Thursday 30 December 2010

Pax Britannia: Blood Royal

Pax Britannia: Blood Royal continues to receive rave reviews, this one from the Midwest Book Review...

The fate of the world will be decided by the unseen. "Blood Royal" takes place in the alternate universe of the Pax Britannia as unusual creates roam Europe and America. Ulysses Quicksilver is faced with protecting civilization from the stranger mutations of creatures that threaten his home, all throughout London to the far reaches of Russia. Nonstop excitement, "Blood Royal" is a read that will prove hard to put down.

Thursday 23 December 2010

Amazing Automatons: Ancient Robots & Victorian Androids

When we say that today’s rapidly changing technology is set to transform the way we live in unimaginable ways, we should remember that people thought much the same thing in earlier centuries - whether in the time of the clockwork revolution in the eighteenth century or as a result of the scientific advances of the Industrial Revolution in the Victorian era.


Click here to find some amazing examples of fascinating early robots and automatons, the creations of great engineering and marvellous imagination.

Wednesday 22 December 2010

Pax Britannia: Dark Side - another glowing review!

Pax Britannia: Dark Side continues to go from strength to strength. Here, Gareth Wilson of the Falcata Times Blog says lovely things about what he calls the "cracking sixth title".

Fans of Jonathan's Ulysses Quicksilver will be rushing and demanding this title quicker than Nimrod can pour a stiff brandy.

As usual, Jonathan's writing is wonderfully descriptive alongside bringing a more vulnerable Quicksilver to the fore. Green's latest title bring Steampunk Victoriana to the readers imagination so much so, that it's going to be a long wait for Anno Frankenstein.

Finally, add some great dialogue alongside a return of an old friend or two which makes this Quicksilver's finest exploit to date. Whilst you can read this without having read the previous five, you'll have lost a lot of background as well as some serious world building which generates its own head of steam that will be hard to stop once you get going.

Pax Britannia: Silent Knight

Here's a little treat (hopefully) for all you Pax Britannia fans out there. As David Moore, Desk Editor at Abaddon Books, explains here, Pax Brtiannia has been receiving a lot of lover over the Internet of late. And so, by way of a thank you, here's a little Christmas gift from me to you.

Enjoy...

Tuesday 21 December 2010

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - steampunk style

1884 - Horatio Kitchengame to the rescue!

Terry Gilliam has such a nightmare getting his own films made that he's decided to start helping other people instead. That, at least, is the case with Tim Ollive's 1884.

Set in 1884 - but supposedly made in 1848, "forty years before the birth of film" - it's a steampunk retro-future adventure in which our hero Horatio Kitchengame, fresh from visiting the Moon and claiming it for the British Empire, undertakes his most perilous journey yet...



Having watched the trailer for myself 1884 all seems rather familiar. I wonder why...

Pax Britannia the Movie anyone?

Monday 20 December 2010

Pax Britannia book reviews

Yours in a White Wine Sauce! has some great reviews of most of my Pax Britannia novels.


Meanwhile, people are feeling the love for Al's Gods of Manhattan here and saying lovely things about Blood Royal here as well.

House of Fear

Well, the cat's well and truly out of the bag, so I can mention this myself now...

Next year, Solaris Books will publish a second anthology of horror stories edited by Jonathan Oliver, after releasing the excellent The End of the Line collection to great acclaim this year. This time all the stories are themed around that staple of horror, the haunted house.

House of Fear will be published in the autumn of 2011 and includes tales to disturb and unnerve by such luminaries of the genre as Sarah Pinborough, Christopher Priest, Adam L. G. Nevill, Chaz Brenchley, Christopher Fowler... and me.

I'm delighted to be amongst such an esteemed line-up and it's no secret that I'm hoping it will lead to... well who knows? We'll just have to wait and see.

Saturday 18 December 2010

Killouettes

You ain't seen nothing like these before...

Eat like a Steampunk

Fancy having yourself a Steampunk feast? Then Steampunk Cookery is for you!

