Black Library Live and Official Doctor Who book signing at the Doctor Who Experience

Two events to check out tomorrow (although probably not both because they're a couple of hundred miles apart).

The first in Black Library Live! which is taking place at Games Workshop's Nottingham HQ. It's an event that celebrates and showcases Black Library's books, audio productions and authors. Available to buy pre-release on the day will be Fall of Damnos, Victories of the Space Marines, Knights of Bretonnia, Age of Darkness, Caledor, Blood Reaver and Garro: Legion of One.

Attendees will also be able to pick up a copy of the limited Black Library Live! 2011 chapbook at the sales stand (as long as stocks last). The event runs from 10.00am until 7.00pm(!), with seminars, signings, and probably some gaming somewhere along the line too. You can find out more about it here.

Secondly is the Official Doctor Who book signing taking place at the Doctor Who Experience at Olympia Two in London tomorrow, between 11.00am and 1.00pm. Justin Richards, Oli Smith and other Doctor Who experts will be there, ready to be grilled on all things intergalactic. My Doctor Who book Terrible Lizards won't be out for a while (more on that later) but I may drop by just the same, so don't forget to bring along your copies of The Horror of Howling Hill and The Official Doctor Who Annual 2010 just in case.

The signings will be held in the café area at the Doctor Who Experience. The signing is a separate event so to enter the Doctor Who Experience you will need to buy tickets, which you can do here.

Doctor Who: Terrible Lizards

I've had two Deadline Days in as many weeks (which was weird) but I've kept the second project pretty hush-hush - that is until now, as my editor has said I'm now free to tell the world about Doctor Who: Terrible Lizards!

A few years ago now I was delighted to receive a commission for my first Doctor Who book, a gamebook featuring the Tenth Doctor (as portrayed by David Tennant) entitled The Horror of Howling Hill. Well, three years on I was given the opportunity to write for the Eleventh Doctor (Matt's Smith's incarnation). But this time, it wasn't a gamebook, rather a chapter book - in other words a short novel for younger readers.

The brief for this new range of books asked that the subject matter be particularly appealing to boys. As I sat down with my jotter I started off by asking myself the question, 'What won't they be able to do on telly, due to budgetary restraints?' I came up with, filming in the Caribbean on an actual sailing ship, and dinosaurs - lots of dinosaurs. (The image of a million TARDISes also popped into my head but I couldn't work out how to fit that one into the story, so I'm putting that idea on the back-burner for now.)

So I sat down and wrote my pitch. It featured pirates, specifically Blackbeard, and a search for the Fountain of Youth in the Florida Everglades. Two topics appealing to boys. Pirates of the Caribbean meets Jurassic Park. How could it fail?

Imagine my surprise when my editor got back to me to say that they loved the idea but the pirates clashed too much with something they were doing for Series 6. Since then, of course, I've seen the pictures of the filming of a pirate epic in St Austell. Fortunately dinosaurs still seemed to be fair game.

Anyway, a nip here, a tuck there, a change of period and a few other details, and Time and Tide became Terrible Lizards. I sent off the finished manuscript last week and now anxiously await my editor's comments.

Do you like this?

And this?

And these?

And him?

And her?

And, of course, him?

Then you'll love the forthcoming Terrible Lizards!

Doctor Who: Terrible Lizards will be published this September, back-to-back with The Web in Space. And I, for one, can't wait!

Fighting Fantasy at GamesFest 4

Just to report that I had a brilliant time on Saturday at GamesFest 4, a one-day convention encompassing RPG’s, Board Games, CCG’s, War Games, Comics, Books, Film & Video gaming.The organisers' aim was to create an informal event that enabled the enthusiast and casual gamer to sample the best the hobby has to offer, and they certainly achieved that. I got to speak to all sorts of people for a decent amount of time that is much harder these days at an event such as Games Day.

JG defacing another copy of Stormslayer

One of those people was Jervis Johnson, Games Workshop games designing legend. I also got to catch up with the guys from the Black Library, including Nick Kyme, Alex Davis, Graham McNeill and James Swallow. (Apologies to Richard Williams and Gav Thorpe for not managing to chat to them.)

One legend meets another - Graham McNeill gets his copy of Warlock signed by Steve Jackson himself

But the real reason I was there was as part of the team from Fighting Fantasy, which included Nick Sidwell from Wizard Books and another legend - Steve Jackson himself! It was great to see all these other luminaries of the business queuing to have their original copies of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain signed by Steve and tell him that that one book was the reason why they are doing what they do today. (And the same goes for me.)

