Beowulf Beastslayer is published today

Hwaet! Beowulf Beastslayer is published today by Snowbooks.

A brand new adventure gamebook by Jonathan Green, based on the ancient epic. A tale of heroes... A tale of monsters... A legend reborn. 

King Hrothgar's great golden mead-hall, Heorot, lies under a curse; after sunset, the mirth-hating night-stalker Grendel comes to the hall to maim and murder! None are capable of killing the monster, though many have tried, until one day Beowulf and his company of Geatish warriors cross the sail-road and land on Danish shores...

The Old English poem Beowulf is a story that has fascinated people throughout the ages inspiring the likes of J. R. R. Tolkien, Seamus Heaney and Neil Gaiman. Beowulf Beastslayer is a brand new take on the Anglo-Saxon epic, re-imagining the events described in the poem as an adventure gamebook.

Will you follow the course of events as laid down by the scops and skalds of old, or will you choose a different path and forge your own legend?

Beowulf Beastslayer is illustrated by none other than Russ Nicholson, who provided the internal artwork for the Fighting Fantasy gamebook The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (among others), which set me on the path to becoming an author, and features a cover quote by none other than BBC Four's Dr Janina Ramirez.

As backers of the original Kickstarter will already know, Paul Muller sculpted Grendel and Beowulf in three dimensions, using Russ Nicholson's interpretations of the characters as his guide, and the miniatures were produced by Otherworld Miniatures. Well, here they are, painted by the very talented Andy Taylor.

Grendel and Beowulf, sculpted by Paul Muller, produced by Otherworld Miniatures, and painted by Andy Taylor.

If you would like to buy a pair of miniatures, simply click the button below, having selected whereabouts in the world you would like them sent.

Beowulf and Grendel miniatures

UK signed for £29.00 GBP  Europe signed for £34.00 GBP  Rest of World signed for £35.00 GBP

 

And if you have read the book, please post a review on Amazon.

Beowulf: A Board Game

I'm possibly planning on running a Kickstarter project for Beowulf Beastslayer (when all my time's not preoccupied with YOU ARE THE HERO) but right now there's another Beowulf-inspired Kickstarter that needs your support.

Beowulf: A Board Game is a tabletop adaptation of the epic poem. Build your kingdom, raid your neighbours, and secure your legend in the world of Beowulf! And to find out more, click this link.

Discovering the truth behind the Beowulf legend

The origins of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf are being explored in a major archaeological dig in Denmark. Experts working in Lejre, the royal centre of Denmark in the sixth to tenth centuries AD, are uncovering what life would have been like in the great royal feasting hall Heorot, in which many of the poem's pivotal events are supposed to have occurred. Archaeologists have discovered the remains of seven separate buildings used for feasting, all of which stood on the site at various times over a period of 500 years. The earliest of these may have inspired King Hrothgar's hall as described in Beowulf.

I wonder how long it will be before they find the bleached bones of a once monstrous arm, or a huge, deformed skull buried somewhere on the site.

A map of Scandinavia as it was in the Dark Ages.

The Art of Beowulf

The legend of Beowulf - and his battles with Grendel, the monster's mother, and, of course, the dragon - have inspired artists down through the ages.

Here are just some of the more recent takes on the Scandinavian superman and his enemies...

And what sort of art will BEOWULF BEASTSLAYER inspire? You'll just have to wait and see...

Beowulf Pulled My Arm Off

Kari Maaren has a new album of geeky songs available. It’s called Beowulf Pulled My Arm Off and it’s described like this:

This album collects 14 of the geeky ukulele songs Kari Maaren wrote and performed in 2011 and 2012 at Toronto’s Chiaroscuro Reading Series. The songs tend to be about monsters, heroes, and other highly fictional properties. No mythical beasts were harmed in the making of this album.


You can listen to the album by following this link, and should definitely check out the titular track Beowulf Pulled My Arm Off!

