Friday the 13th... Unlucky for some

Yes, I know it's not Friday the 13th today, but last Friday (which was the 13th) the shortlists for The Kitschies 2011 were announced*.

Pax Britannia: Anno Frankenstein was put forward for consideration by my publishers but it wasn't to be this time, although fellow steampunk author** Lavie Tidhar did make the shortlist for Best Novel - the coveted Red Tentacle - for Osama: A Novel.

The winners of the Red Tentacle, the Golden Tentacle (for best newcomer) and Inky Tentacle (for best cover artist) will be announced on Friday 3 February at the SFX Weekender***.

However, all is not lost as far as Anno Frankenstein is concerned! Oh no!

You see the Tor.com 2011 Readers’ Choice Awards are now taking votes, until until 11:59 PM Friday, 20 January.

Notice the word 'Readers' in the title? That's right, it means that you the book buying (and presumably reading) public get to choose. Basically it's a popularity contest but one that Anno Frankenstein, with the right backing, might just have a shot at.

So whaddya say? Simply click this link and in the comments section after the blog post about the awards, type the title of the novel (Anno Frankenstein), the author's name (Jonathan Green), and if you want to the name of the publisher (Abaddon Books) as well.

And it's not just Anno Frankenstein that's eligible. In the Best Short Fiction category, I have a couple of stories published by Black Library that were both published last year, the 40K story But Dust in the Wind and the Warhammer tale Sir Dagobert's Last Battle.

So, what are you waiting for? If you vote for me I'll be eternally grateful. ;-)

* Provoking no end of Internet interest such as here, here and on the Guardian website here.

** He'll hate me for saying that.

*** Good luck, Lavie!

Time's Arrow in SFX magazine - The full interview

I was interviewed for SFX magazine back in October and the piece appeared last month in the latest issue, which I blogged about here.

However, what finally saw print was only a fraction of the entire interview, which has now been posted on SFX.co.uk.

If you point your mouse here and click this link, you can read it in its entirety. As well as Pax Britannia, I talk about every from my newest gamebook Temple of the Spider God, to Fighting Fantasy and Warhammer 40K.

Hi! I'm a writer, and this is what I write...

I had a great time at the UK Games Expo in Birmingham this weekend just gone (thanks and kudos to all concerned for organising such a great event) and met all kinds of people - some who knew about my Fighting Fantasy stuff, some who knew of my Pax Britannia books, and some who didn't know me from Adam*.

So, bearing that in mind, if you're one of those people who picked up a bookmark or a postcard and thought you'd check out the websites listed there, first of all "Hi!" Second of all, I'm a writer and have been for almost 19 years, and here's what I write...

Fighting Fantasy
This series of gamebooks is where my writing career began and to date I've written seven Fighting Fantasy titles. Howl of the Werewolf topped a recent fan survey as the fan favourite whilst my most recent, Night of the Necromancer, has garnered great reviews from all over the place.

Black Library
I've written six novels in total for the Black Library - three Warhammer and three 40K, two of which have recently been re-issued as The Armageddon Omnibus. To date I have also written sixteen short stories set within the two Games Workshop universes.

Pax Britannia
I've recently started writing the eighth Ulysses Quicksilver adventure, which - along with the six novellas I've written - will bring my contribution to the steampunk alternative history sci-fi series I created to close on three quarters of a million words. And that's only the beginning...

Doctor Who
I've recently finished my second official Doctor Who tie-in. The first, The Horror of Howling Hill was a gamebook (of sorts) but Terrible Lizards is a fully-fledged chapter book.

Other tie-in work
I've also written for Star Wars The Clone Wars, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Sonic the Hedgehog.

Non-fiction
I've penned four non-fiction books so far (with hopefully more to come) that have been published in different editions around the world. I'm probably most well-known in this field for my Christmas books.

So there you go. And don't forget, if you have any pressing questions you'd like answered about the writing process or the books I've written, you can do so here.

* One of the stars of my latest Pax Britannia release Anno Frankenstein.