Wednesday 15 December 2010

Pax Britannia: Blood Royal

How's this for a review?

Christmas is a time for lots of things and, for me, one of those things is to go back and revisit a favourite author or two when the weather outside is frightful... Jonathan Green sits firmly on that particular list with his ‘Pax Britannia’ series being just the right reading for this time of year...

The ‘Pax Britannia’ books are guaranteed to take you away from the tedium of everyday living and dump you right in the middle of a steampunk London where every shadow holds a knife and enemies of the Empire plot against the throne. You can tell that I highly recommend these books...

This brings me onto ‘Blood Royal’; a book that I’ve been saving up to read... I had my reasons for putting ‘Blood Royal’ to one side until now... Having said all that though, I still found myself wondering I hadn’t picked this book up a lot earlier. It’s one hell of an entertaining ride and I’m not going to wait as long before picking the next book up!

Usually, when an author throws everything (he can get his hands on) at the plot it will be at the overall expense of the story. Not everything will stick, for one thing, and that inevitably leads to a fragmented book that doesn’t flow anywhere near as well as it should. Not so with Jonathan Green and ‘Blood Royal’...

Just like watching your favourite ‘Indiana Jones’ film on Christmas afternoon (‘Temple of Doom’ if you’re asking...) ‘Blood Royal’ has it all going on and at such a speed that you are almost physically compelled to keep reading...

Blood Royal’ is another thoroughly entertaining read from Green that will set the standard for the rest of the books in this series. I’m hoping for more of the same from ‘Dark Side’ and will let you know how it goes...

Nine and a Half out of Ten

Nine and a Half out of Ten? Nine and a Half out of Ten! Fantastic!

Tuesday 14 December 2010

Where Pax Britannia leads...

While Pax Britannia: Dark Side continues to garner great reviews, Paramount Pictures have just released the first official trailer for Transformers 3.



Coincidence? I like to think not... ;-)

Monday 13 December 2010

Pax Britannia - a worldwide phenomenon!

It's official - Pax Britannia is a worldwide phenomenon. Yes, that's right, I've been browsing through Google Analytics this evening and have to say I'm astonished by what I've discovered.

Over the last year, this blog has received 9,238 visits from 3,018 cities in 108 countries and territories around the world. Someone on every continent on Earth (apart from possibly Antarctica) has checked it out at least once.


Apparently, Pax Britannia is more popular in Brazil than it is in the Netherlands. The least frequent visitors come from places like Yemen, Albania, Lebanon, Guam and Iraq. Most visitors come from London, followed by New York and then Birmingham. One person has visited from Quebec, as opposed to two from Panama City and five from both Minsk and Tel Aviv.

I could go on, but suffice to say Pax Britannia is known of and enjoyed all over the world. How's that for cool?

Legopunk

Arms Race

File under: Impressive Effort / Steampunk Movie / Wish-Fulfilment.

Spring-Heeled Jack

Spring-Heeled Jack is of course one of the heroes of Pax Britannia: Evolution Expects but he's made a few cameo appearances since then as well.

The character is, of course, based on the spectre that haunted Barnes Common during the 19th Century (and other parts of the country besides). The following video sums up what we know about this particular villain rather well.

Christmas shopping ideas

If you're still finalising Christmas presents, remember it's not too late to buy your loved ones (or yourself!) something from my book store.

If it's steampunk action and adventure that they're into, try my Pax Britannia books.

If they love gamebooks and fantasy adventures, try my Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.

If it's Doctor Who or Star Wars, try these, and remember that you can have a Clone Wars story, written by me, personalised.

If it's non-fiction they enjoy, try Match Wits with the Kids, or one of my Miscellanies.

And if its the grim darkness of the far future where there is only war, or the grim darkness of a quasi-Medieval world that gets them buzzing, then try one of my Black Library novels.

