Happy Birthday, Deathtrap Dungeon!

As Ian Livingstone revealed today on his Twitter feed...

You'll find plenty on Deathtrap Dungeon in the forthcoming YOU ARE THE HERO, and not just about the book either...

A question...

I have a question for you. It regards the launch of YOU ARE THE HERO. You can find out more by clicking this link.

YOU ARE THE HERO on Nerd Vs World

On Tuesday I spent a very pleasant evening in the company of Simon 'Spindles' Potthast, Brendan 'Nerd Vs World' Gylee, and Ady 'Chocolatier' Wilce, for the recording of Episode 29 of the aforementioned Nerd Vs World.

We spent our time eating chocolate and retro sweets, whilst talking about everything from '80s kids' cartoons to YOU ARE THE HERO, and the podcast went live yesterday. You can listen to it here.

And then today another interview I did - this time at the Sci-Fi Weekender, and conducted by Jonathan Hicks, the Farsight Blogger - went live. You can listen to that one here.

Thanks to Jonathan and the guys from Nerd vs World for talking to me, and I wouldn't be surprised if in a year's time there'll be another Nerd vs World blog post...

(From left to right, and back to front)

Spindles, Nerd Vs World, The Chocolatier and Kaiju Killer.

Fighting Fantasy #666

In the past, particularly at the height of its fame during the 1980s, Fighting Fantasy garnered criticism from certain religious groups (particularly in the US) who claimed it, and other RPGs like it, promoted satanism and witchcraft.

This is a topic that is covered in YOU ARE THE HERO, but if anyone was still harbouring any suspicions in that area, check out what Joe Kelly spotted on the YOU ARE THE HERO Facebook page this morning!

Edward Crosby and Gary Ward

Anyone who's ever read Ian Livingstone's Caverns of the Snow Witch has surely marvelled at Edward Crosby's and Gary Ward's woodcut-style artwork. But how did they actually produce the images?

Well, you'll have to wait until YOU ARE THE HERO is published to find out, but in the mean time, here are some roughs of those original illustrations that Gary Ward sent through to me today. Enjoy.

Check out Eddy's online portfolio here.

YOU ARE THE HERO at the Sci-Fi Weekender

Over a week ago now, I was in North Wales for the Sci-Fi Weekender 5. I was there really with my Steampunk hat on, but over the course of the weekend a number of people came up to me and introduced themselves as backers of YOU ARE THE HERO (which was nice).

It also just so happened that a couple of the people I interviewed for the book were there - namely film-maker Martin Gooch and Seas of Blood cover artist Rodney Matthews. (You can find out more about the Weekender here.)

 Martin Gooch, Archimedes the Steampunk Parrot, and Jonathan Green at the Sci-Fi Weekender 5.

 Seas of Blood cover artist Rodney Matthews.

In other news, the final manuscript of the book has come in at 98,625 words, although Ian Livingstone is still keen it should hit the 100,000 mark... which might just happen once all the photo tags are in...