Saturday 3rd September saw me attending Fighting Fantasy Fest 4 for the first time. Due to work/life etc I have never been able to attend the first three of this event and was absolutely over the moon on managing to get a ticket, as they sell out rather fast due to the event being limited to 400 people.
Fighting Fantasy Fest 4 held at the University of West London in Ealing, this year was celebrating 40 years of the release of the first Fighting Fantasy book - The Warlock of Firetop Mountain.
Featuring as honoured guests the two men who started it all off - Steve Jackson and Sir Ian Livingstone numerous other authors and artists who have wrote and illustrated the various gamebooks and other material were also in attendance and would be holding talks and signing sessions.
Also in attendance was Rhianna Pratchett, daughter of Sir Terry Pratchett of Discworld fame, who had recently lent her talents to writing a Fighting Fantasy gamebook. As a massive fan of the Discworld series and Pratchett's work as a whole, it would be interesting to listen to her talk and hopefully meet her and have a chat.
For anyone who is new to Fighting Fantasy and would like to know more about what the gamebooks are or the history of how they came about click this link: YOU ARE THE HERO.
Kicking up a Storm - Rhianna Pratchett talks to Johnathon Green about her Fighting Fantasy book - Crystal of Storms.
From Lizard King to Allansian Assassins - Fighting Fantasy Artists Tony Hough, Duncan Smith and Alan Langford talk about their work.
| Meet and Greet the Artists |
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| Mike McCarthy, Cover Artist on Shadow of the Giants (and Fable the computer game, along with the new forthcoming Harry Potter Hogwarts Legacy game) |
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| Duncan Smith, Cover Artist on Scorpion Swamp |
Magehunters - Fighting Fantasy Gamebook Authors talk about their contributions.
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| Marc Gascoigne, writer on Titan-The Fighting Fantasy World Source Book |
Steve Jackson and Sir Ian Livingstone talk about their new books, Steven Jacksons - Secrets of Salamonis and Sir Ian Livingstone's - Shadow of the Giants, with artist Mick McCarthy.
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| Packed auditorium |
Fighting Fantasy Fest Auction - Every event always has an auction hosted this year by Sir Ian Livingstone, with all proceeds going to a nominated charity.
Sir Ian, brought a host of items including various issues of
Warlock Magazine, a number of gamebooks as well as some old Fighting Fantasy computer games, Forest of Doom, Deathtrap Dungeon etc as well as a couple of items that went for a considerable sum, pictured below.
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| Zagor the Warlock of Firetop Mountain illustration, signed by Steve Jackson, Sir Ian Livingstone and Artist Russ Nicholson - went for £310 |
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| Solution book for Tasks of Tanthalon - went for £300 |
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| Fighting Fantasy map - went for £60 odd |
And finally old man geek moment, as I had started reading Fighting Fantasy books when they very first started in 1982, 40 years!
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| Sir Ian Livingstone |
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| Steve Jackson |
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