Jonathan Green, Steve Jackson and Jamie Fry

I was also a great pleasure to meet so many fans myself and sign multiple copies of Stormslayer, Bloodbones and Howl of the Werewolf. But the biggest shout has to go out to Jamie Fry of www.fightingfantasycollector.co.uk. He turned up with a bag full of books for me to sign, including an original Puffin edition of Curse of the Mummy, which he tells me now it quite a desirable item these days! The man is a legend himself!

So, all in all, a great day was had by all and all that remains is to thank Nick for inviting me along and the GamesFest organisers for a very well organised con. Here's the GamesFest 5!

Doctor Who - Decide Your Destinys

The 12 Doctor Who Decide Your Destiny titles published to date are now available as a bargain bundle.


If you're yet to discover the delights of the Decide Your Destiny gamebooks or my tie-in title The Horror of Howling Hill, why not pick one up here?

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!).

The perfect Christmas gifts!

Struggling to think of a suitable gift for the armchair genius in your home? Then why not have them testing the little grey cells on Christmas Day with a copy of the ever-popular Match Wits with the Kids?

And then, for the festively-minded there's What is Myrrh Anyway? which answers all the questions you've ever wanted to ask about the Christmas season, and some you haven't.

For the science fiction and fantasy fan in your family, why not try the Pax Britannia steampunk-action-adventure novels Unnatural History and Leviathan Rising?

And if you're looking for stocking fillers for the kids, you could do a lot worse than get them a few gamebooks - The Horror of Howling Hill, Howl of the Werewolf, Bloodbones, Curse of the Mummy, Spellbreaker - which will keep them occupied while you're getting Christmas dinner on the go. Or even Go, Go Crazy For Those Bones, for the younger GoGo's fan.

Close encounters of a Dalek kind

Today - Sunday 23 November 1963 - is the 45th anniversary of the first ever airing of the first ever episode of Doctor Who!

And yesterday I took part in Doctor Who Day at Ealing Library, selling and signing copies of my Doctor Who Decide Your Destiny book The Horror of Howling Hill. Author Nick Griffiths was also there to talk about his book Dalek I Loved You and we were both upstaged by the presence of Dalek Kaan himself!

JG ready and eager to sign!

I had a close encounter with the Gold Dalek from the Cult of Skaro myself. The alien menace approached my table announcing, 'I detect books about the Doctor. The Doctor is the enemy of the Daleks.' And then started trashing my stock with its sink plunger. However, as soon as I turned my digital imaging recorder (my camera) on the monster, it was instantly subdued, screeching, 'Cheeeese!'

Close encounters of a Dalek kind.

(In a rather more surreal moment, later on in the day, I found myself enjoying a hot chocolate in the company of the Doctor's nemesis.)

So, all that remains is for me to say a big THANK YOU to Linda, Jane, Joyce and Christine of Ealing Library for having me along and making me feel so welcome, and of course to Dalek Kaan.

'Cheeeese!'

Doctor Who Day at Ealing Library

Just to remind you... I will be at Ealing Central Library tomorrow, Saturday 22 November, taking part in their Doctor Who Day, selling and signing copies of my Doctor Who Decide Your Destiny book The Horror of Howling Hill.

(Did you know, over 100,000 Doctor Who Decide Your Destiny titles have been sold so far?)

I will also have copies of my new Christmas book What is Myrrh Anyway? available to buy.

You'll be able to meet a Dalek at 10.00am-12.00pm and 2.00pm-4.00pm, and also at 2.00pm author Nick Griffiths will be talking about his book Dalek I Loved You. There will be games, quizzes, and competitions to take part in as well.

So maybe I'll see you there...

Destiny Your Destiny - a cultural experience!

I found this in-depth review of my Doctor Who Decide Your Destiny adventure The Horror of Howling Hill over at My Cultural Experience.

Half Price Horror

I had an uneasy feeling as I sat down in front of the TV tonight. It's Saturday but, somehow, it didn't feel like Saturday. Something was wrong... Doctor Who wasn't on the telly!

If the departure of Tennant, Tate and co has left a hole in your earth-bound existence, then why not fill it with a Doctor Who adventure recorded on paper instead. And if you haven't already picked up a copy of The Horror of Howling Hill (my Doctor Who Decide Your Destiny title) then now's the perfect time as W H Smith have got a buy one get one half price offer running at the moment (at least they have in my local store).

If you're wondering what to choose as your second title, you could do a lot worse than pick up James Swallow's DW novel Peacemaker. It's a brilliant read!