Jonathan Green's Blog, page 95

Thought for the Day

“As to the adjective, when in doubt, strike it out.”
~ Mark Twain

Gamebook Friday: The Resurgence of the Printed Word

Apparently sales of printed books have grown for the first time in four years, lifted by the adult colouring book craze and 150th anniversary of Alice in Wonderland, as eBooks suffered their first ever decline.

Now, I wouldn't want to claim I had anything to do with the resurgence of printed book sales, but it just so happens that both Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland and the Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland Colouring Book would have been counted among those sales. And for anyone who enjoyed the first colouring book, there is now a second one available.

The Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland books published by Snowbooks.
We wouldn't want the sales of traditional printed books to slide again in 2017 now, would we? So, with that in mind, make sure you place your pre-order for The Wicked Wizard of Oz , which will be out very soon, also from Snowbooks.And while we're on the subject of gamebooks, it's not too late to place a Late Pledge for YOU ARE THE HERO Part 2, which is slowly starting to take shape.

Gamebook Friday: Fighting For Your Fantasy

Justin McCormack has been systematically playing through my Fighting Fantasy gamebooks on his Fighting For Your Fantasy blog and has now tackled all of them.

His playthroughs make for very entertaining reading. If you would like to sample his words, and my adventures, simply click the appropriate link below.


Spellbreaker

Knights of Doom

Curse of the Mummy

Bloodbones

Howl of the Werewolf

Stormslayer

Night of the Necromancer

Thought for the Day

“I’m not a very good writer, but I’m an excellent rewriter.”

~ James A Michener

Happy Deathday, Mr Shakespeare, and World Book Night 2017

Tonight is World Book Night , an occasion which always falls on the anniversary of William Shakespeare's death. (It's also quite possibly the anniversary of his birth, but there isn't an extant record of that, whereas there is one of his death.)

With that in mind, might I suggest you place an order for Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu this evening, or if you've already got the book, read one of the short stories contained within? After all, they're very good.

Shakespeare Saturday: Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu

Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu has been out a while now, but in case you have yet to come across it yourself, it's an anthology of sinister short stories that merge the Bard's most famous plays with H P Lovecraft's most horrific creations.

And as it's the 401st anniversary of Shakespeare's death tomorrow, here's a little something I put together.




You can pick up a copy of  Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu  here.

Gamebook Friday: JG at the UK Games Expo 2017

Six weeks today I shall be attending the UK Games Expo 2017 , where I shall be launching The Wicked Wizard of Oz , my new ACE Gamebook , which was crowdfunded via Kickstarter last year.

Last year, Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland received a very warm response from the expo-goers so I'm hoping The Wicked Wizard of Oz will be equally well received this year.

You will find me at stand F11, along with Mercia Books. Do stop by and say hello, and do pick up a signed copy of  The Wicked Wizard of Oz  while you're there. ;-)

Click to enlarge.

Steampunk Thursday: Abaddon Books Open Submission Month 2017

They did it in 2012 and 2015, and now they're doing it again in 2017. That's right, Abaddon Books are opening for submissions for the month of May.

If you fancy your novella or novel joining the same stable that publishes the Pax Britannia series, follow this link to the Abaddon Books' website where you will find everything you need to know about submitting to and writing for Abaddon Books.

Warhammer Wednesday: Audio Week 2017

I received a promotional email from the Black Library on Monday that rather took me by surprise. Apparently, this week is Audio Week 2017, and the story - or rather, two stories - serialised for the occasion are Eye of Night and Hand of Darknes s by m'colleague Gav Thorpe. Here's the blurb for the two stories:



Now the funny thing about these stories, and the reason for me being prompted to write this blog post, is because the Eye of Night and Hand of Darkness are two creations of mine, even if I only really came up with the names*.
From 1994-96, after leaving university, I moved to Nottingham to become a freelance writer. It was then that I started working for Games Workshop, in a freelance capacity, writing colour text and short stories for the Warhammer Armies books and Warhammer 40,000 Codexes**. During that time I contributed words to the Epic 40,000 game as well as Warhammer Armies: Dark Elves and  Warhammer Armies: Wood Elves , and Codex: Tyranids , Codex: Angels of Death , and Codex: Chaos .
It was whilst writing the interlinking stories that appeared through Codex: Chaos that I came up with the aforementioned Eye of Night and Hand of Darkness. The connected tales related the invasion of the planet Purgatory by the forces of Chaos, and at the end Inquisitor Horst discovers that the Hand of Darkness has been taken from its hiding place beneath the planet's crust.
In my mind, the Eye of Night and Hand of Darkness were powerful weapons, although unspecified, and GW took those ideas and ran with them*** when they created the backstory for the game Battlefleet Gothic, placing the alien artefacts at the heart of the story, a story which Gav is clearing continuing now.
It will be interesting to see what he does with those powerful weapons of antiquity next.


* Which, let's face it, aren't that original!
** I know it should be Codicies, but GW call them Codexes.
*** And it's not the only time this has happened.

Warhammer Wednesday: Black Library eBooks

Black Library are pushing their eBooks at the moment. Although I've not written anything for BL for some time now, some of my short stories and novels are available, either individually or as part of various eBook bundles.


If you fancy downloading an Imperial Fists vs Necrons short story, or a Kislevite mercenary novel, then follow this link to the Black Library website and take it from there.