Hi there Fighting Fantasy fans!

If you pop over to the Laughing Jackal website, you can read an interview with Steve Jackson about Talisman of Death on the PSN.

That Buttery Biscuit Base!

It know it's an over-used word (mainly by me) but this is awesome!

Now is it just me, or does Greg Wallace look like a resident of Innsmouth when he's grinning in that amphibian way halfway through the video?

Meeting with the Tin Man

So today, having first spoken eighteen months or so ago, I finally got to meet up with the Tin Man's flesh interface, otherwise known as Neil Rennison. He very kindly made the journey to deepest rural Wiltshire to talk all things Tin Man Games and Gamebook Adventures - Temple of the Spider God in particular.

With our Vitality scores dwindling, we then headed off to the Tale of Spice in nearby Pewsey to continue our various conversations over a middle of the day curry. Business lunches don't get better than this!

Just one wafer thin mint...

Temple of the Spider God is on course for an August release. For more news watch this space or check out the Tin Man's own website here.

Stormslayer - 9 out of 10!

Jon Oliver kindly directed me towards this review of my Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebook Stormslayer over at Fantasy Book Review.

It's almost wholly positive, except for the bit where the reviewer

says, "The story feels a little lacking in originality at times." What's that supposed to mean? I mean, has he played many meteorology-based gamebooks before?

I am aware that this last comment may come across as a little petty, but it annoys me when reviewers make such sweeping statements without backing them up. What was it about the adventure that lacked originality? Going down a Dwarf mine in a drilling machine and battling a giant golem made of rusted pit props? Exploring the inside of a volcano? Battling the villain aboard a flying brass fish? And if it's so unoriginal, why give it 9 out of 10?

Reading reviews can be a harrowing experience, but if somebody makes a criticism I always try to take it on board, as I am always striving to improve as a writer and if nobody ever comments on your work you're never going to know where you need to up your game.

So, 9 out of 10 - great! Sweeping generalisations without any examples to back them up - a tad annoying.

Until next time...