It's the UK Games Expo
event in Birmingham this weekend, the largest convention of its kind in
the country, and I'm going to be along as a guest, as well as giving my
dice a workout...
UK Games Expo
takes place at the NEC Hilton Metropole, just across from Birmingham
International train station, and there's a full weekend going on of
tabletop gaming, seminars, tournaments and more.
I'l be along to
sign and sell my books; you should be able to find me (when not spending
££ in the dealers room or gaming at the free tables in the evening)
with the New Writers UK team at Stand K35 in the King's Annex - so come along and say hello!
Click on the banner to learn more about the event...
Back in the late 80's, the
wastelands of a shattered America were haunted by the roar of engines
and the rattle of gunfire across the asphalt; Dark Future
was a cyberpunk post-apocalypse vehicle combat board game from Games
Workshop that enjoyed a cult following, spawning a series of novels
including Jade Dragon written by me. And now, Dark Future is back from the dead...
Auroch Digital are following in the footsteps of their earlier hit boardgame-to-videogame Chainsaw Warrior with Dark Future: Blood Red States, and I'm in the gunner seat working on the storyline.
Check out exclusive coverage over at Game Debate for more info Here and Here - and don't forget your road safety rules: Mirror, Signal, Massacre.
I'm very pleased to announce that the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers (IAMTW) have put forth their nominations list for the 2015 Scribe Awards, and my 24 novel Deadline has made the cut as a nominee for the Best Original Novel - General category!
As the press release states:
Acknowledging
excellence in this very competitive field, IAMTW’s Scribe Awards honor
licensed works that tie in with other media such as television, movies,
gaming, or comic books. They include original works set in established
universes, and adaptations of stories that have appeared in other
formats and cross all genres. Tie-in works run the gamut from westerns
to mysteries to procedurals, from science fiction to fantasy to horror,
from action and adventure to superheroes.
This is my third time in the mix for the Scribes - I was nominated for Best Originial Novel - Speculative for my Warhammer 40,000 novel Faith & Fire back in 2007, and later won that category in 2009 for my Star Trek: Terok Nor novel Day of the Vipers, but this the first time I've been in the General category and I'm alongside a group of talented folks and veterans of the industry; I'm very proud to be there!
To check out the full list of nominees, click Here.
Another day, another podcast - and
here's me joining my pal Adam Rosser from BBC Radio 5 Live and
Eurogamer's Christian Donlan to talk about videogames, specifically
Hammerfall Publishing's new Warhammer 40,000 chess-strategy-action title Regicide- now available via Steam Early Access - on the newest episode of Game On.
I was invited on to chat with the folks from Forge The Narrative this week - an in-depth podcast show about the worlds of Warhammer 40,000 and the Horus Heresy - and you can check out what I had to say on Episode 95 of the show right Here from the 49 mins mark...
The
audio from my end gets a little choppy in places (which is either a
result of my sucky internet connection or interference from the warp)
but stick with it, as we have some great discusssions on the Blood
Angels, the Heresy and more. Thanks to Paul Murphy and Chris Morgan for
being great hosts!
So, for those of you who couldn't read the Aurabesh in the last blog post, here's the thing: I am writing Star Wars.
Some specifics - no, I haven't been tapped to pen a script for one of the spin-off Anthology movies as some folks suggested (but hey, Lucasfilm? *makes "call-me" gesture*); no, I'm not writing a Star Wars novel (yet),
although that remains firmly at the top of my nerd bucket list, ten
years on and still hoping; and no, technically this isn't my first work
in the GFFA, because back in the day I wrote dozens of articles forStar Wars Magazine, Star Wars Insider, Star Wars Gamer and The Star Wars Fact Files... But it is my first time writing an original narrative for characters from that mythos.
And the first you will see of that work is Twilight of the Republic, the launch playset that will be released with Disney Infinity 3.0: Star Wars
– the newest iteration of the blockbuster ‘toys-to-life’ videogame
series. Featuring the heroes, villains and locations of the saga, gamers
will be able to cross the stars on a high-stakes mission to expose a
deadly threat to the Galactic Republic...
Set at the height of the Clone Wars, between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the plotline of Twilight of the Republic follows
the Jedi as they fight to discover who is behind the rise of a new army
of Battle Droids that threatens the stability of the galaxy; the
characters of Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano are packed with the
playset, and players can also pick up Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Darth
Maul as seperate figures..
Disney Infinity 3.0 is also going to feature Rise of the Empire, a 'classic trilogy' Star Wars playset (featuring Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca and Darth Vader as playable characters). There will also be a Force Awakens playset, as well as new Marvel Universe and Disney Originals content for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Inside Out and more.
To say that I'm enthused about being part of this is a bit of an understatement - in a "that's no moon" kind of way.
Here I am, a 40-something geek born and bred in the Star Wars
generation, who still remembers that moment of awe at the Dominion
Theatre in 1978, as the Star Destroyer thundered over my young head.
That nearly four decades later, I am once again metaphorically caught in
the wake of that engine roar, is just too damn cool.
I have had an absolute blast working with the talented crews at Ninja Theory and Disney Interactive on Twilight of the Republic, and together we've built something that is not just neat figures and virtual toyboxes - it's a true Star Wars story that I hope will play out like a lost episode of The Clone Wars
series, with all the action and thrills, fun and high adventure of the
best of the saga. Young and old alike, I hope you'll come and play.
If you're keeping an eye on the internet today, you may have seen this reveal of a cool new thing...
I am pleased to say one of the people who made that cool thing happen is me!
Together with a team of very talented folks, I've been working on it
for over a year, and rest assured I'll be talking about it in a lot more
detail in the days ahead.
