YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks - is here!

So yesterday, this happened...

If you're wondering, that's what half a tonne of books looks like. (I'm not kidding - it's actually slightly more than half a tonne!)

YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks - in print at last!

It's big.

In case you were wondering how big, here's YOU ARE THE HERO next to the 25th anniversary edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

In other news, Tin Man Games' app version of Steve Jackson's Appointment with F.E.A.R. was released on the 32nd anniversary of the publication of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.

The official book launch of YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks is taking place at FIGHTING FANTASY FEST 2014, the world's first convention dedicated to Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks. You can find out more details, and buy your ticket, here.

YOU ARE THE HERO - An Announcement

I have some good news for you today and some probably-not-totally-unexpected bad news.

First the good news… The manuscript of YOU ARE THE HERO is finally nearing completion.

Now for the bad news… As you will have already worked out for yourself by now, YOU ARE THE HERO still isn’t finished, which means that it’s not going to be with you in time for Christmas. I’m truly sorry about this but there are various reasons for this that I’m going to bore you with here*. 

One major reason for the delay, however, is that the story of the history of Fighting Fantasy has grown in the telling. What started out as a 30,000 word book has mutated to become a beast three times that size**. The more people I’ve spoken to about the Fighting Fantasy phenomenon, the more wonderful untold stories I’ve uncovered, and yet more contacts have been made as a result, which have led to more fascinating anecdotes. 

YOU ARE THE HERO is a one-off opportunity to tell the whole story of Fighting Fantasy and its development, along with the stories of all those people involved in its success. Although I have been fortunate enough to write seven FF gamebooks myself, I am first and foremost a fan, and as such I want this book to be the very best it can be. And although I realise I’m being extremely biased when I say this, I think it’s going to be rather good. 

So what can you look forward to when YOU ARE THE HERO is finally released next year? Well, as well as Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, there are interviews with the likes of original commissioning editor Geraldine Cooke, the editor of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain Philippa Dickinson, artists like John Blanche, Iain McCaig, Russ Nicholson, Chris Achellios and Rodney Matthews, writers such as Graham McNeill, Charlie Higson and Gavin G Smith, and gamebook authors such as Dave Morris, Jamie Thomson, Luke Sharp and Graeme Davis. There are never before published publicity photos, a brand new Derek the Troll cartoon by Lew Stringer and lawman of the future Judge Dredd even makes an appearance. And that’s just for starters. 

So have no fear, YOU ARE THE HERO is coming, but in the mean time I’d just like to say thank you to you all for your support, your patience, and your boundless enthusiasm for this book. It’ll be worth the wait, I promise you. 

May your Stamina never fail!

* Although as one backer once pointed out, it’s a Kickstarter, so what do you expect? ;-) 

** About twice as long as your average FF gamebook.

YOU ARE THE HERO - Putting out the call

I am so close to finishing the manuscript for YOU ARE THE HERO that you could say I'm at paragraph 395 (to use a gamebook analogy). I have interviewed a great many people about Fighting Fantasy and their experiences of it - and they've had some great stories to tell - but there are still a significant number of creators I have not been able to contact*, despite having trawled the Internet, and called in all manner of favours.

So, if anyone could help me in tracking down and contacting any of the following, I would greatly appreciate it. But time is, as they say, of the essence...

Emmanuel (original cover artist on The Citadel of Chaos)
Malcolm Barter (interior artists for The Forest of Doom)
Duncan Smith (illustrator of Scorpion Swamp)
Gary Ward & Edward Crosby (interior artists for Caverns of the Snow Witch)
Tim Sell (illustrator of House of Hell)
Steve Jackson US (of Steve Jackson Games and writer of Scorpion Swamp)**
Bob Harvey (artist)
Andrew Chapman (writer)
Geoffrey Senior (artist)
Kevin Bulmer (artist)
Bill Houston (artist)
Brian Bolland (artist)
Declan Considine (artist)
David Martin (artist)
Gary Mayes (artist)
Dave Carson (artist)
Martin Allen (writer)
Jim Bambra (writer)
Stephen Hand (writer)***
Keith P Phillips (writer)
Simon Dewey (cover artist on The Adventures of Goldhawk series)
Pete Tamlyn (co-writer of the Advanced Fighting Fantasy series)
Carl Sargent (writer)
Nik Williams (artist)
Chris Moore (cover illustrator for the Wizard Books edition of Starship Traveller)
Richard Corben and R Courtney (cover artists of some of the US editions of FF gamebooks)
Clarecraft (who made a range of Fighting Fantasy figurines)
Richard Scrivener (Puffin commissioning editor on the FF series towards the end of Puffin's tenure)

