Jonathan Green's Blog, page 49
January 6, 2020
January 3, 2020
Gamebook Friday: Dracula - Curse of the Vampire
I'm loving Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat's take on Dracula and am looking forward to the final part of BBC 1 this evening, and it's got me thinking about adaptations of classic stories.
The BBC has broadcast adaptations of four such stories recently, three true classics - H. G. Wells'
The War of the Worlds
, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, and Bram Stoker's Dracula - and one modern classic, Philip Pullman's
His Dark Materials
.The whole family was gripped by His Dark Materials , which even had the kids looking up from their phones, and I loved Lorne Balfe's score. The score was the best bit about The War of the Worlds , and I religiously fell asleep every Sunday night whilst watching it. The jury's still out on A Christmas Carol - how much can you take away from a classic story before it is no longer recognisably the same story - but at least it held my attention.
I have spent the last five years producing my own gamebook adaptations of a number of classic stories, some of which are more like re-imaginings than straight adaptations - NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! being a case in point - while others are much closer to the original source material, like
Beowulf Beastslayer
. But no matter what I have done with the stories, I have always tried to ensure that I hit all the beats people would expect.Both Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland and The Wicked Wizard of Oz are populated with a host of characters from the original source texts, while 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas is filled with every Christmas cliché you could think of.
It just so happens that the sixth ACE Gamebook will be Dracula - Curse of the Vampire , and may be my closest adaptation yet. By the way, the Kickstarter campaign launches on Sunday 1st March 2020, with special rewards on offer for those people who back within the first 24 hours.
It was with no small amount of relief that on watching the BBC's Dracula I realised that it goes in a very different direction from my version, which allows you to play as the eponymous Count himself, and has diverged from the original novel massively. However, this has not been to its detriment; if anything it has reinvigorated the story and made it horrifying again*. All the important characters are still in place, but Gatiss and Moffat continue to surprise and intrigue the viewer throughout.
"You have something in your eye."Where the BBC's adaptation of The War of the Worlds went wrong, I believe, is that some of the changes that were made were utterly illogical - for example, the levitating heat-ray thing - but worse than that, it was boring. And it's quite a challenge to make H. G. Wells' classic about an alien invasion of Earth that dull. While I'm still undecided about taking so much of Dickens out of A Christmas Carol, at least it wasn't boring**.
And I think it's safe to say that Dracula - Curse of the Vampire won't be boring either. To be kept up to date with developments, subscribe to my Newsletter here, and join the ACE Gamebooks Facebook group here.
* The opening scene where Sister Agatha says to Jonathan Harker, "You have something in your eye" springs to mind.
** And I'm a big Guy Pearce fan.
January 1, 2020
Looking Forward
Having posted my review of the decade yesterday, I entered the New Year in melancholic mood, having spent too long dwelling on the past, thinking about the things that are no longer a part of my life*.
But today I have refocused on the things that are to come, and that are under my control, and am determined to rediscover my mojo after the Christmas break - I have plenty to do after all! And on top of that, my better half has set me the challenge of becoming a millionaire author by 2030**.
There is one favour you could do for me though, if you've recently enjoyed one of my ACE Gamebooks , and that's to post a review on Amazon, especially for the three books that were published in 2019.
NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!
Beowulf Beastslayer
'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas
Thank you, and here's to a prosperous 2020 full of positivity!
* As well as the horrors that are yet to come... I can't believe I didn't even mention Brexit, Trump or climate change!
** To be honest, if I haven't managed it by then, it'll be too late.
But today I have refocused on the things that are to come, and that are under my control, and am determined to rediscover my mojo after the Christmas break - I have plenty to do after all! And on top of that, my better half has set me the challenge of becoming a millionaire author by 2030**.
There is one favour you could do for me though, if you've recently enjoyed one of my ACE Gamebooks , and that's to post a review on Amazon, especially for the three books that were published in 2019.
NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters!
Beowulf Beastslayer
'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas
Thank you, and here's to a prosperous 2020 full of positivity!
* As well as the horrors that are yet to come... I can't believe I didn't even mention Brexit, Trump or climate change!
** To be honest, if I haven't managed it by then, it'll be too late.
December 31, 2019
Review of the Decade - 2010-2019
I've not done one of these before, but inspired by Twitter's Decade Challenge I thought it might be fun to consider what I've achieved over the last ten years, as well as considering the ups and downs of life.
