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!

The Fighting Fantasy Collection

A pack of ten Fighting Fantasy gamebooks - including Bloodbones, City of Thieves, Creature of Havoc, Deathtrap Dungeon, Eye of the Dragon, House of Hell, Stormslayer, The Citadel of Chaos, The Warlock of Firetrap Mountain, Night of the Necromancer - available here.

I Write Like...

Well, not me, apparently.

I went to this website and entered the text of my latest Pax Britannia novel Blood Royal and was told that...

I write like
Mario Puzo

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

However, when I entered the text of Night of the Necromancer, I received this response...

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

When I entered the text of my most recent non-fiction book Scottish Miscellany, I got this...

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

... again, but my short story White Rabbit (which appears in Blood Royal) produced this...

I write like
H. P. Lovecraft

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Now how cool is that?

Bizarrely, the text for my next Black Library Warhammer 40K short story resulted in this...

I write like
P. G. Wodehouse

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Who'd've thought it?

The less said about my last published 40K short The Relic, the better...

I write like
Dan Brown

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

On axe, Zombie Executioner!

The other day, Tiago Perretto (over on the Yahoo Fighting Fantasy group) posted about how much he enjoyed Night of the Necromancer.

One of his comments struck me in particular:

The Zombie Executioner, not only is a fine name for a band, but he also could be playing that axe like a guitar.

That got me thinking, so here's a promotional flyer for Zombie Executioner's first release!

The Unofficial Fighting Fantasy Forum

Fans of the Fighting Fantasy series of adventure gamebooks may be interested to know about the existence of an unofficial forum set up by fans of the game system for the fans.

There's been a fair bit of discussion recently concerning a certain Night of the Necromancer, funnily enough. To find out more for yourself, click here.

Night of the Necromancer - another glowing review

Another glowing review of Night of the Necromancer, this time one submitted to the Official Fighting Fantasy website itself.

Wow, what a ride it was! This is one of the most clever, well-crafted gamebook I've ever read. I think really few other books can match this quality in the FF series except for the Sorcery! ones, at least in regard of the intricacies of the game system.

Extremely recommended!

Night of the Necromancer - another great review

There's another glowing 5-star review of Night of the Necromancer up on Amazon today, by one W J Turton, although strangely, from the date, it looks like it was posted before the coveted first review of the book.

Confusion over dates aside, it's the kind of review that writers dream of, so I'm going to post it in its entirety here:

Jon Green is now an established name in the Gamebook community. An author of no mean competence, he has (amongst other achievements) produced some celebrated titles in the long-running Fighting Fantasy series.

Night of the Necromancer is a tale that centres around the bloodthirsty murder of a proud knight in the kingdom of Ruddlestone. Slain upon returning from a crusade, the adventure concerns his spirit's quest for vengeance, determined to learn who ordered his death and to exact a fitting revenge upon them. It soon becomes obvious, however, that his own death is the least of his concerns...

Green's device of placing the adventurer as a Ghost is decidedly novel, and adds rather than detracts from the quest's theme. It is an excellent premise, combining acquired skills (the ability to control objects in much the same way as a Poltergeist, for instance) with solid storytelling - making for a creative tale with a great deal of reader/player involvement.

Green is also keen to strike a balance between appealing to older and younger audiences. This doesn't suggest that he is unsure of who to aim the book at, but indicates his capability as a writer to craft a work so as to be of interest to a broad spectrum. As a result, Night of the Necromancer is a book that can easily be enjoyed by teenagers and adults alike - the common element required for all generations is an imagination!

As a result, at this bargain price, Night of the Necromancer is certainly worth consideration, both to Fighting Fantasy fans and also anyone curious of the gamebook concept. Whether it is your first or just one of many, this volume doesn't disappoint.

Night of the Necromancer - the first review!

Thanks to D. Bartram who has posted the first glowing review of Night of the Necromancer on Amazon.

You can read it for yourself here but, suffice to say, D. Bartram gives the book 5 stars! If you've not got hold of a copy yourself yet, what are you waiting for?