Friday 10 December 2010

Dark Side at The Eloquent Page


I stumbled across this earlier today. It's primarily a review of Dark Side, by one Mr Pablo Cheesecake, but it is more than just that. For it also has some very nice things to say about the Pax Britannia series as a whole and my writing in general.

(I also liked the fact that Mr Cheesecake appreciated the careful naming of the chapters in the book and gave the Ulysses Quicksilver novella Proteus Unbound - an added bonus story that appears after the main feature - a shout out too.)

Here's a choice bit about the novel itself:

This novel kept me hooked from page one. It struck me that the title works on two levels. It doesn’t just refer to the dark side of the moon but the reader also gets to experience the darker side of Ulysses character due to the events that unfold.

And here's what Pablo has to say about Pax Britannia:

Prior to Dark Side, each Quicksilver adventure in the series has essentially been a standalone affair, previous books are mentioned but only in passing... If I have ever had a criticism of the previous novels it has been that I wanted larger more involved story arcs and based on the ending of Dark Side my wish has been granted.

A new Pax Britannia novel is always a cause for excitement here at The Eloquent Page. Dark Side joins the existing novels as a worthy addition. Green has crafted yet another action packed rip-snorter.

And I quite liked this bit too:

The thing I like most about Green’s writing, and it’s in evidence here, is that he pays attention to the little details. This is what makes the world(s) of Pax Britannia feel so well realised.

Now, enough trumpet blowing. I'm off to write about vampires, werewolves and Frankenstein's children. (I tell you, Being Human's got nothing on this!)

A Very Steampunk Christmas



Join the campaign to make Ebenezer's Carol No. 1 this Christmas here!

A Very Steampunk Christmas



Join the campaign to make Ebenezer's Carol No. 1 this Christmas here!

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Vote Pax Britannia for Steampunk book of the year!

Steampunk.com has launched its search for the 'Steampunk Book of 2010'. All that you have to do to nominate a book (or books) is leave their names, one per line, in a comment on this post at Steampunk.com. But what to nominate...?

Well, technically four Pax Britannia books (all of which qualify) were published in 2010 - Blood Royal, Al Ewing's Gods of Manhattan, Dark Side and The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus. But, according to the rules of the competition, technically any Pax Britannia book so far published would qualify.

So, if anyone feels like sharing the love for the alternate steampunk universe of Pax Britannia, go for it! And just let me know here.


Let's make Ebenezer's Carol No.1 this Christmas!

The plan:

To get Ebenezer's Carol, by The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, to No. 1 in time for Christmas. A proper steampunk Christmas song for Christmas No. 1!

What we need to do to achieve this:

1) For Ebenezer's Carol to chart it needs to sell roughly 8,000 copies. The single needs be downloaded as a single, and not as part of the A Very Steampunk Christmas EP. It's available now from iTunes, eMusic and Amazon.

2) So, forward this message to all your friends (be they steampunks or otherwise) but remind them that they must buy the song by itself for it to get into the singles chart.

3) Blog about this, post a link on your Facebook page, Tweet about it, but most importantly - buy the single Ebenezer's Carol!

4) Arrange events themed around this, call the local press, use your contacts - whatever you've got - and we could really make this happen!

This is a chance for steampunk fans to really make themselves heard and make a difference for the future of Christmas. The fate of Ebenezer's Carol and Christmas music itself is in your hands! Let's make Christmas 2010 a Very Merry Steampunk Christmas!

Have Yourself A Very Steampunk Christmas

Once upon a Christmas time, the much-vaunted title 'Christmas No.1' really meant something - it meant that a song had at least something to do with Christmas (even if it was just the inclusion of tubular bells, as in East 17's 'Stay Another Day'). Nowadays the Christmas No.1 is either going to be the latest X-Factor winner's* release or a song that's been championed on the Internet as an anti-Christmas song, like Rage Against the Machine's 'Killing in the Name'.

Well today a line has to be drawn and a stand has to be made. The Christmas No.1 must be reclaimed by Christmas, and with that in mind I am officially declaring that I shall be championing 'Ebenezer's Carol', by The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing, for Christmas No.1 2010.