Starting with the downs, I started the 2010s living in a four-bedroom house, but by the end of the decade I now find myself living in a three-bedroom flat*. In fact, during the last ten years I've lived in four different properties, and have gone from having a dedicated office space to a desk in my bedroom. At the start of the decade I was a full-time freelance writer, for three years I held down a full-time teaching post whilst still writing, and I currently have a part-time job, but on the up side I'm earning more from my writing now than I was in 2010. I also lost my Mum last year.
However, in the space of the last ten years I have had fifty books published - everything from colouring books and gamebooks, to steampunk omnibuses and Doctor Who tie-in novels. I have also compiled and edited three short story anthologies, and have had over forty short stories of my own published in various formats.
It seems mad to consider that my last Fighting Fantasy gamebook was published in 2010, while in 2020 I will be writing my twenty-second interactive adventure, Dracula - Curse of the Vampire .
In the 2010s I organised three Fighting Fantasy Fests and attended numerous other events as a guest, including the Frankfurt Book Fair. I've travelled a fair bit, to be honest, as far west as Canada, as far north as Norway, as far south as Gran Canaria, and as far east as Vienna, in Austria**.
I've worked with talented artists such as Martin McKenna, Pye Parr, Simon Coleby, Kev Crossley, Russ Nicholson, and Tony Hough, and I've started my, I am pleased to say, ongoing relationship with publisher Snowbooks. Talking of whom, within the last five years that I have created my ACE Gamebooks series, which is published in the UK by Snowbooks, and which has, to date, been taken up in one form or another by six foreign language publishers and counting.
I had my first creator credit in 2000AD, and I've even had an editor's credit appear in a comic books series/graphic novel, and I will be continuing with my editing work into the next decade.
I've read a fair few books and comics, and I've seen a fair few films, but I have also run nine successful Kickstarter projects, the most recent of which was for 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas .
So not a bad decade all in all, and it will be interesting to see what the next one brings. Certainly in terms of writing and travel, hopefully more of the same.
What have been your highlights of the last ten years?
* I know - #FirstWorldProblems.
** So not very far east.
Starting with the downs, I started the 2010s living in a four-bedroom house, but by the end of the decade I now find myself living in a three-bedroom flat*. In fact, during the last ten years I've lived in four different properties, and have gone from having a dedicated office space to a desk in my bedroom. At the start of the decade I was a full-time freelance writer, for three years I held down a full-time teaching post whilst still writing, and I currently have a part-time job, but on the up side I'm earning more from my writing now than I was in 2010. I also lost my Mum last year.
However, in the space of the last ten years I have had fifty books published - everything from colouring books and gamebooks, to steampunk omnibuses and Doctor Who tie-in novels. I have also compiled and edited three short story anthologies, and have had over forty short stories of my own published in various formats.
It seems mad to consider that my last Fighting Fantasy gamebook was published in 2010, while in 2020 I will be writing my twenty-second interactive adventure, Dracula - Curse of the Vampire .
In the 2010s I organised three Fighting Fantasy Fests and attended numerous other events as a guest, including the Frankfurt Book Fair. I've travelled a fair bit, to be honest, as far west as Canada, as far north as Norway, as far south as Gran Canaria, and as far east as Vienna, in Austria**.
I've worked with talented artists such as Martin McKenna, Pye Parr, Simon Coleby, Kev Crossley, Russ Nicholson, and Tony Hough, and I've started my, I am pleased to say, ongoing relationship with publisher Snowbooks. Talking of whom, within the last five years that I have created my ACE Gamebooks series, which is published in the UK by Snowbooks, and which has, to date, been taken up in one form or another by six foreign language publishers and counting.
I had my first creator credit in 2000AD, and I've even had an editor's credit appear in a comic books series/graphic novel, and I will be continuing with my editing work into the next decade.
I've read a fair few books and comics, and I've seen a fair few films, but I have also run nine successful Kickstarter projects, the most recent of which was for 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas .
So not a bad decade all in all, and it will be interesting to see what the next one brings. Certainly in terms of writing and travel, hopefully more of the same.
What have been your highlights of the last ten years?
* I know - #FirstWorldProblems.
** So not very far east.
December 30, 2019
Thought for the Day
“Sometimes a book has its day and, although of course it does not change, the reader does, as a result of having read better things, or new tastes having come to the fore, or fashions in literature having moved on. Other novels seem to have improved, usually because we have matured as readers, our imaginations have expanded and we understand new literary approaches, sometimes because of life events which have opened us up to a new emotional awareness and understanding.”
