Ghosts of Manhattan

I should start this post by saying that I haven't read George Mann's Ghosts of Manhattan (although I do fully intend to read Al Ewing's Gods of Manhattan). However, this review made interesting reading.

Now to pick up on a few points...

Steampowered cars. Check. Golems. Check. A dank Noir NYC. Check. Twisted people. Check. Strange gadgets. Check...

And then there's this review, which has the following...

Ghosts of Manhattan is an unashamed homage to Batman.

Sorry, which book are we talking about here? Pax Britannia: Evolution Expects (published a full year before Ghosts) features the aforementioned steam-powered cars, a golems, twisted people, strange gadgets and is an unashamed homage to Batman. The only thing it's lacking is the dank Noir NYC setting.

Now, call me paranoid but...

Or perhaps it's simply a case of, great minds think alike... fools rarely differ.

Pax Britannia is just great

Not my words, but the words of Pablo Cheesecake, who says other very nice things about the Pax Britannia books - and Evolution Expects in particular - here!

New review of Evolution Expects at Mass Movement Magazine

As the title of this post says, there's a new review of Evolution Expects, this time from Mass Movement magazine.

The bits I like are 'Part James Bond, part Indiana Jones, and part David Dickinson (yeah, seriously!)' and 'there are several neat set-pieces that would translate well to celluloid if anyone ever mustered a budget to try and recreate this in Hollywood, namely a show-down with clockwork spiders in an underground bottling plant and the destruction of a giant weather station hovering over Smog-smothered Londinium Maximum' and 'the series is quite addictive, in a cheap ‘n’ cheerful potboiler kinda way'.

You can read it for yourself here.

Evolution Expects reviewed

Came across this review of Evolution Expects the other day.

"Awesome." (4 out of 5 stars)

Nice and succinct, I think you'll agree.

Great review of Evolution Expects

There's a great review of Evolution Expects over at Only The Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Follow this link to read it for yourself. To buy the book, click here.

The British Fantasy Society's review of Evolution Expects

Just stumbled across this... a very pleasing review of my latest Pax Britannia novel Evolution Expects. (Should help spur me on with writing the next chapter of Blood Royal.)


PAX BRITANNIA: EVOLUTION EXPECTS
By Jonathan Green
Published by Abaddon Books, £6.99
Reviewed by Paul W. Smith

The latest in the alternative Earth Pax Britannia series, Evolution Expects takes us into a London where the population is under threat of a startling metamorphosis, a giant robot and masked vigilante, giving Jonathan Green further opportunity to expand on the futuristic vision of Britain the series has built up to date. We’re entering a world where the British Empire is still going strong with Queen Victoria on the throne for 150 years, retaining the rusting remnants of the industrial age alongside technical advancements. This is an Empire that’s increasingly stagnating and Londinium Maximum remains under an almost permanent toxic smog. Heroes and villains lurk amongst its vermin-infested streets.

Evolution Expects reintroduces Ulysses Quicksilver the dandified detective who’s is learning to cope with his newly transplanted ape’s arm, and Thomas Sanctuary, who’s now taken on the role of a masked jet-propelled vigilante dubbed Spring-Heel Jack. Their paths cross as they investigate the mysterious sighting of the Golem from Jewish myth and the shocking transformations that have befallen inmates in the Bedlam asylum, ordinary people that are now more insect than human. However, it becomes a race against time to solve the mystery before Prime Minister Devlin Valentine launches the Jupiter Station as an attempt to increase his popularity by cleaning up the city’s atmosphere. But already they have their hands full with gang warfare in the East End, and the alleged sighting of an old enemy, masterminding his latest scheme for domination.

This is a thoughtfully inventive tale where Jonathan Green relishes mixing Victorian Gothic with Sci-Fi adventure. His Londinium is a city which bears some semblance to our own reality but where scientific progress runs parallel with the over-extended trappings of the Victorian age. Giant robots and flying heroes co-exist alongside the opium gangs of Limehouse and the lunatics of Bedlam. There are nods to H.G. Wells and Conan Doyle, as well as to Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Bryan Talbot’s Luther Arkwright. Liberally sprinkled with dramatic set pieces and colourfully eccentric characters, Evolution Expects proves to be an entertaining read, with its own in-built rewards for readers of the whole Pax Britannia series to date, producing what amounts to an ongoing TV series in book form.

This volume also includes the satisfying short novella "Conqueror Worm". Set in 1797, it features the female secret agent, Cassandra Tyrrell, who rescues Sir George Sackville from highwaymen only to become embroiled in his family’s legend of the deadly Lambton Worm.

Come on now, don't be shy

Stormslayer's been out for nearly a month now and Evolution Expects even longer, but they've yet to garner any reviews on Amazon, that bookseller to the world. Both have received critical acclaim elsewhere, but it never hurts to have a few (no less than 3, please) stars up on Amazon.

Now, I am fully aware that this blog post might be a bit of a 'be careful what you wish for moment' but if any of you good folk feel like submitting a couple of lines explaining what you have enjoyed about recent publications of mine then please, go ahead. You never know, I might find some way of thanking you in the future.