If you would like to join me in my mission, please check out the Facebook page I have created for this cause, 'Like' it, and then download the single yourself. And let's have a Christmas song** as Christmas No.1!

* And I use the word 'winner' here advisedly.

** And it doesn't get much more Christmassy than Dickens' A Christmas Carol now, does it?

Monday 6 December 2010

Christmas shopping sorted

What do you get the steampunk in your life this Christmas? Why, some exclusive Pax Britannia merchandise - that's what!

You can buy beermats emblazoned with the motto "Feel Better With Dr Feelgood's Tonic
Stout"






















And even a Pax Britannia T-shirt* bearing the motto "Action and Adventure in a New Age of Steam!"


Just visit the Pax Britannia Christmas store here.


* Only available in large, I'm afraid.

Friday 3 December 2010

Steampunks

My new office

Long time readers of this blog (and my Facebook updates) will know that the Green Family are in the rather protracted process of moving from London to that there Countryside. In our new place in deepest, darkest Wiltshire, I have no office. Yet. Basically, it hasn't been built. But today I saw a picture of how I want it to look when it is finally created from what is currently an over-sized garage. I want it to look like this!


You can buy your own custom-made tentacle for your own
Nautilus/Cthulhu-inspired writing room from this guy here. (Fans of Leviathan Rising take note.) Unfortunately my budget won't stretch to one but I am considering a steampunk clock for the wall. And who knows - if I get that long sought after three book deal - one day, who knows...?

Wednesday 1 December 2010

Frankenstein's Monster vs Mr Hyde

Who would win?













Well, you'll just have to wait until next May to find out...

Pax Britannia: Dark Side

Abaddon Books have a link to the first review of Pax Britannia: Dark Side, along with a bit about the original inspiration for the book's very cool cover.

Cool.

Very cool.

Tuesday 30 November 2010

Anno Frankenstein - nearing the mid-point

I'm now almost halfway through my first draft of Anno Frankenstein (my next Pax Britannia adventure, to be published in May 2011) and I've reached something of a turning point.

I always find it a struggle to get started on a new book. The writing is never as smooth, nor as productive, as I would like in the early days of a new project (certainly when it's something the length of a novel), as I get to know the characters and get into the plot (despite the fact that I've already worked out the nitty-gritty of the story in detail).

But I'm now well into my stride, and barring the usual sort of interruptions that life throws up (like the school run and laundry), the word count is building steadily each and every day.


What's really helped is that I've finally got to a scene that I've been looking forward to writing ever since I started working on the plot of Anno Frankenstein - probably ever since I even conceived the initial outline for the book. To say any more here would spoil the surprise, but hopefully you'll be suitably satisfied when Ulysses Quicksilver's seventh stirring tale, packed to the gills with melodrama and derring-do, comes out next year.

Leviathan Rising?

Not quite, the squidworm is 9.4 centimeters (3.7 inches) in length. But it was only unveiled by scientists last Wednesday, as the gossamer, ghostly creature was only recently discovered in the deepest reaches of the ocean between Indonesia and the Philippines.

You can read more about this bizarre denizen of the abyss here, and you can expect to see something like it in a Pax Britannia adventure at some point in the future...

Pax Britannia: Dark Side - the first review!

After putting out my call to reviewers everywhere yesterday, today I received notification of the first review of my latest Pax Britannia novel Dark Side, and very pleased with it I was too...


Dark Side is the latest, and certainly the most spectacular, of Jonathan Green's Ulysses Quicksilver series.

Quicksilver, in case you've missed the previous few books in the series, is the silver-tongued gentleman-adventurer whose plan is always to "make it up as he goes along". In Dark Side, this takes him to strange new places - in both geographical and narrative terms...

