Guess the book cover

Any takers?

How about now?

You got it!

Curse of the Mummy is available now!

Akharis rises from the dead - again!

I received my author copies of the latest edition* of Curse of the Mummy today. It looks fantastic in the larger B format and Martin McKenna's image of the undead Akharis is still as powerful as it was sixteen years ago**.

If you've not read it before, you can pick up a copy here. However, even if you have read it before, it's still a must for every FF enthusiast because it contains three original pre-generated characters, namely Zofia of Shazaar, Lucius Arandyce and Sartosa 'Vatos' Lux.

So what are you waiting for? The Desert of Skulls and the Black Pyramid await...

* Actually the third, to the best of my knowledge.

** Sixteen years? Is it really?

Curse of the Mummy - The Mummy Returns

I am very excited to be able to announce that my third Fighting Fantasy gamebook Curse of the Mummy will be getting the makeover treatment and coming out in a new edition in February 2011. Forest of Doom will be released in the same format at the same time, with Appointment with F.E.A.R. and Armies of Death coming two weeks after that in April 2011.

Here's a sneak peak of both the re-designed covers.

I also recently came across frankly a quite remarkable map for Curse of the Mummy and was sorely tempted to post it here - I mean, it's just so lovely to look at - but then decided against it as it contains massive* spoilers for anybody who's not read the book yet.

If you'd like to see it for yourself, it won't take you long to find with the help of Google.

* And I mean MASSIVE!

Howl of the Werewolf is back!

Secondly, Howl of the Werewolf's been out for about a week in the new Wizard edition. This contains the Fighting Fantasy adventure you know and love along with three pre-generated playable characters (Johann Ironarm, Wolfrick of Pritzbad and Sabine Greypelt) and a preview of Trial of Champions.

Howl of the Werewolf and Victories of the Space Marines

I'm very pleased to reveal the cover for the new edition of Howl of the Werewolf, coming next month from Wizard Books.

As with the other titles in the new FF format, Howl of the Werewolf includes three pre-generated characters. So prepare to meet Johann Ironarm, Wolfrik of Pritzbad and Sabine

Greypelt this September.

And while we're at it, here's the cover for the Black Library's Victories of the Space Marines...

'Featuring a brand new Grey Knights story by Ben Counter, plus James Swallow, Gav Thorpe, C. L. Werner and more...'

... and the 'more' includes a contribution from me, about a squad of Imperial Fists answering a distress call from an isolated ice-locked world. Victories of the Space Marines will be published April 2011.

UK Games Expo 2010

I had a very enjoyable weekend up in Birmingham at the 2010 UK Games Expo. This was my first visit, and I was taken aback by the size and accomplishment of the event. As well as the expected traders, demo games and tournaments, there were no less than three Daleks, three different Doctors, stormtroopers and Darth Vadar, as well as Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone!

In fact, Fighting Fantasy had a notable presence at the event. Not only was there an FF stand, hosted by Wizard Books, and the aforementioned Jackson and Livingstone, there were also fans, old and new, by the score, and me. And best of all, the cover of the programme was Emerson Tung's glorious painting of the Eye of the Storm from Stormslayer! That gave me a real buzz, I can tell you.

One of the highlights of the weekend was the talk on Saturday give by Steve and Ian about the history of Games Workshop and Fighting Fantasy. It was very amusing and not only because of all the photos from the 70s. I even got an honourable mention and a round of applause - which was nice.

Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone and their stalker (at least that's how it appeared in some of the other photos).

The crowds waiting to meet Steve and Ian (the queue went out the door!) whilst Gav Thorpe and Alessio Cavatore sign too.

FF editor Nick Sidwell proudly displaying his wares.

His wares - the brand-spanking-new FF gamebooks!

I also caught up with Ralph Horsley (who I collaborated with a couple of times back in the day), chatted jungle maintenance and work avoidance tactics with Gav Thorpe, and met Alessio Cavatore who was there promoting his new board game Shuuro (which I heard a punter describe as 'Chesshammer').

Ralph Horsley surrounded by his phenomenal body of (vibrantly colourful) work.

Alessio demonstrates Shuuro.

So all that remains now is for me to thank all those who organised the weekend (Tony and his team), everyone who dropped by and said "Hi!" and let me deface their new books, and Nick Sidwell, the FF editor, who manned the stand all weekend, doing sterling work, and who scored me a pass for the event.

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...

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...

JG's Review of the Writing Year

2010 is almost upon us, so I thought I'd take a look back over the year and see how I've done writing-wise.

Well, first off, this was the year of two Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. Having not written one since 2006-07, January saw me writing Stormslayer, lined up as the only new title in Wizard's relaunch of the series which took place in September this year.

Next up on the writing roster was the Official Doctor Who Annual 2010, of which I ended up writing about a third (getting the longest writer credit in the book, if you care to look). That was great fun and meant I had to watch a lot of DW re-runs "for research purposes". Ah, life is hard...

Then came my fourth Pax Britannia title for Abaddon Books - Evolution Expects. This saw print in the summer and included the original novella Conqueror Worm, which I had also written this year. (I also wrote a very short short story which is still waiting to see print...)

During the summer I managed to write a short story for Black Library (Games Workshop's publishing imprint) which was the first work I had done for them in about five years - and there's more to come next year. The Relic, a Black Templars/Armageddon story, won't see print until April when the Warhammer 40,000 anthology Legends of the Space Marines is published.

