zombie Friday: Dead Wake

All her life, all Courtney has ever wanted is a quiet, settled life. But life never works out as planned, and Courtney's about to find herself in the middle of a nightmare from which she can never escape, when the dead wake...

I've been sitting on this one for a while now (nine months to be precise) but I'm thrilled to be able to reveal today that I am writing a series of zombie stories for Ultra Pro , the leading global supplier of investment protection products.

These new novellas are linked to Ultra Pro's Dead Wake line. The first tale involves a character called Courtney, who works at the aptly-named Flesh Vault, and who also happens to appear on deck protectors and a play mat, illustrated by award-winning concept artist Corlen Kruger.

(Readers of a sensitive disposition might not want to check out the following link, but if you're a fan of savage, no-holds-barred, explicit, 18-rated, zombie, brain-chomping mayhem, and the rest, then click away.)

Hunger for Revenge is Chapter One in a planned trilogy of eBook novellas and you can read an opening taster (as it were) here.

Special thanks must go to m'colleague Iain Lowson, without whom I wouldn't be posting this post, and if you like what you've read so far, you can purchase the eBook at the bargain price of $0.99 or 77p here.

I would say enjoy, but instead I'll just say, its best to be prepared to be scared. ;-)

Steampunk Thursday: Forthcoming Events

I have a couple of events coming up this month that readers of my Pax Britannia Steampunk novels might be interested in.

Alice Aid
Saturday 10 May 2014 - 7.00pm-12.00am

I shall be attending the Alice Aid night of alternative music and comedy, to help raise funds for the production of Alice on Mars - The Movie! To find out more about Alice Aid, click this link. To find out more about Alice on Mars - The Movie, follow this link.



Frome Steampunk Extravaganza II
Friday 30 May - Sunday 1 June 2014

I shall also be attending the FSE II this year. Last year's event was, by all accounts, a great success, so I'm looking forward to meeting the South-West Steampunks and spreading the word about Pax Britannia . As well as selling my books, I am expecting to be taking parts in panels and readings over the course of the weekend. So, if you live in the vicinity of Frome, maybe I'll see you there. You can find out more about the event, and a link to buy tickets, here.

Happy Birthday, Deathtrap Dungeon!

As Ian Livingstone revealed today on his Twitter feed...



You'll find plenty on Deathtrap Dungeon in the forthcoming YOU ARE THE HERO, and not just about the book either...

Thought for the Day

"Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any."

~ Orson Scott Card

Hear me speak!

On Tuesday I spent a very pleasant evening in the company of Simon 'Spindles' Potthast, Brendan 'Nerd Vs World' Gylee, and Ady 'Chocolatier' Wilce, for the recording of Episode 29 of the aforementioned Nerd Vs World.

We spent our time eating chocolate and retro sweets, whilst talking about everything from '80s kids' cartoons to  YOU ARE THE HERO , and the podcast went live yesterday. You can listen to it here.

And then today another interview I did - this time at the Sci-Fi Weekender, and conducted by Jonathan Hicks, the Farsight Blogger - went live. You can listen to that one here.

Thanks to Jonathan and the guys from Nerd vs World for talking to me, and I wouldn't be surprised if in a year's time there'll be another Nerd vs World blog post...

(From left to right, and back to front)Spindles, Nerd Vs World, The Chocolatier and Kaiju Killer.

Happy Birthday, Mr Shakespeare!

Today is St George's Day, World Book Night, and William Shakespeare's 450th birthday!

Having studied various Shakespeare plays throughout my school years the Bard's work inevitably ended up influencing my own creative endeavours, none more so than my Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.

It all began with the first proposal I sent to Puffin Books, Outlaws of Kaan. Even though that adventure was not meant to be, elements of it were recycled in everything from Spellbreaker and Knights of Doom, right through to Night of the Necromancer.

The more obvious Shakespearean influences in my gamebooks include the witches from Spellbreaker (obviously Macbeth), Belgaroth and his fiend-like queen from Knights of Doom (also Macbeth), Balinac and Erasmus's Cell on Bone Island in Bloodbones (The Tempest), as well as Valsinore Castle and a certain ghost in Night of the Necromancer (Hamlet).

Balinac, by Tony Hough.
There are others, some of which are more obscure than others. For example the Spirit Beast on Bone Island in Bloodbones is based on the invisible monster in '50s sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet, which was itself based on The Tempest, the invisible monster being that particular movie's take on Prospero's slave Caliban.

Belgaroth the Sorcerer, by Tony Hough.