I know that seems like I lot, but I can assure you I have already interviewed a lot more for the book!

Feel free to pass this on to anyone who you think might be able to help.

* Or who have not returned my calls, if you know what I mean.

** Every time I contact Steve Jackson Games, they seem to think I'm trying to contact Steve Jackson UK (whom I know), despite me repeating repeatedly that this is not the case.

*** I'm really keen to talk to Stephen Hand.

Rewards of the Spider God

Good news! If you pledged to receive the SPIDER level reward for YOU ARE THE HERO you should now have received your desktop Gamebook Adventures!

They've been a while coming, but you're going to love how these games look on your desktop, not to mention the fun you'll have playing them. In fact the experience will probably take many of you back about 30 years!

(As is always the way, if any of you have not received Gamebook Adventures 1-7 for your Mac or PC and think you should have done, drop me a line and I'll get it sorted for you. It won't have been Tin Man Games' fault - it will have been a clerical error on my part.)

It just remains for me to say a huge THANK YOU to Neil Rennison and Ben Britten Smith of Tin Man Games who so generously offered this reward in the first place and sent out the codes. And once you've played through GA 1-7 you should really check out their new app versions of a certain gamebook series from the '80s too. ;-)

May you always roll sixes!

The sweet smell of success, the bitter taste of defeat

So, as far as Kickstarters go, that's one successfully funded and one failed project.

After the resounding success that was the YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter I had great hopes for Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath, partly because it was a collaboration (so should reach a wider audience), partly because I thought various communities on Facebook would get behind it (which they didn't), and partly because we were asking for less money than I had with YOU ARE THE HERO. However, it was not to be.

The publisher Ian Whates and myself have already discussed running the Kickstarter again, in a couple of months time (possibly to coincide with the Nine Worlds Geek Fest), and the artist Tom Brown has said he hopes to work on some more of the artwork for the project between commissions.

Some fans of the project have suggested Unbound as a possible funding source but that's not something we've had a chance to discuss yet. And we did end up with 90 backers, many of whom were very passionate about the project.

Thank you, if you were one of them, and hang on in there - Clemency Slaughter's not dead and buried yet...

Clemency Slaughter - The Last Hour

The Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath Kickstarter has one hour to run and clearly isn't going to make its £7,500 funding level.

But the good news is that more people are discovery Clemency all the time which means the likelihood of us trying this again in a few weeks or months is ever more likely.

So keep spreading the word and hopefully, one day, Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath will see the light of day after all...

Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath - One day to go!

That's it. There's only one more day to run on the Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath Kickstarter and bar a miracle (or a really big Lottery win) it doesn't look like we're going to make anything like our £7,500 target.

Please remember, if you have pledged and the project doesn't fund, you will not be charged a penny (or a cent, or whatever your smallest monetary denomination happens to be), so if you've been umm-ing and ahh-ing, don't dilly dally any more and pledge your support today.

Also, people pledging gives us the best indicator of how much interest there is in the project, should we decide to run it again in the future (if it doesn't fund by 1.00pm GMT tomorrow).

So, in simple terms, show your support and pledge today!

Thank you.

YOU ARE THE HERO Fighting Fantasy Art Prints

If you pledged your support to the YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter at the GHOUL reward level or above, then you will be receiving one print - or maybe more, depending on how much you pledged - of a piece of artwork by one of these fabulous Fighting Fantasy artists.