I also managed to squeeze in writing a Decide Your Destiny gamebook for the Star Wars The Clone Wars franchise. It's called Crisis on Coruscant and is due to be published in January. What's exciting about this book is that it has a certain degree of unique online content that's been developed to go with it. (Look out for more news on this and links in the New Year.)

This autumn saw me writing my second FF gamebook of the year (and my seventh to date), Night of the Necromancer, due to be published on 1 April (I kid you not). This was a lot of fun to write, partly because ace artist Martin McKenna agreed to illustrate it, and seeing what he produces from my art briefs is always a joy.

And then came Blood Royal, the fifth Ulysses Quicksilver/Pax Britannia adventure and the first in a new story arc for the dandy agent of the throne. It was due to be published in time for Christmas, but for various reasons (including a change of book distributor in the US) it's now slated for an April release (with the sixth UQ/PB book - Dark Side - out two months after that).

I was expecting to spend November and December writing another book for a popular franchise, but due to a bit of a 'jobs for the boys' situation (the first I've knowingly encountered in my writing career so far) I missed out, which was a shame. Instead I put my mind to work on various proposals, including something wholly original, and as a result I'm suddenly finding myself inundated, with not enough hours in the day to manage everything I've been asked to do.

What is definite for next year is two more Pax Britannia novels, three novellas, another Warhammer 40K short story and a new non-fiction book. Beyond that, it's too early to say, but my New Year's writing resolutions are going to include showing my original idea to a few agents/publishers, trying out again for a popular periodical and simply being more efficient in my writing - so I can get more done!

So, to sum up, this year I have written five books - two FF gamebooks, two novels and a Star Wars The Clone Wars DYD - a third of an annual, a novella, a short story and numerous blog posts.

As I said, I've got plenty lined up already for 2010 (I never was very good at saying "No" to paid work) and hope to write between two and four novels, a non-fiction book and possibly my first... but it's too early to talk about that really.

So, in the meantime, here's to 2010 and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Bloodbones - new review

Found this great, succinct review of Bloodbones online today.

By far the greatest Fighting Fantasy gamebook of all. Not too long, not too short, not too hard, not too easy. Perfect for fans of Pirates of the Caribbean or good ol' FF in general.

Remember, Bloodbones is being re-packaged and re-published in a brand new edition in 2010!

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 competition

Just a quick reminder that the guys at Wizard Books are offering one lucky reader the chance to be immortalised in the new Fighting Fantasy gamebook Night of the Necromancer (to be published in April 2010).

To find out more about the competition and its money-can't-buy prize click here.

Fighting Fantasy at GamesFest 4

Just to let you know that I shall be at GamesFest 4, at the Watford Colesseum on Saturday 24th October, with the guys from Wizard Books, promoting the Fighting Fantasy series of adventure gamebooks.

To find out more, you can either check out the official Fighting Fantasy website or the dedicated website for GamesFest 4.

New FF spine designs

A lot of thought and effort has gone into preparing the new FF editions for the re-launch - and they look fantastic! As well as the embossing, funky colours and metallic pantone applied to the covers, the spines are a uniform silver and include a reproduction of the central cover image. As a result, on the shelf next to each other they look great and unmistakeably part of one series!


The very generous people at Wizard Books have sent me one of each of the new editions (along with my author copies of Stormslayer) and despite the best efforts of the Royal Mail (including ripping open the package containing them on the way to my house) they are now safely ensconced on a suitable bookshelf.


If you're yet to pick up a copy of Stormslayer, you can get hold of one here. And if you have, and can't wait for more, I'm currently working on Night of the Necromancer ready for 2010. Judging by the evidence I'd say that FF's on an all time high!

Night of the Necromancer cover mock-up, top left

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!

New Fighting Fantasy website launches today!

In time for the FF re-launch of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Citadel of Chaos and Deathtrap Dungeon, along with the publication of brand new adventure Stormslayer (by yours truly), Wizard Books have launched their brand new Fighting Fantasy website. Check it out for yourself here.

I got a mention on the Terry Pratchett message boards!

I've just discovered that Stormslayer got a mention back in March on the forum of TerryPratchettBooks.com on the Discworld News, Articles and Interviews forum. And it's all because Stephen Player illustrated the book as well as the illustrated edition of Mr P's The Wee Free Men.


Soon the world will be able to enjoy what I and the editors at Wizard Boooks have already seen for months now, and that's Stephen's fantastic illustrations for Stormslayer. I'll see if I can post some here soon, but for the time being you'll have to settle for his painting of the Ice Elemental from the front cover.


In other Pratchett-related news, the next Discworld novel Unseen Academicals is out in hardback in October with another brilliant cover by Paul Kidby. And if you're over in Arizona in September, you could take part in the First North American Discworld Convention a.k.a. The Turtle Moves! guest staring TP himself.

The new Fighting Fantasy editions

From the offices of Icon Books this morning...


Mine's the one quite clearly visible at the bottom of the pile.

Stormslayer - dare you enter the eye of the storm?

Here it is, revealed at last for all to see, the brand new cover for Stormslayer, a brand new Fighting Fantasy gamebook out on 3rd September! Pre-order your copy here.