Perhaps the biggest journey is the actual structure of Dark Side, which goes into uncharted territory for the series. Whereas the previous books were essentially one-offs (although one-offs that rewarded loyal readers), Dark Side builds out of the existing Pax Britannia mythos. Although reading the short story "Vanishing Point" isn't absolutely necessary to understanding Dark Side, it certainly gives you a running start. And, on the other end of the book, Dark Side is the first in the series to actually end with a proper, "ack!-when-is-the-next-book-out?!" cliffhanger.

Dark Side is the biggest book in the series in all respects. By bringing in characters and conflicts from earlier books (some for the last time), Green elevates this from a snappy, pocket-sized adventure into the start of something properly epic. Even bringing Emilia back as the object of flirtation helps make this book more serious and less ephemeral than those that came before it. Without giving away any spoilers, the reader feels like the cozy universe of Pax Britannia is truly, irreversibly changing.


Good stuff, eh?

You can read the rest of Jared's review over at his Pornokitsch website. And if you're inspired to buy the book yourself after reading his review, you can do so here.

Monday 29 November 2010

Sucker Punch

Giant robot samurai? Fire-breathing dragons chasing World War II aircraft? I for one cannot wait...


Request for reviewers

Both The Ulysses Quicksilver Omnibus (Vol.1) and Pax Britannia: Dark Side are selling well at the moment (very well, in fact) so how those of you who've already read these awesome tomes post some reviews on Amazon (or whatever your book site of choice happens to be)?

If you do, you will earn my eternal gratitude. (Which is no small thing if the long-anticipated Zombiepocalypse* finally gets here.) And please let me know - either via this blog or by emailing me at info@jonathangreenauthor.com.

Cheers!


* That's a copyrighted term, by the way, copyright Jonathan Green 2010 - just now.

Saturday 27 November 2010

Fantastic Steampunk Images

Follow this link to enjoy a whole host of fantastic steampunk-inspired artwork including the classic Steam Octopus...


... and the humorous Escape Plan B...


... as well as the delightful Ex Machina.

Thursday 25 November 2010

Pax Britannia - review round up

A couple more reviews of my Pax Britannia books coming your way this afternoon...



Okay, this book was one of the goofiest I have read in a long while and I really liked it. It was over the top, silly steampunk that didn't take itself seriously and you shouldn't either. The names of the characters are even tongue in cheek, which some readers who have reviewed the book don't seem to get. Also, people were complaining that the science part of the plot was bad - it wasn't supposed to be great science fiction. It is supposed to be a lighthearted fun read. No, this isn't a classic. No, this isn't superb fiction. It is a lighthearted and comic tongue in cheek look at steampunk and the genre.



Leviathan Rising, above everything else, is fun. Deliriously so. Every page is infected with a wonderful sense of joy. Don't get me wrong, I love my "worthy" genre fiction - gloomy, dirty, big heavy themes, existential angst & questions of identity - but after reading so-bloody-many in a row, this is the perfect antidote. Leviathan Rising is something different, yet no less special. This is the sort of book that makes me giddy and ten years old again, my mind filled with impossible adventures and wild daydreams.

And, to give Mr Green credit, creating this sort of work is a rare and wonderful talent. Being over-the-top is commonplace, but being genuinely entertaining is rare - the difference between telling a dirty joke and being Bill Hicks. Leviathan Rising, the author deftly combines punchy dialogue with lurid description; painting a wonderful, exotic world and then populating it with sharp heroes, sinister villains and horrendous beasties. This is pure, unadulterated pulp - the sort of fiction that made fiction fun to begin with.




Overall this is a very good and easy read the main novel ticks all the right boxes and has a good mix of humour and some very dark moment indeed. The novella, Conqueror Worm, which is to my mind even better than the main novel, is a swashbuckling adventure with highwaymen, sinister plots and a particularly nasty creature as it's centre piece.

I certainly wouldn't class this series of books as anything more than good "pulp" adventure, but then again they are not trying to set themselves up as anything other than that.

Although each of the books can be read individually there has been a connecting plot building subtly in the background over the whole series, so I would certainly recommend that anyone new to the Ulysses Quicksilver books starts at the beginning with Unnatural History!