Russ Nicholson

Iain McCaig

Martin McKenna

Tony Hough

Iain's print is of the Dwarf Trialmaster from Ian Livingstone's Deathtrap Dungeon.

Tony's print is of the still undead pirate captain Cinnabar from Bloobones.

However, Martin's and Russ's prints are going to of brand new artwork that is being commissioned for YOU ARE THE HERO, the definitive history of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. Martin's artwork will form the cover of the book, while Russ's illustration will be in his classic Fighting Fantasy style and will appear inside.

I realise that it's hard ordering a print you've never seen - even if you are a massive fan of Martin's or Russ's artwork - so the survey will give you the option of not deciding yet and once the artwork's done, you can make your choice then, at a later date.

So, backers, keep an eye on your email inboxes...

Clemency Slaughter at EasterCon

Mr Ian Whates, the man behind NewCon Press, is currently taking part in the geek-fest that is EasterCon - or rather EightSquaredCon, in its current guise - up in Bradford for the Easter weekend.

He's busy promoting various projects - including the anthology he's edited, Solaris Rising 2, and his own short story collection, Growing Pains - and will also have some Clemency Slaughter postcards on the NewCon table.

So if you're up in Bradford for the weekend, why not pop along and say "Hello!" and then pledge your support to Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath?

Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath - Competition Time!

A while ago I threatened to run some sort of competition or other if (or more accurately when) I ended up with both 1,000 followers on Twitter and 1,000 friends on Facebook.

Well that magic number was exceeded a while ago now (as of writing I have 1,018 followers on Twitter and 1,030 Facebook friends) so I thought it was about time I made good on my promise.

Your Part of the Bargain

I want you to do all you can to promote the Kickstarter project I am currently running with the artist Tom Brown and publisher Ian Whates, Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath. I don't care how you do it - blog posts, social media campaigns, YouTube videos, get in mentioned in the press, on the radio, on TV! - just do whatever you can to get word out to the masses about this exciting adventure in publishing!

You have until the end of the month (11:59pm on Sunday 31 March) to enter - in other words ten days - and email me a link to whatever it is you've produced at info@jonathangreenauthor.com.

Be imaginative, be creative, be prolific, be persistent! But whatever you do, to be eligible for the big prize, you must let me know about it.

Our Part of the Bargain

The three of us (Jon, Tom and Ian) will decide who has mounted the most effective campaign and, as long as the project funds on 13 April, you will be invited to the grand London launch as our guest, with all that that entails (book, goodie bag, drinks reception, etc.) but without having to stump up £100 for the privilege yourself. (You must arrange and pay for your travel to London.)

And that's it!

So check out the Clemency Slaughter Kickstarter page, Facebook page, and blog, get thinking, and good luck!

Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath

Today - 13th March 2013 - marks the beginning of the Big Push for the Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath Kickstarter.

Artist Tom Brown, publisher Ian Whates, and myself, want to bring you the tale of Miss Clemency Slaughter, her ill-fated family, and the legacy of Lord Daedalus Drummond D'Eath that awaits whoever is lucky (or unlucky) enough to inherit in the end. But we can only accomplish this task with your support, via Kickstarter.

We have a host of wonderful rewards on offer, including original artwork, invitations to a launch party, signed books, and bespoke jewellery. Bids start at only £2 and there's even going to be a digital version of this macabre picture book, as long as we achieve our funding goal of £7,500.

So now it's up to you. Please 'Like' our Facebook page, pledge your support via the Kickstarter page, and then tell all your friends via the medium of social media - and not just today, but every day! That's how we'll draw in the new backers we'll need to make this project happen.

We have until 1.00pm (1300 hours) on the 13th April to achieve our goal, or Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath may never see the light of day at all...

Clemency Slaughter and the Legacy of D'Eath

It's alive!



You can pledge your support for this project today by following this handy link.

The YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter - The Aftermath

I feel strange today. Slightly bereft. My email inbox is missing those 'New Backer Alert!' messages.

That's right, today I'm on the come down from running my first ever Kickstarter project.

YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks - achieved funding at 3.02pm GMT yesterday, Sunday 6 January. It had been a crazy, stressful month, during which it felt like I did very little other than promote and run my Kickstarter. And it probably felt like that for a lot of other people too. But at the end of the day, the project funded. All I have to do now is write the book!

Thank you to YOU if you pledged your support, or retweeted my messages, or blogged about the project, mentioned it on message boards, interviewed me, allowed me to guest post on your blog...

I learnt a lot from the experience - not all of it good* - and made new friend and contacts - which is always good!

• The project ended up with 449 backers overall who pledged, on average, £47.71 - which was just under the VAMPIRE pledge level of £50.

• Almost a third of the money raised came directly through people checking out Kickstarter.

• A total of 2,278 people watched the Kickstarter video, which means that in the end, just under 20% of those people actually backed the project. (1,289 people also 'Liked' the project on Facebook.)

• The three most profitable days (in decreasing order) were Day 1 (£1,971**), Day 3 (£1,579) and Day 25 (£1,536).

• As predicted, the most popular pledge level was TROLL (£25 for a copy of the book) and second was CYCLOPS (£30 for a copy of the book but with a dedication in the acknowledgements),

• 44 people backed at the MINOTAUR level (£100 for a copy of the book signed by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, as well as myself, and various other accessories).

• A total of 10 fans will be interviewed for the book and five of them will be going for lunch with Steve, Ian and myself.

So what will happens now? Well after I've had a little lie down, I need to arrange further interviews and then get back to collating information for the book.

If you pledged but forgot to add post and packing, you can now do so via the Paypal button at the top of the sidebar on the right of the YOU ARE THE HERO blog here.

One question remains... Would I do it again?

Yes, I would!

In fact, I'm already planning my next Kickstarter, and have ideas for one or two I'd like to run after that. But don't worry, I'm going to leave you all in peace for a month or so... Well, a couple of weeks at least. ;-)

* I've never been accused of spamming before but I've made up for it now. More than once, too, unfortunately!

** Bizarrely (and entirely coincidentally I am sure) 1971 is the year I was born.

YOU ARE THE HERO has funded on Kickstarter!

As of about 30 minutes ago, YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, funded on Kickstarter!

I have to say I am delighted and thank you to everyone who pledged and gave their support in so many ways.

I will post again in more detail, but for now I think I'm just going to collapse in a heap somewhere and wait for my heartrate to return to normal.

But the best news is that YOU ARE THE HERO is definitely going to happen!

Now I just have to write the thing... ;-)

As of about 30 minutes ago, YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks, funded on Kickstarter!

I have to say I am delighted and thank you to everyone who pledged and gave their support in so many ways.

I will post again in more detail, but for now I think I'm just going to collapse in a heap somewhere and wait for my heartrate to return to normal.

But the best news is that YOU ARE THE HERO is definitely going to happen!

Now I just have to write the thing... ;-)

YOU ARE THE HERO - 6 Hours to go!

It's 9.00am GMT which means we've only got 6 hours to go until the YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter comes to an end.

We've also taken the bold move of announcing a second stretch goal of £23,000 and if we achieve it in time, every physical copy of YOU ARE THE HERO will be a hardback rather than a softback.

So please do all you can to push this project to the last, and help make YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks - the magical artefact all of us want it to be!

Thank you.

Read about YOU ARE THE HERO on the Forbidden Planet International blog.

YOU ARE THE HERO on The Trollish Delver.

YOU ARE THE HERO on Kicktraq.

YOU ARE THE HERO on the Fighting Fantasy Project.

YOU ARE THE HERO on Titan - The Fighting Fantazine Blog.

YOU ARE THE HERO on RPG Kickstarters.

YOU ARE THE HERO ends today!

The YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter ends at 3.00pm GMT today!

It's still not too late to back the project yourself - or to up your reward level if you've already pledged - so check out the YOU ARE THE HERO page today and help make this the very best book it can be!