Beowulf - The Gamebook!

“Listen! We of the Spear-Danes in the days of yore, of those clan-kings, heard of their glory, how those nobles performed courageous deeds!”

I am delighted to announce that BEOWULF BEASTSLAYER has been mentioned today on SFX.co.uk. In fact, there's not just a mention - there's a full-blown interview with me about the project.

You can read the interview for yourself here (and thanks to Dave Bradley for making it happen).

In other BEOWULF BEASTSLAYER-related news, it looks like I have both a publisher and an artist on board for the project, so the Kickstarter to fund production of the gamebook is gradually moving closer to launch.

And in case you'll still wondering just what exactly BEOWULF BEASTSLAYER is, it's a Choose Your Own Adventure-style re-telling of the Anglo-Saxon epic. In the book you will play the part of the eponymous hero battling such monsters as Grendel, Grendel's mother and a dragon, as well as sea serpents and all manner of other creatures along the way. Will your adventure follow the course of the original story or will you carve out a new epic all of your own?

To express your interest in this project, please visit the BEOWULF BEASTSLAYER Facebook page, click 'Like', and share the link with all your friends.

Grendel

How do you visualise the iconic monster Grendel?

Like this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or do you see him in some other way? I'd love to know how you imagine him to be, and any budding artists out there, feel free to send me your interpretations of the malevolent monster.

Michael Wood on Beowulf

Historian Michael Wood traces the birth of English poetry back to the dark ages, focusing on Beowulf and other Anglo-Saxon classics to reveal the origins of England's literary heritage. Travelling from East Anglia to Scotland, he is joined by Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney, actor Julian Glover and local enthusiasts to bring the story and language of the famous poem to life.

If you've not seen this documentary before, it's well worth a watch, for Julian Glover's performance alone. It is showing on BBC4 tonight at 11.00pm.

John Howe's take on Grendel

John Howe, who is currently probably best known as one of the imagineers of Middle Earth, produced a number of illustrations for a Beowulf boardgame eight or so years back.

You can see many of the wonderful, dramatic paintings on his website here.

I'm particularly interested in his take on Grendel, as the look of the monster is something I am very aware I need to get right for my own project, whilst at the same time making him seem fresh and new.

Beowulf Beastslayer - Let Me Tell You A Story

Beowulf Beastslayer

While I was running my YOU ARE THE HERO Kickstarter, a number of people asked about the possibility of new gamebook content. Well, following on from the success of YOU ARE THE HERO, I'm planning on crowd-funding a brand new gamebook, based on the epic Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf.

In BEOWULF BEASTSLAYER you will play the part of the eponymous hero - the first superhero of the English literary tradition - battling such monsters as Grendel, Grendel's mother and a dragon, as well as sea serpents and all manner of other creatures along the way. Will your adventure follow the course of the original story or will you carve out a new epic all of your own?

To express your interest in this project, please visit the BEOWULF BEASTSLAYER Facebook page, click 'Like', and share the link with all your friends.

So, until next time...

Beowulf as re-imagined by dreamweaver Neil Gaiman

There have been a number of different versions of the Anglo-Saxon epic committed to film over the years - including Beowulf & Grendel (2005) and Outlander (2008) - but one of the best is the Robert Zemeckis-helmed 2007 version, written by award-winning comic-book writer Neil Gaiman and Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary.

Beowulf adds a bold new dimension to the story of the hero's battle against the monstrous Grendel, in its interpretation of the monster's 'hag-like' mother, and very effective it is too. And then there's the fact that it was all created inside a computer. (Ray Winstone has never looked so buff!)

Zemeckis creates a dark fantasy full of haunting images, and the film's on TV tonight, on ITV1, at 11.00pm.

Julian Glover reads from Beowulf

Beowulf - Beastslayer

A tale of monsters. A tale of heroes.

A brand new gamebook by Jonathan Green.

Coming in 2013...