We have a winner! - update

It's been almost a fortnight since I announced a winner had been randomly selected to receive nearly a kilo's worth of books, signed by myself, just for joining my forum.

The winner was duly notified by email but I am still haven't heard back from them, nearly two weeks later. I'm going to give the original winner until Monday 7 March to get back to me and if they don't, then I'll be picking a new winner.

So, all you forum members, watch this space...

Blog updates

Since I finished my two most recent projects - Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein and Doctor Who: Terrible Lizards - I've been catching up with a bit of blog postage, whilst working on various proposals (including the next Ulysses Quicksilver Pax Britannia adventure). And there's been a fair bit going on, actually, so in case you missed the highlights here's a quick round up.

1) Win almost a kilogram of books!

I'm giving away four brand new books in my latest competition. Click here to find out more.

2) Ask me anything*

I'm planning a Q&A for my next Vlog and the questions are already coming in thick and fast. If you'd like to ask me something about my books or my experiences of writing, click here.

3) Curse of the Mummy

Is out in the new large format edition but that's not all... Click here to find out more.

4) The Armageddon Omnibus

Having been out of print for a few years now, my Warhammer 40K novels Crusade for Armageddon and Conquest of Armageddon are available again as part of Black Library's Print on Demand range. You can find out more here.

5) Pax Britannia: Dark Side

You can now download a desktop wallpaper inspired by the Lego version of Pax Britannia: Dark Side. If you think that's something that would enhance your computer experience, click here.

6) Fighting Fantazine #5

The latest issue of the Fighting Fantasy fanzine is out now and features an essay about my most popular gamebook Howl of the Werewolf. Read more about this here.

7) Pax Britannia Lego

Like Lego? Like the steampunk world of Pax Britannia? Then you'll love these Pax Britannia Lego playsets!

* Within reason.

Forum giveaway

How would you like to own these four books, all signed by the author - for nothing?

Well, it's easy. All you have to do is register as a member of my new forum here and when we hit 50 members, I'll put everyone's names into a hat and pull out one winner.

That winner will then receive a copy of Howl of the Werewolf, the new edition of Curse of the Mummy, Pax Britannia: Dark Side and the Warhammer 40K short story anthology Victories of the Space Marines, which contains my Imperial Fists' story But Dust in the Wind. And I'll sign them all too.

So what are you waiting for? Don't delay, sign up today!

Guess the book cover

Any takers?

How about now?

You got it!

Curse of the Mummy is available now!

Akharis rises from the dead - again!

I received my author copies of the latest edition* of Curse of the Mummy today. It looks fantastic in the larger B format and Martin McKenna's image of the undead Akharis is still as powerful as it was sixteen years ago**.

If you've not read it before, you can pick up a copy here. However, even if you have read it before, it's still a must for every FF enthusiast because it contains three original pre-generated characters, namely Zofia of Shazaar, Lucius Arandyce and Sartosa 'Vatos' Lux.

So what are you waiting for? The Desert of Skulls and the Black Pyramid await...

* Actually the third, to the best of my knowledge.

** Sixteen years? Is it really?

February Releases - Curse of the Mummy and The Armageddon Omnibus

The latest large-format edition of Curse of the Mummy (my third Fighting Fantasy gamebook) is now out from Wizard Books. You can pick up your copy here.

Also out this month, is The Armageddon Omnibus, published by the Black Library as part of their Print on Demand range. I've known about this for a while, of course, but now the rest of the world does too - and apparently that news it going down a storm in certain quarters.

Crusade for Armageddon, the story of the Black Templars of the Solemnus Crusade and their search for the murderer of their Chapter World Morkrull Grimskar, was my first Warhammer 40K novel and was published back in 2003. It was followed two years later by a sequel, Conquest of Armageddon, which threw Chaos and another Space Marine chapter into the mix, along with Imperial Stormtroopers and Armageddon Ork Hunters.

And having been out of print for five or six years, both books are now available again, together for the first time, as The Armageddon Omnibus.

But even better than that is the fact that collected along with the two Black Templar Armageddon novels are the short stories Sanctuary (which only ever appeared in Inferno! magazine #38) and The Relic (which first saw print in Legends of the Space Marines).

But even better than that, is the fact that the omnibus contains some brand new, original content. Yes, you heard me right - brand new, original content. A History of the Most Honourable and Holy Solemnus Crusade charts the Black Templars' journey from their Chapter World to the war-torn shores of Armageddon, and everything in between.

So, what are you waiting for? In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war - and it's available as Print on Demand!

Howl of the Werewolf - the Fighting Fantasy fans favourite gamebook!

