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...

FIghting Fantazine #3 - out now!

The third issue of the very impressive Fighting Fantasy fanzine is out now and features an interview with my favourite FF artist, Martin McKenna.

You can download your copy from here.

Night of the Necromancer - one month to go!

This morning, I am very pleased to reveal the new cover for Night of the Necromancer, featuring Martin McKenna's finished artwork.


There's only one month (thirty-one days, 744 hours, 44,640 minutes, 2,678,400 seconds...) to go now until the release of the newest Fighting Fantasy gamebook and you should keep an eye on the FF discussion forums, Facebook page and official website for some more sneaky peeks between now and then.

But in the mean time, just to whet your appetite even more, I've prepared this little treat for you...

Night of the Necromancer - competition winner

I've got a bit of a treat for all you Fighting Fantasy fans out there, desperate to see some more of Martin McKenna's frankly astounding artwork for the forthcoming Night of the Necromancer.

Today I can reveal, for the first time, Martin's portrait of NOTN competition winner Nicki Gray, alongside the posed photograph she sent in to Wizard Towers. (In case you don't know what I'm talking about, click here, and pop back again in a minute.)

But anyway, on with the good stuff...

Martin McKenna's finished illustration


Nicki's winning shot


Nicki's frankly astonishing FF collection

Seeing the photo and the finished illustration together you can see how fine a portraitist Martin really is.


As it happens, I'm proof-reading the typeset manuscript at the moment and, without wanting to sound like I'm blowing my own trumpet, I'm getting excited about it all over again.

As to who the other figures in the picture are... you'll just have to wait until April to find out!

Until next time...

Night of the Necromancer - competition winner

From the official Fighting Fantasy gamebooks Facebook page:

Huge congratulations to Nicki Gray for winning the Night of the Necromancer competition! She will now have her image included in one of the illustrations for the next brilliant brand-new Fighting Fantasy, due out in April. Full announcement due on the website shortly!

I would just like to say, "Well done, Nicki" and to add that Martin McKenna, the book's illustrator, has done a superb job of your portrait.

Look out for more news about Night of the Necromancer soon!

Night of the Necromancer - the first look

Today I am very proud to reveal the first sneak preview of Martin McKenna's illustrations for my latest Fighting Fantasy gamebook Night of the Necromancer.


Night of the Necromancer will be published by Wizard Books 1 April 2010. Martin will also be producing the cover for the book, so prepare to be amazed.

Night of the Necromancer news

Be here tomorrow (Friday 4 December) at 3.00pm for a sneaky peek of what Martin McKenna has produced for Night of the Necromancer (the new Fighting Fantasy gamebook coming in April 2010) so far. You won't want to miss it I can promise you...

Win the chance to appear in Night of the Necromancer

Just this weekend I finished the first draft of Night of the Necromancer, so I thought this was a good time to remind all you loyal blog followers that Wizard Books is running a competition tied to the book. The money-can't-buy prize on offer is the opportunity to actually appear within the brand new gamebook!

To put it simply, the winner will be immortalised in a brilliant Martin McKenna illustration which will feature inside Night of the Necromancer, due to be published in April 2010. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is send a photograph of yourself looking frightened out of your wits whilst holding a copy of Stormslayer! The judges will choose the winner based on the most scared-looking expression and the most imaginative picture.

Head on over to the official Fighting Fantasy website to find out more about how to enter this amazing competition.

Stormslayer is here!

Thanks to my local independent bookshop The Owl and the Pussycat I now have a copy of Stormslayer.


Wizard Books kindly sent out author copies ten days ago but thanks to postal strikes and the bank holiday they haven't turned up yet. I could have travelled into Wizard's offices and collected them myself quicker. And now that Martin McKenna's got his contributor copies of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (for which he produced the new cover) I'm starting to suspect that the staff at the local sorting office are too busy playing Stormslayer to actually deliver any post!

Anyway, at least I have a copy now - after a fair number of you, by the sounds of things. So the final score is, Local Bookshop - one, Royal Mail - nil!

The Warlock of Firetop Mountain - exclusive!

Here is the brand new cover for the 2009 edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, written by Fighting Fantasy legends Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The new cover has been painted by the very talented Martin McKenna and is (in my opinion) the best yet!


You can get hold of your brand new larger format edition of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain here!

May your STAMINA never fail!

Martin McKenna's new website

Martin McKenna, incredibly talented artist and erstwhile collaborator of mine, has given his website a major overhaul and you can see it here.

Having had a quick look through Martin's news (both old and new), it's amazing to see how many times some of the images from various books of mine have cropped up elsewhere, everything from magazine articles to books on digital painting.

Take for example the cover to Howl of the Werewolf. As far as I can see, the seminal image of the werewolf howling at the moon has been re-used in a Chinese magazine, to promote a Heavy Metal event in Madrid and as part of an exhibition in Denmark.

You learn something new every day...

Martin McKenna and Misterstourworm

My sometime Fighting Fantasy collaborator Martin McKenna (who has illustrated two of my FF gamebooks to date and produced the covers for all four of the Wizard editions) has recently been working on a project that involves erstwhile hobbit Billy Boyd and a full orchestra!

Martin has illustrated the book that accompanies the CD Misterstourworm and the Kelpie’s Gift, a magical, Scottish project by composer Savourna Stevenson and writer Stuart Paterson.

The CD tells the story of a young hero who embarks on a magical quest to free his people from a fearsome and terrible monster, known as Misterstourworm. On his journey he meets various supernatural companions who help him in his quest, but will our hero have the strength and courage to triumph? The tale is narrated by Billy Boyd against a musical backdrop, which brings classical music to life for children.

To find out more, go to http://www.misterstourworm.com/.

The origins of Shiversprite

As part of the ongoing discussions about my last published Fighting Fantasy gamebook (to date) Howl of the Werewolf, a forum member over at the FFG Forum posted this the other day.

Wow! I finally got it and it doesn't disappoint. Atmospheric and immersive, and somehow believable. I like the reference to a certain alcohol advert a few years ago (the Shiversprite poem!) and the various werewolfy stuff . I managed to make it to Varcolac on my first go (but no further, alas).

To my knowledge, this is the first time that someone has made the connection with the original inspiration behind the winter elemental that appears in the book (or at least the first time they've put their thoughts down anywhere). Here's Shiversprite as realised by the book's illustrator Martin McKenna.

Shiversprite

And here's the advert (quite correctly spotted by tweetygwee, as mentioned in the post above,) that inspired its creation.

The Judderman

One last snippet of information for those who might be interested, I believe that it was Clint Langley (the artist who produced the artwork for my first Black Library novel) who was behind the conceptual designs for the Metz Judderman.

And I've just spotted another subconscious connection between the Judderman and Howl of the Werewolf, involving the last scene from the ad. Anyone else spot it?