Fingers crossed...

Pax Britannia: Evolution Expects reviewed at 2000AD Review

Stumbled across this the other day - a rather pleasing review by Richmond Clements of Evolution Expects. You can read it here, at the 2000AD Review website.

The only real quibble/query/question I have regarding it is I have no idea what Mr Clements is referring to when he writes 'the villain’s Big Scheme is a bit familiar to both a certain superhero movie as well as a story from the pages of 2000AD.'

If anyone knows which film he means or which 2000AD story, please drop me a line and let me know. Thanks.

Evolution Expects reviewed in Death Ray magazine

Death Ray #21 came out on Thursday and in it is reviewed a whole glut of Abaddon Books, including Pax Britannia: Evolution Expects. It's not a bad review, but my favourite line has to be this one:

It's pleasingly bonkers and never less than entertaining

Oh, and these two words made me happy for the rest of the day:

More please

And congratulations to Simon Bestwick on receiving 4 stars for Tomes of the Dead: Tide of Souls. Well done that man!

Human Nature reviewed in Unscene Magazine

Just to let all you aficionados of dark alternative music and culture out there know that my third Pax Britannia novel Human Nature is reviewed in the summer issue of Unscene Magazine.

Meanwhile its follow-up title Evolution Expects is now available from all better bookshops or right here.

Evolution Expects... is here!

I arrived home today to discover a parcel waiting for me, sent by those kind people at Abaddon Books, containing none other than my author copies of Pax Britannia: Evolution Expects.

I never lose the thrill of opening a carton of books for the first time and holding the finished product in my hands, feeling the smoothness of the cover, marvelling at the design work and savouring the smell of fresh print.

And the excitement was only increased today because Evolution Expects, as well as being the last book in the first Ulysses Quicksilver story arc is also the first Pax Britannia book to appear in the larger B format (rather than the usual A format).

You can see what a difference it makes in the pictures below, with Human Nature and Evolution Expects shown side by side. It will certainly give the books a greater presence on the shelf, and make them easier to manhandle when it comes to enjoying them.

And on top of all that the designers have come up with a funky new series logo to go on the spine. And there's a little extra for you the reader too. As well as Evolution Expects the novel, there's Conqueror Worm the novella, which takes the world of Pax Britannia in a rather unexpected direction.

So all that remains for me to say is pick yourself up a copy today and enjoy.

Until next time...

You were expecting someone else?

Pax Britannia: Evolution Expects is out now and available from all better bookshops. I was very pleased to find a full page advert in both 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine this week which I have reproduced here (in case you missed it).


And the reviews are already starting to come in too. You can read what Graeme Flory of Graeme's Fantasy Book Review has to say about it here. And you can pick up your own copy here.

Happy reading...

An update

We're over half way through 2009 now (where did the time go?) so I thought it an appropriate moment to give you an update on what you can see in print from me between now and Christmas.

First up there's Evolution Expects, my fourth Pax Britannia novel featuring dandy adventurer and agent of the crown, Ulysses Quicksilver. More steampunk action than you can shake a sword-cane at.


Then, in August, there's the timely release of The Official Doctor Who Annual 2010. I've contributed about a third of this and I'm excited to see how many puzzles and factual write-ups have turned out.


Demons: A Clash of Steel Anthology - this should also be out in August and features an original short story by myself entitled The Pact.


Stormslayer, my sixth Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebook, hits the shelves in September and it would be an understatement to say that I'm looking forward to how this one is received by the established fans and new readers alike.


The American edition of last year's Christmas offering What is Myrrh Anyway? is out around October/November time. It's being published by Skyhorse Publishing and it's called Christmas Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas. I've set up a new blog to accompany its release which you can access here.


And then, just in time for Christmas (if I pull my finger out) is Blood Royal, the fifth UQ PB adventure and the start of a new four-book story arc. You're not going to want to miss this one.

And then in the new year... well, let's just say, there's plenty more where that came from...

In praise of the novella

There is an interesting opinion piece in the latest issue of Death Ray magazine (#19) about the novella. Longer than a short story and not as long as a novel (obviously), according to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the novella is a work of fiction 17,500 - 39,999 words in length.

Staff writer Thom Hutchinson goes on to argue that it is the ideal form for fiction. I am certainly a fan of the novella, having just finished one. Entitled Conqueror Worm, it is to be published along with Evolution Expects (my fourth Pax Britannia novel), and comes in at 17,527 words.

For me, the novella presents me with the opportunity to tell a story that wouldn't stretch to a whole novel. The world of Pax Britannia has generated a host of ideas for stories, but not all of them warrant a 90,000 word novel, but I can still indulge in writing of many more of them through the novella. In the past, people have praised my short fiction, sometimes over the long form stuff, so in the novella I think I have found a happy medium.