It's nice to see Conqueror Worm receiving some love. It was a story I really wanted to tell and loved writing.

You can read more of this review here at Pulp Zen!

Tuesday 23 November 2010

The Complete Guide to the Rise and Rise of Steampunk (apparently)

Here's my five point plan to how NOT to have a productive writing day...

1) Pick up the latest copy of SciFiNow.
2) Get excited that there’s an article on steampunk contained within.
3) Read the aforementioned article* which doesn’t mention Pax Britannia even once – the series you’ve laboured over, nay put heart and soul into, for the last four years, having written over half a million words for, which has 8 novels out (6 by you) 1 omnibus and several more books to come - and yet which does feature the covers of other books that have come out in the wake of the success of Pax Britannia.4) Post a blog in which you have your own personal rant about the situation.
5) Enter the doldrums and achieve nothing for the rest of day, despairing that you’re never going to make a success of your writing and then, as a consequence, write nothing all day as the deadline for your latest steampunk epic looms ever closer.


Or, as an alternative, you could try this rather more productive alternative...

1) Pick up the latest copy of SciFiNow.
2) Get excited that there’s an article on steampunk contained within.
3) Read the aforementioned article, ignoring the numerous covers of other books (some of which have been less well received than your own steampunk series and others which bear uncanny similarities and yet which came out some years after your own books featuring similar subjects and themes), and, on the whole, enjoy it.
4) Post a cathartic blog about the general situation.
5) Be inspired to kick some butt and start taking names and show them the world that you really have got what it takes to make a success of this writing lark.

I'll let you decide which approach I followed today...

* The aforementioned article goes by the rather bold sub-title of 'The complete guide to the rise and rise of steampunk' and yet doesn't even feature one book cover image from the ever-growing Pax Britannia series. So what definition of 'complete' is the editor/writer using here exactly?

Wednesday 17 November 2010

The End of the Line launch at Foyles

So, last night I attended the launch of The End of the Line, the new anthology of Underground-inspired horror from Solaris Books, edited by Jonathan Oliver.

"This one goes out to the Phoenix massive!"

I have to confess I was a little late (due to family matters) and only really arrived in time for the Q&A session at the end. But all was not lost, for as the Foyles part of the event wound up, things really got going at the Phoenix Club, right across the road.

It was great to catch up with so many fellow writers, many of whom I am pleased to consider my friends now, as well as the Abaddon/Solaris editorial team, who are really like a kind of family (just don't ask me what kind).

Some of the highlights (or otherwise) of the evening were Jasper Bark and Scott Andrews pointing out that I am now genetically redundant since my son has recently won a prize for his writing (which I something I have failed to do myself so far), Al Ewing wondering what the world of Pax Britannia would be like in the year 1,000,000, David Moore's moustache, struggling to join in a conversation with Rebecca Levene and Jasper Bark because they are both a good head shorter than I am, seeing the expectant Mrs Oliver looking so well on it, meeting David Bradley, editor-in-chief of SFX magazine, again (and him recognising me!), and posing for Holmes and Watson-esque sepia tints with Michael Rathbone, Esq. (who has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in the new PB novella Proteus Unbound).

Rathbone and Green - here to save the civilised world!

And here are five things I didn't know this time yesterday and yet I do now.

1) Scott Andrews is a self-confessed Tequila snob.
2) Jared Shurin liked (or was that disliked?) the fact that I killed him off in Dark Side not once, but twice.
3) Adam Nevill believes it is more effective to disturb and unsettle with a horror story than to horrify.
4) Rebecca Levene likes the X-Men.
5) Richard Owen, champion of the Natural History Museum and inventor of the word 'dinosaur', also invented the word 'dentine'.

So there you go...

Scott "It has to be lime for me, every time" Andrews.

If you really want to, you'll find all sorts of embarrassing photos of myself (and other writerly types who'd also had possibly one Tequila too many) here.