The long-awaited Fighting Fantazine #5 is here and includes a fantastic cover by Natalie Gingerboom, an interview with one of my favourite (and most under-used FF artists) John Sibbick, the massive amateur adventure Bones of the Banished, news of the revised Advanced Fighting Fantasy range, and the readers' poll to find out the most popular Fighting Fantasy gamebook.

It's that last part that I'd particularly like to draw your attention to here.

Seventy different gamebooks feature in the readers' poll and mine are ranked as follows:

45= - Curse of the Mummy

31= - Knights of Doom

31= - Night of the Necromancer

30 - Spellbreaker

23= - Bloodbones

23= - Stormslayer

1 - Howl of the Werewolf

Yes, you read that right - Howl of the Werewolf topped the survey with an overall score of 84.6% (Plot 85.8%, Gameplay 82.5%, Atmosphere 88.3%, Illustrations 81.7%). I have to say that I am utterly thrilled (needless to say) but should also mention that without Martin McKenna's fantastic illustrations, I doubt Howl would have placed so high, so thank you to him.

It must have been a mammoth task collating all of the votes and working out the rankings so I would also like to extend my thanks to Alexander Ballingall and his team over on the Fighting Fantazine for all their hard work.

You can download Fighting Fantazine #5 from here, and, best of all, it's free!

Curse of the Mummy - The Mummy Returns

I am very excited to be able to announce that my third Fighting Fantasy gamebook Curse of the Mummy will be getting the makeover treatment and coming out in a new edition in February 2011. Forest of Doom will be released in the same format at the same time, with Appointment with F.E.A.R. and Armies of Death coming two weeks after that in April 2011.

Here's a sneak peak of both the re-designed covers.

I also recently came across frankly a quite remarkable map for Curse of the Mummy and was sorely tempted to post it here - I mean, it's just so lovely to look at - but then decided against it as it contains massive* spoilers for anybody who's not read the book yet.

If you'd like to see it for yourself, it won't take you long to find with the help of Google.

* And I mean MASSIVE!

Curse of the Mummy (original Puffin edition) and others for sale!

Don't miss the chance of a lifetime! There's only a few hours to go on my Ebay offer, by which you could own an original Jonathan Green publication signed by the author.

As well as the hard-to-come-by original Fighting Fantasy edition of Curse of the Mummy, there are so a couple of Sonic the Hedgehog gamebooks available and Pax Britannia books too!

So follow this link now and get bidding - before it's too late!

How to write an adventure gamebook - Part 2

So, here it is, at long last, the second in an ongoing series of articles regarding the writing of adventure gamebooks...

The Proposal

Having spent a long time brainstorming a gamebook, once I'm happy with the overall plot and structure, I set about writing the proposal itself.

Basically, a proposal is a sales pitch. It has to explain clearly and concisely everything about your book and is often the thing that will lead to the book being (or not being) commissioned. As a result, you don't want to miss anything out - especially not the dramatic denouement you've spent ages working out. Leaving that out is sure to see your proposal being rejected outright. But I digress...

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When I write a proposal for an adventure gamebook I start with a paragraph giving an overview of the book - what it's about, what makes it different to others, the cool conceit that is going to make people want to pick up and play it, etc.

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I then describe the structure of the book. My gamebooks have often had three, four, or even five act structures. For example [WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!] Stormslayer is a classic three-act adventure. Act 1 involves actually finding out what your quest is. Act 2 has you tracking down the various artefacts you need to beat the bad guy, and Act 3 is the climatic battle aboard the villain's base of operations.

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If relevant (and with Fighting Fantasy adventures, it usually is) I then go on to explain any new rules that the adventure has (such as the POISON score in Curse of the Mummy, or the CHANGE score in Howl of the Werewolf) with a brief description of how they will work within the context of the adventure itself.

Next up is new monsters. These a vital in FF adventures. This paragraph usually takes the form of a simple list. With FF adventures I will also point out monsters that I'm using from Out of the Pit that haven't seen print in any of the official books yet.

Now I finally get to the plot synopsis itself. Because of the very nature of gamebooks, as well as describing what happens if you follow the correct path through the book, I also outline what happens on side quests and wild goose chases. I break the synopsis into clearly defined areas. For example in Night of the Necromancer [WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!] the first part of the adventure takes place out in the wilds, it then transfers to a castle and various places within the castle. Each of these major areas (or even set-piece scenes) was a new paragraph in the original plot synopsis. And of course, at the end I reveal the climactic twist or dramatic encounter that ends the adventure.

It is whilst writing the proposal that I often finalise certain areas of the adventure within my own mind but that's not to say that everything is set in stone at this point - far from it.

However, for the time being, what has to happen next is for me to forward the proposal to my editor and wait for them to give me the go ahead to write the book. And that's the topic I'll be dealing with next time...

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Coming soon: Part 3 - Writing the Adventure