As it happens, I'm also enjoying the novellas of another writer at the moment, reading as I am The Taint and Other Novellas by Brian Lumley (published by Solaris Books). And considering the subject matter of these Cthulhu Mythos stories, who's to say that Ulysses Quicksilver and his friends might not one day uncover hints of a world beyond our own inhabited by the Other Gods?

The Legend of the Lambton Worm

I am currently working on a novella, for Abaddon Books, entitled Conqueror Worm. The story, set in 1797, was inspired by the Legend of the Lambton Worm and I have researched various versions of the story to help create mine. On top of that, yesterday I found myself re-telling the original legend myself for the self-same story.

I first came across the legend in Carey Miller's A Dictionary of Monsters and Mysterious Beasts first published in 1974. This book provided me with my initial experience of many well-known monster legends, including that of Grendel and Beowulf, but the one story which has always stuck with me is that of the Lambton Worm. I can still clearly visualise the the rather naive illustration of the worm (shown as a giant earthworm as opposed to a dragon) wrapped around a tree, and this has certainly influenced the story I'm currently writing.

And it's not only influenced this story, it also made an appearance in my very first published work Spellbreaker, this time in the guise of the Devilworm. I often find myself returning to familiar themes or sources of inspiration in my writing. The upcoming Pax Britannia novel Evolution Expects and the new Fighting Fantasy adventure Stormslayer share more than a few passing similarities (while still being completely different stories), and The Horror of Howling Hill shares aspects of both Spellbreaker and Howl of the Werewolf (if you know where to look).

If you don't know the Romance of the Worm of Lambton yourself (or you'd like a quick refresher), click here. Alternatively, there's a fantastic comic strip version in Bryan Talbot's magnum opus Alice in Sunderland (18 pages worth!).

Immortalised in print

Long time readers of this blog will already know that Michelle Powell won a competition last year to appear as a character within the pages of Ulysses Quicksilver's most recent adventure, Human Nature.

You can catch her cameo appearance in Chapter One, when Miss Michelle Powell - velocipede driver and budding amateur engineer - visits consulting detective Gabriel Wraith.

Michelle kindly sent me some photos of herself* holding her signed personalised copy of the book, as you can see here.













If you missed out yourself last time, you may be interested to know that I am currently considering running a similar competition this time tied to Ulysses Quicksilver's fifth exciting outing, entitled Blood Royal. So watch this space for more details!

* Apologies to Michelle for the lateness of me posting this. My excuse is that I've been caught up with writing the follow-up to Human Nature, Evolution Expects.

More news from Abaddon

More news from Abaddon Books regarding the first releases from Rebellion's publishing imprint for 2009. Two Pax Britannia novels get a mention, Human Nature (which is out now) and Evolution Expects (due in May). Read all about it here.

News from Abaddon

The front page of the Abaddon Books website has been updated and features both Human Nature and Evolution Expects.

There's also exciting news from the Abaddon blog that 12 titles have already been commissioned for release next year, which is four more than this year!

So, if you're a fan of The Afterblight Chronicles, Tomes of the Dead, Twilight of Kerberos or Pax Britannia, 2009 is the year you've been waiting for!

Evolution Expects - the cover revealed

And a nasty piece of work it is too. Here, see for yourself...

Of course, when I say it's a nasty piece of work, I mean it's another fantastic piece of work from esteemed Abaddon artist Mark Harrison, but even I have to admit that the cover image is rather... well... unpleasant.

But that's nothing compared to what Mark's wife thought of it - and then my wife pointed out that I was the one who had come up with the image in the first place!

To find out more about the poor tortured soul who appears on the cover of Evolution Expects, you'll have to wait until April 2009, I'm afraid, when the fifth book in the Pax Britannia series will be released in the UK (the US release date is still to be confirmed).

And for those of you who've been paying attention to earlier posts, here's Mark's concept rough for the final cover design.

Expect the unexpected

Having put Human Nature to bed, I'm now preparing to get started on my tenth - yes, tenth! - novel, the fourth of Ulysses Quicksilver's Pax Britannia adventures and the culmination of the first story arc. (Yes, there is a master plan behind the whole thing!)

And it's not only me who's been getting ready for the next alternative history Victorian-esque action thriller; ace Abaddon cover artist Mark Harrison has as well. He's produced four cover roughs for the next book Evolution Expects (out April 2009), featuring three very different characters from the book.

The powers that be at Abaddon Books and myself have mulled over Mark's designs, throwing ideas back and forth, and have settled on one, but I won't say which one just yet. However, I can give you a glimpse of each of the four cover concepts. (Mark's comments spoken by the various characters had me in stitches!)

On top of that, Mark has produced a concept sketch for one of the characters from the book which is phenomenal - good enough to be a cover all by itself, as it stands! And in time I hope to reveal more here, but again, not just yet.

In the meantime, it's certainly going to help me when it comes to having some visual reference when I come to write the relevant sections of the book.

So cheers, Mark!

Important note: Abaddon Books, the Pax Britannia setting, all text and artwork from the novels are © & ™ Rebellion A/S and reproduced here with kind permission.