Another important message for the YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter backers

After posting the list of backers that will be appearing in the back of YOU ARE THE HERO at the end of February I had only eight people get in touch with amendments/omissions that needed to be sorted out. Today I am posting an updated list, and giving you another chance to check that everything's in order. If it isn't, please let me know via email at info@jonathangreenauthor.com by this Friday 14 March 2014.

In other news, those legends Mr Steve Jackson and Mr Ian Livingstone (who started all this in the first place) have both re-read the manuscript and given their feedback, and the proof-reader is two-thirds of the way through.

Heading your way in 2014.

An important message for the YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter backers

It's almost the end of another month and it's time for another YOU ARE THE HERO update.

First and foremost, if you were one of the wonderful people who backed the YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter (even if you were a little late to the party) please check the attached image carefully. (You will also find it uploaded to the YOU ARE THE HERO Facebook page.)

This is the list of people who backed the project at the CYCLOPS level or above, thereby earning the right to have their names appear in the back of the book as a thank you for their support. I would appreciate it if you could check that the dedication you requested appears on the list and, secondly, that everything is spelt correctly*. (Remember, if you pledged at the TROLL level or below, your name will not be on this list.)

If everything is fine, you do not need to do anything. If you think you have found an error, please let me know a.s.a.p. by emailing me at info@jonathangreenauthor.com. Do not reply to this post or post on the Facebook page; I will need a direct email, or your notification may get missed.

You have until 6.00pm GMT on Friday 7 March 2014 to inform me of any corrections that need to be made. After that, the text will be passed on to the publisher and it will be too late to make any changes.

Thank you for your assistance with this.

In other news, what I'm hoping will prove to be the final draft of the manuscript is being sent off to proof-readers today, as well as Messrs Jackson and Livingstone. Images are being collated for the book and I hope that the laying out of this magnum opus will begin very soon.

It's getting there, slowly, but it's getting there, and I thank you once again for your patience.

* I spotted one mistake this morning, caused by someone mistyping their name in the Rewards survey, so please do check extra carefully as this could have happened to you too.

Beyond the Pit

This arrived in the post today...

That's right - it's Arion Games' Kickstarter-funded Advanced Fighting Fantasy bestiary Beyond the Pit, featuring Terry Oakes' stunning airbrushed artwork on the cover.

Echoing the original edition of Out of the Pit (first published in 1985), Graham Bottley and Andrew Wright have created a very professional and appealing, not to mention useful, book of FF bestial lore that will sit very comfortably alongside the rest of any Fighting Fantasy fan's collection.

I've had great fun this evening flicking through the book, being reminded of adventures of yesteryear (as well as thinking which monsters it might be nice to bring back some time), and enjoying the artwork of masters such as Tony Hough, Brian Williams and Martin McKenna all over again. What's particularly pleasing is to see that one of my creations has made it into the book - namely the Giant Chameleon - as well as elements of world-building from some of my gamebooks, notably Curse of the Mummy.

Special mention must go to Steve Luxton's updated maps of Titan that appear in the book too. As Andrew Wright notes in his introduction, the Fighting Fantasy World has grown a very great deal since Out of the Pit was first published.

A few formatting and layout problems aside, Beyond the Pit is a worthy addition to the FF library and is a great purchase. Roll on Out of the Pit Volume 3!

YOU ARE THE HERO - One Year On

Exactly one year ago today, at 3.00pm GMT, YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks funded via Kickstarter.

At the time, I thought that the book would be finished, printed and in the faithful backers' hands by now. Unfortunately no plan survives contact with the enemy intact, as they say, and YOU ARE THE HERO was no different. What was planned as a 30,000 word book had swelled (at the last count) to 92,311 words, and it looks like it's going to get a little longer still before it finally sees print. However, I can assure you that its getting there, at long last.

In not entirely unrelated news, yesterday I met up with Ian Livingstone to go through his and Steve Jackson's comments on the manuscript. And very encouraging and helpful they were too, you'll be pleased to hear...

Edit 20 is done and dusted

Now the title of this blog post might not mean very much to anybody else, other than me, until I explain that what it actually means is that I've sent the manuscript of YOU ARE THE HERO to Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone for them to look through over Christmas.

In other words, I think it's just about there. There may well be a few changes that need to be made here and there, so I won't claim it's finished just yet, but it's well on the way. 

Of course, even when the ms is passed as final, I've still got to complete the acknowledgements, the copyright page, add a dedication, add in all the artwork cues, have the last rewards made, send the book off to be typeset, etc... But YOU ARE THE HERO is suddenly feeling a lot more like a proper book today. And it's over 90,000 words long!

Just to finish on something pretty for you to look at, here's a Wordle of 'Edit 20'.

 

AdventureX 2013

Today, thanks to YOU ARE THE HERO backer James Aukett, I caught the tail end of AdventureX 2013 at the University of East Anglia (in London, of course), and more specifically the talk given by creator and producer of 1980s kids' TV adventure gameshow Knightmare, Tim Child.

Tim Child and Yours Truly

I was able to chat to Tim briefly afterwards about Knightmare, Fighting Fantasy and Dungeons and Dragons, and then got to talk to Jon Ingold of Inkle Studios, briefly, about Sorcery! 2. It was all over after a couple of hours, but it was an interesting experience and I can tick off another of my childhood heroes that I've been fortunate enough to meet.

Dragonmeet 2013

Today I dropped by Kensington Town Hall for Dragonmeet 2013 with two of the next generation of gamers* in tow.

We had barely entered the building when we bumped into Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone CBE, who were giving the first seminar of the day on the early days of Games Workshop. It was a surreal experience to later find ourselves sitting in said seminar with FF and GW artist Tony Hough, the Tin Man himself Neil Rennsion and Mr Joe Dever, the creator and writer of the classic Lone Wolf series of gamebooks.

Mr Joe Dever and Yours Truly

We weren't there for long but did manage to catch up with Graham Bottley of Arion Games (and take delivery of my copy of Maelstrom: Domesday, that I'd backed via Kickstarter), say a quick hello to Jay Wallis of Greywood Publishing, FF fans Stuart Lloyd, James Aukett and John Berry, Dominic McDowall and Andrew Kendrick of Cubicle 7, one time artistic collaborator of mine Ralph Horsley, and Paco Jaen of G*M*S Magazine. Oh, and buy a lot of dice of course**.

Tony Hough, Neil Rennison and Stuart Lloyd

FF fans James Aukett and John Berry

Graham Bottley of Arion Games

Messrs Jackson and Livingstone did reveal one interesting snippet about the future of Fighting Fantasy, involving a possible game involving miniatures of FF monsters, and possibly being crowdfunded. So, backers of YOU ARE THE HERO, watch this space...


* And maybe even games designers, judging by the way they were changing the rules of 'Loopin' Louie'.

** But then why wouldn't you?