~ Susan Hill, author of The Woman in Black
~ Susan Hill, author of The Woman in Black
December 27, 2019
Review of the Year - 2019
I'm posting my Review of the Year a few days' early this year, because I'm also planning on posting a Review of the Decade before the year is out.
2019 will definitely go down in my memory as the Year of ACE Gamebooks. Three of them were published over the space of six months, which meant posting out roughly 600 rewards to those people who supported the Kickstarters that meant I could produce the books in the first place. As well as writing 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas , editing Beowulf Beastslayer , and proofreading and publishing NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! I also started writing the next in the series, Dracula - Curse of the Vampire .
Not only that but I also ran another Kickstarter to publish 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas , in time for next Christmas, which is the first title in the ACE Gamebooks Roleplay line!
Going back to ACE Gamebooks though, I have also sold the foreign language rights to a number of the titles in the series. Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland is now available in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Brazil, and will soon be available in Argentina, France, and Italy. The Wicked Wizard of Oz will be available in Germany and the Czech Republic in 2020, and there are other licensing deals in the works.
In terms of conventions, I visited the UK Games Expo (for which I wrote a short piece about the history of Joe Dever's Lone Wolf series), MantiCon in Germany in August, and Dragonmeet at the end of November. I also ran Fighting Fantasy Fest 3, which I am assured was the biggest and best to date.
In terms of short fiction, I had stories appear in the anthologies Kaiju Rising II (The Ghost in the Machine), Wonderland ( The Hunting of the Jabberwock ), and Scarlet Traces ( Wonderful Things ), while some of my short stories became available again with the reprints of old issues of Inferno! magazine. 2019 also saw the publication of my first short story for the Black Library in five years - Journey of the Magi , published in Inferno! Volume 4 - and I'm pleased to say there are more to come.
This year was also special because Dr Janina Ramirez provided a cover quote for Beowulf Beastslayer , and I started working with another well-known person on a book due to be published next year.
I appeared in my first audio drama, when the Fighting Fantasy Audio adventure Deathtrap Dungeon: The Last Champion was released in March, and in November I attempted NaNoWriMo once again, although I missed out on making the 50,000 word target by around 2,000 words.
I didn't manage to write another Scrooge and Marley (Deceased) story, even though I had hoped I would be able to make time to do so, but the BBC's recent adaptation starring Guy Pearce, and the BBC's adaptation of The War of the Worlds , showed me that there's still room for my interpretation of both these classic stories.
So what do I have planned for 2020? Mainly, finishing Dracula - Curse of the Mummy , but there are some other exciting projects on the horizon, and I will be attending the UK Games Expo again in the summer. And that, I think, is plenty to be getting on with for the time being.
2019 will definitely go down in my memory as the Year of ACE Gamebooks. Three of them were published over the space of six months, which meant posting out roughly 600 rewards to those people who supported the Kickstarters that meant I could produce the books in the first place. As well as writing 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas , editing Beowulf Beastslayer , and proofreading and publishing NEVERLAND - Here Be Monsters! I also started writing the next in the series, Dracula - Curse of the Vampire .
Not only that but I also ran another Kickstarter to publish 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas , in time for next Christmas, which is the first title in the ACE Gamebooks Roleplay line!
Going back to ACE Gamebooks though, I have also sold the foreign language rights to a number of the titles in the series. Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland is now available in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Brazil, and will soon be available in Argentina, France, and Italy. The Wicked Wizard of Oz will be available in Germany and the Czech Republic in 2020, and there are other licensing deals in the works.
In terms of conventions, I visited the UK Games Expo (for which I wrote a short piece about the history of Joe Dever's Lone Wolf series), MantiCon in Germany in August, and Dragonmeet at the end of November. I also ran Fighting Fantasy Fest 3, which I am assured was the biggest and best to date.
In terms of short fiction, I had stories appear in the anthologies Kaiju Rising II (The Ghost in the Machine), Wonderland ( The Hunting of the Jabberwock ), and Scarlet Traces ( Wonderful Things ), while some of my short stories became available again with the reprints of old issues of Inferno! magazine. 2019 also saw the publication of my first short story for the Black Library in five years - Journey of the Magi , published in Inferno! Volume 4 - and I'm pleased to say there are more to come.
This year was also special because Dr Janina Ramirez provided a cover quote for Beowulf Beastslayer , and I started working with another well-known person on a book due to be published next year.
