Friday, April 8, 2016

April A to Z - G is for Jon Green


Hello lovely readers! Today, we have Jon Green, who originally wrote a lot of Fighting Fantasy books towards the end of the series, such as Spellbreaker, Knights of Doom and Curse of the Mummy. He then wrote books after the revival, but he has written many other gamebooks and many stories in many worlds. He also wrote YOU ARE THE HERO - a history of Fighting Fantasy.
 
 
Dr Who: Night of the Kraken, a Dr Who inspired gamebook will be out soon. Can you tell us any more about it? Where can we get it from?

The Doctor is travelling alone (following events related at the end of the last series on TV) and arrives in 18th century Cornwall. However, it is not long before he has encountered a curious smuggler and finds himself under attack from the undead. But that's only the beginning of a very long night, as something is lurking beneath the waters of Dead Man's Bay - something that casts a very long shadow over the village of Bosmouth.

In the book, you decide what the Doctor should do next, hence the series title 'Choose The Future'. If it sells well, the hope is to write more of them. Night of the Kraken is the first in the series and a second title, Terror Moon by Trevor Baxendale, is out in September. And you can buy it here! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Choose-Future-Kraken/dp/1405926503/ref=la_B0034P7P60_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458408763&sr=1-7

I hear you had some input into the new Warlock of Firetop Mountain from Tin Man Games. How did it feel to work on the project?

Exciting! Nerve-wracking! Awesome! Anxiety-inducing! Amazing! Did I mention that I was quite nervous about working on the project too? It was such a privilege to be asked to help re-imagine the iconic Fighting Fantasy gamebook, but at the same time a massive responsibility. I had to make sure that I didn't leave out any of the classic original, making the dungeon feel familiar to FF fans, whilst also adding new content demanded by the game's redesign and to make sure that there was new material for old-time readers to enjoy. I also tried to make the dungeon a little more logical. We will just have to wait and see how much of my redesign makes it into the final game...

Herald of Oblivion was recently released on Steam. You mentioned in a post that it is the first of a trilogy of Imperial Fists gamebooks. Is there anything you can tell us about the next books?

Not a lot, I'm afraid. Sadly Tin Man Games had to cancel the next two titles for business reasons.
Warhammer has such a rich history and it also has a diverse range. Is there a favourite faction or event that you would like to write about in either Fantasy or 40K?

Well Warhammer is gone now, the entire fantasy planet obliterated to make room for the new Warhammer: Age of Sigmar game. In terms of 40K, I'd just be happy to write the final book of the Black Templars Armageddon trilogy.
Last year, you ran a kickstarter for Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland. How was that? Apart from getting funded which must have felt awesome, what's your favourite part of the kickstarter process?

To answer the second question first, my favourite part of the Kickstarter process is watching the pledges roll in and the funding amount rise, because once it's funded that means you're able to bring another cool creative project to the world that wouldn't have existed without the support of crowdfunders from literally all over the globe! Actually, I think that answers your first question too.

Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland is based on Alice in Wonderland. What inspired you to do a book based on that?

I'm not really sure, other than the fact that it was the 150th anniversary of the book's publication last year and there must have been something in the zeitgeist. I had also written a Pax Britannia novella based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland before and relished the opportunity to revisit some of the ideas I first played with in that story.
You then started on Shakespeare vs Cthulhu, which people thought was also a gamebook, but in fact it isn't, but that got you thinking about turning it into a gamebook. Had any more thoughts?

Yes, but I don't want to give any of them away just yet. :-)

Are there any more public domain/historical domain characters you would love to make a gamebook for?

Yes. I'm probably going to tackle The Wizard of Oz next and one day I will get round to writing Beowulf Beastslayer, honest!

You have written a steampunk series called Pax Brittania - any chance of turning that into a gamebook?

I did suggest it to the publishers years ago, but they weren't up for it, so no. But that said, that doesn't mean I'm not toying with the idea of using a similar setting for a steampunk gamebook not set in the Pax Britannia universe. ;-)
In fact, do people always ask if you're going to turn all of your stories to gamebooks?

No they don't actually, which is surprising because I'm always thinking of ways of turning things into gamebooks!
Any chance of creating a gamebook based on the Fault in Our Stars by John Green? I would just love to see a book by Jon Green and John Green.

No.
You do a lot of conventions. Where's the next place admiring fans can bask in your genius?

Well I don't know about anyone basking in my genius, but I shall be attending the Robin of Sherwood convention The Hooded Man II over the May Bank Holiday weekend, and the UK Games Expo at the beginning of June, at which Alice's Nightmare in Wonderland is up for an award.


Is there anything else you would like to tease?

Hmm... Fighting Fantasy fans might want to keep an eye on my Twitter feed/Facebook account over the next couple of months... Is that too much of a tease?

4 comments:

  1. J here, stopping by from the #atozchallenge - where I am part of Arlee Bird's A to Z Ambassador Team.
    How has the first week of the challenge been for you so far? Are you meeting your goals of posting and hopping to other blogs?
    My blog has a giveaway with bonus a to z challenges to encourage people to visit more stops.
    http://jlennidornerblog.what-are-they.com
    Wow, that's a really interesting interview! Thanks for sharing the insights.

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  2. This idea reminds me of the choose your own adventure books that were out when I was a kid, I loved those!
    Debbie

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  3. Pleased to see Beowulf Beastslayer is still a possibility, it's been long anticipated by uncle Jam. As per usual I'd back it as a Kickstarter campaign as a huge fan of Jon's and game books in general!

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