Michael J. Ward

The Eye of Winter’s Fury is the third entry in the best-selling DestinyQuest gamebook series. We asked the series creator, Michael J. Ward, for some top tips to help readers prepare for this exciting new instalment in the epic fantasy saga. Over to you Mike… ‘FOOLISH MORTALS! Yes, it is I – the gamesmaster of […]

We’re delighted to welcome Michael J. Ward back to the Gollancz Blog! Today we’ve got a special blog post to celebrate the publication of Destiny Quest: The Eye of Winter’s Fury.  Sometimes, a gamebook can be a hard sell to people. I know – I’ve stood in front of countless groups of surly teenagers at […]

In the last of our series of sneak peeks at Gollancz’s 2014 schedule, our focus turns to ongoing series. We’re thrilled as always to have so many authors and series returning, and the books below are all eagerly awaited by their fans. If you haven’t tried any of these series yet, you’re missing out! Metro […]

Everyone here at Gollancz is thrilled by the announcement of the Gemmell Awards shortlist, which you can find here. There are three very strong shortlists, with 5 books up for each of the Legend (best novel) and Morningstar (best debut), and six covers up for the Ravenheart (Best Cover). We’re delighted that Joe Abercrombie’s RED […]

This month saw the release of The Heart of Fire, the second DestinyQuest choose-your-own-adventure title, in mass market paperback. Mike Ward, the author, discusses the benefits of patching… Click here to read the first part of this post, and we also have a competition below.  Once a document hits the printers, that is it – there […]

This month saw the release of The Heart of Fire, the second DestinyQuest choose-your-own-adventure title, in mass market paperback. Here the author, Mike Ward, discusses the benefits of a second release… The devil’s in the detail… (part one) The bug. The glitch. The exploit. These are the horrors that keep game developers and coders awake […]

As a geek in the eighties (well, let’s face it – every decade really), I lapped up movies, comics and games like no tomorrow. I didn’t get out much, as you can probably tell – being able to recite most of the lines from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off  or do a (bad) Yoda impression was […]

Tomorrow sees the launch of the second of Michael J. Ward’s DestinyQuest adventures, The Heart of Fire. Below you will find the prologue to the adventure, and be sure to check back tomorrow for your chance to win a copy of this remarkable book!   Prologue:  The Great Escape   You are in free fall. The […]

This week see the release of the second of Michael J. Ward’s innovative and immersive game books, DestinyQuest 2: the Heart of Fire. We at Gollancz are hugely excited to be publishing this series, which takes the classic Fighting Fantasy gameplay of our youth and updates it for the Warcraft generation. Today we have a […]

There’s lots of exciting signings going on this weekend, so we thought this would be a good chance to let you know about some of our author’s movements. Ben Aaronovitch has been all around the country over the last few days, but this Saturday he’s right at the centre of the bookselling world as part […]

So I hope you’ve enjoyed our Week of Destiny, and that the various bloggers and reviewers have convinced you to try The Legion of Shadow out. It really is a remarkable book. When I was pitching it to the publishing meeting, I came up with a list of people who might be interested in the […]

My DestinyQuest adventure began last year, when I tentatively self-published the first novel in the series, The Legion of Shadow. I’ll always remember when my books finally arrived from the printers and I held one for the first time thinking ‘wow, I actually did it.’ But then, once the heady euphoria had abated, I was […]

Today’s DestinyQuest super fan is Brian Ronk. He has been an active participant on the DestinyQuest forums (as his avatar, Rithe) helping to both support the book and help out other gamers. He also has his own blog site, which has been running his own ‘Vote Your Own Adventure’ gamebook series. As a dedicated DQ […]

Released last week, Destiny Quest: The Legion of Shadow is the first in a new series of gamebooks. Imagine Fighting Fantasy mixed up with a dose of World of Warcraft, with a strong storyline and great writing, and you’ll have a rough idea of what the series is all about! Michael J. Ward self-published the […]

Eastercon! The Gollancz Gang is going to be hanging out, attending panels, in the bar, running a book stand and more at the Edwardian Raddison, Heathrow, throughout Easter . . . so here’s our quick guide to all the Eastercon action:   Friday 6th April 2012   14.00               Pushing the Boundaries of Genre What […]