I appeared in my first audio drama, when the Fighting Fantasy Audio adventure Deathtrap Dungeon: The Last Champion was released in March, and in November I attempted NaNoWriMo once again, although I missed out on making the 50,000 word target by around 2,000 words.
I didn't manage to write another Scrooge and Marley (Deceased) story, even though I had hoped I would be able to make time to do so, but the BBC's recent adaptation starring Guy Pearce, and the BBC's adaptation of The War of the Worlds , showed me that there's still room for my interpretation of both these classic stories.
So what do I have planned for 2020? Mainly, finishing Dracula - Curse of the Mummy , but there are some other exciting projects on the horizon, and I will be attending the UK Games Expo again in the summer. And that, I think, is plenty to be getting on with for the time being.
December 26, 2019
The Krampus Kalendar: Z is for Zzzz...
And relax... Christmas is over for another year and it's Boxing Day! But why is the day after Christmas Day called Boxing Day?
It has nothing to do with the sport of boxing, if that’s what you’re wondering. Boxing Day has been known by that name since the Middle Ages because of its connection to alms boxes.
It was on this day that alms boxes – the boxes placed in churches to collect money for the needy – would be opened by the priests and the money, given by the better-off parishioners, distributed to the poor of the parish. This was once known as the ‘dole of the Christmas box’. It led, in time, to the practice of giving those who had provided a service over the previous year – such as delivering your milk or mail – a seasonal thank-you in the form of a ‘Christmas box’, hence, Boxing Day.
This type of collecting box was first brought to Britain by the Romans, but rather than distribute the money to the poor, the Romans used it to pay for the games which took place during the winter celebrations.
After the sixteenth century it was common practice for apprentices and household servants to ask their masters (and even their masters’ customers) for money at Christmas time. Any gifts of money they received were placed inside an earthenware ‘box’ – which looked more like a piggy bank, complete with a slit in the top – which was then broken open on 26 December.
Didn't get 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas for Christmas? Don't worry, you can buy it for yourself here !
And if you missed 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas on Kickstarter, you can place a late pledge here !
To find out more about the festive season and its many traditions, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!
The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas .
It has nothing to do with the sport of boxing, if that’s what you’re wondering. Boxing Day has been known by that name since the Middle Ages because of its connection to alms boxes. It was on this day that alms boxes – the boxes placed in churches to collect money for the needy – would be opened by the priests and the money, given by the better-off parishioners, distributed to the poor of the parish. This was once known as the ‘dole of the Christmas box’. It led, in time, to the practice of giving those who had provided a service over the previous year – such as delivering your milk or mail – a seasonal thank-you in the form of a ‘Christmas box’, hence, Boxing Day.
This type of collecting box was first brought to Britain by the Romans, but rather than distribute the money to the poor, the Romans used it to pay for the games which took place during the winter celebrations.
After the sixteenth century it was common practice for apprentices and household servants to ask their masters (and even their masters’ customers) for money at Christmas time. Any gifts of money they received were placed inside an earthenware ‘box’ – which looked more like a piggy bank, complete with a slit in the top – which was then broken open on 26 December.
Didn't get 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas for Christmas? Don't worry, you can buy it for yourself here !
And if you missed 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas on Kickstarter, you can place a late pledge here !
To find out more about the festive season and its many traditions, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!
The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas .
December 25, 2019
The Krampus Kalendar: Y is for YULE
Today is Christmas Day! Happy Christmas!
Of course, Christmas is pre-dated by two major pagan festivals, the Roman Saturnalia and the Viking Yule. To our pagan ancestors living in the frozen north of Europe and Scandinavia, the dark days of winter were a frightening time. The darkness was the domain of demons and malicious spirits. On top of that, Odin, chief among the Norse gods, flew through the sky on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir, looking down at the world with his furious one-eyed gaze, deciding who should prosper and who should perish in the year ahead.
Yule was the name given to the Viking festive feast, a time when light and new birth were celebrated in the face of darkness and death as witnessed in the natural world. It was at this time that evergreens were brought into the house; a sign that life persisted, even during these darkest days of the year.
The Anglo-Saxons even referred to the month of December as both Winter Monath and Yule Monath.
To help keep the darkness at bay, on or around the 21 December, the time of the winter solstice, fathers and sons would go out into the forests and bring back the largest log they could find. This massive piece of timber was then put on the fire and left to burn for the entirety of the season of Yule – twelve days altogether.