Thank you. :-)

YOU ARE THE HERO - 24 hours to go!

That's right, we're down to the last day of the YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter, which means there's not long left in which to make sure you're a part of history. The History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks!

Tell all your friends, blog about it, post on Facebook and Twitter, and make sure you've pledged to receive one of the unique rewards on offer. Oh, and don't forget to add the correct amount of postage. ;-)

See you again at 3.00pm GMT tomorrow!

YOU ARE THE HERO - Upgrade of the Spider God!

The SPIDER level reward over on the YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter has been upgraded, thanks to the generosity of the Tin Man himself!

Now, if you add £10 to your existing pledge and you will receive not only a copy of GAMEBOOK ADVENTURES 7: TEMPLE OF SPIDER GOD, written by Yours Truly, you will also receive Gamebook Adventures 1-6 for either PC or Mac.

So that's...
GA1: An Assassin in Orlandes
GA2: The Siege of the Necromancer
GA3: Slaves of Rema
GA4: Revenant Rising
GA5: Catacombs of the Undercity
GA6: The Wizard from Tarnath Tor
and
GA7: Temple of the Spider God

...and all for just £10!

So don't delay! Pledge today and tell all your friends. There's less than 37 hours to go!

YOU ARE THE HERO - 54 hours to go!

That's right, there's only two days left until the YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter comes to an end. If you've been umm-ing and ahh-ing about pledging (or wondering about upping your existing pledge) here why you really should do so today.

1) This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! YOU ARE THE HERO is likely to become a collector's item, even more so if it's signed by gaming legends Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson (which is what you'll get with the MINOTAUR level reward).

2) The majority of the art prints available with the GHOUL level reward have not been available as prints before and will not be again!

3) The Adventurer's set available from the WEREWOLF level is unique to this project; it will never be made again, so make sure you don't miss out.

4) YOU ARE THE HERO is going to be the definitive history of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. Imagine not only owning such a book but actually featuring within its pages. Well that's what will happen if you pledge at the DRAGON reward level.

5) For many of us Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone were childhood heroes, their books impacting upon and even shaping the course of our adult lives. So imagine sitting down for a relaxed lunch with the two of them, being able to ask them face to face about their experiences of writing The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, or about the early days of Games Workshop. Well that's what the WARLOCK level will get you - and there are still places available!

6) Iain McCaig is a legend in his own lifetime. He illustrated Deathtrap Dungeon and painted the iconic images of the Shapechanger from The Forest of Doom, the Bloodbeast from Deathtrap Dungeon, and the Lizard King from Island of the Lizard King. He was also the artist behind City of Thieves and Casket of Souls. And as if that wasn't enough, he created Darth Maul from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace! And now you could have him paint your portrait! (Check out the SAPPHIRE, EMERALD and DIAMOND level rewards.) Come on, you know you want him to. Besides, you only live once.

So don't delay - pledge today! And tell all your friends, and Tweet about it, and post on Facebook...

Let's give YOU ARE THE HERO one final push to ensure that it becomes the book all of us want it to be!

Thank you.

Have your portrait painted by Iain McCaig!

Yes, you read that right. THE Iain McCaig - Star Wars concept artist, creator of Darth Maul, Ian Livingstone's favourite FF artist, and illustrator of such classic Fighting Fantasy adventures as City of Thieves and Deathtrap Dungeon, and cover artist for The Forest of Doom and Island of the Lizard King.

Iain has been very supportive of this project since the start and I was absolutely blown away when he offered his services for the following three - yes THREE - rewards!

SAPPHIRE - Iain will produce one black and white illustration of YOU as a character in a typical Fighting Fantasy interior illustration (of Iain's choice).

EMERALD - Iain will produce one digital colour illustration of YOU as a character in a typical Fighting Fantasy interior illustration, giving you the choice of a range of characters or situations.

DIAMOND - Iain will produce one traditional painting, the subject matter to be chosen by YOU in discussion with Iain, and as long as it fits within the FF world, anything goes!

So what are you waiting for? Check out these new rewards on the YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter page today!