Crisis on Coruscant and Night of the Necromancer climbing the charts

As of this morning, Crisis on Coruscant is at #93 in the Star Wars chart on Amazon, while Night of the Necromancer (which has only been out a matter of days) is at #71 in Amazon's Children's Science Fiction and Fantasy list. Not bad if I do say so myself.






I've you've bought one of the above for yourself, thanks very much. Why not post a review on Amazon and sent me the link.


If you haven't bought them yet - especially Night of the Necromancer - then what are you waiting for? You're missing out! (By the way, first link to a good review of NOTN on Amazon wins a special mention on this blog!)

Night of the Necromancer withdrawn

I write this morning with bad news...

My latest Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebook Night of the Necromancer (due out today) has been withdrawn from sale, due to protests over 'inappropriate content for children'.

Why not watch this short film I made to see for yourself whether you think Night of the Necromancer is unsuitable for children, considering the popularity of books such as the Twilight series or those by Darren Shan.



Oh - and April Fool! ;-)

Night of the Necromancer

Just one day to go...

Night of the Necromancer is coming...

There's only a matter of days to go now until the release of Night of the Necromancer, the sixty-fourth original single player FF gamebook.

The minions of the Warlock over at Wizard Towers are running a competition in readiness for the book's release, which you can find here.

Meanwhile, I've been doing a little bit to hype the release of the book on my own blog too. To help me explain, here's an exclusive excerpt from the Background section of the book:

And now, at last, your home is in sight once more. Three years ago you set out from Valsinore Castle on the northern coast of Ruddlestone to join in the crusade to purge Bathoria of the malign influence of the Cult of Death. With the defeat of the Death-Mage Thanatos, your sworn oath fulfilled, you were free to return home. As you recovered from your last battle at a hospice of the White Lady, you sent letters by messenger ahead of you telling of your imminent homecoming, writing one to your sister, Oriana, who was anxiously awaiting news of your safe return, and another to your chamberlain, Unthank, who you had left to look after your estates and safeguard the people of the Sourstone peninsula while you were away.

And you can read those very letters for yourself, right here...

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

Another mysterious letter...

Addressed to one Chamberlain Unthank, make of this what you will...

Night of the Necromancer and Bloodbones redux

Look what arrived in the post this morning!

There are the same number of books in each pile, but Night of the Necromancer is substantially longer than Bloodbones

Those kind people at Fighting Fantasy Towers (a.k.a. Icon Books' Wizard imprint) sent them to me. Night of the Necromancer is the newest of the new Fighting Fantasy gamebooks and is released on 1 April, alongside the brand-spanking-and-really-quite-shiny-new FF format edition of Bloodbones (first published four years ago - can you believe it?).

In case you're not salivating at the prospect enough already, here are two teaser trailers I put together for the books.





Not long to wait now...

A mysterious letter

The following was intercepted by Brician spies operating in northern Ruddlestone. Make of it what you will...

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

Check out this blog again on Monday morning, for another exciting reveal regarding the forthcoming Night of the Necromancer.

Emerson Tung - Stormslayer artist's blog

Emerson Tung, the talented guy behind these amazing colour Stormslayer pics, has got himself a blog, on which you can see some of the paintings he created inspired by my last Fighting Fantasy gamebook. You can check it out for yourself here.


And just a reminder that there's only a couple of months now until Night of the Necromancer, my next Fighting Fantasy gamebook, is published.

Crisis on Coruscant - a new adventure with every read!

Crisis on Coruscant has been out for a couple of weeks now and the reviews are starting to come in. There's a very pleasing one (that covers Sue Behrent's Dooku's Secret Army as well) by Scott Weller of STAR WARS AFICIONADO.

You can read it for yourself here - just scroll down to the bottom of the page. The part which made me smile was this: 'Newcomer to the range Jonathan Green proves equally adept in this new universe of interactive storytelling; his tale just as strong and enjoyable to partake in.'

I may be new to this particular series but at the time of writing Crisis on Coruscant it was my tenth gamebook. (My eleventh, Night of the Necromancer, is out this April.)