The English word Yule is a corruption of the Old Norse Jōl. However, Jōl itself may derive from hjól, meaning ‘wheel’. In this sense, it refers to the moment when the wheel of the year is at its lowest point, in midwinter, ready to rise again in the spring.
So here's hoping you have a very happy Yule and a prosperous new year!
Of course, Christmas is pre-dated by two major pagan festivals, the Roman Saturnalia and the Viking Yule. To our pagan ancestors living in the frozen north of Europe and Scandinavia, the dark days of winter were a frightening time. The darkness was the domain of demons and malicious spirits. On top of that, Odin, chief among the Norse gods, flew through the sky on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir, looking down at the world with his furious one-eyed gaze, deciding who should prosper and who should perish in the year ahead.Yule was the name given to the Viking festive feast, a time when light and new birth were celebrated in the face of darkness and death as witnessed in the natural world. It was at this time that evergreens were brought into the house; a sign that life persisted, even during these darkest days of the year.
The Anglo-Saxons even referred to the month of December as both Winter Monath and Yule Monath.
To help keep the darkness at bay, on or around the 21 December, the time of the winter solstice, fathers and sons would go out into the forests and bring back the largest log they could find. This massive piece of timber was then put on the fire and left to burn for the entirety of the season of Yule – twelve days altogether.
The English word Yule is a corruption of the Old Norse Jōl. However, Jōl itself may derive from hjól, meaning ‘wheel’. In this sense, it refers to the moment when the wheel of the year is at its lowest point, in midwinter, ready to rise again in the spring.
So here's hoping you have a very happy Yule and a prosperous new year!
December 24, 2019
The Krampus Kalendar: X is for XMAS EVE
Every Christmas Eve, children the world over await the arrival of one individual more than any other (or at least one of his many lieutenants) with excited anticipation. The image of the jolly old man with his long white beard, red suit and attendant reindeer couldn’t be more familiar, but where did this admittedly peculiar figure come from? Who is, or was, the real Father Christmas?Whether you call him Father Christmas, Santa Claus, Sinterklaus or Kris Kringle, the semi-historical, semi-legendary figure who inspired the Christmas gift-giver children know and love today was one Saint Nicholas. And he didn’t come from the North Pole or Lapland. Saint Nicholas came from Turkey (although, of course, turkeys come from Mexico)!
Nicholas was the Greek Orthodox Bishop of Myra in fourth century Byzantine Anatolia. His parents both died when he was still a young man, leaving him a considerable fortune. Shunning his wealth and privileged background to join the Church, Nicholas then made it his mission to give his riches away to those more deserving, and in greater need, than he. The most well-known example of his charity is the one which led to children hanging up their stockings on Christmas Eve for Santa to fill with gifts.But the image we now have of Father Christmas has its origins in more than just the legendary life of one particular saint. In truth, Father Christmas’s origins go back much further than fourth century Turkey. For the Norsemen of Scandinavia, the season of Yule was as much a dark time ruled over by demons and malevolent spirits. It was best to stay indoors, to escape the baleful gaze of the nocturnal flyer Odin. Odin also brought winter to the world. In this guise he was accompanied by his Dark Helper, a demonic horned creature who punished wrong-doers. This figure would resurface later as Father Christmas’s assistant.
Thor, the Norse god of thunder, may well have had a hand in influencing the development of the Father Christmas myth, for he rode across the sky in an iron chariot pulled by two huge goats, called Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr (in English, Gnasher and Cracker), rather like Santa’s sleigh, with its team of reindeer.
There is also evidence that pagan peoples once worshipped an elemental spirit called Old Man Winter. He too went into the mix that was to eventually produce the figure of Father Christmas.
Father Christmas has an important part to play in 'TWAS - The Krampus Night Before Christmas, the latest title in the ACE Gamebooks series, and is available to buy now. If you've already bought it and read it, please do post a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever.
To find out more about the festive season and its many traditions, order your copy of the Chrismologist's Christmas Explained: Robins, Kings and Brussel Sprouts today!
The book is also available in the United States as Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Christmas .
December 23, 2019
'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas Late Pledges
If you missed 'TWAS - The Roleplaying Game Before Christmas on Kickstarter, you can place a Late Pledge now.
Simply check out the rewards below, and click on the PayPal button for the one you would like to select. And thank you in advance for your support.
Simply check out the rewards below, and click on the PayPal button for the one you would like to select. And thank you in advance for your support.
