Jonathan Green's Blog, page 99

Gamebook Friday: Alice and Oz updates

Wouldn't it be nice if, in this week of exciting Pax Britannia news, I could tell you that I was writing a new steampunk-inspired gamebook?

Well, I can't, but I can update you on Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland (which has steampunk elements) and The Wicked Wizard of Oz (which has dieselpunk elements).

First there's this new review of Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland :

"As usual Jon Green starts from a very clear and coherent background concept (in this case a mash-up of Alice and gothic-horror-steampunk literary canons) and builds on this a great interactive fiction with brilliant literary skill and stringent internal logic (in this case it is the logic of illogic!!). The result is fantastic and will bring joy both to gamebooks fans and to Alice's fans. What else can we ask???"

Which was nice.

And in The Wicked Wizard of Oz news, the book is finished and currently with the proof-readers and play-testers, and Kev Crossley is hard at work on the illustrations.

Here are his sketches for a couple of the characters you may meet when you return to Oz this May.

Steampunk Thursday: Pax Britannia - Worthless Remains

Having marked the 10th anniversary of the Pax Britannia series on this blog yesterday, today I am delighted to announce that Ulysses Quicksilver returns for a one-off short story in Matthew Bright's Clockwork Cairo - an anthology of steampunk stories with an Egyptian connection - later this year.

One of the great things about the anthology is that each story comes with its own piece of artwork, and here's the title page illustration for my own story Worthless Remains.


Clockwork Cairo will be published in May by Twopenny Books.

10 years of Pax Britannia!

Did you know, according to the Rebellion Publishing website, Unnatural History , the first Pax Britannia novel, was published ten years ago today?

I first pitched the idea for what would become Abaddon Books ' Steampunk science fantasy series, when Jonathan Oliver - now Editor-in-Chief of Abaddon, Solaris and Ravenstone Books - put out the call for authors, but the kernel of the idea had been knocking around in my mind for years before that.

The oldest notes I can find that would be recognisable as the basic outline of what would become  Unnatural History  are dated 1990. (I wouldn't be published for the first time until 1993.) The dinosaurs in the Challenger Enclosure at Regent's Park Zoo get a mention, as does Queen Victoria being in a life support throne. There's even a line about bases on the Moon and Mars, but the protagonist is one Mandeville Sachs, Gentleman Adventurer, rather than Ulysses Quicksilver.

So although later today, I'll be raising a glass to Ulysses Quicksilver and toasting the  Pax Britannia  series as a whole, the idea is actually at least 27 years old, making it older than my writing career (which is 25 years old this July)!

And what's lovely is that people are still discovering the series for the first time and, I'm pleased to say, enjoying it. And who knows, maybe one day I'll get to bring Ulysses Quicksilver story to a conclusion.

Thought for the Day

"A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom."
~ Roald Dahl

Thought for the Day

"A poet must never make a statement simply because it is sounds poetically exciting; he must also believe it to be true."

~ W.H. Auden (1907-73)

Gamebook Friday: The Wicked Wizard of Oz

If you backed the Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland Kickstarter back in 2015, you may remember how you pledged to receive a 400-reference gamebook but ended up with a 520-reference gamebook. This increase in length was in part a consequence of the rules system I developed for the book, and partly because of the epic maze I plonked in the middle of the adventure.Having learnt from my mistakes with that previous project, when I pitched  The Wicked Wizard of Oz  you may remember that I announced that you would be backing the Kickstarter to receive a 500-reference gamebook. I also said that you would be able to play as one of four different characters, and a fifth bonus character if you pledged at the Wicked Witch reward level. And then this happened... This afternoon I finally finished the manuscript for  The Wicked Wizard of Oz , almost six months to the day after I first set fingers to keyboard. (I actually started writing the gamebook on Thursday 4th August 2016.) Now all that there remains for me to do is re-number the entire adventure by hand - all 850 references of it! - and then re-structure it before sending it out to the proof-readers and play-testers.But before I can do that I need to work out which sections have to relate to a specific number (as a result of being the answer to a puzzle, for example) and where all the illustrations are going to go.Best get started then!

Thought for the Day

"If you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer."
~ Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)

Sharkpunk Saturday: SHARKPUNK 2 is now live on Kickstarter!

SHARKPUNK 2 is now live on Kickstarter! Please back the project and then tell all your friends to back the project too.

Thank you!

The SHARKPUNK 2 Kickstarter kicks off tomorrow!

That's...

Saturday 28th January 2017 at 12:00pm GMT!
Still wondering whether you should back the Kickstarter or not? Well here's what some readers had to say about  SHARKPUNK  (Volume 1) on Amazon...

"This collection is well worthy of your time. Every story is a winner in my opinion and they are all a great deal of fun. In all honesty I’d have great difficulty picking a favourite."

"If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would... Usually, I go into an anthology expecting to like about 75-80% of the stories and to find an uneven quality of story-telling, but I didn't find a single one I didn't like."

"In the interests of transparency, I should probably fess up to being a huge fan of anything with a fin in it. I am that person who happily watches the likes of Sharknado... While some of the stories featured in Sharkpunk are as gloriously silly as anything Asylum has ever offered, equally there is also some really thrilling horror and some surprisingly touching psychological chillers... There's not a weak story among the lot, probably because it would get turned on and eaten by the others."

"This book was, pardon the pun, fintastic. Each story revolving around Sharks in one form or another, be it physical or mental and in some both. The calibre of writers assembled to contribute to this book was impressive... I cannot recommend this book enough and you don't even have to be a fan of sharks to enjoy it...but it helps. 10/10"

"Put simply, Sharkpunk is twenty unique visions of what it means to be either predator or prey. This anthology contains stories that don’t just feature sharks, they also dissect the mind of a perfectly evolved killer. Nestled deep in the pages of this collection you’ll find everything from stories set in feudal Japan to tales featuring men with an impressive olfactory sense. Steampunk, horror, science fiction and thriller blend together to create a collection that revels in the raw, bloody savagery of an apex carnivore."

And lastly, this one, via Twitter...

"Thank you for creating the greatest book I never knew I needed. Literal jewel of my literary collection... Treat yourself guys and give in to Sharkpunk!" 

You can sneak a look at the SHARKPUNK 2 Kickstarter, and the rewards on offer, here.

The SHARKPUNK 2 Kickstarter launches in 2 days!

As well as the rewards to receive copies of SHARKPUNK 2 , the Kickstarter also features a number of add-ons. These can either be selected by themselves, or added to the other pledge levels by adding the appropriate funds to the total pledged.

Some people who back the Kickstarter will have already read SHARKPUNK (Volume 1) but some won't, so that's one of the rewards on offer, along with the other anthologies I have edited for Snowbooks, including GAME OVER and Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu .

The other anthologies I have edited for Snowbooks.
There is also the option to add the SHARKPUNK Audiobook , produced by Circle of Spears, which backers of the SHARKPUNK 2 Kickstarter can get for the reduced price of £15.

Remember, these add-ons can be selected by themselves or added on to any other pledge level.

So, for example, if you want the hardback of SHARKPUNK 2 and would also like the SHARKPUNK Audiobook , then you would pledge £50 for the GREAT WHITE reward + £15 for the audiobook, making your total pledge £65.

Or, if you would like the MEGALODON reward (£80), and SHARKPUNK (Volume 1) (£13), GAME OVER and Shakespeare Vs Cthulhu (£20), as well as the SHARKPUNK Audiobook (£15), then you would pledge a total of £128.

This handy table will help you work out what comes with what reward:

Click the above image to enlarge it.